#002d

Ray woke before the sun had a chance to climb up into the sky. The small apartment afforded to him was a perfect fit, and Ray got to stay right near the heart of Fairville. He made his bed as best he could in the dark, sheets tucked in at the corners and his pillow fluffed up. After months of being out in the wilderness, Ray felt blessed having a soft bed to lay his head down at the end of a long day. It’s the little things in life, really.

Ray dusted off his boots, tugged on his jeans and a button-up, and made sure to complete the look with his favorite hat: a vintage cowboy hat bought by his father for him at a rodeo. It dwarfed his twelve year old head at the time, but Ray grew into the birthday gift easily during his teenage years. He left the building as quietly as he could with his the echoed click of the heels of his boots. 

The Georgia summer was close. Ray could taste it in the thick heat of the air, muggy enough despite a lack of sunlight. In a couple more weeks, the heat was going to be sweltering and his flannels would be dusty and stuck in the closet for months. For now, Ray basked in the warm familiarity of the weather and the empty streets that waited to be explored.

The streets of Fairvale are quiet when Ray walked through them. The town was quaint and Ray felt welcomed, but it wasn’t home. Home was Jesup, chalk full of old, Southern Georgia charm and architecture borrowed from Savannah. It was homemade lemonade stands and historic brick buildings in the same intersection. Fairvale was nice, truly, but Ray had a pang of longing for his old town, his old life, and his old, unimportant problems. 

He’s wandered off a couple of blocks without noticing, caught up in his own head, when he realized there was another person out and about early in the morning. The sun is just starting to peak over the horizon, and it casted a sleepy hue over the buildings of Fairvale. Ray’s armed with his signature smile, wide and earnest across his dimpled face, as his hand moved with a small, half-wave greeting.