The Woods We Shared

The Bus Ride Home

For days on end, the bus rolled around on its flat tires and its heavy load as it traveled along the dark and lonely country road. Greyhounds are known for being the most reliable but not the most comfortable. Life is the same way. You expect something better for a convenient price but all you get is a mediocre seat and crying children begging for food. Matthew leaned against the foggy window as the dim streetlights lit up the wildlife running over the roads and chase each other as animals do. The roadside was dark and covered with bushes and trees and vines crawling across the road being trampled on by the occasional car or bus tumbling and grumbling along the rocky road. The silent chasing of predator and prey gave Matthew the comforting feeling that the place he always hated never really changed.

"Home is where the heart is, right? Then why do I feel so sad?", Matthew thought to himself as he looked about the sleeping bus. Children curled up together on single seat drooling and dreaming as they twitched and squirmed about. The parents, mostly couples, would be resting against each other, hands clasped and lips pressed against necks. Matthew wished he could achieve living a life such as the parents and couples on the crowded dim bus but with the current state of his life, love didn't seem like an option allowed to him. The humming of the bus lulled and pulled at Matthew's eyes as he finally began to find the breath of elusive sleep only to wake from the light of the station and the dawn.

"Son, you gotta get out. Last stop." The driver said, shaking Matthew.

Waiting at the station door was Vincent, Matthew's father, looking piss drunk and dirty as ever. A groan of disappointment escaped Matthew's lips as he hoisted his bag onto his shoulders and begrudgingly left the comfort of the bus. The man that greeted Matthew smelled of Budweiser, cigarettes and cheap cologne.  While Vincent attempted to hug Matthew, his overly packed duffel bag prevented such an odious action from taking place.

The long walk through the station toward the beat up rebuilt 1988 Bronco was painfully silent and had Matthews blood curdled. He tossed his duffel bag into the back of the rusty truck; the smell of cigarettes and plastic wafted his way. 

"I'm sorry about your mom kid," Vincent said as Matthew lumbered into the front seat that displayed suspicious stains. " I know she meant a lot to you."

"You don't know what the fuck she meant to me. You never cared to know what anything meant to me." Matthew mumbled as he leaned against the door and let the moist cold air kiss his hot cheeks. The Bronco's engine struggled to turn over. Vincent contemplated how he was going to manage a seventeen-year-old boy who just lost his mother; the only person capable of loving him. Dead trees and snow lined the long road to Matthew's new home as silence and pain filled the car. It took everything inside Matthew not to cry or show any emotion. Vincent was the epitome of Pennsylvanian redneck; he had a mess of ruffled brown and grey hair that matched his goatee, always wore flannel and drank far too much to properly run a farm by himself. This was the man Matthew knew. This was the man that beat him within an inch of his life. This was the man Matthew aimed to defeat.

Pulling up to the dawn stricken forest, a large log cabin on an acre of land sprawled out before Matthew's sleep-heavy eyes. The soft pink and orange sky showed the sturdy wood fence surrounding the pasture and bounced off the smooth hair of the fouls trotting next to the mares. Shae - the Australian Shepherd - was sleeping at the barn door guarding the hens and awaiting the return of the familiar kicking engine of the bronco. 

"Welcome home, Matt," Vincent said as he made a sharp turn into the gravel driveway.

 Matthew ran his fingers through his hair as the car sizzled to a halt. Opening the car door the winter air brought him back to life as Shae charged towards his tired being and scaled his body to kiss him. "Get down you dumb dog!" Vincent yelled as he slammed the rust bucket door closed.

Matthew scratched behind her ears as he kissed between her eyes. "Hey Shae, missed ya too, girl." 

With one last slobbery kiss, Shae pushed off and ran back to the enclosed porch around the house, patiently waiting to be let inside. Matthew opened the back and threw his duffle over his shoulder as he shuffled towards the cabin. Vincent whistled to Matthew as he threw the house keys his way. "I have some things ta do before the sun comes around, just head inside and get situated." 

~ ~ ~

The room Matthew grew up in hadn't changed a bit since he last saw it. The bed remained with the handmade wooden posts and the Mario kart bed sheets he had when he was a kid. His childhood toys remained scattered around the room as well as the pile of old VHS tapes of movies. Moving into the corner, Matthew ran his fingers along the spine of every movie as memories of them played back in his mind. Movies were his comfort from the yelling and damage brought about by broken bottles and bones. Matthew was pulled out of his memories by the clicking of Shae's paws coming into his room. She was an old dog and has seen most of the violence in this house and received it first hand, just like the rest of the family. She rubbed against Matthew before jumping onto the bed. Matthew finally caved into the loving hand of sleep when he joined Shae.