Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80982 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
His cheeks tightened for a moment, and a faint idea of a smile crossed his face before snapping back to a cold, unfocused stare. “One day, Dad brought home an old, beat-up four-wheeler. Didn’t say where it came from or how he’d managed to buy it. He just parked it in the driveway and ordered us not to touch it. Aiden and me didn’t care. We were pumped that he’d gotten it. We thought it was the coolest thing ever, and we spent all day at school bragging. We lied through our teeth when kids asked if Dad actually let us drive it.”
He paused for a moment, like he was trying to find the right words, before he continued, “Few weeks later, Aiden and me were fucking around, and he noticed that Dad had forgotten the keys in it.”
He blinked his eyes and refocused them, finally looking at me with a shrug. “It was like a personal invitation. It was basically begging us to ride… I still remember winning the coin flip for who got to drive and how it felt to sit on that warm leather seat… I could see the whole world sitting up there. And man, when I started that engine, and Aiden climbed on behind me, I can’t even describe it.”
The energy in the room began to shift, like all the air was slowly getting sucked out as he told me, “Took us out to the back roads behind the house. We could see the sun hitting the river, and that’s when Aiden said...”
A small crack in his voice stopped him for a moment.
He looked down at the ground, shaking his head.
A pained expression marked his face as he cleared his throat hard, physically pushing those feelings back long enough to say, “Aiden said he felt like a king up there.”
His lip quivered, but he quickly bit down on it, stopping it before he spoke again. “We wanted a better view of the river. Thought we’d find a fishing spot for the next time we got out, so I cut between a few fields and…”
I expected to see tears in his eyes.
Instead, I saw rage.
His cheeks turned red as he grumbled, “And for some fuckin reason, I thought it’d be a good idea to hit the gas.”
His muscles tightened, and it didn’t take long to figure out where that rage was directed. “I thought it’d be fun. Thought I’d show off. Saw no reason not to. We weren’t on a main road, so I wasn’t scared of getting caught.”
He stood as he finished his sentence and turned his back to me.
He let out one muffled sniffle and wiped his eyes before letting out a deep sigh and turning back to me. “I knew better. I knew there was a reason Dad didn’t want us riding that damn thing… I knew it was fucking dangerous, and I was testing the limits. But I heard Aiden laugh, and it just egged me on.”
Smitty nodded once, like he was agreeing with himself. “We hit a foxhole, a pretty damn deep one. Ended up jerkin’ the wheel and flipping us.”
His hands lifted slightly, like he could still feel it. “Everything got real quiet for a second. No engine. No yelling. Just that weightless feeling, and then we came down.”
Then his hands dropped, and the garage suddenly felt smaller. Knowing what was coming, my chest tightened as I listened to him say, “The next thing I remember, I was opening my eyes and seeing the clouds. I was fine, barely a scratch on me. I got up, dusted myself off, and then I heard it. Groans, guttural, breathless groans… You ever heard someone try to scream with no air in their lungs?”
He didn’t wait for an answer.
He just stared blankly ahead and said, “I found him pinned under it. The whole damn thing on top of him. The handlebar was square on his chest, and he couldn’t get air. I tried to lift it. God, I tried. I yelled for help and kept pulling, but it wouldn’t budge.”
He took a second to collect himself before he explained, “I had to get help, so I ran. I ran as fast as I could. The whole way, I was screaming for help. Someone heard and got Dad. That part is still a blur. Everybody came running. I remember thinking if I could just run fast enough… if I didn’t waste a second, that he’d be okay. But when we got back…”
He didn’t finish his thought.
He didn’t have to. I knew his brother was already gone. He let out a hollow laugh that didn’t hold any humor. Just pain. Deep, guttural pain. I knew it well. I’d felt it for years, so I understood exactly what he was feeling when he said, “I knew before anyone said it. He wasn’t making those sounds anymore. Dad got the 4-wheeler off him and kept calling out his name, but there was no answer.”