The last time Jim saw Tommy had been just shy of twelve years. It was just before he’d taken what he was sure were his first steps towards a life everyone back home would be envious of and talk about when he came to visit. Jim stopped by the hardware store where Tommy worked on his way to the airport to say goodbye. Tommy’d been stocking the shelves with different types of nails when Jim had walked up behind him and scared him so bad he almost pissed himself. Tommy was a little bitter about Jim leaving but he tried putting up a brave front for him so Jim wouldn’t feel bad. They said their goodbyes as customers passed by and that was about that. They said they’d keep in touch, but they never really did except for a Christmas card every now and then. They even planned at one point for Tommy to come out to the city so Jim could show him around but that never happened either. Now it never would.
As Jim’s plane landed he realized he hadn’t seen anyone except for his family for quite a while. Whenever he’d gone to visit either he didn’t have enough time or his friends weren’t home. Something always came up. Thinking about it though, he hadn’t really wanted to see any of the people he’d grown up with. He wasn’t even sure what had happened to a lot of them. It wasn’t that he didn’t like them anymore; it was just that after he’d left they’d grown apart. It didn’t help that none of his grand plan came to fruition. He didn’t really understand why everything went wrong, it just happened. Out of sight out of mind really was true.
Growing up in a small town hadn’t been horrible or anything like that. It was actually pretty fun now that he thought about it. When he left he thought of it as something he wanted to leave in the past where it belonged. All of his old friends were part of the past, so he had to leave them behind with everything else. Unfortunately he’d been friends with Tommy since he was old enough to walk so it didn’t work out that way. He, along with Pete and Rob had done everything together, from learning to ride bikes to getting drunk for the first time after the senior prom. But that’s where their happy go lucky times together pretty much came to an end. Even though they’d remained friends throughout the last couple of years of school, they each slowly drifted off to pursue other interests of their own. What once they would have done together without a second thought they were now doing by themselves, or with other people not part of their original group. It wasn’t purposefully done it was just something that had happened.
Jim was the only one who chose to move after high school. But having big dreams he couldn’t just move to the next town over like most of the other kids. He had to move to the big city. Unfortunately none of the bigger companies saw things the way he did. They weren’t interested in hiring someone without any type of college background or experience. He ended up working at one of the local fast food restaurants for almost a year while he went and took a few classes at the local college. Even then the only place that would accept him was the electric company. He was a driver. All day long he drove other people from place to place and carried things for them. He was technically an assistant but he thought of himself as a gopher. The people he worked with were slowly teaching him the ins and outs of electrical work but not fast enough. After almost eight years he was just now hoping for a promotion. That, he thought sadly, was the high point of his life. He’d left with big dreams only to return empty handed. He hadn’t tried to see any of his friends whenever he was home mostly because he was ashamed of himself. They’d all thought he was leaving to go and do great things not to be somebody’s helper. If he’d taken the time to think about it he’d realize his friends probably wouldn’t have cared what he did. They liked him not his job but his mind didn’t work that way. Looking back he figured he probably would’ve been better off if he’d stayed home. Maybe worked at one of the local places or opened something up himself but no, he took the longer route. All his friends remained in the sleepy, boring, old town to this day as far as he knew. Except for himself and now Tommy, he thought sadly.
Trying to get his mind off Tommy, Jim idly wondered what everyone he used to know had eventually grown up to be. Everybody had been full of high hopes about their futures after high school; some going off to college, some to the military, others God only knew where but Jim wondered if any of them had actually attained their goals. Sure, they all probably had jobs but did they achieve their dreams. Occasionally his mother gave him updates on what his old friends were up to, but since she was older then them she didn’t really keep up with them. They were nothing to her other than kids he’d grown up with. That is of course except for his little group. Those were different. Those were her boys. She felt as if she were just as much their mother as their own. The only thing she didn’t do was give birth to them. Everything else she’d been there for. She tried to keep tabs on all three of them but it wasn’t always easy. From what she’d told him Rob had eventually become a police officer or as they were known in the town, a deputy. Jim was shocked when he’d found out. Rob was about the last person he’d expected to be an officer of the law. The four of them had secretly broken so many laws when they were little it was just inconceivable one of them would actually grow up to enforce them. Then again maybe it wasn’t as surprising as he thought. Rob had always been the type that liked to help out. He may have seemed like an obnoxious ass most of the times, but that was just his way of dealing with things. Once you got past that you could eventually see that deep down he genuinely wanted to help. He just put a show on most of the time to entertain. If what Jim’s mother told him was true Rob really seemed to enjoy what he was doing so he was happy for him. Rob seemed to have been the only one out of their group who had made any real attempt at making something of his life.
His mom didn’t say too much whenever the subject of Tommy came up in their conversations. He became a somewhat touchy subject with her due to his exploits. Every now and then she would mention something about him being in the newspaper for some kind of hunting award or something of that nature. It always inevitably had something to do with shooting a deer with a big set of antlers or something else only other hunters would care about. She wasn’t a fan and was never really sure and Jim never thought to ask. That was one of the few things he and Tommy hadn’t agreed on. He’d never understood what the thrill of hunting held. Jim’d only gone with Tommy a few times and saw no real point in it. He didn’t like sitting around being still waiting for some dumb animal to come around so he could shoot it. Jim didn’t need the meat to survive and Tommy didn’t either, not with a grocery store and restaurants nearby. Plus he didn’t really like killing things, so he didn’t see the point in it. Jim didn’t oppose hunting; it just wasn’t something he enjoyed.
Then there was ‘Poor Pete’ as Jim’s mother called him. Whenever his name came up in their talks her voice would get choked up as if just on the edge of tears. She didn’t know too much about him anymore either, mostly by Pete’s choice, but what she did know made her extremely sad and worried. She’d said when he was a young boy he so full of life and promise that seeing him the way he was now just broke her heart. Pete had slowly become what the town people nastily called a hermit and that was one of the nicer names.
He kept to himself mostly but was occasionally heard from by his parents when he needed money or something else he couldn’t get himself. He never tried to talk to any of his old friends and was never seen out after dark except around his own house. When Jim asked what she meant she wouldn’t say anymore. From what little she would say he gathered Pete definitely wasn’t doing well and hadn’t been for a long time. He lived by himself and did a lot of things his mother and even Jim thought were strange. Mom always kept her comments vague but Jim knew something bad was going on with Pete. When pressed she would quickly change the subject to something not so depressing and acted as if what they’d been talking about was a closed topic.