Pad... Pod... Pat...

The raindrops hit the window next to my seat on this small crowded bus. I know it's not just my window that this is happening to me, but I can't seem to stop thinking that this storm, perhaps is meant for me. To taunt me spilling the tears that I refuse to shed for even a moment.

Pod... Pad... Patpat...

Groaning softly, I turn up the music on my broken rundown iPhone. I am not even sure which generation it forms again, but it's a phone none the less, and I can still hear my Grandpa said to me as he would try and work his old flip phone when he was still alive, "A phone is just a phone, Val! No need for something so fancy when you don't even need all of those gidgets and gadgets that they provide!"

A true wise old man, I miss him, and I miss him even more as the bus was coming close to the old rickety town he grew up in and died in. The town that I wish to do the same:

Welcome Hellston Ville, population: 1,000

Your not lost, you are here!

The old sign said, though to consider is you didn't live here or have any relatives here but you still somehow ended up in this town then you are truly lost! Hellston Ville was known back in the day when settlers were new and the rivers were filled with gold yet to be found, but when the gold was all dried up, most families, except for the founders, packed up and moved away to find the next big thing. It was rumored even in the 1900s we even had a set in the Sennet, but I don't believe them for even a second.

I couldn't contain my laughter when I saw in bright red marker their part "...ston..." was still scribbled out leaving the old welcoming sign saying:

Welcome to Hell Ville

Still, nobody could ever figure out who did it, and still to this day I never confessed that I so happen to had a bright red marker in my back pocket when I stumbled up to the sign when I was drunk. Not even my good old, but still best friend, Evan knows about this, but I bet somehow, like always, he figured it out at some point.

Coming to a stop at the bus station, I got up and tucked my piece of the crap phone in my back pocket, and swung my duffle bag over my shoulder before jumping off the bus onto the dark street of Main to see everything was other closed or ready to close. I pull out my pocket watch, which was my Grandpa's to check the time to see it was half till midnight. Groaning I look around the streets, I checked around to see if I could get a glimpse of my parents, and like how they were in my entire life, they were nowhere to be found.

I wasn't expecting a welcoming party or even a gathering, but it would have been a little nice if SOMEONE would have come and greeted me home. "Welcome home Val." I decided to greet myself, you know, like a lonely loser. Before closing my watch and tucking it back into my leather jacket I ran my thumb over the in carved letters, "Bridgeton" as it's my family's name.

This watch has been in my family or generations, passed down to the oldest man in the household, but my mother was the only child, and my father was adopted into the family by marriage. So on my Grandpa's death bed, he took my hand in his placing it in my palm before closing my fingers around it.

"Grandpa I can't except this!" I refused at first.

"I know you feel you don't have a here in this shitty town Val, and that's fine because this town is far too good for you anyway!" He holds my hands tight between his, "You are far the best granddaughter this old man could have ever have hoped for, and in my eyes, your tomboyish side is more then enough for you to have the honors of having this watch for you to pass it down to your daughter or son."

A tear escaped from my eye at the memory and my hand tightens over the watch. My Grandpa was the only one there for me. I have very little memory of my Grandma, but I know she was also just as wonderful as Grandpa, and when she passed when I 7, he was torn. He told me again and again, "The only reason I am still here on this God-forsaken earth is that I promised your, Grandma, I would stay behind and take care of you, and protect you my little Valentine."

I remember when I would always say, "We will always be together forever right Grandpa?"

He would laugh and pat my head, saying my shiny black hair was as soft as a kitten, "Not possible my little Valentine, I miss your Grandma too much for me to stick around here forever! Don't I also deserve a happy ending?" I would always nod, "Good because once you are all taken care of, no help from that worthless daughter of mine and her two times faced husband, I would also take my leave and dance again with your Grandmother under the moonlight high up in the sky."

"I want to see you Dance with Grandma under the moonlight!" I would cheer.

Grandpa would throw his head back in laughter patting my head again, "All in good time Val! All in good time!"

Shaking my head bring myself back to the present, I realized I was freezing, so I decided to go buy a hot chocolate at the closest Gas Station, not coffee though. Never coffee, as I found out that stuff is just as bad for me as alcohol. The last time I drank that stuff in college, I found myself digging a hole and laying in it as if it was my grave I will never touch that stuff again. Period...

Inside the Gas station, called Snack falcon, apparently, it's a place to get snacks and also to get, I immediately felt warmer right away. I went to the back and pulled off my gloves and reached for a cup to retrieve some Hot Chocolate from the machine, I made my way to the front to put my only item on the check out counter and reached in my pocket to get my wallet. Pulling out the money I was due, I heard a surprised gasp from behind the counter, and some one yelling, "VVVVVAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!!!!"