Page 4 of The Grinch who Loved Me
So, Ryland went to school. He did his work and then he left.
He didn’t try to make friends and he did what he had to do to make it through until he got home.
And he got through school each day, but hated the dynamics. The cliques and the girls that believed it was better for them to sleep with any of the popular guys to raise their own popular status to the guys who wanted to see how many girls they could sleep with so that they could win some kind of prize? He didn’t understand it. He often saw how heartbroken the girls were when a guy slept with them and cast them aside like they were nothing.
They thought he wouldn’t notice, but he did. He saw it all and stuck to himself even more. He didn’t want a part of any of the kids at school.
His mom had grown distant since he started school and he didn’t know why. Over Thanksgiving, his mom cooked the food, but didn’t say a single word the entire day and Ryland hated it.
He liked the quiet, but this silence was heavy and sad. And he didn’t know what to do. His dad was oblivious and Ryland didn’t know what to say to either of them.
So he just did what he had to do. Go to school, do his homework and help with his dad in the garage.
He was getting better at fixing cars on his own and he loved that his dad let him do it by himself.
He knew it helped his dad to have him work on some so he could work on others.
They did twice as much and Ryland loved getting lost in the engines.
When December rolled around, normally his mom would decorate the house and buy a tree and or have Rick cut one down, but this year, she got a tiny tree and barely turned the lights on and she didn’t put up any other decorations.
Ryland asked her why that was and she looked over at him, “You are getting older. Christmas isn’t a big deal like it was when you were younger.”
Ryland nodded and let it go. He didn’t tell her that he missed the smell of the big tree or the lights and all of the decorations.
And while he knew it wasn’t the same now that he was older, he wanted to let his mom know that she was loved and appreciated.
And he was actually grateful she had pushed him to go to school. While he didn’t like the kids, he liked learning and did all he could to improve himself with books and his teachers noticed.
His counselor told him that if he kept going the way he was, he would graduate early and Ryland wanted that.
He was proud of himself and he wouldn’t have gotten as far as he had without his mom pushing him.
So, he went to the small town of Celebration and bought her a locket and put a picture of the three of them in it.
It was silly and Ryland wasn’t sure if his mom would like it, but he had taken the time to get it for her and he knew that the thought itself was something at least.
He came home and wrapped the small present and put it away for Christmas morning.
But, when he woke on Christmas morning, it wasn't the smell of pancakes and fresh coffee that woke him.
It was to the sound of someone throwing things against the wall outside in the garage. It was so loud it woke him and. Ryland stumbled from his room and out into the living room.
He walked out to the garage and his dad was there throwing wrenches and flipping his work bench, and Ryland walked in, “Dad?”
Rick hung his head, “She is gone.”
“What? Who is gone?”
His dad looked over at him, “Your mom. She decided that staying here wasn’t worth it. She has always wanted more.Neededmore and I couldn’t give it to her. She wanted to find a place that could give her what she wanted.”
Ryland felt his stomach drop to his toes, “She is gone? But, last night she was here and we ate dinner for Christmas. What do you mean? I don’t understand.”
His dad looked over at him, “She packed her shit last night after I was asleep and she left a note under the tree this morning.”
Ryland saw a piece of paper crumbled at his dad’s feet and walked over to it and unwrapped it and read the note.
It said,
