The Caste - On Hold, major edits and title change.

Chapter Eight

There is a saying 'you cannot go home again'. You can, but maybe you shouldn't. Walking into the shack was easier for him the night before than it was for Corvus today. Maybe the need for food as their bellies turned inside out with the pain of hunger made it appear easier.

Corvus stood outside the shack, peering through the door as Ardelia joined him. Spider webs and dust covered the dark room his mother had kept immaculate when she was alive. The cot he slept on lay on its side, still flipped over from his escape. The only lamp lay broken on the ground next to the bed, the oil had stained the floor as it dried. The trap door he hid in during the attack still open.

"Are you going to go in there or not?" Ardelia reached for Corvus' hand, giving it a squeeze.

"I am working on it, Deli. I have a lot of memories of this little house, good and bad."

"Well, let the good memories help you walk into that shack, stay positive." Ardelia let Corvus' hand go.

"Yeah, positive... ironic coming from you, Ms. Paranoid." Corvus smirked at Ardelia, finding the nerve to walk into the shack. He turned on the flashlight Camlin lent him and walked through the door.

"Whatever."

Corvus pulled boxes off the shelves, ignoring his mother's half-covered body lying next to him on the ground. As he sat looking through the boxes, he heard her voice call out his name. Corvus looked at his mother's body almost expecting to see her sit up and greet him. He wished she could. He reached his arm out, placing it on her shoulder. Corvus pushed at her body, trying to shake her awake. I am so angry with you, wake up, and tell me the truth...

Corvus pulled his hand back as he realized her body didn't feel as cold as it should a year after her death. He scrambled to his feet as Ardelia turned her head to glance at him.

"What is it you are hoping to find in here?" Ardelia asked, holding her nose with her hand.

The rotting smell in the old shack sickened Ardelia. Her nightmares prevented her from walking through the door and seeing the rotting corpse of Corvus' mother in the middle of the floor up close and personal. The sight of his mother, dead and rotting in her own feces brought back the memories of her own parents. She fought off the urge to find Camlin for comfort; she needed to be here for Corvus.

"I am looking for anything that will help me find out who I am. I need to learn more about my father, and how I came to be." Corvus looked up at her.

"Well, you know his name; you could search for him using that. If he's a Noble, there will be some sort of public record," Ardelia said, turning her back to the door. The sight of Corvus' mother pushed her into the verge of a breakdown of tears and panic.

"I never thought about that," Corvus said. Leave it to Ardelia to bring up technology when they had none. "I wish you would have mentioned that sooner. Like when we had a Wi-Fi connection..."

"Whatever, I can't think of everything for you, Corvy."

"You can come in and help me, you know." Corvus reminded her, hoping she would come in to keep his mind preoccupied from his mother's corpse.

"Uh... no... no, I can't, Corv. Not with your mother looking at me like that. She's creeping me out."

Corvus knelt down and ran his palms across his mother's face, closing her eyes. He looked down at her lifeless body, and the anger he had felt for her earlier turned to pity.

"I wonder what her life was like before I was born. What did she do to cause my existence, who was she in reality? Why did she run?" Corvus sniffed in as the tears sprang from his eyes.