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It was a rainy, mid autumn afternoon in Gravesfield. Rain pelted the kitchen window, a steady rhythm filling the kitchen where Caleb sat sipping coffee. He never did care for the rain growing up, but now he found himself comforted by it because, even if the world he had once knew was gone, the weather was just the same.
He sat with his elbows braced on his old kitchen table that he had bough at a flea market just outside of town for all of twenty dollars. A price that, at first, he thought was down right outrageous. The things Caleb could do with twenty dollars. Why, for that matter, he's never even seen twenty dollars until that very day, and yet someone wholeheartedly expected him to pay that much for a shabby old table covered in scratches and in desperate need of sanding, staining, and maybe even painting, after years of abuse in the sellers mother's kitchen and then years more of neglect in his garage (whatever that is). A sentiment he kept to himself to avoid offending the man, a simple "that's a bit much, isn't it?" was all he could manage. It wasn't until Camila pulled him aside and explained to him, after searching it up on her phone, that twenty dollars was roughly the same as thirty cents in his time. A much more reasonable price that he was more than willing to pay. After sanding it down, fixing a wobbly leg, and giving it a fresh coat of paint, one would never tell that he paid so little for it. With the right care, it would last for years to come.
Sipping his coffee, Caleb flipped through a housing catalog, studying the design trends of the modern world. Beige seemed to be oddly popular.
Plip
A droplet of water fell squarely in the middle of the table. He looked up at the ceiling, narrowing his eyes as another drop began forming.
Plip
Making a face, Caleb stood and took a sauce pan from the counter and placed it on the table just as another droplet fell, catching it with a metallic plink rather than a
Plip.
He watched the drip for a few moments longer, humming to himself as it seemed to be getting faster. One plink became two, then three, and a minute later it was a steady beat of plink after plink.
"It's getting worse..." A childish voice said in the back of his mind. One he only ever heard when he let himself reminisce.
"So it is," he answered back. His face flushed and he shook his head. It was the funniest thing, though this wasn't the same house he grew up in; merely built atop it's ruins, it had almost all of the same problems. The same drafts, the same leaks, the same family of chimney swifts building their nests on the chimney. Though it may sound strange, those things brought him comfort just as the rain did.
Plink!
Except for right now. Right now it was grating on his nerves and he wouldn't be able to just sit there and let it leak. "I'd best patch it." He left the kitchen only to return seconds later and place a tall stock pot in the sauce pan's place to catch the water. He took his coat from the rack and headed outside, pulling up his hood though it did little to protect him from the downpour.
As he made the trek through the mud to the shed for a ladder, a tarp, his hammer and some nails, her could hear Hunter insisting he be the one to do it.
"I'm steadier on my feet, and if I did fall, I wouldn't get hurt like you would!" Is what he would say, Caleb was sure of it. But Hunter wasn't here right now to say it. He was in Bonesborough working on a project for one of his classes with some of his classmates.
"I've patched my fair share of leaky roofs," Caleb said into the rain as he propped the ladder against the side of the house. He started to climb. "I'll be done and dry in no time at all."
"You're going to fall."" The childish voice from earlier said to him, making him pause. It wasn't warning him that he may fall, it was telling him that he was going to fall. Just like it had when he did fall back then.
"I'll be fine," Caleb told himself, and, okay, maybe he was telling the voice too. He dragged himself up onto the roof and made quick work of finding the source of the leak. That was the easy part.
Some shingles had come loose and with the amount of rain and wind they've had lately, it wasn't surprising that they had sprung a leak. He made a face. If he had known about this before, then he could have prevented this from happening in the first place. Oh well, no point in dwelling on it now. He just had to tack the tarp into place and then he could fix it properly once the rain let up.
Once the tarp was in place, nice and taught so the water wouldn't just collect and make matters worse, he stood to look at his handy work. Satisfied, he nodded in approval before he shivered from the cold. Carefully, he made his way to the ladder, his feet slipping a little on wet leaves and rain. He went slowly, inching his way down the slope of the roof, suddenly aware that this might not have been his best idea.
Before he could even consider the idea of offering his beast a whole rabbit in exchange for helping him get down, he lost his footing and he was falling. He landed hard on his back, the muddy ground doing little to cushion his fall.
He lay there, letting the rain wash over him before he finally willed himself to sit up and looked down at his legs, half expecting one of them to be all twisted in a way a leg shouldn't twist like it had been the last time he had fallen from the roof. But, thankfully, both legs were fine. Pushing himself to stand, he was pleasantly surprised to find that he didn't hurt in the slightest. Wiping mud from his shoulders, he trudged his way back inside.
Caleb froze when he stepped across the threshold. This... This wasn't his house.
Well, it was, just... not anymore.
The house he stood in now was the one he lived in with Evelyn, well over three centuries ago. He turned around as he ventured further into the room. Everything was just as he remembered it. Every piece of furniture was where he and her father had placed them, every charm and hex Evelyn had hung up lined the walls, every decorative carving he himself had carved decorated the shelves. All of it was just as it was back then.
"A dream..." he whispered to himself, approaching the table where he would sit and carve while he listened to Evelyn talk about her day. He must have dozed off once he had gone inside. When did he go inside? He couldn't remember... Hunter would be sure to scold him for going to sleep in wet clothes, though, he was sure of it. He dragged his fingers across its surface, running them along every nick and scratch. This was far from the first, and unlikely to be the last time he's dreamed of this place.
But it felt... different, somehow.
In his dreams, everything was hazy. As if they weren't really there and they would vanish if he tried to touch them. But the table under his palm felt real and it creaked when he pressed down on it. Everything was clear, and when he reached to pluck one of Evelyn's charms from the wall, it came down without issue. His throat tightened, suddenly feeling uneasy. He replaced the charm on the wall and backed away from the table all together.
He turned to leave, as if stepping outside would wake him back up. But he couldn't move beyond the threshold. His eyes were glued to the body lying limp in the mud just a few feet from where he stood now.
His heart raced as he stared at himself, lifeless as the unforgiving rain poured down on him.
"What... What is this...?" He managed to rasp out. He took a step back though he was unable to look away. He tripped over the wooden stool he used to sit on, falling on his back side, eyes still locked on his own body. He pushed his hair out of his face, not even bothered by that strand that always fell between his eyes. "This can't be real."
He stiffened when he heard the floor creak followed by footsteps that grew closer and closer still. He finally looked away from the open door to the hall leading to his and Evelyn's old bedroom. His breath caught in his throat when he saw her standing in the entryway, looking just the same as he remembered her too. Pale green eyes met deep brown and all they could was stare at each other like a couple of deer caught in a hunters line of fire.
Evelyn's mouth opened and closed, not unlike a fish, though no words passed her lips. Her confusion turned into realization and she hurried to the door, stopping just short of going outside. The next thing he knew, she was pulling him up from the floor. "You have to go back." She said, sounding panicked. She started pushing him toward the door. "You can't stay here, please, you have to go back!"
"Go back—" Caleb stumbled forward when she shoved him, but he was able to keep himself from falling by catching himself on the wall. "What are you—" She shoved him forward again. "Evelyn, please!"
She stopped and took a step back, looking at the floor. "You have to go back while there's still time. Before it closes."
"What are you talking about?" He asked her. "Evelyn, what is going on?" He saw her flinch and his heart clenched. He reached for her but she took another step back. "Eve?"
"Please, just go." She said again. "Before it's too late."
"What do you mean? Please, tell me what's happening." He pleaded with her and kept himself from stepping forward again.
Still not looking at him, Evelyn crossed her arms and finally said, "You're dead."
He stared at her, dumbfounded. It felt like the wind was knocked out of him, and while he didn't want to believe her... he looked back out the door from over his shoulder. At his own body lying in the rain. "Oh..."
"'Oh', he says," she scoffs. "He finds out he's dead and all he can say is 'oh'."
"Honestly, after the year I've had this is somehow the least surprising thing to happen to me..." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "To be quite honest, I'm surprised it hadn't happened sooner."
"I wish it had," she admitted. "Then maybe this wouldn't be so hard."
Caleb took a step forward, and this time, she didn't step back. But she still looked anywhere but at him. Even when he touched her shoulder. "Why won't you look at me?"
Her voice was barely above a whisper when she said, "Because if I do, I don't know if I'll be able to let you go."
"Evelyn..." he went to touch her face but stopped himself. "I''m so sorry. For leaving you the way I did. I didn't... I never..." He stumbled over his words. How many nights had he kept himself awake, wondering what he would say to her if he had the chance? He can't imagine the pain he put her through, even if he hadn't meant to. "Can you forgive me?"
"Of course I can, you dolt," she huffed, "It wasn't your fault... I just wish I knew that before I ended up here." She crossed her arms again, but this time to hug herself. "I spent so many years thinking you left. That you simply stopped loving me and ran off when you had the chance."
"I could never." He protested, shaking his head. It wasn't unreasonable, he knew that, but to hear it spoken out loud. For her to sound so hurt. To know that he was the cause of that hurt... It upset him greatly.
"What else was I to think?" She demanded. "You just vanished into thin air! And then those... those boys started appearing. The ones that looked just enough like you to make me wonder. I know now that they weren't yours, at least not in the traditional sense, but surely you can understand why the thought would cross my mind in the first place."
"No, no, I understand," He really and truly did understand. "I think anyone would in your circumstances."
"I never should have let you go with him. At least not alone." Evelyn continued, her brows furrowing in anger. "I knew the rumors about him. I should have known he had some scheme to take you away."
"Evelyn," Caleb put his hands on her shoulders. "He fooled so many people for so many years, please tell me you haven't blamed yourself for what happened to me."
"Of course I have!" Finally, she looked at him, her eyes brimmed with tears. "I let him take you from me! Twice!"
"Twice? What do you..." he trailed off, the memory of Evelyn clutching their baby in one hand, a spell in the other and demanding he stay back! playing in his mind.
"You came back and I tried to chase you away," she hugged him, hiding her face in his neck. "If I knew it was you, I never would have let him take you. I never would have let him do any of those horrible things to you or to those poor boys."
"Even if you had, I wouldn't have put it past him not to hurt you." Caleb said into her hair. He held her close. Held her tight, breathing in her scent of cloves and magic. "He would have done anything to get what he wanted."
Evelyn pulled back, just enough to look at him and cup his face in one hand. He leaned into her touch as she ran her thumb over the faint scar left behind from Belos' possession on his cheek. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you and all I could do was watch."
"Please," he put his hand on hers. "You've nothing to apologize for. If anything I should be apologizing for keeping you waiting so long. Not a day has gone by that I haven't missed you. The relief I felt when I learned I hadn't killed you that day... I would never have been able to forgive myself if I had. Please tell me you lived a long life after I was gone?"
"Seventy years," she smiled at him and his heart swelled. "I was there to hold our grandchildren and even our great grandchildren."
"And I was fortunate enough to meet our..." Caleb paused, looking up as he tried to do the math. "Our distant descendants."
Evelyn laughed, and it was music to his ears. He hadn't heard it in so long, he had almost forgotten what it sounded like. Her smile suddenly fell when she glanced over his shoulder, and when he followed her gaze, he saw the door behind them was beginning to close. She pulled away from him. "You need to go," she urged him. "You're running out of time."
"... What happens if I don't?" he asked, turning back to her. She didn't answer him, she didn't have too. "And if I choose to stay?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I've been alive for nearly four hundred years, Evelyn," he said quietly. "No one should live that long."
"I hardly call be transformed into a beast and locked in a dungeon 'living'." Evelyn argued. "You were given a second chance, Caleb. You should take it and live."
"But..." he paused. "Maybe I want to stay here with you." He took her hands in his own. "I've missed you so much it hurts, how can you expect me to go back?"
To his surprise, Evelyn yanked her hands away from him and took several steps back. "How could you be so cruel?" She demanded, stunning him into silence. She swiftly took advantage of it and continued, "You would leave that poor boy alone like this? You would let him find your corpse in the rain?"
"I..." Caleb swallowed the lump in his throat. Could he do that to Hunter? Deep down he knew he would be fine without him, but... He looked back at his own body, the slow, agonizing groan of the door closing reminding him he didn't have time to dwell on things. He had to make his choice and make it now. He turned back to Evelyn. "I can't, not yet."
Her expression softened and she smiled softly. "I know." She closed the distance between them again, hugging him tightly.
He hugged her back just as tight, if not tighter, committing everything about her to memory. The feel of her chest pressed to his, the scent of her hair, the feel of the fabric of her clothes. "You don't mind waiting for a little longer?"
"I've been waiting for three-hundred-and-sixty years," she said. "I can wait a few more decades." She pulled away just enough to stand on her toes and kiss him deeply. When they pulled away from one another, the door was three-quarters of the way closed now. Cupping his face, Evelyn said, "Take your time, live to the fullest, even if that means you find someone else to love."
"Never," he shook his hand. "No matter how many lives I live."
"I know, but you have my permission regardless," she kissed him again, a mere peck on the lips. "And no more patching roofs in the rain. For my and Hunter's sake."
Caleb chuckled. "Yes ma'am, I promise."
"Good, now go," she gently pushed him over the threshold, staying at the doorway as if she were merely sending him off to work. Just before the door closed, she said, "I'll be here when you come back."
Caleb shot upright, sucking in a deep breath. He felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him, but then again, falling from the roof will do that to a man. He tensed and braced himself as he looked down to his legs. Neither of them were at an angle they shouldn't be. What's more, he could move them, his feet, and his toes in his boots. So far he's much better off than the last time he fell from the room. But, he knew he would be feeling it in the morning.
A shiver ran down his spine but not from the clod and feathers began growing along his arms and neck. "Oh calm yourself," he said, doing little to settle the beast within him as he pushed himself up with some effort. "We're alright, see?" Still, he hurried to the kitchen, his limp acting up either from the rain or the fall, likely both, and dug around in one of the cupboards for an elixir.
The kitchen door opened and closed as he downed the bottle. "Welcome home, Youngling," he said after swallowing, the bitter taste of the elixir still stuck to his tongue. He brushed away the feathers on his neck. "How was your day?"
"Fine, I guess," Hunter answered, dropping his bag on the floor. "I swear my project partners don't care about— Why are you covered in mud?"
"Oh, I..." Caleb hesitated to answer for a moment. "I was patching a leak," he gestured t the pot on the table. "and I might have fallen off."
"The roof?!" The panic in Hunter's tone made him wince. "You fell off the roof?!"
"Yes, but I'm fine, as you can see," he said in attempt to calm him down.
"You fell off the roof!" Hunter repeated. "You could have broken something! Or worse!" He grabbed him by the wrist and started dragging him to the kitchen door.
"Where are you taking me?"
"A healer," Hunter answered and Caleb made a face. "We need to know you don't have a concussion or something."
Caleb scoffed and pulled himself free. "Honestly, Hunter, I'm fine," he insisted. Better than fine, really. He felt... Lighter somehow. But he could tell by the scowl on his face that Hunter was far from convinced.
"I'll give you a choice; either you let me take you to a healer to get checked out, or," he held up his scroll. "I tell Luz you fell off the roof. She tells her mom. And she comes and drags you to the human hospital."
"You wouldn't dare." Caleb challenged and Hunter began typing, albeit slower than usual. He knew well and good that Camila would, in fact, drag him to the hospital. She's done it before when she insisted he get vaccinated against modern ailments. It was a very unpleasant experience being poked and prodded by modern day doctors. They'd probably want to draw blood again... Not to mention the hospital itself was rather overstimulating for both him and his curse. He barely made it home before he transformed, poor Hunter had to spend the next few hours coaxing the beast out of some thicket it took refuge in. Defeated, he sighed. "Alright, okay, I'll go to a healer."
"Thank you," Hunter put his scroll away, his smug smile not going unnoticed by Caleb. "I know you don't like healers or anything like that, but..." He looked away, the tips of his ears turning pink.
Caleb smiled and opened the kitchen door, the portal to the demon realm rippling before solidifying. "Nothing's going to happen to me Hunter," he assured him. "I'm not going anywhere." he put his arm around him and lead him through the door. "Not for a long time."