Since I blabber a bit, to skip to the story's beginning, just scroll past the bolded text and you'll see a large header saying "Chapter One" that's your ticket out of this yammering.

Alright so I've been talking a bit about it in various posts that I've made around here, how I'm working on a story and all that. Well after debating it for a while I finally decided to share it here. I do warn you that this story is not going to end up anything at all like it starts out. I won't say much other than this is not going to be a simple and straight forward story nor will it stay all that normal for too long. It is not grounded in reality, nor is it set in any certain place. It's fiction and I plan to take full advantage of that fact.

This story will be a very long one most likely and will be broken into chapter long iterations on here if you guys are interested in it, so if you are, please let me know with a reply, PM, comment, or anything. I'm super absorbed in writing it myself but what's the point of sharing it if no one is interested, right? Lol

Finally this is not a love story, so don't misread it as such. Just sit back and see where it goes. It'll all make sense eventually, if you pay close attention. There will be crucial plot points that will likely be entirely miss able as I refuse to force feed anything because it only bogs things down.
Also please excuse any typos (I proofread four or five times and still found more typos each time) and my poor punctuation usage.


Chapter One




"Blessed is the man who recognizes a golden time in his life while he is living it"

A loud yawn fills the room, breaking the early morning silence as Aaron's morning time dragon breath filters into the otherwise pleasantly scented room. Stretching himself on his bed he looks through the glass double doors at the dark blue colors of the pre-dawn sky, the sun still lost behind the mountain peaks. Sitting up he stretches once more, rises to his feet and closes the blinds. Grabbing his work clothes he dresses quickly and slides his feet into his brown leather slip on shoes, then opens the sliding door that joins his room to the upstairs hall.

This house is a big one, and if he were to be honest he would say that it was too big. The sheer size of the six bedroom three bath two story house only serves to make a single inhabitant even more aware of their solitude. Thankfully it's a rare happening for him to go downstairs and not see the red haired blur flying frantically around the kitchen, trying to prepare his breakfast and lunch before he goes out to work in their fields. And this morning proves to be no exception as he reaches the bottom of the stairs and turns to see the kitchen door behind him and to the left standing open as usual when she's in there, working away.

Turning around he walks to the kitchen and sure enough there she is, the red headed blur Caitlin. She's there working as hard as ever, and she slows only to flash him her bright white smile before turning from the breakfast she's just now set on the table and back to the stove to finish up his lunch which he'll take with him to the fields as fuel for his body as he works all day once more. It's not a perfect life, and Aaron can't help but wish for something more than this life of work and mundane activities, but it's all he has, so he makes due with it.

"Morning." He half mumbles as he sits down in the same chair as always and begins eating his scrambled eggs and toast.

"Good morniiing!" Caitlin practically sings back as she quickly pulls the cookie sheet out of the oven and closes the door back, setting the hot pan on the stove top.

He sometimes wonders why she's always so happy about everything when in fact they have next to nothing to be happy about. He has this large house that he inherited from his grandfather, but no one to share it with, and she has a much smaller house just a few yards away from his. He'd let her move into one of the spare rooms but he knows his grandfather would not have approved of that, even though his relationship with Caitlin is completely innocent. He's never even looked at her as anything other than a friend, nor she him, that's how it had always been since they were kids, and that's how it always would be. They just sort of see each other as people, not as a guy or a girl. Still they both know what his grandfather would have said about it and so they decided to respect his wishes, even if the silence at night after Caitlin returns to her house is enough to drive Aaron up the wall at times.

Without another word Aaron finishes up his breakfast, rises up to his feet and puts the plate in the sink, then as always Caitlin hands him his sack of lunch just in time. She's only failed to have it finished in time once before, and Aaron can't help but laugh under his breath every time he thinks of it. She had promised to rush it out to him as soon as it was ready, though he was in no hurry really and assured her as much. Still she picked up the pace and began moving even faster somehow, and not even a half hour later as he hoed another row in the carrot field, he looked up to see her running full speed waving a brown bag in the air. He tried to warn her but she didn't hear him, and as a result she tripped over a rope he had stretched out to make sure he tilled straight rows, and fell into the small stream that separated the carrot field from the rice field. Rising to her feet she looked disgusted with her soaking wet and slightly muddy condition, while Aaron laughed uncontrollably. Caitlin, not one to be bested, walked up to the cackling Aaron and thrust a brown bag that poured water and the soggy remains of his water logged lunch into his arms, effectively soaking him as well. That was one of the only times he'd seen her upset, but seeing the flustered look on his face as the water gushed out on him seemed to brighten her mood once more as she laughed and turned back to go to the house again.

"See you this evening!" she still sounds overjoyed.

With a nod, Aaron turns to walk out of the kitchen and to the front door. Sliding it open he walks out to the shed to grab his necessary tools, and carries them out to the farthest field which he always works first.



Several hours pass and Aaron's finished his work in all of the fields. He now turns to head back to the house were he'll go to his room, take his shoes off, grab a shower and change back into his pajamas. After this he'll head downstairs and have dinner with Caitlin who will have already tended to the yard and cleaned both houses. Aaron had never asked this of her, but it's just what she always did, much like he always headed out to work the fields all day though she had never expressed an expectation in him to do so.

After dinner he would help her with the dishes and then the two of them would head to the front room which was connected to the kitchen and the main hall with the stairs leading upward to Aaron's room. There they would spend the rest of their evening chatting about random things while sipping on some tea, and that would be about it. The evening would end as always when Caitlin looked up at the clock and declared that she needed to head home for the night and dismissed herself. Aaron would watch as she headed back to the kitchen to wash her cup out and then walk to the front and leave. He would then stare at the walls and try to amuse himself with his thoughts but fail. It was how things always went. It was a simple life, and the only one he'd known for years. It was peaceful, calm, and dependable, but he wanted more in life.

"Welcome back!" Caitlin calls as he steps into the house once more.

And so his evening and night go exactly as he'd expected, and a few hours later he heads back up to his room, opens the blinds, climbs back in his pallet and looks up at the stars wishing they were around him instead of above him.

"Caitlin has no idea just how much is out there." he thinks as he slowly drifts off to sleep. "Maybe that's for the best."




"Today's mundane will be the treasures of tomorrow's past."

Aaron stretches and yawns, that same dragon breath as always adding a less than appealing fragrance to the surrounding area. Sitting up in bed he stretches and rubs the remaining sleep from his eyes before climbing to his feet.

Getting ready as always, he heads down the stairs and turns to see the kitchen door closed.

Odd.

Walking into the kitchen he sees no Caitlin, no red haired blur rushing to and fro, no sign of her anywhere. While this is admittedly quite shocking, he's been through too much to be shaken or worried by this. No doubt she slept in, everyone has their lazy days after all, and she deserves it. Besides, it wasn't her job to take care of him, but she was certainly missed. For breakfast he settles on a boiled egg and some toast since they don't exactly keep simple things like cereal or instant...well...instant anything in stock at either of their houses. And for lunch he packs a rice cake and some juice.

Bachelor food.

Turning the lights out, he heads for the shed once more, and as he exits the house a note falls from the front door. Picking it up he gets his answer as to Caitlin's whereabouts.

"We ran out of milk and eggs, so I went to get some. I'll be back soon. P.S. You need to learn to go shopping sometime you know."

Smiling at the closing comment, he stuffs the note into his pocket and heads to get his tools for work. The note could be disposed of later. Grabbing his tools he heads back out once again into the fields that are nearly ready for harvesting. Another day rolls by and he finds himself exhausted once more as he packs up his tools and heads back to the house.

As he nears the house however, he senses somehow that something is amiss: why are the lights still out? A quick glance at Caitlin's house reveals that her lights are all off as well. Strange.

Walking inside Aaron looks around some more but sees no sign of Caitlin still. Is she still out shopping? That doesn't seem quite right, after all she only went for some milk and eggs, and they don't live that far from the city.

Turning toward the hall once more Aaron notices the phone blinking. He has a missed call. He never carries his phone with him, he doesn't even want the thing since no one ever calls him but Caitlin and he lives within earshot of her. Besides she's always at his house except for bed time anyway, but she insists he keeps one. He never takes it with him though. Why should he? He just leaves it at the house, sitting in the cubby built into the side of the staircase where the old landline used to be back when he was a kid and came to visit his grandpa here.

"Huh, someone called." Aaron says, walking toward the phone "It must have been Caitlin, but why would she call?" he ponders this for a moment, hesitant to unlock the screen so he can check.

But why? Why is he so afraid? He hasn't felt this sensation, fear, in quite some time. The last time he can recall it is when he was rushing to the hospital to see his grandfather, hoping he would make it there in time to see him alive one last time, but he hadn't. Maybe that's why Aaron's hands are trembling so badly now. Maybe he's just shaken by these memories. He has no reason to fear for Caitlin. She's fine, after all she called him, right? No one else has his number.

Unlocking the screen at last, Aaron pulls down the drop down menu and sure enough sees that the missed call is from Caitlin, and she left a voicemail. This should be comforting to him he supposes, she couldn't call if she was hurt. But for some reason this only adds to his unease, and Aaron finds himself trembling even harder, his breathing shallow, and his stomach feeling as though it might empty itself from the wrong end any moment.

He finally forces himself to dial the voicemail and see what she had to say. As he enters his password, his stomach churns even more wildly. Caitlin was all he had, the only friend he ever made personally after coming to this place when he was younger, and he can't shake the feeling that something's wrong. Raising the phone to his ear he hears the robotic voice speaking to him.

"You have one new voicemail. New message received today at 12:36 PM."

The message begins and Aaron's knees buckle, leaving him sitting on the floor, slumped against the wall. As it finishes finally, he drops his phone to the floor and silently stares off into space.

How can this be?


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Working in the field Aaron stops to wipe the sweat from his face. Casting a quick glance at his watch he sees that it's 12:36 PM, and he drops his hoe letting it fall to the ground. That time still shakes him to his very core. Gathering himself again, Aaron picks up the hoe he dropped and works even harder, trying to become absorbed in his work, but it isn't working. Caitlin plagues all of his thoughts, and he recalls everything she ever said to him, from the first time they spoke as children, to the last words she wrote in the note. "I'll be back soon" she had said, but she never came back. It's been a long time since that day and Aaron now sports a bald head and white facial hair, gone is his younger self that found Caitlin's note so long ago.

Several more hours pass, and the sun is now setting. Aaron's worked much longer today than he used to, but what does he have to go home to? Nothing, that's what. And so he pours himself into his work all day every day. Should he ever become unable to work, well he hasn't thought that far ahead yet, but he'll find something to spend his time on keeping himself busy so the thoughts won't plague him so badly. Glancing down at his watch to check the time once more, Aaron is startled even more than before to see the time: 12:36 PM.

All of the blood drains from Aaron's face. "How? The sun's setting, it can't be 12:36 still!" he shouts. Looking up he sees Caitlin waving to him looking as young as the day she left. "Caitlin!" he shouts, drops his tool and runs toward her.

Running as quickly as he can he soon realizes she's not getting any closer, and this carrot field is growing ever longer. He's easily run a half mile now and his older body can't keep this up much longer, still he presses on despite his joints protesting and his lungs burning with each gasp. Caitlin still stands there beckoning to him, but he's unable keep this running up, and collapses on the ground which presently shatters like glass, leaving him falling into the black abyss, screaming out Caitlin's name.

As he lands with an agonizing thud he looks around and realizes he's still in that same black void and no ground appears to be beneath him. Rising to his feet, he looks ahead and sees Caitlin approaching, she has one hand stretched out to him, and in the other hand she holds a plastic grocery sack, eggs and milk visible through the thin bag.

"Caitlin, why did you leave me?" he asks as he reaches out to grab her hand, but it vansishes along with her, leaving only a sack of milk and eggs at his feet. Falling to his knees Aaron calls out her name again, but his voice is lost in the vast empty void.


"CAITLIN!!!" Aaron wakes himself screaming. This is the third time he's had that same nightmare in the past month.

A month. Had it been that long?

Sitting up he wipes at the tears forming in his eyes and sighs heavily. Climbing out of bed he slips his shoes on and heads downstairs. He has to go see her. Talk to her. Be near her. She's all he has on this whole planet. His best friend. His only friend.

Climbing in the car he starts the engine, rows the windows down, and heads out into the dark. After the twenty minute drive to the nearest city he finally arrives, pulls into the driveway, rows the windows up and shuts the motor off. Climbing out he locks the door, and slipping the keys into his pocket, begins the walk up the long driveway.




Click here to go to chapter two

I'm excited to see where this goes. You have definitely piqued my interest lol. ( What did the voice mail say?!? )

It's nice to see you consistently putting up awesome literature, as my motivation to actually seek it out is very lacking

Mynamescox44 : Awesome! So glad to see it's grabbed the interest of someone (a few if likes are any indication, but I don't know).

That voicemail though! You'll find out... eventually.


And thanks for the compliment! If I keep writing like I have been this will be updated quite frequently. I actually have chapter two ready to post but I'm holding off because I was having trouble deciding on where I wanted to end the chapter (I'd written up a bit before stopping to break chapters). I may post it tonight yet, not sure. It's a pretty good chunk of reading though so I hope you're in a reading mood. Lol

I'm not trying to sound like a suck up or any thing, but as long as I'm not busy I always enjoy reading your work.

I forgot to say this last time, but I like how you avoid romantic relationships between characters a lot. It's definitely a played out gimmick (though there's nothing wrong with it in itself), and it's nice to see you're making an effort not to force feed any thing or fall in to any cliches. Thanks to your foreword, I'll definitely keep an eye out for any subtle foreshadowing

Eirinn : This story is awesome! I am really excited to see what happens next. You always do good work, Eirinn.

Mynamescox44 : lol Thanks again! I don't think I deserve all of the positive feedback, but it means so much. I absolutely love writing, it's the only thing I enjoy as much as (and sometimes more than) gaming, and that's saying a lot for me, as you might know.


Yeah I tire of the romance concept permeating the story in every form of entertainment as well. It has it's place, and some of my favorite games, shows, and books draw from that concept, but it doesn't have to be there for a story to be good.
This story may explore the fact that people are attracted to other people at times, but no it will never be a major plot point. I just don't really write that way. Maybe someday I'll do that but I'm more comfortable with this style. Besides I like exploring the angle that, beyond gender differences, we're all humans and there's so much more to people than that one dimension.

And also thank you for letting me know you appreciate that.


Oh and I gotta know if you catch any of the hints, or anything that seems like a secret I'm sneaking in. I've written a few of those already. Some subtle foreshadowing as you said. Also there are some minor plot points that will never be anything more than subtle notes here and there. Not hidden, just not paraded around for five paragraphs with a flashing sign saying "notice this!". Lol I took that lesson from my favorite show: I recently watched an episode of it that I'd seen several times from the time I was a kid until now and I noticed a comment about it online and realized that I had been missing something so small but so key for literally over a decade! And it was right in plain sight! -__-




A user of this : , Oh wow. Thanks a ton, man. I really appreciate the feedback, and I hope you guys like where it goes next. I'll probably post the next chapter tomorrow (technically today), just as soon as I proofread it a few more times.

Wow that really captured me and drew me in! I can't wait until the next installment. Can you summon me when you post it? I wanna know what's gonna happen next XD

You did a really good job with this

MoblinGardens : Thanks man! I hope the character development and back story covering in the next few chapters hold your attention as well as this one. It's going to take a bit to lay the groundwork for where we're going with this one, but we'll get there. Lol