The Throwback Tale of Ryder Black

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Age 6

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This is the day he first realised that his father was not the kind of man he thought he would. In his long six years old of living (hey, when dogs are six, they're considered middle age, okay?) his Dad has been a figure of the highest paramount. His dad provided him everything: his knowledge, his laughter, his food, his Christmas gift.

But this year, His father finally showed that he was not the daily-dose of Santa Claus he thought he would be. He was just human.

His father wanted the family to move to a different house.

Ryder had grown to love the old house. He loved his crib, he loved the dents, the fireplace, the slightly musty smell coming from the laundry. Most of all, he loved that it was the very first place he got to memorise.

And then Daddy wanted him to erase all that hard-earned memories and replace it with new ones.

It doesn't help that the new House is uglier, too. It felt like a legitimate downgrade. A knockoff, just like Ryder's this year's Christmas gift. Last year he got the latest, biggest LEGO package. Now, he only got the China-version. They didn't stick well and the colors were off (Spiderman was supposed to be blue and red, not teal and orange).

Daddy started coughing again, and Ryder knew that it was his cue to stop hanging upside down in the inflatable pool.

——

Age 6 and a quarter

Ryder first saw her today.

It had been a really boring day. Like usual, his pre-school teacher always forced the whole class to nap after lunch. Who would be that lazy to nap after lunch (Later Ryder would forever regret on that thought and wished that his boss would let him nap after lunchtime) ?! There was this girl Sally in his class who kept following him, and he took a really great Gundam from one of his boy classmates. The boy didn't fight him or anything, and simply cried when Ryder took the toy, which made it extra boring.

And then he saw her.

The girl who lived beside his house was pretty. She had long, brown hair that was straight and silky, just like melted milk-chocolate. She had huge eyes, the size of Ryder's favourite ketchup saucepan. When she smiled, her whole teeth were showing, and Ryder liked that, because it showed sincerity, and because most of the girls in his class had really bad teeth.

And then the neighbour girl noticed him, and called him onto her. Blushing, staggering, but ultimately steeling himself, Ryder walked onto her and introduced himself.

"What a brave young man!" the neighbour girl exclaimed, bringing more red onto Ryder's cheeks. "I'm Meredith, would you like to meet my kids, April and Quentin?"

Ryder was still smitten, so he neither nod or shake his head. A few minutes later, a miniature version of Meredith came out. Same milk-chocolate hair, same saucepan-sized eyes, same bone-thin wrists. Ryder shook her hand, but she never met him in the eyes.

"Come on, say your name," Meredith coerced her daughter.

"I'm April," the miniature Meredith spoke softly. "N-Nice to meet you."

Ryder decided that he liked the small version of Meredith better.

What was the name again?

——

Age 9

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It took a couple of years before Ryder really realised that Miniature Meredith went into the same school with him. He just never saw her anywhere. Sure, of course, he would see her dastardly brother everywhere. Quentin Hale was practically dying to get everyone to notice him with his loud voice and over-the-top pranks.

But Miniature Meredith...

She just never really stood out. Either it was her overly long hair, or her blatant refusal to participate in class-activities, or the teacher's exasperations, she just never showed up. Ryder was actually surprised when he saw a girl with long hair crying on the cafeteria.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

The girl didn't answer and kept crying. Ryder observed around her and saw no one would could have done bodily harm to her. In fact, it looked as if everyone was avoiding her. And then he saw her bent over milk carton and realised why: she spilled her milk and became emotional over it.

Tsk. Girls.

"You want milk?"

She started sobbing. "It's Tuesday. I'm supposed to drink two cartons of milk on Tuesdays. But I knocked one and the lunch lady won't give me a replacement."

Ryder started to get it. People didn't like this girl because she was so particular about things. Nobody likes people who would cry over spilled milk. He himself started to purse his mouth, ready to give her some tough-love.

But then he heard how serious her sobs was, and how she was unable to meet his eyes, and her whole body was shaking, as if she was standing in amidst of an earthquake. This milk, and this two-cartons-on-Tuesdays thing really was a big deal for her.

So Ryder stopped himself from thinking bad thoughts of her, and gave her his leftover milk.

"I've sipped some, though," he warned her.

He didn't want for her reaction, for fear of the other kids to tease them, and started running away from her direction.

—

Age 13

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Ryder got his first girlfriend.

She was called Georgia, and just like her name, she was gorgeous. Not pretty, not cute, but gorgeous. She was a year older than him, and a bit taller, too, and she had a habit of pinching his cheeks. But she was gorgeous.

And she had a bit of a mean-streak.

"Like, ew," Georgia flipped her hair. "I mean, who on earth would eat that gross stuff?"

Ryder knew that if he nod and smile gracefully, Georgia would eventually let him do stuff to her. Gross stuff. Exciting stuff. Sometimes, he got tired hearing all of her rambling (and not to mention a million of 'Ew!' per day), but maybe that was something he had to endure as a boyfriend.

Hmph. Boyfriend.

Quentin had already gone through a couple of girls already, his love-professions always cringe-worthy and their break-ups always huge scandals. Ryder didn't want to really know anything about his life.

His sister, on the other hand, apparently was as uninterested in boys as she was into sports. Aka: zero.

Sometimes, at night, Ryder wondered if Miniature Meredith would let him touch her hand and squeeze it.

——

Age 15

——

His father started coughing more and more. In fact, Ryder started to wake up at dawn at the sound of this.

It was more disheartening than annoying, and he hated feeling like he was running on borrowed time.

"Why don't you just go check it to the doctor?" he had asked his father.

"I'm fine," his father would have always say.

He wasn't fine. Ryder sometimes saw drips of blood on the sink when his father forgot to wipe it. He saw sweat rolling down his father's temples whenever the coughing fit went on for more than thirty seconds, and he definitely could hear his father's voice getting raspier.

His mother started to give more care on the food that she served, and she started to openly state her concerns about her husband's health. But just like any other Black's male family members, his father didn't budge. They weren't used with feelings, and they tried to keep it that way.

But sometimes Ryder wished that he could say something 'girly' to his dad and not get laughed at.

—

Age 16:

—

Ryder saw cigarette butts on the family's backyard.

It angered him that his father was still smoking, even though the doctor had strongly advised him against it. Money was getting harder to get, too, since his father couldn't work overtime anymore, and the medicine was expensive as hell.

Ryder started doing odd jobs to buy himself snacks and gifts for his girlfriend, who was older and getting thinner overtime he saw her. Linda, the name of his girlfriend, was a sweet lady he met when he was accompanying his father to the hospital. She was extremely thin, and her hair was cut short, which made her look different than the rest of the girls from his school. She kissed him the second time they met and asked him to be with her. He agreed because 'why not'.

And then she told him she was sick, and it was terminal.

She was not being fair, but that didn't mean that she didn't deserve that expensive ice-cream cone from round the block.

——

Age 17

——

He hated living in this house.

Morning came, and he knew that everything would be shit again.

His father would yell at him. His mother would cry. He would yell, too, and pick fights with both of them.

The food wouldn't taste good.

He was wearing last year's shirts.

His shoes had a bit of a gaping hole that he knew couldn't be fixed until after he got enough money.

School was shit. As a senior, Quentin Hale made it a point for everyone to know that he was the most popular guy at school. He would do that by prancing around, dating the prettiest girls, and bump shoulders with Ryder whenever they passed at the hallways.

The teachers didn't trust him, because he fought too much.

The only saving grace that he had was his friends, who were older, and had a bit of shady background. Keegan and Billy didn't look like they'd be the kind of people who'd care, but they did, and more than anyone around his vicinity was capable to. Keegan and Billy gave him jobs, money, and company at least once a week. Ryder wasn't sure if he could keep his sanity without them.

Today, at right 7AM, his father shouted from below, "Get up and eat breakfast, Ryder!"

He did just that, but somehow they still got into another nasty fight. Whatever, it didn't really matter. Ryder went up to his room to get his backpack and dash to school, but then he took a glance on his window and saw a figure moving.

Oh, Miniature Meredith. Or now, more appropriately, a Younger Meredith. The girl always forgot to close her blinds, and Ryder felt uncomfortable to look into her room and saw her on her nightgowns or really short shorts. He trained himself to always look to the left whenever he was inside his room, so that he couldn't snoop.

But today he couldn't stop himself. He saw her play-combing her Teddy Bear as if the stuffed animal were her own child. A small chuckle escaped his lips. His mind went back to the type of girls he usually met, the hard-hitting, edgy, foul-mouthed girls, and Young Meredith was anything but that. Ryder first met her when he was six, and it seemed like she hadn't grown up since.

Even though, clearly, her body had done a lot of growing up.

Ugh, this was the reason why he hated looking at her window. She wasn't particularly interesting; she never had anyone over, she still never participated in anything, she didn't even look like she had friends, but she was... different.

And then, out of all blue, they locked eyes.

They say a person's life could change within three seconds, and Ryder was experiencing that kind of 'three seconds'.

Ryder knew, at that moment, that he couldn't mentally call her 'Young Meredith' anymore. He had to find out her name.

Today.

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author's note

p.s. what do you think of my new cast Diego Barrueco as Ryder? he's dark haired, super confident, and has this rugged, slightly off-the-edge look going <3 

EXCERPT FOR THE QUIRKY TALE OF APRIL HALE CHAPTER 2.26 (available  for early access in radish):

"So what made you go to this party? You never went before," He asked as he rummaged through clothes.

"Bella asked."

"It's on the new club in town. Alex helped get you the invite?"

I nodded.

"I see," He said, and then, much to my surprise, I heard the sound of clothes... shuffling.

Thud.

Oh my stars. This was not happening.

This should not be happening.

I closed my eyes just to make sure that my visions were protected. "Um... are you wearing your clothes?"

There was a clink, and more shuffling. When I heard another thud, I swore my heart leapt out of its ribcage.

"No. And I just took off my pants," He answered. "It's so hot in here."