Time Is The Key To Everything

Chapter 4: Happy Halloween

Author's note: Chapter's still in Cassidy's POV.

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

I leaned against the grey wall of my living room feeling hallow and empty inside. Every breath I sucked in dragged down my throat as if I was swallowing an endless amount of sand.

My nails dug into the wall and I bit my tongue to refrain from saying a word. It was late 1918 and my boss had told me something I never wanted to hear. I was becoming an independent country and my empire with Paul was falling.

Paul and I had been happily married for 51 years. I loved him with all my being. A divorce was unthinkable. A split border that prevented me from seeing him was something I knew I could never grasp.

"This will be great, I promise you, Cassidy." My boss said cheerfully.

"All you have to do is sign this divorce paper that Paul has already signed to complete the separation."

He handed me a pen and I slowly walked over to the table. I examined the paper in silence while gripping the pen tightly.

In fact, I clutched the pen so tight I thought the ink would explode. I didn't even both to read the words on the page. They meant nothing to me. All I looked at was his signature.

Paul's name was scribbled in an untidy manner. There were stray ink marks all around his name. I knew right away he hadn't signed it willingly. The Paul I knew had beautiful, neat handwriting. Handwriting that leaked out onto the pages of music sheets and created beautiful poems, I thought.

It seemed that someone had forced him to sign it. He hadn't wanted to even lay eyes on a divorce paper. It made me smile to know he still loved me, but at the same time I felt twice as empty inside. I knew his boss must have hurt him to make him sign something like this.

My hand shook as I placed the tip of my pen on the page. I had never defied my boss and knew that I wasn't strong enough to do it. I just simply couldn't hurt him.

I moved the pen across the page and signed my name. It came out sloppy and looked like someone else had written it.

I shoved the paper towards my boss as a tear slid down my cheek. I held his eyes for a second before turning away from him and the paper. I hoped he would see the pain reflected in my emerald eyes and it would convince him to grant my last wish.

"I want to see him one more time."

I woke up with a start, alarmed by the nightmare. I panicked and almost yelled out. Then it hit me, that dream wasn't real. I took a deep breath and calmed down.

I had no clue where I was at first. Sunlight was shining on my face through a crack in the window on the opposite side of the room. I was lying on a white couch with a blue blanket on top of me. I pulled the blanket tighter around me and blinked the sleep out of my eyes.

After taking a cursory glance around the room, I could tell I was in Paul's house. I then noticed him slouched in the armchair to the right of the couch. A cup of tea was sitting on the coffee table in front of him and some music sheets were piled in his lap. He was sound asleep and looked like he had been up all night.

He's always looked so adorable when he's sleeping, I thought. I smiled at the sleeping man and quickly tried to push away memories before they tried to consume me again. The nightmare I had dreamed was already enough from the past.

I tried to shift my position and sit up. I let out a moan as a sharp throbbing pain shot through my head. Something cold slid off my head and onto the floor.