No Alternative: Day 14

Word Count: 84,005

Summary of Events:

Drake accompanied his mom to do back-to-school shopping because the van's tire was flat, leaving his as the only other vehicle available; Drake didn't enjoy the time, as he'd always found his mom to be a poor listener. On Sunday Drake met with Hayden and Rhys, who informed him that their parents — and Calder's — had offered to pay his way through a different school near to Calgary that would teach him how to fly, but Drake balked at accepting the offer, frightened at what his dad might do to him if he did it . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“It would be best if you could get totally free of him, though, and that begins with this opportunity,” Rhys said. “I think it would be a good idea for you to take it, and I know you can keep secrets from your parents, so you should be able to pull it off. They may not even notice that they’re not getting charged money by SAIT.”

“But they’re going to drop me off there,” Drake said.

“I thought you wanted to take your car,” Hayden said.

“Well, even still, they’re going to come along,” Drake replied. “And they’re going to settle me in at SAIT.”

“We’ll get you some directions and as soon as you’re settled in enough that your parents will leave then you can pack everything back up and head off to the other school instead,” Hayden said. “It won’t be that hard.”

“And I probably won’t regret it either,” Drake said. “I’m just really scared.”

“And that’s okay, we’ll talk you through it if you need,” Rhys said. “We’re here for you whenever you need us.”

Drake nodded.

“So are you going to accept the offer?” Hayden asked.

Anguish wracked Drake. He didn’t know why it was so hard to do this. He had wanted to fly ever since he was little, but now that he had the chance he couldn’t bring himself to do it, to actually go ahead and just bite the bullet, take the risk, and not let himself worry about what Dad might or might not do.

“Why–”

“Quiet,” Rhys cut Hayden off. “You know why. You don’t need to ask him again.”

Drake felt about ready to burst into sobs. He’d never actually felt so frightened and torn in his entire life as he did in this moment and it was agonising. He felt like he was evenly split down the middle; exactly half of him wanted to say yes, exactly half wanted to say no.

All he could hear was the deafening silence at his table, he couldn’t hear anyone else in the building, and the silence pressed on him like a weight, it was for him to break, not for Hayden or Rhys.

Not wanting to burst loudly into sobs like Mom had done, Drake put his face in his hands and tried to get a hold of himself. He didn’t know what to do, how to make a decision.

He felt Rhys’ hand settle on his back. Even though it sat still, it seemed to emanate a calm and Drake felt like some of his fear and tension ebbed away. His resolve emerged out of the black and brought with it a swell of rage toward Dad for all of his vicious and controlling efforts against Drake up until this point in his life.

Pulling his face out of his hands he looked at Hayden resolutely. “I’ll accept it.”