Long Walk Home

"Sorry kid, but this is as close as I go."

Ryan looked around not seeing any reason the driver would stop. They were in the middle of nowhere surrounded by abandon farms. "Alright, thanks," Ryan said as he picked up his suitcase and climbed out of the truck. The driver took a quick u-turn and headed back towards the city.

"City people."

Ryan walked towards his grandfather's old farm he had acquired in his grandfathers will three years ago. He now came to it since he no longer could pay for his apartment in the city. His wife leaving him days before he decided to come to the farm. Nothing has gone Ryan's way since his grandfather died.

The walk was longer than he expected. He was truly alone. He could see the dying farms with old sheds and dead crops. He only hoped his farm was in okay shape. The wind started to pick up. He needed a breeze since he was wearing his favorite brown jacket with some blue jeans. If the sun wasn't beating down on him he probably wouldn't have noticed how hot it was. He thought of taking his coat off, but he also didn't want to carry it around.

Ryan sat down and pulled his drawing pad out. He thought of what his granddad's farm could look like. He brought out his pencils and started drawing a big shed with a fence surrounding the entire farm with the crops still surviving after three years. He knew that the crops should be dead, but he figured he could draw what it used to be.

A small dog came up and started barking and wagging his tail. Ryan instantly started to draw the dog sleeping in a part of the shed. He then showed the dog as it jumped on him and licked him. He laughed as he patted him on the head.

"You want to accompany me?" Ryan could tell by just the way that the dog looked at him that the answer was yes. Ryan stood up as he continued walking toward his farm. The dog following him as he looked for the detail that made his farm different than the other farms.

"If you see a large tree that has toilet paper around it tell me," Ryan said. He looked at the dog that still was wagging its tail. Ryan could tell he was close because he thought he saw it, but wasn't sure. He had never been to the farm before and had only met his granddad after he ended up dead in the hospital.

"There!" Ryan started to run when he saw the tree. It was much bigger than the will described, but the toilet paper was there and right behind the tree was the farm. It was beautiful full of life with cattle and crops. As Ryan moved closer he saw a lady reading a book. "Excuse me?"

"Ah, there you are," The lady put the book down and walked up to him. "Took longer than he expected, but now I can live."

Ryan saw her become transparent and then leave him all alone. He looked around running inside and outside the house. He then notices the dog, too, disappear.

"It's a ghost farm," Ryan said as the rest of the farm started to disappear along with him. He found himself in a backyard with a lady and two kids.

"Come on out of that dream world and let's go."

Ryan looked closer to realize that he was at the farm with his family. A family that he had seen before in photos. A family he knew only through his father, but inside himself he could tell that he started a circle of events. He had become his grandfather.