The Valley.

Eddie knelt in the middle of the empty guest room, hand broken at his side, blood dripping from his torn lips and broken nose and just before the bullet tore through his head, he smiled at the drawing of the butterflies, his daughter had crayoned onto the wallpaper. They were beaut....... The shot rang out and there were not even birds to disturb in the trees.

One week earlier.......

Eddie knew that the town was dying. Soon, it would be drowning. He looked up at the last section of the dam being built into place, overshadowing the valley with its concrete facade, unsmiling and in sharp contrast with the gently undulating hills and lush green trees, surrounding it.

Eddie had drunk the last warm beer from his now unpowered fridge in the back yard of his unpowered house that sat at the edge of his unpowered neighborhood. They had cut the power two days ago, but ironically the water was still on.

Ten years ago when the proposal to build the dam had come, Eddie had laughed about it with his wife, while playing with his six year old baby girl, Eve. Things seemed so bright then. Working, laughing, loving, building a foundation towards forever.

Cancer was the first visitor they had had in their home, that was not welcome, because Eddie and his wife were notoriously hospitable. Their guest room was splendid and if anyone were to venture into the master bedroom, they would see that the guest room was more beautifully adorned. Eddie had been raised as a proper south gentleman.... he knew how to host. He did not like the heat thought, so north it was, to the blossoming valley.

In the north he met the love of his life who gave him a little her, to love even more. The north gave him his career, his first house, his first show room car, his first real friends and even his first dog. The Valley, as he and his wife fondly called it, was home.

Eddie was therefore not prepared when the disease came to visit his wife and opted to stay till her end, by causing it. Eddie was not prepared to be a single dad to a beautiful bouncing little girl. Eddie was broken for a while then, and though the guest room was kept cleaned and furnished, Eddie was understandably not accepting visitors.

His daughters eyes and expectations however and The Valley, with its very nature, nurtured him back to life. The guest room was once again host to happy family, friends, visitors from out of town, just all around good people.

At times, when his daughter was still young enough to indulge in childish things, she’d sneak in and draw on the walls because she loved the guest room as she remembered the fact that her mother would let her do it, to the chagrin of her father.

When the council confirmed that the dam would be built and the town would provide an aesthetic bottom for its lake, Eddie thought that once again his life was being torn from him. The compensation was generous, but it could in no way pay for the life he had, and had wanted and found that he needed.

When he had run from the south, and found his way north, he discovered a peace that was now central to his existence. When he buried his wife he thought it lost, but through Eve and The Valley, he found his way again.

They were asking him to hold on to Eve and some dollars and find his peace elsewhere, away from the only place he had ever felt right, to call home.

Eddie remembered that his wife had convinced him of the cliched term, “home is where family is” on her hospital bed, while she was fighting for her life. She added later that Eddie and Eve were going to be “the family” now.

As much as it pained him, Eddie knew that even without The Valley, with Eve, he’d find his way again.....they’d find a way. She was sixteen now and as beautiful as her mother ever was and ever would remain, in Eddie’s memory.

She had taken to her high school friends as easy as it was hard for Eddie when he was that age. She adored Eddie and he doted on her. They had looked at new places in a nearby town and decided on, deciding on, the best of their favorite three. Eve had asked to go out with her friends and Eddie of course had said yes, Eve had good friends.

When the Sheriff pulled into his driveway Eddie was not worried because the sheriff was a friend. When Eddie saw the sheriff’s face, Eddie knew then and there, he’d not leave the valley.

Eve never liked to swim, so Eddie could never understand how she found herself swimming in the river. The dam almost being done, had seen the river backed up a ways and the local kids found it to be the newest best place to hang out.

Knowing that he could not even bury his drowned daughter next to her mom, or in the town they loved so much, Eddie thought was the final proverbial straw. The cemetery had been relocated and Eddie‘s wife being long gone back to the dust from which she was made, made it difficult to put Eve’s coffin next to her mothers. A headstone would never suffice.

When the final residents left the town and the Sheriff’s department made sure everyone was out before the dam made its lake, Eddie managed to stay behind. He had never liked guns but he had one because one never knew when he’d be called upon to protect his family, his loved ones, his home.....his life.

The last beer he had drunk had been the last of too many, and the end of all the alcohol he had in the house. All the furniture from their house was in a moving truck he had parked in the forest......people had to see him go through the routine.

He fell on the stairs going up to the guest bedroom, because....like it had been Eve’s, it was his favorite room

in the house. He and his wife had spent many a hour in there making sure it was the best guest room in town.

Eddie knew he had broken his God damned hand and nose on the stair case. He sure had busted open his lips. The pain was not even enough to make him feel.

Thank God though, he had not broken his right hand or trigger finger when he fell, as that would make it hard for Eddie to join his wife and daughter. He hoped heaven had a lush valley too.