Nowhere But You

Chapter 17

Nathan waited inside his car, the old American (Japanese?) classic. He still loved his trusty automobile. That thing had brought him from Granville and college to Newtown and back many times, and to California and back.

He reclined his seat back and relaxed, allowing the morning sun to warm up his chest under his white t-shirt. The temperature was still enjoyable, but if weather predictions served right, it would get very, very hot later on in the day.

Summers in Newtown.

It was a little past 6:00 am; the parking lot to the park and the lake was still empty. Nathan had arrived about 20 minutes earlier. All those days of having to wake up at ungodly hours for work, for training, for class, etc., made him realize that he was actually a morning person. On a regular day, he was awake by dawn. In California, he got up early to make lunch for his niece and drive her to school. It was nice, he thought. His sister Dawn and his brother-in-law were a young couple who usually had very little help. It was the least he could do for them for letting him stay.

He didn't know he was good with kids. He never really had the chance to interact with them. His other niece and nephew (his eldest sister's children) lived abroad. His other sister didn't have children. Nathan had always been the youngest, the baby, but he had always been curious about how it would be like to have his own family one day. And yes, he had thought about it. He had even talked about it, but there was no one to crystalize those dreams with just yet.

There was a person once... not anymore.

His thoughts began to swirl and fade as he closed his eyes and dozed off. But before he could fall into deep slumber, an insistent knock on his window startled him. He opened his eyes only to spot a face covered by aviator sunglasses, with a foolish grin.

"License and registration, please, sir." River joked from outside as he saw Nathan coming about.

Had he been more asleep, he could've thought it was an actual police officer. He rubbed his eyes, put his seat back in the upright position and got out of the car.

"How long have you been here, man?" River inquired.

Nathan stretched his arms and scratched his head, trying to shake off those last ounces of sleep.

"Just arrived." Nathan told a little white lie. "Okay, now what?"

"Well, this was your idea, I just mentioned where it was." River shrugged, looking towards the entrance to the park. "Coming at this time was your idea too."

"And you still wanted to come along." Nathan reminded him. "I told you it's better at this time of the day; the lake won't be packed with people just yet."

River took a deep breath.

"Let's just go."

Both guys made their way through the park in the direction of the lake. The reason for them going there was indeed Nathan's idea. Upon his return to Newtown, he asked if Julian was buried somewhere. He still felt guilty for not even attending his funeral. River explained that he had been cremated and they had scattered his ashes on the lake, right by the site they usually met around a fire and hung out until the morning light, something Julian loved. They simply called it 'the bonfire.'

Julian's ashes were scattered on the lake, in front of the bonfire.

River also mentioned that he hadn't been there ever since. At the time he thought it was a good idea to 'lay Julian to rest' there but he didn't really consider how weird it would be to come back to the place. Robin kept asking him to go, the lake was still one of their places but he just didn't feel ready. He actually wished they'd done it at a faraway place where he couldn't have gone... or maybe that his family had kept his ashes.