Heart Hope | Tradley

a burning scratch and an aching head

Bradley saw the bright city lights multiply as his father made the turn to get out of the highway. Twilight had been around half an hour ago and he was completely tired because of the long road trip. He took his camera from inside the bag at his feet and filmed for some minutes the way to the agency.

As they arrived to the office, his father handed him some money and told him to buy dinner while he grabbed the keys and signed the paperwork. Brad got out of the car and shut the door behind him, waking up the golden retriever that was asleep on his lap with the act. Stretching his legs after those long hours was relieving. He let out a yawn before walking a few steps to the passenger's window.

"What do you want for dinner, mom?" He asked watching her look at the options around the street.

"Thai food sounds good." She answered pointing at the restaurant further at the other side of the street.

"So we shall have Thai for dinner!" The brunette said with a smile before walking away from the car and crossing the street.

He didn't need to look at the menu to know what to order since they always ordered Thai when everybody was too lazy to cook. Brad sat on a chair at the waiting room, took his phone off his pocket and went through his notifications. They were mostly twitter notifications and some messages. One of them was from his sister to remind him to call her as soon as they got there. What he did right after reading it.

"Little brother!" Natalie picked up at the second ring.

"Hey, Nat."

"Are you already at the house?" She asked with the same energetic voice tone she had picked up.

"No. I'm grabbing some Thai for dinner. Dad is at the agency and mom is at the car." He explained.

"Oh, and how is she?"

"She's fine, actually happy I think. She'll probably call you tomorrow to check out on you as the other days till winter break." That made her laugh. His attention was caught by the screen with his order number flickering red. "My order is ready, I have to go."

"Okay. Don't forget to save me the biggest room!"

"You wish! Bye, Nat!" Brad said with a smile before getting on his feet.

"Bye, Brad!" Natalie said before hanging up.

Bradley grabbed the bags with his order at the counter and left the building. His father was waiting for him outside the car chatting with his mom through the window. He handed the bags for his mom to carry before walking to the backseat and joining Jesse there while his father turned the car on.

"I phoned Nat to tell her we arrived while I was waiting for the food." The boy said looking through the window.

"Why didn't you wait so I could talk to her too?" His mom asked sounding a little disappointed.

"She was a little busy, but I promised her you'd call her tomorrow so you could properly chat."Okay, he had told her a little lie, but he just didn't want his mom to be upset.

"Oh, okay!" She agreed. A smile made its way back to her face.

Bradley stared at the city streets as the GPS guided his father through the neighbourhoods till they reached their final destiny.

From the outside, the house seemed smaller than their previous one. There was a garden in the front that stretched to the backyard. By the way it looked Brad thought it hadn't been touched for a while.

His father handed him the font door's key before all of them climbed out of the car. He headed to the front door with his mother and Jesse while his father opened the garage. The dog ran inside as he opened the door and stood in the darkness using his phone lantern to find the light switch.