He is in a room. It is small and dark. Not too small, but just small enough. Small enough that he knows they won't find him... or her for that matter. His arm is around her bare waist and he smiles tenderly at the calm on her face. Shivering at the slight cold, he pulls the blanket up around his shoulders and pulls her closer. He tugs her shirt down from where it has ridden up to above her belly button. She must be cold, too. His eyes close softly and warily, knowing that she must leave tomorrow and that when she does, his world will stop. But she will be back soon after that and they will be together again. As he drifts out of conciousness, he feels a small emotion of despair, just at the back of his mind, telling him something is about to happen... and he's not going to like it.
The next morning he stands by the door of their inconspicuos van. She has the window rolled down and is leaning out to kiss him softly. He regrets ever agreeing to let her go on her own, but, sadly, she is right. She has been cooped up for a while, and the small garden they have needs to be tended, not something she enjoys very much. And so, it is with a heavy heart and a sense of forboding that he lets her leave. Standing in the cold, gray, dawn he waits until he can no longer see the vehicle that carries her.
He steps outside once again. It is night. The sky is pitch black. Just like his heart. He stares at the road. The road he knows she will come from, if she was coming back
at all, that is. It has been seven months. He has counted each dark day, every unnoticed hour, every minute that meaned nothing to him.... and she is still not back. And
he knows it is time to go back. He knows that he has waited long enough. That she will not come back. And yet, he is tempted. Oh so tempted, to stay. One more day,
he reasons with himself. But he knows he cannot. And so, with tears choking him, he knows he has waited too long. So he packs quickly and with tears running down
his face, he closes the door to their home. The place where he and his love had slept and eaten and loved each other, and smiled, and survived, and been happy. And he
is lost.
Almost two weeks later, he has made it to the caves again. But he is weak, and dillusional from the lack of water and food. His eyes fill with tears. There is not even one hundred feet left to go and he will die here. But maybe, maybe maybe maybe, he will be with her. His eyes fill with tears, his mind starts to go dark, and before he knows it, he is falling into the blackness. But before he does, he conjurs a memory of the two of them. Lying together, just looking into her eyes, and a smile graces his face.
They are worried about him. It has been eleven days and he has still not woken. He doesn't want to wake up. The doctor says. He is at peace in his mind. But they don't want to believe him. He has been captured by the Souls for almost two years now. How could he be at peace?
Three days later, agrivated at their pleas (and slightly worried himself) the doctor caves and gives the boy Awake.
He is in a field. His mind is happy. She is there and there is someone there with her, too. But, he can never get a good look at the other person. He only knows it is small.
Not yet ten. His eyes fill with tears. I waited for you, he says. She smiles and says she knows. He wonders why she did not come back. She wonders that, too. Suddenly,
he is pulled out of this world of nothingness. This world with her. His mind is thrown out and he crys out.
They are startled to hear him yell. But his eyes open and he shoots into a sitting position. No! He yells. He is met with the stares of those he knows. He scans their
faces but sees no one that means anything to him. Maybe once they were loved by him, but she is gone and so is his reason. They are stirred into action by his open eyes
and sitting up. He is surrounded by those who care about him. There are tears. But only one person is not crying from happiness. Him. He pulls away. What happens,
he demands. They tell him they found him, unconcious, about seventy-five feet from the entrance. And it flows back and he can feel the bile in his throat. Grimacing,
he grabs the bedpan and empties his already empty stomach into the cold metal basin. They are shocked. Why, they wonder. Why is he so hurt by being here? Suddenly
he is stricken. A girl, he says quickly. Did a girl come? Was there a girl with me? They look around at each other, confused. No, they say. Tears form again and he is
angry at them. He is weak. So much crying has been done in these past couple of months. Oh, god, he whispers. And breaks down. His shoulders shake. His vision
blurs and they are stunned. Why is he so upset? But they will not know. Not for many months. They will only watch as he grows colder and more unwilling. As his will
to live seems to be less and less. They will only watch as he stops smiling. They will watch him grow quiet, then angry. At whom, they do not know. But, it seems to them
he is angry at himself. Angry for being so weak.
The months pass and they do only watch. Two years after he has been found and he has grown cold and unfeeling. Not like the person they used to know. None of them have forgotten that day. The day he came back. The day he changed. When a group of humans comes to the caves they hurry him to the game room. Hoping, hoping, hoping, he will pull himself out of the darkness for just this one day. He goes unwillingly, but he still goes. There is a small circle of people surrounding the visitors and he hears a laugh and freezes. Unwilling to believe he is hearing right. There is something wrong with him, he reasons. But inside, he knows that is not the truth. When someone yells for the circle to clear, he can see her. See her standing there with a small child on her hip. And he is frozen. Because the child has his eyes. The child has his hair. But, the child has her nose. It is then that he realizes why she left. That he realizes that she had never been taken. She only wanted to protect him. Stunned he breathes her name and although it is quiet, she somehow hears it.
"Laura."
