Chapter Title: I Know You
Series Title: After
POV: Cal
Author: Obi the Kid
Rating: PG
Summary: Snippet of my "After" series. A string of non-chronological short stories that focus on the 1-2 years after Cal returned from Tumulus.
Disclaimer: All hail Rob Thurman! No profit here, I'm just having fun.
I see you.
I know you.
Your words aren't always clear, but you are. Needing to be close. Needing to touch.
Not yet. Please not yet.
I'm in here, but I'm buried and lost. I don't know up from down; in from out; good from bad. But I know you.
I know cold. I know fear. I know confusion. I know terror. I know those things that are scaring the hell out of me right now.
Then I know the one thing – the only thing - that I have to cling to. I know you.
Took me a bit to remember, but I do. You were there when they took me. You were there when I came back. You'll be there when I come all the way back. You'll be the reason for it.
I need to show you that I remember you. But it's hard. So damn hard - seeing past the dark and evil that now resides permanently in my waking mind. I pull away and I flinch from you. From your attention. From your touch. But not by choice. Never by choice. Not with you.
The monsters, they took me from you. I came back and only you were there. It's only ever been you. You were the one person who loved me before, when I was simply tainted. Now that I am more of what they are - so much more…and you still love me.
I know you. I know who you are and what you are. I know that you won't ever give up on me.
Your hand is out now; reaching for me. And you wait to see if I flinch. To see if I reach back. I feel myself staring at the gesture. Fearful of it…and desperate for it.
I know you and I want to reach back. I want to grab your hand. Tug your shirt. I want to show you that I remember -that I remember who you are, even though I'm not completely sure who I am.
Cal. You call me Cal. You make sure that I know my name is Cal. It's who I am. It's who I need to be again. It's who you need me to be again. You, who I remember from my first memory ever. You, who raised me and taught me. You, who protected me and loved me.
You…now trying so hard to bring me back from the hell where I currently reside.
You, who will still protect me and love me, even if I never fully return from that hell.
I know you.
You're Nik.
You're my brother.
The end.