Midnight Wonders

7.3.2. Autumn Leaves on the Windowsill

Tristan came back before Annabel. He wasn't gone for long, about two weeks. Short enough that Luc had barely felt the difference; there hadn't been enough time to register it. Clearly Cora was in much better condition than him, because she had clearly noticed and wasn't particularly open about missing Tristan, but she sat on the couch where he always did and made coffee in the mornings in his cup, and though she didn't particularly seem to like watching the television she sat on the couch next to Luc at night and watched Tristan's TV shows, which she knew better than Luc, and she didn't say why, but of course Luc knew she was watching them so that she could fill in Tristan on the episodes he'd missed, because in the mornings before work when Tristan had been there, he would always be awake with Cora in the kitchen and telling her all about the episode he'd watched the night before and all the strange things he had learned from it.

He returned knocking on their front door sometime late morning when Luc was still at work, and when Luc went home, he knew Tristan had come back because his shoes were in front of the door.

"Hello," said Luc, finding Tristan on the couch inside eating toast. Just the bread, by itself. He realized as he hung up his bag by the door that Tristan's presence had forced a new habit into him, because he no longer could put his bag on the couch, and he still no longer put his bag on the couch even when Tristan was not there.

"Good afternoon," Tristan said, looking very pleased with himself. He quite liked using such time-dependent phrases. "I'm back."

Luc nodded. "Welcome back."

"I missed toast," said Tristan.

Luc nodded again. He hadn't put on a tie that morning, so there was nothing to undo. He had less and less motivation to dress well every day. It wasn't as if it mattered to the students. They were too young to care.

"I missed you and Cora." Tristan broke the crust off his toast.

"I missed you too," said Luc. And he was glad that Cora came in from the backyard with more things to say, because he had run out.

Later, when he had found his words, he asked Tristan, "Are you going to go back again?"

"Maybe," Tristan said. "I don't feel the urge right now, though."

The urge. Luc wondered what that felt like. If it was a conscious pull, a known feeling. Sharp. One that made itself acknowledged. Or if it was a duller feeling, though no less strong. If it was like the pull of the tide, coming so often that it was hardly a novelty, and only lasting a moment each time.

But it didn't really matter to Luc. Whether or not he had the urge, he wasn't going to go back. So maybe it was good not to know what the urge was.

—

The Monday morning before fall break, Luc got on the bus and was surprised to see Emma there. "Emma," he said, too shocked to say hello first. He entered the aisle, holding on to the railings for support. "I—What's wrong?" Her appearance had made him stop. She seemed to have rushed from home: her hair was uncurled, hastily combed through (and she'd missed a spot on the back of her head), and her lipstick was uneven and an unfamiliar shade of pink, as if she'd grabbed the wrong tube. She was turning her phone over and over in her hands, worrying at her bottom lip.

"Sit down," the bus driver said.

"Sorry." Luc hastily took his seat beside Emma. "Emma?"

"I'm fine," she said, reaching over to pat his hand. She gave him a smile that was probably meant to be reassuring, but it didn't quite reach her eyes, which he could see now were a bit red. She looked as if she hadn't slept.