Galaxy Unleashed: Road Trip to New Beginnings

     I used to like summer. I mean, who doesn't? Four months of being with your friends, chilling at the beach, and sleep overs. I'm, like, summer's biggest fan. But it's a little hard to enjoy summer when you're sixteen miles from your friends and on your way to the forest. I was so humiliated when I had to explain to everyone that my grandpa was moving us to a log cabin in the country part of Oregon. He always talked of doing it, but that was just talk. I'm no Super Man, I can't exactly use my mind to turn the truck around. No matter how much I want to. I wish we would at least stop at a gas station to get some food so Ruth would stop drooling all over my purse. But as Grandpa says, tough it out.
     "Grandpa, can we please just stop somewhere? If I sit like this any longer people will mistake me for a praying mantis." 
     "Oh, tough it out." There it is "Once we get there and you see the pond, all you'll have on your mind is catfish." 
     "That is if Ruth doesn't drink it up first." Ruth whimpered like she was hurt from my comment.
     Grandpa laughed and kissed her slobbery muzzle. "Then it'll be easier to catch 'em." He said
     "Ugh." I turned my head back towards the window, avoiding Ruth's pungent breath. I wasn't exactly up for the life of a country girl, but the more we drove the more I kept questioning myself. Like if I would ride a horse, I could definitely trade the dog for a horse. Or would Grandpa teach me to hunt with a gun or a bow and arrow? Maybe I could learn to play guitar or the harmonica. I wouldn't mind hooking up with a nice cowboy. But I still missed home. I missed my friends and our trips to the mall; I'm pretty sure there aren't any malls in the woods.
     Grandpa spoke after a few moments "How ya holdin' up, babe?"
     "I'm tired, I want to sleep in my bed."
     "You can sleep in your bed. I have some cables in the back we can hook ya up to the mattress on the roof."
     "Wow, really?" I said with sarcastic enthusiasm.
     "I promise you when we get to the cabin, you can sleep as long as you want." He said.
     "Really?" I asked with real enthusiasm.
     "Right after you help me unpack."
     "Oh, come on!" Grandpa laughed. His laughter falter, as did his wide smile. "You know, your grandmother and I talked about going to this place long before you were born. Talked hours into the night. She would go on and on about this big and beautiful walk through garden. Filled with flowers of all kinds, tall as the trees."
     "I like flowers." I inquired
     "I know." He replied "She also wanted to grow vegetables. Said it'd be better if we at the vegetables we grew." He looked at me again "What do ya say? Wanna make your grandma's dreams come true."
     "Yeah. Yeah that'd be cool." I said, failing to hide my growing interest in this place.
     The sky had turned a faded blue when I woke up. Ruth was in the back sleeping, practically shaking the truck with her snores. I slowly moved myself back into a sitting position. My eyes adjusted to the dim like and the noise of the highway. "Where are we now?" I asked while I stretched.
     "On the highway. After this we'll be home."
     "Home is, like, thirty-two of these that way." Grandpa laughed again. Then he started coughing uncontrollably. 
     "Did you take the medicine the doctor gave you?"
     "No...We haven't stopped yet." He struggled to regain his breath.
     "Look, maybe you should pull over and take it."
     Grandpa coughed again before turning off the highway to a gas station. When stopped, I turned around and got the bag that contained his medication for his heart. "Here" I said when I handed him the bag.
     "Thanks, babe." I went into get him something to wash it down. There was a broken sign above the door that said 'Pedal Metal Gas.' Though some of the letters were out, making it read 'Peal Ma Gas.' I wasn't too impressed with the place when I walked in either. I hate to admit it, but it smelled worse in there than Ruth did when she ate chili beans. And that was saying something.
     Trying to hide my disgust for this place, I went over to the freezers to get water. By the looks of it, that was pretty much all they had. Chips and water. Most everything else was out of stock. I picked out two water bottles and went up to the cash register. When I got in there were zero people, that's about the same number of people that were working. I decided I couldn't wait any longer, I put the money for the water on the counter and walked out the door. Grandpa looked better after he took the medicine, which I was relieved. After he took a few sips of the water I broke the silence. "What's the real reason you decided to come out here?" He lowered his bottle and stared at his worn down shoes. "Arica, when you retire you just...you just feel like you're free. Free at last. To do whatever the hell you want, and you get payed for it." He took another sip and the looked into my eyes when he finished. "I decided to come here because I am truly a free man now." I looked away. He sounded do serious, his talks of freedom. When he told stories about him being in the war all he talked was about grandma and my mother. That he fought for them. And when he came back home, how happy he was to see his two favorite girls in the world. It made me less about freedom and more about my mother. I could tell he was thinking the same thing, so I built up the courage to ask him. "Where's my mom?" I asked, though I sounded like a little child rather than a teenager. Grandpa looked into my eyes again, more sorrow in his expression than had been before. "She died shortly after you were born." There was silence for a long time. 
     For years, I had the idea that I was just on a very long vacation with my grandpa and that my mother would come and get me at some point. But that would never happen. I struggled to retain the lump in my throat as I got in the truck again. I really should've seen it coming.
     We drove on the highway once more, and slowly I began to get drowsy. The more miles we rode the heavier my eyelids got until finally I gave up and fell asleep again. 
     As I slept, I dreamt that I was an infant in my mother's arms. Safe and sound. Warm in the embrace. I tried to touch her face, but my arms were too tiny. I didn't see anything at all, I could only feel. I felt what seemed like rain drops penetrating the warmth every few minutes. I felt sadness and regret, though I was uncertain why I felt them. Then I heard a voice, a woman's voice, that sounded distant. "It'll be okay." The voice sounded thick with tears. "Daddy'll be home again, and then you can be with your sister." I was so confused at what this voice told me. I didn't even have a sister. The voice sounded more like it was trying to convince itself than me of this notion.
     Suddenly, the truck shook vigorously, pulling me out of my dream. I woke up with a jolt and saw that we were on a gravel road. It was dark now. The sun was just ahead of us, a magnificent shade of red. Grandpa turned left onto a dark, dirt path. Leaving the sunset behind us. Five or six minutes on the road we pulled up onto an opening in the brush. Grandpa pulled up to the cabin and stopped the truck, he looked at it like he was visiting and old friend. "There it is, Arica. Our new home." He said. I, on the other hand, wasn't too sure.