Mending Ryan Falls ✓

31 | in which he takes her wherever she wants

In a world of misdirection,
You are my one way.

.\.|./.

Ryan Falls

| in which he takes her wherever she wants |

Crystal doesn't want to go home, and that settles it -- she isn't going home.

Selling my bike and renting out my house need time, time I don't have. I call Ted, text Olivia, and buy a car with my savings, leaving my possessions behind.

"You really love her, don't you?" Ted asks me with a knowing smile.

I don't answer, not wanting to go into the debate that I know would lead nowhere. The truth is that this isn't just about love. It's more about compassion and understanding. I know what it feels like to be lost and trapped, wishing there was someone who would take me away from everything I didn't have the guts to escape. It took me eleven years to muster up the courage it took to break the cycle of abuse. It took me eleven years to save myself.

But no matter how hard it may be, I cannot allow that to happen to Crystal. I know what it feels like to be alone, and I can't let Crystal feel like that.

If moving out of Alaska and somewhere unlike her life here is what it takes, then be it.

I'm willing to do it.

Showing up at the hospital with my new car, I have the entire plan drawn out. And Crystal? She reacts exactly as I had expected her to.

"Ryan, what is this?" she asks, her beautiful blue eyes wide. 

One of them still has a darker shadow around it, a leftover bruise. I try not to react to it, struggling to ignore how injured she still is. It was harder than I had thought it would be, seeing Crystal broken and bruised at the hands of the man she loved. It was hard not to track him down and tear him to bits and feed him to dogs.

I had wanted to. I had tried to.

The man vanished in a puff of smoke, a transitory illusion, leaving behind no trace, no link, and no hope.

"Do you like road trips?" I ask her, watching her expression closely.

Crystal shrugs. "I've never been on one."

I smile. "Even better," I say, reaching out and taking her hand.

It's nice to see her out of the hospital scrubs again, and back into her own clothes. I hadn't taken any of her belongings from her home, buying new clothes and shoes for her instead. I didn't want anything to remind her of Jeremy. She was starting a new life, and she had to do that clean.

Like I did.

"Ryan?" She holds me back when I try to lead her towards the car. There's a questioning look on her face, guilt flashing in her eyes.

"Come on, Crystal," I whine childishly, hoping to cheer her up. I haven't seen her genuine smile in so many days, and I miss her snort-laughter. I would tickle her silly to hear it if I wasn't afraid of accidentally hurting her in the process. But letting her be serious and cautious now isn't an option.

"Where are we going to go?" she asks, uncertainty clouding her gaze.

I shift on my feet so that we're face to face, and take both her hands in mine.

"Wherever you want to go," I say, staring into her blue-green eyes. "We can go to the farthest corner of the Earth or up into the clouds. We can go chase the Sahara camels or wrestle polar bears. Who's to say we can't?"