Let it go

Eric took a turn and it immediately placed the morning sun on his eyes. He squinted and covered his eyes by placing his hand over them; he searched for the sunglasses in the car's mess, removing old receipts, and empty chip bags until they appeared.

Eric put the sunglasses on and lowered his hand to the radio, shifting through the stations and pausing every time he heard music.

"Let it go!" The speakers blasted a song. Eric quickly smashed the radio, turning it off. He pulled out an old beaten cellphone with a smashed screen. He opened the only music streaming app he owned and chose a playlist. The speakers were booming to drown out the A/C on the high setting.

Eric arrived at his destination faster than he would've liked and stopped the car. He grabbed the pile of papers and walked to the offices as he heard a man on the phone. "It's not worth it man, just let it go... Let it go!"

Eric accelerated his pace and faced away from the man in the gray suit, the papers under his fingers got crushed as he grasped them tighter.

The sun was now at the highest point in the sky when Eric left the offices, he lit a cigarette as soon as he got out of the door and got back in the car. He drove through the highway passing car after car. The drivers moved out of the fast lane when they saw him get closer, or the less fortunate when they heard the unrelenting honking.

The cigarette grew smaller as Eric took a drag and pulled out his wallet. He counted his money twice, paying more attention to the money than the road. He took the last drag of his cigarette, coughed repeatedly into his hand, raised the volume of the music and threw the cigarette butt away.

The car's brakes screeched as it came to a stop in an almost deserted parking lot. A red shining billboard showed "Tommy's guns" with a cowboy shooting to the sky. Eric stared at the front door with the motor running. Sweat rolled down Eric's face and he realized a few minutes had passed, so he turned off the music and leaned on the steering wheel. He cleaned the sweat into the black shirt's cuffs and turned his sight to the closed wallet. His chin was facing down and big dark eye bags bulged under his eyes. He exhaled, grabbed his wallet, a few papers and went into the store.

A few minutes later a woman held the door open for Eric as he came out the door carrying a new rifle and ammo under his arm. Eric ignored the woman. "You're welcome." The woman appealed and shook her head.

The new rifle adorned the car's seat as it pulled back from the parking lot and reversed into another parked car, breaking its taillight. The bump froze Eric in place for a few seconds. He shook his head and the wheels screeched, leaving black marks as he ran away from the parking lot.

"Hey! Come back!" A man shouted extending his arm.

"Let him go." A woman replied and showed her cellphone in her hand. "I got his plate number."

Eric hit the steering wheel with his palm. He stifled a scream and shook the steering wheel back and forth unintentionally turning the wheel. He lost control of the car and it skidded on the road until it made a 180° turn. Eric's breaths were heavy. He covered his eyes with his hand and rocked back and forth. A knock on the window startled him.

"Hey there! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" A man was peeking inside the window. "Do you want me to call an ambulance?" Eric shook his head no and got off the car.

"You got a flat tire. Right there, see?" The man pointed to the front left tire. "I could help you change it if you want." Eric shrugged.

The keys went into the car's trunk and Eric pulled out the lug wrench. He tried to loosen the bolts, switching from one to the other, but not one budged. "Here, let it go, let me help you. You need to do it one by one." Eric let go of the wrench and fixed his eyes at the man. "We all need a little help sometimes." The first bolt came loose. "There's no shame in needing a little help." The man handed the first bolt to Eric and the second bolt came loose. "If we all help each other, we can lift each other up." The third bolt came off. "Sorry, I'm a teacher, I guess I can't turn off my teaching instinct hahaha." The fourth bolt came off. "I bet you could also teach me a few things, right?" The last bolt came off and the teacher took off the damaged tire.

Eric walked to the trunk and got the spare. "Do you want to put it yourself?" The teacher asked. Eric nodded once, a faint smile on his face. Eric inserted the tire in place and begun tightening the bolts. "There you go! Just try to get that tire patched up and save the spare for emergencies, alright?"

Eric bowed his head and the teacher went to his car. "Safe travels! See ya later." Eric waved goodbye as the teacher's car became smaller in the horizon.

Eric got in his car, made a u turn and drove to his destination. He was slowly caressing his ear when he saw Mike. He was already waiting for him.

"You're late. You got the rifle?" Mike asked, he was wearing a military camo outfit and the military cap sheltered his eyes from the sun.

Eric lifted the rifle, showing Mike. "Good, let's go."

Eric followed Mike up a set of stairs with the ammo and rifle tucked in his backpack. When both men reached the top Eric closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Lock and load!" Mike smiled.

Eric grabbed the rifle and put it against his shoulder. His heart has beating fast and loud. He looked through the rifle's scope, trying to choose a target. His breathing was shallow.

Eric saw an easy target and aimed. A deep breath filled his lungs as his finger inched closer to the trigger, hovering over it.

"That's just a kid man, let it go."

Eric turned his head to look at Mike.

"What?" Eric asked.

"Let it go." Mike repeated.

"Why? Eric asked.

"Why let it go? Well, because there are bigger targets. You can't hang a baby deer's head in your living room hahaha.

"Why does it get to live?" Eric asked.

"Huh?" Mike grunted confused.

"I... my... baby girl..." Tears flowed to Eric's eyes. "I killed her. I gave her an overdose."

"Shit man, I didn't know I'm so sorry." Mike's mouth was half open, he just realized his friend was dressed in black.

"How can I let it go?" Eric's eyes were red and flowing with tears. "Who kills their own child? I should be dead, not her."

"I... don't know what to say. But it was an accident, you shouldn't punish yourself for that. She wouldn't want that."

"Everywhere I go I've been hearing "Let it go" over, and over, and over. I don't think I can, I don't think I should."

"You owe happiness to her, not retribution." The hunter placed a hand on his friend's back. "That "Let it go" you keep on hearing... That's her, dude... She's telling you to let go of your guilt."

"And how do I do that?" Eric asked.

"One day at a time, one by one. And when you need help, I'll be right here."