Karen continued driving the next two blocks, but as she got close, she could already tell Jim wasn’t there. His car was nowhere to be seen.

“Shit!” she said, just pissed at the whole situation. He was lying to her, avoiding her, hiding from her, and who knows what else. She didn’t want to admit the possibility that he was cheating on her with Pam. He was too much of a nice guy for that, right? Maybe he was…. Nope, her mind kept going back to Pam. “Shit Shit Shit!”

Karen drove back to her house, and in her mind, decided that wine just wasn’t going to cut it – vodka it is. Lots and lots of vodka.

Jim found himself driving back to his old neighborhood. So many memories of his childhood just came flooding back.

the old train tracks, mostly abandoned, but still a rare train came along every once in a while. the train whistle was always comforting to jim. it reminded him he was safe. once, his friend and him had been walking along the tracks, not really paying attention to anything in particular, just talking. it had been a long day at school, and they were complaining about life. being a teenager is rough, you know. suddenly, john had the sense to look back, and there was a train bearing down on them. they heard the whistle that time. it scared the crap out of them. they jumped off the track and ran.

the lake, half hidden behind soccer field and playgrounds. it was nearly two miles back from the main road, a long windy path. it was a huge lake. it had only frozen once in jim’s memory. he remembered tossing rocks on it, seeing how far it would go. the few ducks in the winter, only able to move in the small, unfrozen area in the middle. the most fun however, was walking around the lake. it was a hidden, dark forest area. there was rarely anyone else around, quite often, jim would be there alone. it was a great place to think, to relax. whenever jim was stressed out, he would go there.

the old, rickety playground, used really only by high schoolers. parents were too scared that the old equipment was unsafe. it was a meeting ground after school. if you got there fast, you could score one of the swings. it was a place to complain about school and being adults (as much as you could feel adult while still in school), and try to go back to when you were little kids, and life was carefree.

the little graveyard, just two blocks down from the elementary school. it was fenced in, the plot of land taken from someone’s yard. it held the remains of the fred family. jim used to make up stories about them when he was little. they lived during the civil war. jim and his friends would always make up battle scenes. jim was always henry fred, the most courageous of the fighters.

Jim pulled over into an empty parking lot and parked. He still had two hours before his class. He pulled out his camera and started walking.