The motor roared under the hood as the car soared through the winding country roads. Dead leaves flew in the air like flocks of frightened birds as the black vehicle sped by faster and faster. He needed to clear his head, he needed to drown out everything. He could still hear echoes of his recent fight in the back of his mind… and with his power tugging at him, begging to be used, he felt like his head was going to explode.
He pressed down harder on the gas pedal and frowned. He didn't want to think about her or what she had said. The headlights cast shaky cones of light on the old dirt road, nodding up and down with every bump in the road. The scenery, although lost on Caleb that night, was breathtaking. A pale moon shone silver rays on the grassy hills and old wooden fences on either side of the road. The car, zooming by at incredible speeds, was the only moving element to what was otherwise a perfectly still and quiet scene.
He could feel tears stinging his eyes, spurring him to go even faster than before. He didn't want to feel this way, especially not because of his Sarah. He could still hear her words, even after trying to drown them out with liquor.
"Caleb we need to talk." Her voice was curt and cold.
With her tone, Caleb knew this was something serious. He stood still, not even blinking. His whole body was tense and had a speck of dust landed on him he would have felt it. She hadn't been been there long, just visiting for the a few days. He wondered how long she had been mulling things over. Had she taken this trip to see him just to talk about what was bothering her?
"What is it, love?" He managed to say.
"Recently I…" he looked at her expectantly "I feel like we've drifted apart."
He let out a small sigh.
"I feel like I don't know you anymore. Like for the first time you're actively pushing me away."
He knew her words to be true but he didn't want to admit it.
"It's school… I've been really stressed out lately…" He spoke softly. He despised the bitter taste the lie left in his mouth.
"This sounds like a bullshit excuse. The same one you've been rehashing for months now." She accused with narrow eyes.
He took a step back. Slowly, he rested his hands on his hips.
"You think I wouldn't notice how you've steadily cut me out? When was the last time you texted me about your day? Or about any important events for that matter?" She took a deep breath and shook her head softly.
Caleb licked his lips and looked around the room fleetingly. She was right. She always was.
"Is-is there someone else?" She asked, a tremor in her voice.
"God, Sarah, no!" He retorted, hurt she would even think he would do such a thing.
"Because to me it sure looks like slowly trying to get rid of me…" She continued, biting her lip and sniffing back tears.
"It's not like that Sarah… It's not what it looks like…" He started but she cut him off before he could even attempt to elaborate.
"What does it look like? Tell me what it looks like to me!" She pleaded, hoping, deep within her, that he would come up with an explanation that would solve everything. She didn't want to lose him, didn't want to see their relationship crumble.
He shook his head and averted his gaze to the floor. He knew he couldn't lie anymore. He had to get it off his chest; he had to tell her truth. She deserved as much after all.
"Ever since I ascended, I find it more and more difficult to resist my powers."
"Quit your bullshit Cal! I don't want to hear about it! I'm not 16 anymore."
Caleb took a step back and looked at her with questioning eyes.
"What does that mean?"
"It was fine when I was young but don't you try to feed me this crap about your 'powers' now!"
"I'm not lying!" he retorted with a raised voice, hurt.
"Magic doesn't exist Caleb! You're not a warlock!" she spoke, disbelief and anger apparent in her voice.
He could feel the power within him whispering seductively. Show her how wrong she is. He shook his head and exhaled loudly.
"I should've known studying the occult would do this to you… I thought it was cool when I was younger, but now… you just seem…" she trailed as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.
"Seem what? What's the word you want to use Sarah?"
She looked up at him, tears welling up in her big blue eyes. She bit her lower lip.
"Crazy? Is that the word you wanted to use? I seem crazy now?"
She couldn't look him in the eyes. She took a few steps towards the rain stained window.
"Caleb I love you, I really do but you need to stop this nonsense right now. I can't deal with it anymore."
"I don't believe this… Don't you remember what happened in the old Putnam barn?" He said, irritated and offended.
"No I don't! Because nothing happened there Caleb! The barn burned down, that's it! Can't you see how deluded you are?"
"'Deluded'?" He repeated, anger now overshadowing his sadness.
"Yes 'deluded'! I don't know what other word to use, Cal. You need to snap out of it! It's not cool anymore, it's… scaring me."
He let out the air he hadn't noticed he was holding in. He ran a hand through his hair and paced around the room.
"You're worried I'm going to hurt you, is that it? That I'm insane and I'm going to snap?" He asked with a weak voice. He didn't want to believe that's how she really felt. Shielding Sarah from harm had been, ever since the beginning of their relationship, his primary goal.
"I… I don't know. But this has gone too far." She said as tears rolled down her face.
He couldn't bear to see her this way. He wanted to use his powers, remind her it wasn't make-believe and that he was sane. But he knew too well the dangers to try. He knew how easy it was to get addicted and how hard it was to come back from it, even after only a taste. He felt his arms drop on his sides.
"Tell me it isn't real. Caleb please tell me you know it's not real." She pleaded as she got closer to him.
He licked his lips and looked away. Tears we now streaming down both of their faces. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest.
"Caleb please I beg of you… Tell me you know this isn't real." She cried softly.
She loved him, had loved him ever since she had laid eyes on him but this… was too much for her. She couldn't deal with seeing him continue to believe his strange fantasies.
"Caleb please, please, please…" she continued to cry in his arms.
He held her close, savouring what he knew was his last moments with her. Her perfume, her hair, her body… he didn't want to let go. But he couldn't deny who and what he was. Even if it costed him his dearly beloved.
"I… can't Sarah." He answered, his voice shaking.
She pulled away, eyes red and tears staining her pale cheeks.
"Then I can't do this anymore." She spoke with a broken voice.
She pushed him away gently and went to the bedroom, Caleb trailing behind her.
"Sarah please don't do this…" he said faintly.
"You leave me no choice." She said as she fought back tears. She was throwing her clothes in her suitcase. Most of it hadn't even been out of the luggage for more than 24 hours.
"Can't we talk about this? Are you really willing to throw all our years together for-"
"Don't you dare put this on me! You're the one who's willing to throw all this out the window because you don't want to face reality." She said as she hastily closed her luggage.
She shoved past him and threw her coat on.
"Sarah, don't do this… Please." He begged, even though he knew it was all for naught.
She rushed to the door and even though the storm was now raging outside, she didn't even blink when she stepped into the torrential rain.
"Sarah!" He called out for her, his voice barely audible over the hammering deluge.
She turned to look at him and even though three words burning her throat, she simply looked at him, tears now invisible in the rain.
Caleb shook his head, lips thin and eyes red. He didn't want her to go, didn't want to let go of what they had been through. He knew she probably wouldn't believe him if he had only told her about his powers, but she had witnessed it first hand. Had she truly forgotten or had she willed herself into forgetting, telling herself it was make-believe?
A cab stopped by and popped the trunk open. Sarah threw her luggage in and opened the door. Before stepping in, she took one last look at her first love. She loved him so much and yet she knew she couldn't go on, she couldn't build a life with a partner that believed such fantasies. And as much as it hurt her to see the pain in his eyes, she knew there was no turning back. She climbed in the cab and asked to be taken to the airport.
The pedal was on the floor and yet Caleb wanted the car to go faster. On the passenger seat, the bottle of cheap vodka was sloshing around, more than half empty. He gripped the steering wheel tightly and gritted his teeth. Why hadn't he done something more? He could have held her back, he could still have her, he could…
He didn't have time to finish his thought before he had to slam on the brakes. His chest slammed on the steering wheel when the car came to a sudden stop. In a daze from all the alcohol, he barely saw the white ghost slowly drift onto the deserted road. With a blurry and spinning vision, Caleb tried his best to comprehend what was before him.
Tall, slender and majestic, a stag, immaculate white of fur, stood. Caleb squinted and blinked but the ghostly animal stood completely still. It was only then that Caleb understood just how far gone he was and how irresponsible he had been. I need to talk to Pogue. He thought, knowing full well he would be the only person that could talk him out of his reckless behaviour.
Before he could turn away to try to find his phone, the stag jumped to the other side of the road in a single leap. Caleb's gaze followed the white animal until it disappeared into the border of the nearby forest.
Fumbling through his pockets, Caleb finally managed to grab hold of his cellphone. Squinting at the bright screen, Caleb's clumsy fingers slowly scrolled until his best friend's contact came up.
With a sigh, he pressed the call button. As the other line was ringing, Caleb rested his face against the steering wheel.
"Hey man it's the middle of night, what is going on?" Pogue's groggy voice sounded so far away that night.
"Hey man I-I just… It's Sarah man, I don't know she just… She's gone man, she's just gone-"
"Hey hey hey, slow down Caleb. What happened? Is she okay?"
No able to fight both his tears and the vapors of alcohol at the same time, Caleb let out a barely stifled sob.
"She left me man. She-she didn't believe in The Power. She asked me to deny it. I-I couldn't Pogue, I couldn't I just-"
"What do you mean she asked you to deny it? Didn't she witness it firsthand?"
"I don't know man, I don't… She said I was deluded and that nothing happened at the barn."
Pogue didn't answer, but Caleb heard him sigh through the phone.
"She begged me to deny it, but I couldn't. She's the first outside person to know about it. I didn't want to lose that, I didn't want to lose her… I-I just…" Caleb exhaled loudly.
"Where are you now?"
Caleb lifted his head, a monumental task it seemed. He peered out the windows left and right, trying to find any landmark or indications of where he was.
"In the middle of fucking nowhere on a dirt road leading nowhere in a car bound to go nowhere…" Caleb said as he plopped his head against the steering wheel once more.
"Caleb are you… are you drunk?" Came Pogue's concerned voice.
Caleb gritted his teeth once more.
"Caleb please tell me you're not drinking and driving…" Pogue pleaded.
"Sorry to disappoint…" he breathed.
"Caleb I know you're in a bad place, but putting your life in danger is not the solution. You could have-"
"if I had gotten into an accident my powers would have saved me."
"But at what price? I know you've been really good about keeping yourself in check, but if even moving a few objects around scared you to the point of losing Sarah, what do you think a feat like surviving a car crash would do to you? You have the combined power of you and your father, you know how tempting and addicting that is… One use can be enough to send you down a very dark path…"
Caleb grumbled something under his breath and lolled his head against the steering wheel.
"Park your car on the side of the road, lay down and sleep it off. You're in no condition to drive. Tomorrow I'm coming up to visit you and we'll talk about everything. Until then, just take it easy man."
Caleb exhaled loudly through the nose; he knew Pogue would convince him to do the right thing.
"But Sarah…"
"Try not to think about that for now. We'll talk about everything in detail as soon as I come up to visit you. Just hang in there. I know it's not easy but just don't think about it and next thing you know I'll be there for you."
Caleb nodded and slowly parked his car on the side of the road. He took the keys out of the ignition and let them fall on the floor.
"You goin' to be alright buddy?" Pogue said through a yawn.
"I'll just… sleep it off. And tomorrow-"
"Tomorrow I'll see you. Now come on, you've done enough for the day. I'll call you when I hit the road."
"Fine, fine…" Caleb slurred as he struggled to find a comfortable position in the driver's seat.
"See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah…"
Caleb let his phone fall on the floor and drifted off to sleep. All the liquor he had drank finally caught up with him.
I decided to write about what would happen after the movie. It might not be the best thing, but this story is helping me get over a really bad writer's I've been having recently.
Reviews mean a lot to me so if you enjoyed it (or have some constructive criticism) please leave a review. They really do make us writers happy :)