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Roland Deep makes a promise when hes in middle school, that he would leave Galloway as soon as he got the chance to.
He looks to his best friend, and probably only friend, Rand as they sit together at Rolan’s spot on the tree by the cemetery.
“Once I graduate.” 15 year old Rolan says, “I’m getting the fuck out of this stupid town.” He says to Rand. Rand gives him a sort of a sour look, as if he doesn’t really understand why he said what he said.
Somewhere deep inside himself though, was screaming that it was a lie, he didn’t really want to know why.
Rolan Deep had just started high school when he found out what Dungeons and Dragons was.
He figured that he needed a hobby since he didn’t really have anything else going on in his life so why not.
Rand shows him his DND set with a big smile on his face, his toothy grin couldn’t help but smile along with him as Rand went on to explain how Dungeons and Dragons worked.
“This doesn’t seem too bad.” Rolan thinks to himself. He needs something to do, to get himself through high school
“So, you just gotta make a character.” Rand says, as he finishes explaining the basics of the game. Rolan nods, noticing the smile on Rand’s lips was still visible.
He must really like this game. Rolan thinks, and he can’t help but smile once again, back at his best friend. It was endearing the way Rand spoke about Dungeons and Dragons so passionately. He opens his mouth to start talking to Rand about the character he wants to create.
A few years later, he leaves Galloway, not looking back.
The day of his graduation was a blur, he couldn’t recall anything the people on stage were saying except for when he walked up to get his diploma.
For most of the graduation, his leg was bouncing up and down, anxiously. He wanted to leave as soon as he could.
He looks to his best friends, Kian and Rand, who had a look of “I’m so fucking happy this is over.” and he couldn’t really blame them.
He felt bad, because he wasn’t planning on telling him that he was leaving, and never coming back.
He studied the look on Rand’s face, even though his eyes were covered by his signature sunglasses that made his eyes disappear beneath them, he could tell he was proud of himself for making it this far. Rolan was proud of him for making it this far too.
As for Kian, when he studied the look on his face, he could tell that he was trying to plan out how he would become a rockstar. From Rolan’s knowledge, he was meeting Becky in Hollywood shortly after high school ended. He talked about it nonstop, bragging that he and Becky would go on to be the “hottest rockstar couple in Hollywood.”
Rolan’s bouncing leg didn’t stop for the rest of graduation.
Soon after graduation ends, Rolan is saying goodbye to his parents, telling them that he’ll visit them once a year. He’s saying goodbye to Rand and Kian, telling them he’ll see them this weekend for celebration drinks, not really caring if he’s lying. He spaces out again and suddenly he’s leaving on a plane, leaving Galloway, Louisiana behind.
He doesn’t have many regrets with what he’s leaving behind.
It’s around midday when Rolan gets a call from his aunt, he feels bad because he forgot her name.
It’s midday when he finds out his parents had passed away, both of them. His aunt told him that it was a horrible “accident” that was so sudden.
It’s midday when his aunt tells him the funeral will be in Galloway. It’s midday when he finds out he has to break the promise to himself he made so long ago.
His aunt found the both of them lying dead in the house Rolan grew up in, Roland stays silent for a few seconds. He opens his mouth and says “Thank you.” before hanging up. Tears quickly welling up in Rolan’s eyes as he paces around.
It’s midday when Rolan bursts into tears, sobbing on the floor and curling up into a ball.
It’s then that he realizes that he had so much time that he missed in what felt like such a short period of time.
Rolan feels immediate regret as he steps into the airport of Louisiana
He told himself, hell, promised himself that he would never come back to this god forsaken town. He told himself once he stepped outside of this damn town that he wouldn’t even think about stepping foot back here.
He sighs, and picks up the phone to call Rand to come pick him up.
Like when he left, Rolan felt that every time he blinked, things went by in a flash. One moment he was sitting in the back of Kian’s car, the next he was listening to the sound of his own heart beat, convinced that what once was his house, was beating with it.
He blinks another time, and he’s looking at Kian Stone, one of his childhood best friends, look up to the sky, jaw unhinged, and clicking.
He realizes that his best friend was dead at that moment, and somehow he felt that it was his fault. He stumbles on his feet, looking back once more to see the blonde, no longer Kian, still clicking towards the sky.
He blinks again, and he’s looking at the tree he grew to love in his childhood, but didn’t know why.
He blinks once more, and he’s looking at the 14 year old version of himself in the water, letting out a choked cry at the realization that his life he had lived for the past 10 or more years was most likely fake.
He feels a clicking bubbling up in his chest, moving up to his throat, and swallows it.
He’s one of them.
He’s a monster.
Rolan had died in Galloway at only 14 years old and he didn’t even know it.
Rolan Deep, in a way, had never left the town of Galloway, Louisiana.