Deke Brolin Rhol

PART I

RHOL

Chapter One

It was one of the clearest nights Deke Brolin
could ever remember seeing. The moon illuminated the forest that surrounded him much like the low light a candle throws in a darkened room. 

Most people
would have felt uneasy standing in the middle of a forest at night but not him. This was his last chance to save himself from the desperate life he was leading. Ironically, the same place where he had found refuge as a boy was also the place that had caused him so much pain. A pain so great, that it had sent him spiraling down the wrong path. It was an easy path, one in which Deke never really exerted any energy nor reflected on the consequences of his actions as he travelled aimlessly from place to place.

Dek
e Brolin was at his wits end and could not bear to walk this path any longer. He had found his way to the crossroads of where it had all begun. He needed to find an answer, or at least some comfort in facing the place that had left him so conflicted. He had chosen to be here on this day for a reason.

An old rickety wooden bridge appeared to him in the distance and marked the half-way point of his journey.
The weathered bridge had been there for years. It provided safe passage across a small pebbly creek that wound its way through a meadow in the middle of the forest.

Breathing in deeply,
Deke savored the smell of the smoke that hung in the air from the long since extinguished fireplaces of the old farm houses that lay scattered around the outskirts of the woods. He loved that smell.  Gazing up into the heavens, he could see millions of lights piercing the dark sky. The stars were shining so intensely, he could have stared at them all night imagining the countless worlds that might exist beyond this one.

This time of year was his favorite. There was always a light frost on the ground that made the moss crinkle under his feet.
The large oak and maple trees, whose draping branches formed what looked like a long tunnel along the path he walked, seemed desperate to hold onto their leaves as if not wanting to lose their fiery red, yellow and orange colors. For the first time in three years he felt at peace again, if only for this one moment.

The bridge slightly creaked, moaning at the added weight it was now forced to endure when he sat down upon it and dangled his legs over the side. The sounds of the gurgling brook flowing beneath his feet calmed
him, relaxing his aching body but before long his mind began to drift into the past, with memories he wished were long forgotten. Two of the most vivid had changed his fate forever.

Fate is a strange beast. Deke thought to himself
.

You live your entire life determining where it will lead you but no matter what, it will eventually guide you to your predetermined death.
It was a subject he had contemplated many times.

He had often wondered if
death was the end but fate had always kept him guessing. 

Do you live a good decent life and dwell on in peace after your body dies? Or do you take your chances that this is
all you have and live it, not worrying about anybody but yourself, nor concerning yourself with the consequences of your actions. For the last few years he had done the latter.

Life is really about choices, he thought.

He had made many in his short life and those choices could not be changed. They had already weaved their way into his life’s path.

But
a path, he pondered, that’s much different.

Someone could change their
life’s path with the decisions they make in the future. The future is the key, not the past.  Changing your future is as simple as redirecting the path you are currently on. That is the splendor of it all. You can take different paths, whenever you want and as many times as you need. The difficult part is being on the right one when fate steps in and death comes. It’s only then that you will learn the answer to the question that has haunted mankind for years. What comes after death? It had taken Deke a long time to come to terms with his beliefs, years of searching his soul to find the answer. In the end, he decided that life or at least life’s energy does move on after death. He had to believe that because the path he was about to take was going to answer that question, at least for him.

His life wasn’t always so troubled. Up until he
was eight, his life had been good. His parents were caring people. Larry, his father was a tall husky man who wore glasses and had a special zest for life.

Deke laughed to himself thinking about
how ridiculous such a large man looked when driving the family car, the red Volkswagen Bug.

His dad was a school teacher who taught history and despite his size he was a great adventurer and outdoorsman with a wonderful imagination. His father could do anything, in his eyes. He used to tell stories to Deke before bedtime, usually with his own twist. Deke would sit on his dad’s lap in the living room of their quiet bungalow while the fire roared away in the large stone fireplace. Sometimes, his Dad would find his own story so amusing that he himself would roar with laughter. His laugh was like no other and could be heard throughout the whole neighborhood. His mother Sarah would just giggle and shake her head at him.

She was a very soulful pers
on, tall and strikingly beautiful. She chose to stay at home and take care of the family. She constantly worried about Deke because he was her only child. Deke loved to explore and the thousands of acres of forest directly behind their house, had caused her many days of anguish. He would often disappear for the entire day, floating down the nearby creek on a raft or building tree forts throughout the woods. Most days, he was allowed to stay out until the street lights came on. If he was a minute late she would be in a panic by the time he returned home. She used to stroke her long blonde hair to calm herself down and in a matter of minutes she would be hugging him. She was filled with love, not only for him and his father but for anyone that graced her path. It was remarkable how people in need instantly gravitated toward her.

What an age. Deke recalled.

He could not have been loved more. His parents had made life easy and comfortable. They were always there to teach and nurture him, right up until the time that, well...they died.

A defining moment, a choice Deke lamented
.

For years he tried to block that memory out but it would never escape his mind. How could it?

He could never recall h
ow the accident happened. Just that they were driving home from a family vacation when the car veered off the road and careened down a small embankment. Memories of his mother desperately trying to grab him as the car rolled over caused his hands to clench and his breath to quicken. He swallowed, wondering what might have happened had her loving hands reached him. But they hadn’t. A distinct feeling of weightlessness had swept him away from her forever.

Following this,
he remembered pulling himself up off the ground and staring at the car, upside down and on fire. Running as fast as he could, he had reached his mother’s side first. His dad hung upside down beside her, unconscious with his legs pinned under the steering wheel.

Deke instinctively shook his head attempting to rid his mind of this all too vivid memory.

“Take care of him,” his mother had gently said looking past him.

He had no idea why, perhaps he thought his mother
could move on her own and heeding her words, he ran to help his father. He pulled on his sweater and screamed for him to awaken. The flames began to lick his hands as if telling him to let go. But he wouldn’t and continued to pull with all the strength he could muster. It would not be enough to save him.

Deke
’s face fell into his hands. His stomach was twisting and turning as the horrid scene playing out in his mind.

The flames enveloped his father’s body. He felt like a weakling, a failure. Those feelings still resonated with him now.

He remembered being in a complete panic as he ran back to his mother’s aid choking from the thick black smoke that now surrounded him. She just hung there covered in blood, yet peacefully staring at him, smiling. 

“Mommy, quickly the car it’s on fire!”
Deke had screamed through his tears.

She had just
stretched her arm through the window and touched his cheek with her hand, while ever so softly speaking.

“You must go. There is no time. Remember that your father and I love you more than life itself.” 

He would not leave. He begged her to try and move but the fire converged on her too quickly.

Deke sobbed, remembering how he had
pleaded for God, for anyone to help. The voice of his mother screaming for him to leave, to save himself, echoed over and over again in his head.

His recollection of what happened next was foggy, at best. He recalled his
mother saying something that he didn’t understand. Minutes later, he was standing in the distance, watching while the car exploded in flames. His knees had buckled and his stomach had felt so tight it caused him to roll into a ball. That’s how the police found him. They surmised the explosion had somehow thrown him out of harm’s way, saving his life or what was left of it. His parents’ remains were never found, the fire had burned so hot they had disintegrated 

In his mind, they had both died b
ecause of the choice he had made to try and save his father first. That decision had defined his life for many years. Following the accident he had been placed in a foster home as the authorities were unable to find any living relatives. There, he became a recluse, an outcast, obsessed with the events surrounding his parent’s death and what he could have done differently to save them. It caused him to dwell in the past, never looking toward the future. That was until he met Mary Toller. She would become the other defining moment in his life, one who would lead him down a bright path but then, through no fault of her own, spiral him back into darkness.