Back in the Saddle

Maybe This Will be a Good Thing

Karl's POV:

It's been three days since my talk with Headmaster Wiley, and I'm a wreck. I went back and got everything sorted out, essentially dropping out. When I got home that night, I bawled into my pillow for two hours while Schlatt did his best to comfort me. After I had finally calmed down, Schlatt brought up the one thing I had been avoiding thinking about because I didn't want to deal with it: where I would go.

Now I'm pacing around my room, my thumb hovering above the call button, just as it had been for the past twenty minutes. I already know what the answer will be, but I'm embarrassed to ask. I'm embarrassed because I feel like I've just become what everyone thought I would be. I'm a disappointment and I know it, I know he would be disappointed. And now I have to go groveling at my family's feet, begging them to house me until I can get my life--and my mind--together.

I take a deep breath, deciding that I'm finally ready, and press the call button. It only rings twice before she answers and my ears are greeted with the sweet sound of my aunt's voice.

"Good evening, Karl! How are you? Are you doing alright?" she asks, trying to be polite. But I can see through the mask; I can tell she's concerned.

"Yeah, I'm great! I'm... actually, aunt Kristen I'm not good," I mumble. I was gonna try and keep it together and not get emotional, but it chose now to finally hit me. I really lost my scholarship, after all of the work I'd done. "I lost my scholarship."

The last words are barely audible and are met with a pitiful silence. She doesn't say anything, just listens quietly while I cry and try to explain what happened. Once I've finally choked out the words, I hear her sigh, and then she asks if she can step away for a minute. I say yes, of course, and can hear her voice slightly in the background as she talks to my uncle. Not even three minutes passes before she's back.

"Karl, of course you can come stay with us. I know the kids would be delighted to have you here, and seeing what you've been through in the past year, it's the least we could do."

"Thank you," I mumble through sniffles, for once grateful for their understanding and concern. "How soon can I be there?"

===

I stuff the last of my things into the backpack I intend to take on the plane and take a second to stare at my empty room. The pictures I once had are gone, along with my clothes and bedding. There are no longer any posters on the walls or old food bags lying around. It is just empty. It feels like it did when I first arrived, but that was a much happier time than this.

He was here when I first got here. He was so happy, jumping on the bed and talking about how jealous he was that I'd get to live here and he wouldn't. I just laughed at him the whole time, saying how he could spend all his time here and I wouldn't care at all. And he did, which is what led to his demise in the end.

I slam the door, walking away from the memories. Schlatt stands by the door, arms open and a sad smile on his face. I embrace him, and though it's awkward, it's nice.

"It's been a nice few years. You were a good roommate and I'll miss you, man," he says after I pull away.

"Same to you. Don't party too much, stay in school," I joke, though there's barely anything behind it.

"Take care of yourself, Karl."

I nod a little and grab my suitcase, heading out the door and offering him a little wave. My Uber waits outside and I quickly hop into the backseat, settling in for the drive to the airport. As we leave the parking lot, I stare out the window at the school I called my home for the past three years. The first two were the best years of my life, and the third washed all of that away in the blink of an eye.

Do I regret the time I spent there? I honestly don't know. In some ways it's the cause of the accident, but in others it shaped me into the person who was able to move past that... to an extent. In the end, the accident was my fault and will always be my fault, nothing will change that.

I wipe a tear away from my eye and turn to stare out the windshield.

===

My knee bounces as I stare out the window, waiting for the plane to take off. The cabin is quiet as everyone tries to get settled, making themselves comfortable for the two to three hour flight. The couple sitting in the two seats next to me keeps whispering to each other quietly. They aren't bothering me, but I can't help but overhear their conversation.

They're talking about how eager they are to see their son again: from what I can tell, one of them was deployed and the other came to retrieve her in order to surprise their son. The one who was deployed keeps repeating how anxious she is and how she can't wait to see the look on his face when she shows up at the house. It makes me smile to hear about how much they all love each other, something I didn't ever know a lot of.

There's a reason why I'm going to stay with my aunt and uncle and not my own parents. They separated when I was young and I lived with my mom for the majority of my life. My aunt and uncle are from her side of the family and I was really close to them growing up, since my mom was an alcoholic and I always needed somewhere to stay when she was either gone or drunk.

When I turned eighteen and graduated from high school, receiving my scholarship, I immediately moved out of my mom's house. She hardly bat an eye when I told her about the reward I'd gotten, and she merely said "okay" after I told her I was moving out. I tried to call her weekly for a while, but when she stopped answering I stopped trying. She never really cared about me, so I don't see the point in putting the effort in anymore.

Kristen and Phil have always been my real family, and I view their kids as my siblings. My dad completely cut off contact with me after the divorce, and since my mom was so closed off they became my world. But then they moved back to Britain, where Phil is from, so the kids could see the other side of their heritage. I was about eleven at the time, and I was twenty when they moved back to America. Now I'm twenty-two, and I haven't seen them since they came here for Christmas when I was sixteen. I miss them a lot, so I am actually pretty happy to be going to them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help but overhear that you're surprising your son?" I say to the ladies next to me after I've gathered up the courage.

"Why, yes we are!" the one who came to get her wife answers with a beautifully happy smile.

"Well, I hope everything goes amazing. I'm sure he'll be very excited to see you again, ma'am," I reply, the last part specifically aimed towards the woman who was deployed.

"That's very kind of you, son. What's your name?"

"Karl."

"It's lovely to meet you, Karl. I'm Antoinette, but you can call me Tony, and this is my wife Cecilia," Tony, the one who was deployed, says with a wonderfully sweet and southern accent. "So what brings you to Texas?"

"I'm actually moving here!" I respond politely.

"That's great to hear! Hopefully we'll run into you, sometime," Cecilia says.

"I really hope so."

I already love these ladies so much.

Word Count- 1350

a/n- i have like nothing to say so can i just rant for a minute about how crappy my computer is? i have two of them, one is the one i write on because its actually good but its a school computer, so i cant log ontowattpad on it. then the other is the one i upload on, and its literally the biggest piece of crap and i hate it with a passion. thats all. thank you for your time.