Chapter One can be found here.

As I said in the last thread, this is where we start really meeting the characters so the flow of the next two or three chapters will be a bit slower. It'll be worth it in the end though (I hope!) so bear with me.



Chapter Two

"Caitlin, I've really missed you this past month." Aaron says, his head hanging low "I never realized how much I had. I guess I finally understand why you were always so cheery. We had some good times didn't we? I never really stopped to appreciate that, instead I just looked at how nothing ever changed and nothing interesting and new ever happened. I always thought you were happy becase you didn't know what you were missing. Now I know I was the one that didn't see the whole picture."

Thunder begins rumbling loudly and Aaron rises to his feet, dusting blades of grass off as he does so. Rain begins to fall, gently at first, but it quickly becomes a downpour.

"Well I guess I'd better get back home now." he informs Caitlin, his heart aching anew "I'll be back tomorrow." he says, his chocolate eyes fixed on the granite tombstone in front of him.

Turning he heads back to the car and braces himself for the long and lonely drive home, leaving behind him a fresh grave marked by an engraved hunk of stone, the only thing left to commemorate a beautiful life that was ended far too soon at the young age of only twenty one years. A life Aaron supposes this world was not worthy of.


________________________

The days pass and Aaron works as always, passing his days in solitude and his evenings at Caitlin's grave, then at 8:30 he looks at his watch and declares that he needs to go home, just like she always did before. This is his life these days, and it has been for over a year now. It's been so long, but to his dismay the hole left in his heart, and the ache of his loss, are still there and every bit as painful as the day she left.

He's grown more and more bitter with each passing day, and slowly lost trust for everyone in the world. He hates this place and he hates these people. He hates humanity itself for what happened to Caitlin. He loathes being near another person, which is why he never comes to town except to visit Caitlin or to go grocery shopping, the latter of which he manages to only do once every month both by stocking up as much as he can and by eating as little as he can to make sure it stretches as long as possible. Then as a bonus, once every three or four months he has enough left over to go nearly two months without having to face the public at a store.

However one day his life of extreme hermitage is disturbed as someone walks up his gravel driveway. He can't exactly avoid being seen, and indeed the person is looking straight at him.

"Oh great." Aaron mutters under his breath as he sets his tools aside and walks toward them.

"Hello sir." a soft voice that sounds decidedly intimidated says as the small frame it belongs to steps closer to him.

Before him stands a woman a good foot shorter than his own height of 6'1, and so thin he'd hate to take a guess at her weight, though he'd be surprised to hear it was even in the triple digits. She has long and matted light brown hair, dark blue eyes, and wears tattered and dirty clothing.

"What?" both of them cringe at how mean he sounded as he said that "I mean, what can I do for you, ma'am?" he didn't really. He meant 'please get out of here, I don't like people.' but he can't bear to be harsh with someone in such a state.

"Well, I was wondering if..." she bites her bottom lip and looks down at the ground, but not before Aaron catches a glimmer of a tear in her eye "That is... I see you're in possesion of a sizable piece of land and a spare house, and I have nowhere to stay. Is there"

"No." he cuts her short.

"Yes sir." she answers dejectedly and turns back "I'm terribly sorry to have bothered you."

"No, I mean I don't have a spare house." he answers, and the woman appears unsure of his point "Nobody stays in that house, and no one ever will. But if you're in need of a place of shelter for the night... I could give you enough money to rent a room in town."

"No sir, I...I'm presently without a home. Anywhere." she replies, clearly ashamed of her present situation, and Aaron feels his heart actually ache for someone else's pain for the first time in a long time. He'd been so lost in his own pain that he hadn't thought of anyone else in a good while.

"Oh. Well then..." he stops and scratches the back of his head as he looks down and thinks for a moment "I have a storage shed..."

"Yes sir, I would be most appreciative if I could stay there for a few nights until I could get something together." she says sounding grateful and eager to have even such poor accomidations, and Aaron's heart is all the more heavy for her.

"No, I won't let you stay there." he says then quickly continues as her head dips once more "I'll stay there. You can stay in my house."

"Sir?" The woman's head shoots up quickly, her Indigo eyes wide with shock.

"You heard me right." he says and finds himself smiling for the first time in over a year now.

"I could never inconvenience you so, sir." she answers.

"Do you have anywhere else to go?" he asks and she lowers her head and shakes it "Then it looks like you have little choice but to accept my offer. Besides," he adds "as much as I hate to admit it, I think it would do me good to have someone around."

"But I'd feel terrible kicking you out of your own home, sir."

"You aren't kicking me out, nor are you displacing me. I said what I did because I wanted to." he assures her.

"Might I at least earn my stay, sir? I could do work around the fields for you, or"

"Can you make something besides boiled eggs and instant food?" he asks with a slightly embarrassed smile which seems to put the woman at ease finally.

"Well, I could learn to cook if that's what you're asking, but I'm no chef." she answers with a soft laugh.

"Good enough for me." he replies as he stretches a hand out toward her "I haven't eaten anything that wasn't instant in over a year."

"Oh goodness. Why a year?" she asks as she shakes his hand, but noticing his countenance drop, she quickly adds "I'm terribly sorry, sir. I shouldn't have asked."

"No, you're fine." he says as he goes to gather his tools and heads toward the house "Follow me. I'll get you familiarized with the house." opening the door he adds "And stop calling me sir. My name is Aaron."

"Alright then, Aaron." she says finally smiling "And you may call me Lauren."

And with that the two of them head inside and spend the rest of the evening getting acquainted, eating canned tomato soup and drinking tea. It's all he has in the house for the time being, and though it isn't much, Lauren practically inhales it. It would appear that Aaron's judgement that her obvious lack of nourishment wasn't voluntary was correct, and it both saddens him and lifts his spirits to know he could aleviate this for her. After eating they move to the front room with their teas and talk for a while longer, much like he used to with Caitlin.


After some time has passed, Aaron looks up at the clock and sees it's nearly eight PM and rises to his feet with a start, clearly catching Lauren off guard in the process as she nearly drops her cup.

"Sorry, I just noticed the time." he says as he rushes to the kitchen to put his cup away "I have to get this washed and get to town before..." he pauses a moment to think of a better way to word things "Before 8:30."

"Leave the cup and I'll wash it so you can make it in time." she says as she rises to her feet and walks into the kitchen behind him.

"Thank you." he says as he sets the cup down and practically jogs to the front door "I promise you won't always have to clean up after me like this."

"Oh don't worry, really. I don't" she's cut short by the door shutting behind him and she turns to walk to the hall and sees that he's gone "mind."


_____________________________

Aaron glances at his watch as he kills the engine and starts to climb out of his car: 8:17 PM. He'd made it. Climbing out he walks up to Caitlin's grave with a single flower he'd grabbed from the flower bed that he'd been tending to in her place since she'd passed.

"Sorry I'm late." he says as he kneels beside her grave and places the lone flower "You'll never believe what happened today." recounting the story of the days events in brief, he keeps an eye on the time, and at exactly 8:30 he announces that he has to go home and dismisses himself. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Climbing in his car Aaron pulls out of the cemetery drive and heads back to his house, or rather, his storage shed. Tonight he'll spread a sheet over the rice and sleep on top of it. He doesn't mind it, he's just glad to have someone else here again, and that fact surprises him given his loathing of everyone since Caitlin's death.

Caitlin's death.
Why did he have to think about that right now? He didn't want to deal with the anger and sorrow it always brings, not while he was trying to sleep. And sure enough, sleep eludes him as he fights the anger boiling up inside of him. After an hour of trying to fight it, he gets back up and heads out to the fields to walk it out and look to the stars once more.

~~~~~

Lauren pulls her blinds back and looks out at the full moon hanging high in the early night sky. She just had an actual meal for the first time in two weeks, and she got to shower and wash her clothes. For the past two months it's been mostly eating a sandwich that she bought with a few dollars that passersby would give her and splashing water from a park water fountain or convenience store restroom sink on her arms, legs, and face whenever she could. On rare occasion she would actually bathe, albeit without soap, in the lake at night when traffic wasn't an issue and she could go unseen. She'd wash her clothes in the lake as well, but that meant having to hide in the nearest tree thicket until they dried, hoping no one somehow stumbled across her before she could put them back on. It was not a pleasant existence to put it mildly, and many were the nights when she wondered if it was worth living at all if this was her life now.

Thankful to finally feel clean, full, and human once more, she stands in front of the window, wiping tears of grattitude to both Aaron and God for answering her prayers finally. She doesn't know how long she'll be allowed to stay here, or even where she'll go or what she'll do, but even if it's just for tonight she feels grateful beyond words.

As she shifts her gaze from the moon to the fields she notices someone moving around among the trees and gasps. However her worry is quickly eased when she manages to make out Aaron's clothing in the bright moonlight. Something seems to be bothering him though as he walks, no, stomps along the way, kicking up dust from time to time. Stopping he punches a nearby tree with a dreadful force, and both he and Lauren wince at it. That had to hurt. Even so, his rage doesn't seem to be abated any, as he continues stalking along, and she thinks she hears him shouting something. But why is he so angry? Seeing this side of him, this enraged Aaron, scares Lauren slightly and a small part of her wonders if he's safe, or even fully sane.

Closing her blinds quickly, she sits on her bed and folds her arms tightly against her stomach. She's here and there's nothing that can be done about it. All she can do is to try and relax she supposes and so she tries to do so, but there's nothing in her room aside from a bed and some basic furniture, so she heads downstairs to the front room to watch something on television. As she reaches for the remote however, she sees a small picture frame she had overlooked earlier. In it is a picture of a little boy that she immeiately recognizes as a smaller Aaron, an older man that she assumes is his father, and a young girl. His sister? They seem to be on a some sort of trip together given their outfits. Where was his mother in this picture though? Had she passed on already?

"Oh stop being so nosey, Lauren." she scolds herself "If he wanted you to know all about his family he would have mentioned them. You're here because he's being generous. Your job is just to help fill the gaps while you're around and nothing more. Don't get so involved with figuring out his secrets."

Flicking on the television she begins scanning all of the channels looking for anything even remotely interesting but finds nothing. He doesn't have anything but local stations and nothing interesting ever really happens here. Still it beats lying awake in the dark worrying about what might or might not be going on in this man's head out there, and so she pulls her legs up onto the couch and drapes the throw over her lap as she watches some mundane programming.




_______________________________

Walking up to the house, Aaron slowly turns the knob and enters quietly so as not to disturb Lauren in case she's still asleep. She knew he would be over in the morning, so surely she would be decent by now if she were up, wouldn't she? Walking into the kitchen he sees no sign of her and assumes she must still be in bed, so he only grabs one bowl and starts to prepare some instant oatmeal. Turning around to grab the box he sees her asleep on the couch, remote in her right hand, head layed over to the side and resting on her left arm which is propped on the back of the couch. She looks kind of cute, in an innocent sort of way.

"Yeah, that boring local stuff would put me to sleep too." he says softly to himself with a chuckle, then grabs the instant oatmeal and begins preparing his breakfast, if it can be called preparing when it's just adding hot water to a pile of dried and flavored oats and sugar.

Sitting to eat he opts for a chair facing away from her, both to be polite and to not creep her out by making her think a stranger was watching her sleep. As he eats however he hears her stirring behind him.

"Oh I'm so sorry. I must have fallen asleep while watching television last night." she says sounding embarrassed "I meant to fix your breakfast for you."

"Fix my breakfast?" he replies without turning to look "It's instant oatmeal and a glass of water. It doesn't take much fixing." he says with a chuckle "Besides, you're not my maid. Don't feel bad that you slept."

"But I thought I was staying here in exchange for my services in the kitchen." she says as she brushes her hair as best she can with her fingers and no mirror before she steps in front of him.

"I don't remember saying that." he answers between bites "I believe I asked if you could cook, and that was about it. Never said you had to earn your keep. Having someone else here is payment enough. I was about to lose my mind I'd become so isolated."

"Oh." she says, unable to muster anything more as images of his outburst of anger last night come to her mind at the mention of losing his mind "Well I would feel better if I were to at least help in some capacity." she finally manages to speak as she grabs a bowl and prepares some oateal for herself.

"Well by all means, if it eases your mind feel free to cook, but don't feel like you" he stops as he looks up and sees her clean and awake for the first time. She's quite beautiful really, and she looks like a different woman entirely than the one he met yesterday. Realizing he's staring he quickly looks down at his oatmeal and moves on "Don't feel like you owe me anything, or like you have to earn the right to stay here. As far as I'm concerned you're free to stay as long as you'd like."

She stops at those words and marvels at the kindness this man is showing her, especially after seeing him acting the way he was last night.

"Th-thank you sir." she stammers out and seeing him look up at her she quickly changes her wording "Aaron. Thank you Aaron."

"No problem." he laughs "That 'sir' thing is one nasty habit you know."

"Curse my good manners." she says with a smile "Mother taught me better than that."

"Oh did she now?" he asks with a laugh as he stands up from the table and goes to wash out his dishes "Mind if I ask her about that one day?"

"I'm afraid you cannot. She died a few months ago." she says soberly as she looks back down and pushes her oatmeal around with her spoon, suddenly not so hungry.

"Oh." it's Aaron's turn to stumble around for words "I'm sorry." a decidedly weak reply, and he chides himself for his lack of finesse. It'd been too long since he really spoke with another living person.

"It's quite alright." she answers as she casts a sad smile over her shoulder at him "You had no way of knowing."

"Is there uh...is there anything I can do?" that doesn't sound quite right either, but it's better than his last attempt.

"You've done more than enough already, Aaron. Thank you." she says, and he can tell that not only is she entirely sincere but she also wishes to move on from this discussion.

"Right then." he says as he turns back to dishwashing "I'll finish this up and be on my way to the fields. If you need anything I shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Thank you." is her only reply.

Putting his dishes away, Aaron is all too happy to remove himself from the awkwardness of this situation as he heads for the front door and out to the tool shed to grab his tools for another day's work. He's going to have to work on his people skills it seems.


Click here to go to the next chapter

Maybe I'm misreading some thing, but I get the feeling some thing bad is also going to happen to this new woman as well. Like, every one who gets close to Aaron is going to meet some terrible fate or some thing. But I'm probably just being pessimistic like usual lol.

I can't believe Caitlin died though. Well, it's not that she died that surprises me, but more so that it's already happened / found out by Aaron. I was really expecting there to be more to him searching for her, and explaining the story of why she disappeared, but that'll probably just come later. I love stories that jump around a lot on the time line of how things played out. Makes it more complex to follow, and easier to slip in subtle details that would other wise be easily noticeable.

Hurry up and post the next chapter already man.
I don't have the ability to handle all this suspense
( jk, please take your time lol )

Mynamescox44 : "You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

Yeah like we were saying in the other thread (and you alluded to here) things are going to come to light as the story progresses. Some of it has been alluded to already, but only enough to give vague ideas. Nothing outright though, not yet.

As for time line jumping: definitely happening. It'll happen in a big way soon too once we build a little more on what we have already in the next chapter (I'm already on chapter four). I may post chapter three later, or I may not yet. I haven't decided exactly what to do with it yet.

Out of curiosity, was it obvious that she was dead at the end of chapter one?

Hey that was another great chapter, Eirinn! Can't wait for the next one. I'm curious as to how Caitlin died. Maybe a question to be answered for later?

Honestly, not at all. I mean, I was kind of thinking it would happen, but I had no idea that it had already taken place. I thought Aaron was heading into town to search for her, or at least just find out more about what happened to her. I guess since the voicemail left was actually her, I wasn't expecting her to be (found) dead quite so soon.

Makes me think that the voicemail explained that she was going to be dead soon / by the time Aaron realized she called ( since she knew he never took the phone ). Looking back at his reaction, it was probably a bit much for her to just say she was leaving, but her just saying she was leaving was my initial thought.

MoblinGardens : Hey, thanks for the positive feedback, man. It really helps push me on toward making more chapters to know you guys are enjoying them.

As for Caitlin's death, yeah everything significant will all be addressed in time. I'm working a bit out of my element by planning things ahead of time since, as you know, RP writing is pretty spur of the moment stuff. Lol This approach is really interesting and quite a change of pace.



Mynamescox44 : Oh good. I was hoping it wasn't too transparent, and in fact that was why I cut the chapter off with the visit to her. It would have happened anyway, but I was hoping cutting it where I did would at least cast some doubt on what had been said in that message.

Awesome job as always, Eirinn! Sad to see Caitlin is indeed dead. But...I guess Aaron and his new friend will go off the rails in an investigation that digs up some awful truths behind the town and or her, amirite?