Supernova Souls - Ryan Upchurch

-17-

Flames rose from the burn barrel in the corner of the backyard, smoke rising up from the black metal that had been burned to the point of no return years ago. Sparks landed in the dead grass around the barrel, all the while the red flames danced in the eyes of one young teenager in the grass near two Chevys.

Zach grabbed a bacon treat from the bag of dollar store dog treats he'd gotten a couple days ago and broke it in half. "Diesel! C'mere boy." He patted his lap. "Diesel!"

Diesel's cropped ears went up at the sound of his name, and he raised his head from the grass, tired eyes scanning over the backyard for the person that had yelled his name. Zach motioned with his hand for the dog to come, and patted the grass next to him. "Come,"

Diesel laid there for a moment, staring at the boy, then went to him to see what the fuss was about when he realized there was a treat in his hand. "Sit." Diesel sat, his head hung low to sniff Zach's hand. "Good boy." He petted the black pitbull's head and opened his hand, revealing half of a bacon treat in the middle of his palm.

The dog's tail wagged back and forth so fast it could've made a home run if someone threw a baseball at his tail, and smacked the ground with a few light thuds every now and then. Zach opened his arms wide and Diesel put a paw on his knee, head cocked to the side in confusion. He nodded and Diesel huffed out a breath and flopped down onto his lap on his back with his paws up in the air. The force of the fully-grown pit practically body slamming Zach knocked him back onto the grass, and he laughed while Diesel rolled himself over on top of his owner-that frequently called himself the dog's big brother as a joke-and crawled up onto his chest and licked his face.

"That boy's such a mess," Sam shook his head as a grin spread across his weathered face. His eyes trailed away from the window and back inside the little trailer they called home since Delilah was three. He took a seat at the kitchen table and reached up to adjust his favorite black hat with the word Vietnam Veteran written in big, bold, gold stitching. "But he's a good kid."

"That good kid stole the keys to your truck and got it impounded, too." Delilah said, making a shitty attempt at trying to blow a stray hair that had fallen in her face while she kneaded the dough for the biscuits she had decided on making for breakfast. She hadn't started the gravy yet.

Sam's grin faltered. "I made worse mistakes than that when I was his age." Delilah turned to grab her rolling pin and Sam nodded towards the black Bunn coffee pot that had just finished brewing mere moments ago. "Mind gettin' me a cup a coffee when you get done?"

"Mhm." Delilah said.

She turned back towards the counter where the biscuit dough was and didn't realize Silver was right at her heels until it was too late—she had stepped on her paw. Silver yelped and jumped back. "Silver, baby, I'm sorry." She quickly patted the lab's head. Silverado looked up at her and gave her the cutest, saddest puppy dog eyes she had ever seen in her life.

Delilah sat the rolling pin down on the counter and knelt down on the tile floor and wrapped her arms around the adorably sweet dog and hug her. "I'm sorry Sil, I am, I didn't mean to step on your little paw." She pulled back to look into Silver's puppy dog eyes. "You wanna go outside?" She wagged her tail and got up to follow Delilah to the back door where she opened the glass door, then the screen door and ran outside to Zach and Diesel.

An hour and a half later, she was out the door and on her way to her favorite truck—her 2015 Silverado 2500HD— with one of her dads hand-me-down hoodies that was too small for him on, dirty jeans that she'd worn the day before, and her boots.

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Authors note

Sorry it took me all week to get out a new chapter, I was hoping to get it out by Friday but it didn't work out because I didn't have much written (thanks writers block), and this ended up being more of a filler chapter. I promise after this one things are gonna start picking up.