Prodigal

Farmlands as far as the eye could see passed through the windows of the bus. Only the trees visible through the front window suggested this area was home to something besides endless crops and bored-looking cows. Riley B awoke with a shake. She had fallen asleep with her book still open in her lap. Candide, or Optimism by Voltaire, from which she had learned the bus line Leuven - Roaming she was currently on existed for the sole purpose so that one day she would be asleep on it. Roaming City, the idea that after five years she’d be back there filled her with dread, but also a comfort she desperately craved. She closed the book and wrapped it in a tote bag which she then neatly put in her backpack. After all these years it was high time she picked up the remaining shards of her shattered life.

A dozen kilometers away in east Roaming, a car mechanic named Felicita Santarossa (but nobody actually calls her that), raced her bike onto the shopping center parking lot. In her haste she nearly crashed into a couple headed for O’Jenny’s Traveling Bakery. ‘Sorry! My bad!’ she shouted as she maneuvered through the parked cars. She pulled her brakes hard and came to a stop in front of a store with the name “Stark Video” painted on the window. Her heart felt like it was about to pound out of her chest, and only slightly due to the physical effort of coming here. She jumped off her bike, forgot to lock it and ran straight for the door. She threw it open with such force that it startled the short woman sitting behind the cash register named Jozefien Sterckx (but don’t you dare call her that), daughter of the founder and current de facto owner of the video store.

‘Flick, where’s the damn fire?’ Joey asked.

‘Riley is …’ Flick tried to talk between gasping for air. ‘She's coming home.’

Riley B, Joey Stark and Flick Ross had been lifelong friends who grew up in Roaming City. That is until they graduated from high school five years ago. Suddenly all their talk of leaving Roaming City behind once the world was their playground became very real. For Riley it was serious. Flick and Joey however were less eager to skip town and instead decided to further their education locally and ended up taking jobs as a car mechanic and a video store clerk respectively. Riley was furious and the three got into the biggest fight of their lives. Then one day not long after, without a word, Riley was gone from Roaming City and they never heard a word from her.

Joey’s eyes widened. ‘No way! She’s finally back?’

‘Her mom just called me like 10 minutes ago. Riley’s on the bus right now,’ Flick said.

‘I wish we had more of a heads-up so we could properly roll out the welcome wagon,’ Joey said.

‘Does she even want to talk to us after all that happened?’

‘After all what happened? We yelled at each other a bunch and then five years passed. I don’t care, you don’t care, her being back here probably means she no longer cares. Let’s just move on and get the gang back together,’ Joey said.

‘Well, I rell hope you’re right.’

‘Where do you think she’ll go first? I mean her parents moved but the house next door still belongs to her family, right?’

‘Knowing B she’ll probably head to the Falconbeak first though. She’s sentimental like that. Also the reason they never sold, I’d wager.’

‘Then it’s settled. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on the Baster house, you go down to the Falconbeak. Whoever spots Riley first texts the other. I can’t close right now anyway,’ Joey leaned in for a whisper. ‘See those two in the gaming section? I’m pretty sure the blonde one is Patricia Scarberry.’

Flick discreetly turned her head and saw the two girls, one a short rather androgynous blackhead, and a taller blonde girl in a stylish brown jacket who did carry herself with a certain elegance.

‘The richest girl in town? What’s she doing in a place like this? No offense,’ Flick said.

‘I don’t know but I’d rather not kick her out.’

‘Fine, you stay here and smooch up the rich kid, I’ll go find our dear lifelong friend by my lonesome.’

‘You know I didn’t mean it like that,’ Joey pouted.

‘I’m just joking. Of course I know B means a lot to you too. Text me if you see her. Talk to you in a bit.’

Felicity closed the door of Stark Video behind her, took her bike and headed back south along the Roaming ring road. A few minutes later she stopped at Hiker’s Gathering, the small parking lot with benches and vending machines for those setting off into the southern Roaming forest (although the machine for bread was rather out of place for that purpose). Flick got off her bike, locked it and started walking the pebble trail running parallel to the Minor Tamare, one of two rivers circling Roaming City and which flowed into the Major Tamare at the point popularly dubbed “the Falconbeak”, property currently in the hands of Lorenzo Santarossa. It was there that in their youth the fathers of the three girls had built them the clubhouse where they had spent many weekends and vacation times, a two-storey wooden cabin partially concealed in the nearby vegetation. It had been their own corner away from the world throughout high school. Flick and Joey still occasionally visited but it had never been the same without their third musketeer. Most of the time they just came to clean up the place and to make sure it had survived winter or whatever storm had passed a previous night. They would have liked to spend more time at their favorite haunt, but as it stood the cabin did little for them except to highlight the absence of Riley.

Flick marched on, and the Falconbeak cabin came into view.

And there she was. Riley B was here.

She still wore the trademark postboy cap she was never seen without, although likely a newer model, and her dark brown hair still didn’t reach below her shoulders. Its lighter shade probably meant she had stopped dying it. Her clothing was dark and somber but much less punk than Flick was used to. She stood slumped over with a backpack at her feet, staring at the side of their clubhouse at a crude drawing of the themselves they had once burned into a plate of wood with magnifying glasses when they were kids. Flick pulled out her phone and quickly texted Joey ‘B @ the Beak’, then she gathered her courage to actually approach her friend. This took far longer than was ideal.

‘I thought I’d find you here. Your mom called ahead of you,’ Flick finally said as she stepped forward.

Riley simply stood there. She didn’t move except for a slight shiver that came over her when she heard Flick’s voice. Her lips parted slightly but she didn’t say a word.

‘Riley, please talk to me.’

‘Felicity…,’ Riley finally murmured.

‘You know you used to just call me “Flick”, or you know, “The Red Saint”.’

‘Back when we were friends.’

‘Isn’t that what we are, still? B?’

Riley’s hat obscured her eyes, but Flick could tell she had started crying. With a deep sigh she turned to face Flick with her eyes turned puffy red and tears running down her face.

‘I’m so sorry, Flick. I wanted to call so many times but I was afraid you guys would still mad at me, then I hadn’t called for so long that I was embarrassed for not doing it earlier, and then...’

Flick closed in to embrace her best friend. Riley stood still at first, then reciprocated.

‘It’s okay, B. I know we yelled a bunch but we weren’t really mad at you, we just wanted you back. It was only a bad moment that got out of hand.’

‘I was so horrible. I just wanted to disappear. Maybe I deserved this, for never considering how I made other people feel.’

Flick stroked Riley’s hair. ‘Oh Riley B, what the hell has the world done to you?’

‘The world didn’t do this to me, Flick. I did.’

The sound of rustling pebbles revealed the presence of Joey Stark closing in. Patricia Scarberry and the unknown girl with her had already left the store with a copy of Monster Hunter Generations when Joey had received Flick’s message. She threw on her coat and closed the store, drove her car to the Gathering and then ran to the Falconbeak as fast as she could.

‘Well this is all rather touching, isn’t it’ Joey said.

‘Joey.’

Riley tried once again to explain and apologize for her actions but Joey simply held up her hand to silence her.

‘No need to start up the apologies and waterworks again for my sake, big girl. I’m just glad you are back,’ Joey said. ‘But never run away again because next time you lose your sense I’m coming after you myself.’

‘It’s a deal,’ Riley said with a smile.

‘Great, so we can finally get Falconbeak back together.’

‘It was never the same with just the two of us,’ Flick said.

‘You’re still going to move back in next door though, right?’ Joey asked.

‘That was the plan. My parents are content enough with their apartment in Middelkerke, so the house is mine alone for the foreseeable future,’ Riley said.

‘Sounds like a party to me,’ Joey said.

‘And beyond that? I mean you’ll be looking for a job, right? Flick asked.

‘I’m not sure yet. Didn’t dare to think about it, honestly. Five years switching through college and university courses and I’ve got nothing to show for it.’ Riley kicked a rock into the river. ‘That’s going to be a big dent in my employability.’

‘You’ll be fine. Roaming City was never exactly the center of the Enlightenment,’ Joey said.

‘Plus we’ve got your back again, B. Your mistake was thinking you had to do everything by yourself,’ Flick said.

‘Thanks guys, I just wish I didn’t screw everything up only to end up being such a failure anyway.’

‘Riley, there’s no zoo anywhere in the world housing any animals called “failures” and you sure as hell aren’t going to be the first one discovered in the wild. You tried, it didn’t work out. Big deal,’ Flick said.

Joey clapped her hands. ‘So uhm. Are we going to further reminisce here or is it about time we get you home?’

‘I would very much like to go home now, if it’s alright with you guys. To be honest doing this right here was the part that scared me.’

‘Yeah, dad still helps me out with the bookkeeping but other than that he pretty much retired from the store. I own Stark Video now, de facto at least,’ Joey said.

The trio had started back on their way along the Minor Tamare towards the Gathering.

‘Wow, living the dream,’ Riley said genuinely but with a hint of envy. ‘You talked about working your dad’s store for as long as I’ve known you.’

‘Yeah, the idea was slightly more glamorous as a kid who wanted to just watch movies all day instead of doing her homework, but still, glad I did it. Oh, and I guess I’ll need to introduce you to my cat Paka.’

Riley frowned. ‘Since when are you a cat person?’

‘Since it turned out bibi’s cat wasn’t sterilized and I got first pick of the litter, otherwise he might have had to go to the shelter. Sweetest thing you’ll ever meet though.’

‘Yeah, unless it hates you for literally no reason.’ Flick showed off a claw mark on her right arm. ‘Darn thing can’t see me without taking a swipe at me.’

‘What about you? Did you take over your dad’s garage too?’ Riley asked.

Flick shook her head. ‘Nah. He isn’t even considering retiring yet. But he did employ me as a mechanic.’

‘Yes, that I can see.’

In her hurry Flick hadn’t had taken the time to change out of her overalls earlier.

‘Hey, I would have showered and changed into something more fancy if I had prior warning we’d be doing the reunion thing.’

‘We could still dunk you in the river,’ Joey said.

‘No the point is to get her more clean,’ Riley joked. However she quickly turned to study Flick’s face worried that she might have actually offended her.

‘What? Do I look that bad?’ Flick responded more to Riley’s look which confused her rather than the ribbing she was used to (and had missed).

‘Oh no, sorry. It’s just that I sounded more mean than I had intended. I didn’t want to actually hurt you,’ Riley said.

‘B, it’s fine. Are you okay? I’ve never known you to be this self-conscious.’

Riley sighed deeply and stopped walking. The other girls stopped too and exchanged worried glances at each other.

‘Look, it’s just that over the last five years I’ve had a lot of time to think. I used to just say whatever was on my mind but I never really considered how it made other people feel. I just felt like this might be one of those moments where I always screw up.’

‘Riley, wow. If I had known you were that mean to yourself when you’re alone me and Flick would have come to get you much sooner.’ Joey grabbed both Riley’s hands. ‘Don’t you dare do this to yourself, alright? Especially when you’re with us. We know you better than anyone so we can damn well tell when you’re just joking around.’

‘I just don’t want to mess things up. I don’t want to lose you guys again.’

‘You won’t, B, just don’t lose yourself. We already loved you the way you were,’ Flick said.

Back at the Gathering, Flick unlocked her bike. ‘Gimme a second to put this thing away.’ She ran with it across the street towards her dad’s car repair shop and safely put it out of sight. Then she returned to her friends.

‘Right, so I guess we’re done here.’ Joey took out her keys and pressed the car lock button. One of the nearby cars audibly unlocked.

‘BMW. Not bad,’ Riley said.

‘Yeah, I need it to get to work. All the way to work. Every day!’ Joey said.

‘It’s literally farther to get to your car than it is your store, isn’t it?’ Flick said.

‘As you can imagine, those kilometers add up quickly,’ Joey continued snarking. ‘Come on, get in.’

The girls departed along the ring road. On the backseat Riley gazed through the window, taking in every detail of her hometown and the ways in which it had changed over the last 5 years, and in the many ways it hadn’t. Most of it was exactly as she remembered it, with the exception of a handful of stores that had rebranded or gotten a new coat of paint.

‘I guess it’s good your parents never sold the house, huh?’ Flick said.

‘Well, they have been back a couple times. Besides, I don’t think they’ll ever have the heart to sell the property where Irvin Jensen died. Heck, if the Starks weren’t close friends I doubt they would have ever split the plot in the first place,’ Riley said.

‘Wait, Jo’s house is on land that used to belong to your family?’

‘Yeah, that’s why we’re basically sharing a driveway, just with a fence between,’ Joey said.

‘Huh, that explains a lot.’

Then came the shopping center at the strip mall with on the left corner Stark Video, followed by the Stark family house. Joey turned the car right onto the driveway, which now had put their destination to the left still.

‘Here we are. Your castle eagerly awaiting the return of it’s queen,’ Joey said.

‘Thank God. Last night I had a dream I’d come here and it would have been burned down,’ Riley said. ‘That and something about rubber duckies, I think.’

‘We’d have mentioned that sooner if it had,’ Flick said as she brushed a strand of hair from her face.

‘You know, 5 years of commuting between cramped student housing and my parents’ apartment by the coast, I’m actually glad to be home again.’

‘You should be, B. Falconbeak once again complete, it’s going to be great,’ Joey said.

The three girls stepped out of Joey’s car.

‘I would offer you guys a drink but I’m not sure there’s still anything edible in here,’ Riley said as she unlocked the front door.

She walked in with Joey and Flick in tow. An early autumn breeze rustled the leaves of the tree in Riley’s front yard. A little further cars hurried along in both directions along the ring road. Thousands of people went about their day unaware of it, and about the same amount of people would have cared if they were, but after five long years Riley Baster had come home to Roaming City.

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