The Land of Rabbits: Long Shot Love Duet (Book One) by Aven Jayce

Author:Aven Jayce [Jayce, Aven]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Beautiful Dirty Press
Published: 2016-07-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

THE LAND OF RABBITS

I’VE FELT THIS once before... a shift in my behavior. At eighteen I was aware I had become a different person from two years earlier. At twenty, I’m starting to feel that way again.

Unfortunately, my family will always treat me like I’m sixteen. I’ve moved from one period of my life to the next, but to them, I’ll be a kid forever. I suffered through it with my mom and now my aunt’s treating me the same way. When I’m thirty, I’ll still be perceived as a teen.

There’re also times when a change occurs overnight.

Today, I’m noticing my surroundings in greater detail. I’m taking deeper breaths, slower strides, and have an enormous smile—flashing it to every person I pass along the Hudson River Trail.

My hair’s soaked from the rain, but the fresh scents of wet fields, leaves, and bark, have given me renewed energy. Life is going to be okay. It doesn’t have to be difficult unless I make it that way. I don’t need my cell, a closet jam-packed with clothes, or a giant house and fancy cars like Brian and Nadine have. I don’t need to look at stupid shit on my iPad, or tweet what I had for breakfast, wasting hours of my day online—lost moments with nothing gained. I don’t want to watch mindless television shows or go shopping at the mall for outfits I won’t wear a year later.

Has that gotten my family anywhere?

They’re miserable. The money and stuff they buy doesn’t change the fact that they’re unhappy with one another. They spend to hide their depression and loneliness. I’m not falling into that trap. It’s a pretend world.

Last night, I got home from hanging out with Quinn and crawled into a queen canopy bed with my uncle’s dog, Baxter, by my side. He was dressed in his usual bedtime T-shirt with the stenciled words, spoiled prince on his back. Today, I’m transforming my world, walking away from what my mom expected of me, flipping the bird to my aunt and uncle’s routine.

I’ve thought of Quinn’s old home and now his new one, realizing his decision to take to the streets was necessary; mine isn’t. He’s been pushed here, I’ve been led here, but now we’re both here.

This landscape that surrounds me is another reason I feel differently today. My head’s clearing from the warm rain after weeks of dry summer weather. The river’s movement and the sounds of the raindrops hitting the leaves as they make their way to the ground creates a hypnotizing rhythm—pitter-patter, pitter-patter, dot-dot-dot—the drops sounding like Morse code, water running down my nose, my feet wet, body revived... it’s romantic... I’m vanishing into the land while focusing on its tranquility.

The walk’s much farther than I remember from last weekend. I’m way up on the trail, hidden from the busy downtown area, about twenty minutes north of Riverfront Park.

Before I came down, I took a bus to the sporting goods store and bought a small, cheap tent. It’s supposed to be waterproof and will be perfectly fine just for sleeping.

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