Amnesia

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Morning traffic in LA always sucked. It was a mess of people doings things that were somewhat illegal, others that were most definitely illegal, and things that were downright stupid and dangerous. 

Usually, there were cars lined up bumper to bumper farther than Sam could see over the fender of the car. 

What made it worse were the people trying to switch lanes in the middle of the traffic, or else trying to merge in, and not seeing that there was no room even for their small Priuses.

Normally, this kind of thing was enough to make Sam question his decision to ever live in LA, but this morning he was going out of the city rather than in which made it a little more bearable.

That wasn't to say that LA wasn't a fun place, it was. 

But Sam was from Kansas, and although he was from a relatively big town by Kansas standards, LA was still a lot to take in even after being here for the last few years.

The pulse and the heartbeat of the city were thrilling and exciting, but sometimes you could get so wrapped up in trying to keep up with it, that you lost your sense of place along the way.

That was why Sam liked to get out every now and again. 

Go to the places where there were fewer people and fewer skyscrapers and smog clouding the skyline.

Sometimes it was nice to get outside yourself and realize how small you were in comparison to everything else. That life had more meaning than just the monotony of daily existence.

So, no, Sam didn't mind the fact that he was going to be in traffic for the next hour, because after that, the only thing that he would be able to see was miles and miles of asphalt.

He drummed absentmindedly along to the beat of the song that was playing.

It was some indie stuff that Jake had recommended to him, and while it wasn't his usual taste, for once he didn't mind the mellow beat in the background or the soft, lilting voice of the singer.

In fact, it made him think about childhood and road trips. 

The sound of The Mamas and Papas playing on the radio, and his Mom and Dad in the front seat of the car, telling him random facts about the cities and the towns that they passed through on the way to their destination.

He turned it up, just to hear the haunting melody and let it wash over him. It made him sad, but underneath the sadness, there seemed to be a subtle note of expectation, of the things yet to come.

It was a song about heartbreak, and the singer seemed resigned to her fate. She knew that she could never make that person love her, but it didn't stop her from trying.

He smiled ruefully, well; he understood that one first hand.

Sometimes, no matter how much you loved someone; there wasn't enough love in the world to fill up the chasm that had opened up between the two of you.

Somehow, you could keep trying to build that bridge, but if all you had was your bare hands, and no hammer and nails to put the wood together, the whole thing just ended up falling apart.

He'd tried so hard to make their relationship work, but in the end, it just ended up the way these things always seemed to.

Given that so many of his relationships had crashed and burned, it was hard not to believe that he wasn't cursed to be alone. 

When everyone you love is always running away, well, Sam wasn't dumb enough to not notice the common factor in all of his failed relationships.

They went away for one reason or another in the end and always said the same things...