Renew by Charlotte Michelle

Author:Charlotte Michelle [Michelle, Charlotte]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Limitless Publishing, LLC
Published: 2018-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

Past and Present

*Maddox*

May 9, 2010

“You are a very lucky young man. It is a rare opportunity for a family such as the Crane’s to offer their home to delinquents. You must always remember that.” My social worker, a bald man named Steven, says from beside me.

I refuse to meet his gaze, staring at the trees as we drive away from Chicago and closer to my own personal hell: Grove, Oklahoma…Yes, we’re driving. Apparently delinquents don’t get the luxury of traveling by aircraft.

I can’t believe this happened to me. I can’t believe all it took was a stupid old man getting behind my truck! Nile, five years older than me, is sentenced time in jail. A part of me silently wishes I could serve my time with my brother-in-law. Because I know there will be a reckoning when he gets out.

Nile will make me pay for getting off easy. He’ll want to settle the score. If only I were eighteen, this would not be the case.

But instead, a stranger with the name of Missy Crane decided to play hero and offered her ranch labor as a way for me to pay off my debt to society. What did this woman think she was doing? Steven McBaldwin, over here, tells me that she has two children. Is she willing to submit her children to the likes of me?

Now, I have to muck out stalls and tend the fields and whatever pile of horse-manure jobs they gift me. I only have a year. One year until I can go back to my family and await my real punishment.

“Don’t take their kindness for granted. Keep your head down, be polite, and promise me one thing, Cameron.”

Sighing, I turn my head to look over at my social worker. The car pulls to a stop and I peek outside to see a vast amount of land filled with horses and cattle. I hear dogs barking in the distance and even the sounds of birds through the supposed soundproof vehicle. I notice the red barn from the corner of my eye but ignore it as I await the promise I am asked to keep.

“Don’t fall in love with this life. It’s not for you. Get your work done and go home. I have known the Crane’s for a long time and they don’t need to be mixed up with you any longer than necessary.” I slightly tense at the intensity in Steven’s eyes. He genuinely cares for these people and wishes to protect them…from a seventeen-year-old kid.

I scoff at the notion of actually enjoying my life here, in the dirt and dust of Oklahoma. I bleed for the city and that won’t change. No matter what.

I open the car door and step out, listening to the crunch of gravel beneath my feet. I take in my surroundings fully. The white house is quite large, sporting a well-kept garden and a walkway from the porch to the driveway.

There are three large pastures, two containing horses, and one containing cattle.

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