Warning: Allusion to incest/non-con.
The Last Time
The last time that Norma and Caleb lay together, side by side, on the bed, Caleb is going on about how he's going to get them out of this house once and for all.
Something is wrong; he knows that much, at least. Then again things have been wrong, different, ever since the moment she told him they shouldn't do this anymore.
There has been a gulf between them ever since, no matter how much he tries to cross it, no matter how many times he has grabbed or screamed or tore at himself and her and made things a hundred times worse.
He wonders if apologizing would help, but apologizing would mean that he has agreed to let her go. He can't imagine a life without her without imagining himself spread out in the tub, red flowing from his arms as his eyes flutter shut. So he doesn't apologize but continues his plans, his dreams, as ridiculous as they sound.
"We can hop on a train. On the back of one, Norma. We can ride one out of town and start over wherever we want. Where do you want to go? Go on, pick a place! Wherever it is, I'll take you there."
"I don't want to go anywhere," Norma tells him, but he knows it's not true.
He figures he will leave tomorrow. He will jump on a train and go where it takes him – when he has enough money, he will come back for her.
And by then, maybe she will have forgotten all the bad things he's done. The lines he's crossed.
But not forgotten him, not ever.
At least, he hopes.
He will dress early and leave first thing in the morning. This will be the last time.
