Life's very unfair, is all the 18 year old Caleb Wittebane could think as he walked down the dirt path, rain drops pattering on his coat as he did. So much had happened in such a short time, it was all still sinking in for him.
First, his parents had passed away due to a lingering plague that had hit the country. It was bad enough that he was disallowed to even see them in their final moments. Then, he had to say goodbye to his old childhood home as it was sold off due to him not being able to pay the taxes for the property without a job.
He luckily had managed to be able to keep a few of his things, which included his father's coat; which he now wore to keep the cold off him as rain began to fall from the cold night sky. Caleb barely had anything left to his name other than that coat.
This was all in the same week.
So yes, he had deemed life was rather unfair by the time he was walking down a now muddy road, his younger 12 year old brother in hand.
Caleb had seen no reason to stay in his old hometown now that their home was gone. He refused to live on the streets, let alone allow Phillip to have to live on the streets with him. So with the map Caleb had managed to keep, he found a nearby town that was only a couple days walk.
The town was only a decade or so old, so Caleb had hope there was work available in the town. If he got money, he could buy a home for him and his brother, warm beds and food again.
"Caleb..." Phillip whined as he held his older brother's hand, "I'm tired...".
Caleb could only sigh, "I know you are Phillip... I am too, but we cannot stop until we get there." he said, continuing to lead Phillip along behind him.
"How much longer until we reach... What was the name of the town again?" Phillip inquired, noticeably slowing down in the small hope Caleb would do the same.
"Gravesfield. The name of the town is Gravesfield. It's a nice place from what I've heard, you will like it." Caleb replied, tugging Phillip slightly to encourage him to keep up the pace.
"I'd like a warm bed better-" Phillip began, but Caleb cut him off.
"There will be warm beds there, along with food and water. I promise you Phillip, we'll be out of the cold very soon." Caleb replied, trying to ease his younger brother's worries.
In reality, Caleb was also trying to convince himself that everything would turn out okay.
He knew very well that they had no money, no home, and no direction other than going to Gravesfield in the hope that there's work there for the two to take up.
Thunder roared up in the sky, as rain began to fall harder. Caleb readjusted his coat to keep warm, with Phillip shivering a bit behind him.
"Please tell me we're almost there... Please..." Phillip asked, feeling colder from the rain.
Caleb glanced at his map, which now was getting soggy and wet due to the rain, and sighed as he put it away.
"Almost, just got to keep walking." Caleb said, holding up an arm in an attempt to shield some of the rain.
Phillip slowly began to lag behind, the cold rain beginning to affect the young boy. He shivered more as the rain began to make his clothes damp, holding his arms together in an attempt to keep warm.
"We've been walking for two days now..." Phillip whined once more.
"Phillip, I swear to the lord I will smack you upside the head if I hear one more whine from you." Caleb threatened, half serious.
Phillip chose to shut up, much to Caleb's relief. He didn't like being hard on his younger brother, but was going through a lot of stress right now.
"But so is he..." A voice echoed inside Caleb's head. He sighed quietly.
Caleb knew that Phillip had been avoiding the topic of their dead parents for the last couple days, but had a feeling Phillip was simply trying to grieve in his own way.
He was conflicted if he should try and talk to him about it, or wait for Phillip to come to him... Caleb was beginning to wonder if Phillip actually would come to him or not.
He shook off the thought once he caught the glimpse of something glowing in the distance. Caleb shook Phillip slightly to get his attention.
"Huh, what? What is it?" Phillip seemed taken aback by Caleb shaking him, and looked ahead; also seeing the glow.
"It's... Light! That might be it!" Caleb exclaimed, he began to pick up the pace.
Phillip ended up being dragged behind him as he ran toward the light down the path to get a closer look. He stumbled, and tried to keep up the same fast pace as his older brother.
"Caleb! Wait! Hold on! I'm going to- Agh!" Phillip was cut off when he tripped on a rock in the path, and faceplanted directly into the muddy path.
Caleb reached the end of the path at the top of the small hill, and looked on to see many other glows of lanterns lighting up multiple buildings. He marveled at the sight, before glancing over to a nearby signpost; looking it over.
"Welcome to Gravesfield!" He read out loud, not noticing Phillip slop some of the mud off himself as he got up.
"Ugh, thanks for helping me up." Phillip said, sarcasm dripping from his voice like the mud off his clothes.
"Yes, yes, I know." Caleb replied, not really listening as he looked on at Gravesfield, "But look Phillip! We made it!". Phillip walked over to join his brother's side, and looked on at the town as well.
"So we are... Does this mean we can finally find a place to sleep?" Phillip inquired, still feeling the cold from the rain that was beginning to pour down more and more.
Caleb was unsure how to answer Phillip, after all, he still had no money; and no money meant he couldn't purchase a house, let alone a room to stay at in a bar or other place.
"I... I do not know." Caleb answered at last after a moment of thinking, Phillip sighed.
"Wonderful. Shall we find a comfortable alleyway to sleep in-" Phillip's somewhat sarcastic remark was cut off when Caleb swiftly turned to him.
"We are NOT sleeping in the streets! Not in this weather and especially not in a new town we have just arrived in!" Caleb declared.
Phillip was taken aback, but kept quiet as Caleb sighed, trying to think of a place they could sleep that at least had a roof and somewhere comfortable to lay...
"Is this even legal?" Phillip asked, sitting down in a small pile of hay.
"No, no it is not... But it's not illegal as long as nobody sees us here." Caleb replied, laying down next to his little brother.
"Now be quiet, and lay down. I'll be getting us an actual place to stay tomorrow".
Phillip did what Caleb told him, and laid down, closing his eyes.
It was rather easy for the brothers to sneak into the stable. The animals were quiet this late at night, and the owner was fast asleep in his own abode away from the stable. Sure it held a... Questionable stench. But it was good enough by Caleb's standards, at least for now.
He sighed as he listened to the rain softly patter on the stable's roof... It was rather peaceful in a way. After all that had happened to him and Phillip the last week, he could find peace in the little things.
After a while of listening to the sounds of the rainfall, his eyes began to slowly close, and he soon drifted off to sleep.
Caleb was awoken by the feeling of something wet and slimy slide across the side of his face.
He opened his eyes to see the sun shining into the stable... And a horse licking his face.
Caleb gagged, and quickly shooed it away. He yawned slightly, and stretched his arms.
For a stable meant to cater only to animals, it was rather comfy and Caleb had slept quite well.
He sighed as he looked out at the town, the building's roofs were still wet from the rain last night, and glistened slightly in the sunlight. Caleb knew he had to get an actual place to stay today. But he didn't know how he was going to even do so, he still had no money.
Caleb was thinking about jobs he could possibly take in town when he noticed something, or rather someone, was missing.
He lurched up from the makeshift hay bed, looking around rapidly for Phillip. But there was no trace of him.
"Oh goddamn it, where could he have gone?!" Caleb asked himself, worry laced in his tone.
He made his way out of the stable, looking around for any footprints in the mud or anything else that could clue him in on where his younger sibling had disappeared off to.
"Caleb! Caleb!" Relief flooded through Caleb as he turned to the source of the voice, Phillip running up to him from the dirt path.
"Phillip! Where in hell's name were you?! I thought you might have been-" Caleb began to rant, but was cut off by Phillip.
"Yes, yes I know you're mad... But you have to see this! I found a house!" Phillip exclaimed excitedly, gesturing from where he came from.
Caleb glanced behind Phillip curiously, had his younger brother found a house they could somehow afford?
"Follow me! It's just past those trees up there!" Phillip declared, running off once more.
"Wait, wait! Phillip, hold on!" Caleb tried to stop him, running after his younger brother.
He followed Phillip as he ran up from the path and into the treeline, pushing away the brush as he ran.
After a few minutes of chasing his brother, Caleb finally pushed through one final tree's leaves, and was surprised by what met him on the other side.
It was a cabin. The cabin was not in the best shape; it's roof was dented as if a tree had fallen on it in the past, the two front windows shattered, the wood walls and foundation was clearly very old, one of the four pillars keeping a part of the roof up was broken, and the front door was slightly ajar.
"Look, I told you! It's not owned by anybody, I checked! So we can just claim it for ourselves!" Phillip explained, gesturing at the old cabin.
"How... Did you even find this place?" Caleb asked, still surprised by what Phillip had found.
"I was out early this morning, and thought I saw something gleam by the treeline... I did some searching, and found this place." Phillip answered, stepping onto the porch which creaked under his weight.
Caleb looked over the cabin once more, unsure if the place was even fit for them to move into.
"I think it has two floors as well... Let's look inside!" Phillip said, going over to the door.
"Phillip wait!" Caleb said, holding his hand out, and Phillip stopped to look at Caleb curiously.
"This is a great find and all, but I don't think this place is safe enough to live in. I mean, that roof looks like it could collapse in at any moment." Caleb explained, gesturing at said roof.
Phillip shrugged, "We'll repair it, once you get a job and make some money, we can put it into fixing this place and making it more liveable." He suggested.
Caleb thought for a moment.
This is what he wanted in a way. To find a place to stay, and then focus on making money.
They couldn't sleep in the stables every night after all, someone would catch them.
"Well... Perhaps that may work. But let's take a look inside this cabin first, and see what we have to work with." Caleb relented, and Phillip grinned.
"Perfect! Let's go then!" Phillip said, opening the door and rushing inside.
Caleb quickly followed behind, and looked around.
The cabin was rather empty except for some lone furniture that somehow looked more worn than the cabin that it was in. Cobwebs were everywhere in the place, and dust had settled on the floor like a thick blanket.
Clearly nobody had been in this abandoned cabin for a VERY long time.
"We're going to need to do some cleaning, that's for certain..." Caleb remarked, sliding a finger across a dust coated shelf.
He heard the sound of wood breaking in another room. "And some renovation on the flooring!" Phillip's voice hollered from said room.
Caleb couldn't help but smile slightly. Despite the current condition of the cabin, they at least had a place to stay.
Now there was just the matter of getting a job, he needed to support himself, Phillip, and the upkeep of their new home.
As he was thinking of said home, a wooden plank fell from the ceiling nearly hitting him in the head. "Oh yes, upkeep is a priority." Caleb noted to himself.
Phillip soon returned to the front door, and met back up with Caleb.
"What did I tell you Caleb? It's a decent enough place, right?" He said, looking at Caleb for a sign of approval.
"It needs some work, but yes, I think we can make this our new home with enough time and effort." Caleb replied, looking back at the interior of the dusty home.
"But in order for us to do that, the house needs to be cleaned, and I need to find work in town." Caleb remarked, looking at his brother once more.
"So that requires you, to take up some of the cleaning while I do that." He hands Phillip a broom he had found in the cabin.
"Starting with that floor, feels like I'm walking on a beach in there". Phillip nodded, grasping the broom.
"I can do that!" Phillip paused, "What work are you going to be doing in town anyways?" he inquired, curious.
"Anything that makes decent enough pay, I'll take whatever I can get." Caleb answered.
He'd take anything that would give him enough to at least allow him to buy food supplies to focus on feeding them and fixing the house.
"I'll be back around evening time, think you can make this place liveable enough to sleep in by then?" Caleb asked, stepping off the porch and beginning to walk off toward the treeline from where they came.
Phillip responded with confidence, "Certainly! It can't be too hard to manage!"