Never made it home

Startled at his computer, Chance shuts his laptop quickly and swivels in his chair. Seeing Destiny, the corners of his mouth quirk in a very peculiar manner.

"Tea... is always good." He nods. "Thank you."

Turning his attention back to the desk, he scratches the back of his head and stares at nothing, suddenly feeling much like laughing. However, not knowing if Destiny thought any of this was funny or not, he had no idea if laughing would be a good idea or if it would juts make thing worse. Regardless, it was very hard to keep it in.


Justin nods to Beth, really not minding what she did. He was here to catch his supper - nothing more. He did hope she wasn't just forcing herself to stay here though. He wanted this to be at least a halfway good experience so she'd continue to trust him.

Letting her have her space, he sets to work, taking one pole with a bobber and hooking a worm to it. Casting out a ways into the pond, the bobber lands on the water with a delighted plunk, settling on the little ripples to wait for any passing fish. Justin sets that pole down on the ground to let it sit. Next, he takes a different pole a little longer and fastens a fake lure to it. This one he would cast and reel... cast and reel. The rhythm he picks up is almost mesmerizing and for a while, he just stands along the edge of the pond, casting and reeling, remaining quiet, while the dogs root around in the brush some fifty yards away.

Inch by slow inch, Justin wanders just a little closer to Beth, still not crowding, but at least eventually within talking distance. A bite on his line though, delays what he was about to say. Setting the hook, he fights with a fish for a couple minutes, his pole bending and his line buzzing. Finally getting it close to shore, he produces a nice-sized bass, pleased with the catch. After unhooking it, he retrieves his stringer and slips it through the fish's gills before letting him be back in the water again and fastening the stringer to a nearby rock.

Back to his position, he casts again, hoping for another bass. Waiting a few more minutes, he finally speaks, but keeps his eyes out on the water. "Not to many people come back here... the property belongs to my mother's brother but it's rare anyone else comes. He lets me fish here and I come and weed whack every once in a while to keep it clean."

He pauses to cast again. "When I was a kid, I remember coming here once for a picnic. Didn't have any fishing gear with us though, but I thought it would be a perfect spot. My dad would take me fishing at a creek nearer our house - this was just far enough away that it felt out of reach."

Reeling in his line, he has to remove some moss before casting again. "When I was nine, my dad finally promised that when I turned ten, he and I would come up here for a weekend. I got so excited. We picked out a new tent, got our gear all ready to go - I even wanted to pack the food early, but thankfully my mom stopped me, seeing as though it was as month ahead of time."

Justin grins a little at the memory, reeling and casting once more. "My birthday was mid-week that year, so it came and went and I had to wait until the weekend. My dad left for work on Friday and said he'd be home early that day so we could finish packing and head up here."

His lure plunks in the water and he reels it slowly. "He never made it home that day. There was a car accident and he died instantly."

Pausing, Justin retrieves his lure and picks some more moss from it. Everyone had pain in their past. Some was more tragic than others. Some lasted longer than others. But everyone dealt with pain on some level almost every day. Even him.

"Took me ten years to ever come back here," he admits, casting once more. "I blamed myself for a while - figured if he hadn't been coming home early for me, he wouldn't have gotten in that wreck."

Another pause comes as he tries to set the hook but misses whatever had almost taken his lure. "Finally did come though and it's become one of my favorite spots. So quite... peaceful. It's where I can clear my mind and just... be."

Lapsing into silence again, he didn't really expect much of a response from Beth. He'd simply wanted to share the story with her just so she would know him a little better.