Novel Title: Misgivings
Time Setting: 2022
Genre: Thriller
Minimum Word Goal: 120,000
Timespan: July–August
Locations: Grande Prairie & Woking, Alberta
Main Characters: Greyson Ehrhardt
Background Information:
Born the youngest of three sons and four children to a pig farmer and his wife near Peace River, Greyson had an average childhood, for the most part. It was a bit isolated, though, as his older brothers were five and seven years his senior, respectively, thus they weren’t inclined to play with him, nor was his sister.
Greyson’s family were members of a local church, which they attended regularly unless farm work needed to be done — although that usually only kept his father from attending — as well as being active members of the community.
There was a measure of unpleasantness to being a member of his family, Greyson soon discovered, as pig waste had a particularly pungently unpleasant odour that led to children taunting Greyson for being the son of a smelly pig farmer.
Chief among these taunters was Ashlyn, one of two girls — the other being her best friend Indiana — who lived on the same road as Greyson did who were also in the same grade as him at school. Ashlyn’s parents were also members of the same church as Greyson’s parents.
Ashlyn’s taunts were particularly frustrating to Greyson because of the fact that he felt she blamed him for where her forebears had built their house back before not only he and Ashlyn had been born, but very possibly their grandparents had been born.
Greyson’s family’s farm, was up the road from Ashlyn’s family’s farm, and the two were positioned in just such a way that, for the majority of the year, the prevailing winds blew the unpleasant odour of the porcine waste from Greyson’s family’s farm directly at Ashlyn’s, and she seemed to blame Greyson for that.
To work out his frustrations, Greyson took to pranking Ashlyn, who would reciprocate, prompting him to reciprocate back, and so on, with the two of them getting their friends involved to the point that they became two groups, known simply as ‘the boys’ and ‘the girls’, who would carry out revenge pranks on one another repeatedly, despite the disciplinary efforts of parents and teachers.
The primary conflict remained between Greyson and Ashlyn, although by the time they were getting to the end of their elementary school years, Greyson was starting to tire of it, as Ashlyn’s hatred of him defied explanation, and he was starting to fall for Ashlyn’s best friend and right-hand-girl, Indiana.
Owing to the fact that Indiana was Ashlyn’s best friend, Greyson tried to ignore and deny the feelings, but when Indiana’s family home burnt down, Greyson was compelled to ride his bicycle to the property to see of Indiana was okay, and watched as she was rescued by a firefighter whom she quickly became besotted with despite the fact the firefighter could well have been old enough to be her father.
As a result of that event, Greyson admitted to himself that he had feelings for Indiana, and also decided that he would like to become a firefighter, not only to rescue pretty girls, but to shake off the stigma he felt about being the son of a pig farmer.
Over the next few years, even as Greyson continued his involvement with ‘the boys’ in getting back at ‘the girls’ for their latest act, Greyson continued to harbour feelings toward Indiana that he eventually expressed to her and, after initial scepticism, she reciprocated.
Since she was Ashlyn’s best friend and he was Ashlyn’s worst enemy, however, Greyson and Indiana kept their relationship secret, fearing the wrath of Ashlyn if she were to find out, while also decreasing their involvement in their respective groups’ mischief as much as they could without making anyone suspicious.
When they entered high school, however, Ashlyn ended up falling for a boy who’d spent his previous educational years at a different school from her, and out of a desire to help her win his heart, Indiana started dating that boy’s best friend, promising Greyson that it wouldn’t be serious.
Eventually, however, Greyson determined that Indiana’s relationship with this other boy had become serious, and so he found a new girlfriend in Cassia, who had also grown up attending a different school, and whose father was a firefighter.
When Indiana found out that Greyson had moved on from her — and been fully aware that she’d moved on from him — she became angry, prompting her and Ashlyn to become even more vicious toward Greyson than ever before, to the point that the boyfriends they’d gained actually left them in disgust, as did many of their longtime allies.
Greyson didn’t really care, focusing instead on his relationship with Cassia, as well as on learning everything he could about firefighting from her father, who even started coaching Greyson in what sort of exercises to do so that his muscles were all in firefighting shape.
Despite the fact that Cassia’s parents were devout Catholics, which meant they were as committed as Greyson’s parents to a standard of moral uprightness for their children, Greyson and Cassia discreetly disobeyed their parents’ rules — just as they knew most, if not all, of their older siblings were doing.
Unfortunately for Greyson and Cassia, however, Greyson’s sister came home early from college for Christmas during Greyson’s last year of high school, and so caught Greyson and Cassia alone in the house, something their parents didn’t want them doing. Worse yet, when Greyson’s parents came home from where they’d been, Greyson’s sister told them, inciting reprisal from Greyson’s parents, who had no idea that their other children were similarly lacking in moral uprightness.
As a result, Greyson came to resent his sister, as well as refusing to return to the moral uprightness his parents expected of him, as he saw no point in it. This led to Greyson and his parents developing a contentious relationship, even though his parents were supportive of his desire to become a firefighter, and even gave him financial support to pay his way through fire school.
During his time in fire school Greyson and Cassia grew apart not only because of their physical distance — the nearest such school being some nine hours of driving away from home — but because Greyson had decided he didn’t want to become a firefighter in Peace River, while Cassia wanted to stay in Peace River to work at her aunt’s hair salon.
Following the gradual fade of their relationship, Greyson hasn’t pursued a long-term girlfriend, content with casual, short-term interactions, especially following his graduation from fire school, when he moved to Grande Prairie to join their fire department.
Greyson instead bonded with his fellow firefighters, with his closest bond being forged with Leighton, a firefighter who was as old as Greyson’s oldest brother, but more like a brother to Greyson than Greyson had ever felt either of his biological brothers to be.
Leighton and Greyson had similar upbringings and backgrounds, even if they were far too visibly different to be mistaken as brothers, as well as having different personalities — Greyson being a bit more confrontational while Leighton usually tried to keep the peace — that made some of their fellow firefighters wonder how they could be friends.
Three years into Greyson’s career as a firefighter he and Leighton were part of a crew called in to assist with a multi-alarm fire in Grande Prairie’s industrial district, which they battled for hours before they saw the smallest shred of a sign that the might be making headway against the blaze.
It wasn’t long after that point, however, that one of the firefighters noticed something wrong and alerted everyone to get away from the blaze. Greyson was fleeing when he was knocked unconscious by an explosion.
He woke up in hospital with injuries from flying debris, and was informed by his crew captain that Leighton was one of several firefighters who — having been closest to the blaze when the order to retreat was given — was killed in the blast. Subsequent investigation revealed the fire to have been an arson, and investigators believed that the arsonist — whom they never caught — had intended for the explosion to occur, and to cause deaths.
Greyson was devastated to learn of Leighton’s death, and he became wracked with guilt at the funeral, as Leighton had left a young daughter behind who mourned her father deeply. Greyson felt that he should’ve been in Leighton’s place, as that way Leighton’s daughter would still have her father.
Soon Greyson was experiencing vivid, horrific nightmares that only got worse when he, having recovered from his injuries, returned to work, where Greyson would also have vivid flashbacks that compromised his ability to be useful.
Eventually Greyson was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress, and even if the treatment was helping, Greyson still struggled, and eventually, with great reluctance, admitted that he could no longer be a firefighter, but would have to find some other job, not that he knew what, as even living in Grande Prairie was difficult for him because of all the memories he’d formed in the city with Leighton.
As a result, Greyson looked outside Grande Prairie for a job, which led to his returning to his agricultural roots, but not so far as to return to a pig farm; Greyson was deeply opposed to ever doing that — in fact, he didn’t really want to work with any livestock.
Instead, Greyson got work with a custom farming company who would sow, care for, and harvest crops on behalf of other farmers, as he not only knew a thing or two about crop farming because his father had done some, but because he had the appropriate class of driving license to do so, as it was the same class needed to drive a fire truck.
Unfortunately the company’s base of operation is located at the hamlet of Woking, nearly an hour’s drive north of Grande Prairie, which makes for a long commute, especially during seeding and harvest, when days run long to make the most of good weather.
As a result, Greyson has been in the hunt for a place to rent — as he doesn’t intend to return to agriculture for good, it’s just something that’s making him money for the present — in the area, which is easier said than done, as there are few rental opportunities, even in the larger villages near the little hamlet, and what few there are currently have paying renters in them.
Unable to find a different job for which he’s already somewhat qualified, Greyson wants to find a place to rent before harvest kicks off, thus he, somewhat reluctantly, has decided to check out a mobile home located on the farm of a man who’s not held in very high esteem, being considered a suspicious and shifty character, on top of being downright unfriendly.
Pronunciations:
Grande: Grand
Ehrhardt: airhart
Leighton: laytuhn
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