Deicide

February 19 23xx

Howlan woke up to a quiet house again. He stood up and pulled on a pair of leggings and a shirt. He made his way to the kitchen, half expecting to hear Silas in the shower, but the bathroom was empty. He checked Eden's room, also empty. He walked quickly to the kitchen, but the entire house was silent. He pulled on a pair of shoes and grabbed a blanket off the couch before throwing open the still unlocked door.

Just as expected, he found Silas laying in the dirt in front of Eden's gravestone.

"Silas?" He reached out for his shoulder.

Silas bolted upright. His face was covered in dirt, save for tear tracks running down his cheeks. He was coated with mud and his clothes were still damp. "You'll get sick." Howlan tossed the blanket over his shoulders. "We should go home."

Silas shook his head, sniffing and focusing back on Eden's gravestone.

"Silas, please. This isn't-"

Silas looked up, with tears in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it. He shook his head.

Howlan exhaled. "Okay, I'll bring back some clean clothes. Just wait here." He turned around and made his way back to the house.

He grabbed a duffel bag and filled it with clothes, dry snacks from the cabinets, a couple water bottles, and a flashlight. After rummaging around in their broom closet for a few minutes, he found their old tent. After adding a few blankets and one of Eden's sweatshirts, he left.

When he got back to the cemetery, Silas was still sitting in the exact same spot, staring with dead eyes and a blank expression at Eden's name. "Here, hang on." Thankfully, there weren't any other graves nearby, which gave Howlan plenty of space to set the tent up. After setting up the inside of the tent with blankets padding the floor, he folded the clean clothes on the floor and set the sweatshirt down in the corner. "Okay, come change." Howlan held the door open.

Silas finally took his eyes away from Eden's name, looking at the tent for a second before nodding and entering. Howlan waited outside the tent, letting his own gaze follow to the damp gravestone in the mud.

The sound of the tent zipper opening made Howlan look up. "Okay, I get that you're feeling a lot of new, strong stuff, but you need to take care of yourself. Eden wouldn't want you laying outside all night, and he would definitely want you to be eating and drinking water. Just try to, please." Howlan nodded at the duffle bag, staring at Silas until he grabbed a bottle of water. Silas, with pruning fingers, unscrewed the lid and took a long drink.

He closed the bottle, set it down, and took a seat in front of Eden's gravestone once more.

Howlan sat down too. "It's been four days already," he commented. They sat quietly. He looked at Silas every now and then. Silas never said a word. "How're you doing?"

Silas twisted his ring. He had deep bags under his eyes and his cheekbones were just a little more prominent. He said nothing.

"Don't feel like talking?"

Silas shook his head. He didn't feel like talking, moving, thinking. He just wanted to sleep. At least in his dreams he could see Eden, though he wasn't ever able to hear his voice. He replayed their conversations in his head to keep from forgetting what Eden sounded like, but he could feel the warm sound of Eden's voice slipping from his mind. And it was killing him.

"Do you want anything else?"

Silas shook his head. He wanted Eden back. That was it.

"Okay." Howlan sat quietly. Eventually, it was too much for him. "I'll be at the bar. You should come by later, I'm sure Pakuri would like to see you."

Silas nodded. Howlan stood up and left. Silas reached out and touched Eden's gravestone again. He traced the letters of Eden's name, and the date written below it. February sixteenth. On February sixteenth, at around one in the morning, Eden had been pronounced dead. Four days had passed. It felt like it had been four years, and at the same time, only four hours.

Eventually Howlan came back for a little while. He sat down, made Silas drink some more water, and left again. And then Pakuri came, offering him a drink back at the bar. Silas shook his head no and sat still. Elaine even came by once. She sat down for a while, wordless, before setting down a bouquet of flowers and leaving again. And then the sun started to set, and Howlan came back again, asking Silas to go back to the house with him for the night. Silas shook his head no.

"Just make sure you sleep inside the tent this time."

Silas nodded. Howlan left again, and Silas was alone in front of Eden's grave once more. It was a dark night, with clouds shielding the ground from any moonlight. He held his left hand near the gravestone, and his ring illuminated the letters of Eden's name. Not that he needed to be able to see the letters to know where they were. He had traced them so many times that their positions were memorized already. He sat there, thinking about everything he had lost. Everything he would never have. He wanted to sleep, he was tired, but he just couldn't close his eyes.