KADEN WOODALL - FINDING A WAY

Kaden Woodall is currently obtaining their Bachelors in Creative Writing. Currently attending Full Sail University. They have a passion for writing stories. Proud parent of three dogs, Chance, Bella, and Mac. They are currently writing a novel. Kaden lives in the city of Columbus in Ohio.

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​Finding A Way

​The chances of getting picked up by someone in 2018 were rare. What was even rarer was the person who does pick you up isn't a murderer. With his thumb in the air, he continued to walk down the narrow road. Not a single car showed any interest in him. He began to wonder if he had made a mistake. If he turned around now, he could make it back home. He could tear up the letter he left for his parents. He could suffer another day being misunderstood. Then as he sighed in defeat, he heard the honks. BEEP. BEEP. BEEEEP. He turned and saw the rusty, white, pickup truck. The driver pulled over in front of him. He saw it as a sign from the universe to continue his journey.
  He walks over to the passenger side of the truck. The window is rolled down and he looks to the driver. And by the Greek Gods was she beautiful. She smiles at him in a way that makes his brain forget how to introduce itself to hers. Her eyes a were a beautiful brown, like leaves in the fall. And with skin to match. Her hair was down to her shoulders; the color matching his own eyes, black. "Need a ride?"
  His brain finally rebooted, and words weren't just letters mixed around in his head. "Uh yes, yeah, that would be great."
  "Hop on in my friend. My name is Tracy," Tracy informs him. He opens the door and climbs into the pickup
  "My name is Alex, thank you for the lift. I've been walking for almost an hour." Alex tells her. He sets his bag by his feet. The pickup was an older model, which meant inside there was no console between them. Just more cushion in case there were three people in the vehicle. Alex had never been the smoothest when it came to girls. So wasn't exactly sure how close "too close" was. He did his best to sit comfortably with a reasonable amount of space between them.
  "You've been walking for an hour?" Tracy began to drive on the road, "Did your car break down?"
  Alex shakes his head, "Embarrassingly enough, I don't own a car, nor do I know how to drive one."
  "Did some shitty friends invite you out, then ditch you out here?"
  "Nope."
  "Then I must assume you're running away." Tracy correctly deducts.
  Alex slowly nods. He peers out the window watching the trees go by. "Yeah, I just kind of got fed up with my life and decided to find a new one. I just didn't plan out where or how."
  "Home life that bad?" Tracy asked, "Sorry, that was personal."
  "No, it's okay, I'm an open book. It wasn't terrible. I just felt like no one understood me. I'm bi-polar, so I'm always making decisions that no one can follow. I've tried everything from talking to doctors, to taking the medicines they prescribe. Nothing makes me feel any better." Alex screams out the window. "AND I'M TIRED OF COMING HOME AND LOOKING AT MY PARENTS LOOKING AT ME LIKE THEY WENT WRONG WITH ME! I JUST WANT THEM TO TREAT ME AS THEIR SON, NOT SOME BROKEN KID THEY'RE STUCK RAISING!" No one speaks after his outburst. The only sound filling the car is the rushing of the wind and the engine of the truck humming. Alex begins to think maybe he scared his one ticket out.
  "HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT TELLING THEM THAT?" Tracy screams back. The look in her eyes gives away she just might be as weird as Alex saw himself as.
  "I have not...I've said things like that but still to no justice," Alex admits.
  "Well, I say you don't run away. If anything, you can come with me, and we can find ways for them to understand you. I know what it's like to have the fire in your blood." Tracy smiled.
  "You would just let a stranger stay with you?" Alex asked.
  "You're not a stranger anymore. I know you're bi-polar, you know I drive a crappy truck. I think we just became good pals." Tracy states.
Alex decides to leave the moment good while he can. She was right. He didn't need to run away. He just needed a moment to breathe. The best way to start a new life, with a new name. Which he had since Alex wasn't his name at all. They set forward to paradise.