Chapter 26

Ren looked around the beach. It was such a beautiful night. The stars were shining. There was a slight breeze blowing in from the ocean. As he looked around, there did not appear to be anyone else on the beach. He sat there watching the waves roll in and out. This is so peaceful, he thought to himself. Then, he noticed an orange light shining from behind him. He quickly turned his head to see the beach was on fire. Not again, he thought to himself. Ren looked to the right and the left, and the fire was spreading around him. He turned toward the water, and it, too, was on fire. The breeze had stopped, and the waves had stopped rolling in and out. The water just sat there on fire. Ren could feel the smoke getting into his lungs. He started coughing. “Help,” he called out weakly. “Please help me,” he yelled with all of his strength. Then a mighty wind began to blow, and the flames quickly were blown out. Ren was left on the beach with the stars back in the sky and the waves starting to roll in again. He looked around and could tell the sand had been on fire, but it was gone now. “Ren! Wake up!” Ren woke up startled. “What is going on?” he asked, trying to get his bearings. “You were yelling in your sleep,” his dad answered. “You are here,” Ren stated. “Yes, I got home a couple of hours ago. Are you okay?” his dad asked. “Yeah, it was just a dream. A strange, frightening dream, but just a dream. I think,” Ren answered while he thought about everything he had just seen. Then, his father noticed the letters strewn everywhere. “Where did these come from?” he asked. “From the box in your room,” Ren answered angrily. “Oh,” his dad said as he sat on the bed. “What the heck has been going on?” Ren yelled. “You don’t understand,” his dad replied, hoping to calm his son down. “I should have talked to you about this years ago, but I could never get the courage to do it,” Scott Carter continued. “Well, here it goes. Back when your mom and I split up, I was hitting my stride with my job. I was bringing in lots of money and had some very powerful friends. Our breakup wasn’t the best; actually, it was pretty horrible. I had done some stupid things; your mom was focused on her newfound religion, and we could not get along anymore. Our divorce dragged on for too long. She wanted custody of you and was moving to the Midwest, but I couldn’t let her win, so I made sure that I came out on top, and I ended up with sole custody. As soon as she moved away, she started writing to you. It was easy at first to just stash them away and keep you in the dark. I knew that if you believed that she wanted you with her, you would find a way to get to her. So I let you believe that she left you and did not look back. I could not risk losing you and being alone. You were all I had left. I could not think of losing you too. As time wore on, I felt more and more guilty. It got tough to face you and not let you see my guilt because I knew I would break down and tell you everything, and you would leave me. I could not risk that, so I threw myself into my work. I thought if I could give you everything, you would never want to leave, no matter what. Looking back, I think that was a stupid idea, but at the time, I was desperate. I hoped that she would give up and stop reaching out, but she still hasn’t. I got another letter and graduation card the other day. That is why the box was sitting out in my room. I am so sorry, Son. I know this was wrong of me. I did not know what else to do,” his dad said with his face in his hands. Ren sat there stunned. He did not know what to say or how to react. “Dad, I don’t know how to react to this. Do you understand how hard it is to take this all in?” Ren finally shared. “I get it. I cannot expect you to ever forgive me. Losing your mother was extremely painful. I regretted the things I did, but I let my pride get in the way of my working it out with her. I let the same pride stop me from being honest with you. I am so very sorry,” his dad continued. “Sorry, but I need to process all of this. I have a flight scheduled this morning to get back to school. I need to go through all of this,” Ren said hesitantly. “I get it. When you are able to talk about this, I would love to start getting past this,” his dad requested. “Right now, I don’t know if I will ever be able to get past this, but I will let you know,” Ren answered. “Fair enough,” his dad replied.

Ren packed up his stuff and the box of letters and climbed into the back seat of Jimmy’s Audi for the ride to the airport. Within an hour, he was airborne, heading back to Iowa. “Welcome aboard, sir. How was your stay in Santa Monica?” the stewardess asked her lone passenger. “How was my stay? Well, it was not what I expected,” Ren answered. As Ren sat there on the jet, he started thinking about his dream. He realized that the mighty wind that came up to blow the flames out did not blow him away. On him, it was just a slight breeze. What do these dreams mean? he thought to himself.