The Hourglass (UNEDITED)

Chapter 18

He had to leave, he dug such a large and deep whole, he needed to make his presence scarce if there was any chance of salvaging what was left of their marriage. But Jace felt at peace, so much peace and calmness even after that tumultuous evening; Katherine had suggested they go for marriage counseling. In her cautious state, she told him that marriage counseling did not mean there would be no divorce, but she agreed to try and save their marriage. In the mean time, they needed to be separate. It pained Jace, being away from her, in this hotel room all by himself. He sat on the bed holding the hourglass, wondering how long he had to be here in the past.

He knew the hourglass took him back in time but not much more than that. There were calculations that needed to be made to figure out this time traveling thing. Jace made himself comfortable on the bed, twirling the huge enchanted antique around.

"How long am I here for?" he whispered in the dark room. When he was brought back, he was at the exact moment where he got the hourglass. So time started counting since then. If the hourglass totaled a whole month, could it mean that he had only a month to change the past? Three days have gone by already, so that left him with three weeks and four days left. It made logical sense, but left a bitter taste in his mouth. Just over three weeks wasn't nearly as enough time as he needed. That means he would have to make the best of it. After the last sands have fallen, he didn't know what would happen.

Either way, he was given this chance and he wanted to make the best of it. In the past three days, Jace has been going to work, hanging out with some friends and immersing himself in work, failing miserably since Katherine was in his mind the whole time. He went to their apartment and knocked on the door. Of course he had a key to simply enter, but he wanted to show how unassuming he would try to be. With this second chance, he was treading lightly. The door opened and revealed a very tired Katherine. Jace offered her a sad smile, which she didn't return .

"Hi," he greeted her.

"Jace, what are you doing here? I thought we agreed that we were going to give each other space," she said, not pleased that she had to remind him. Jace nodded.

"I know, but I just wanted to see how you were doing." And also, I have only three weeks and a day left with you before I go back.

"You could have just called."

"That's not the only reason why I'm here. Look, I don't want to waste any time. I got a number for a marriage counselor and I'm pretty eager that we start some sessions. Would you like to make the appointments or should I?"

"Look at you, you go and break a vase and just as soon looking for the best glue to put it back together. Tell me Jace, do you think that vase will ever be the same?" Jace smiled internally at her metaphor for their relationship. He had an answer for that one.

"It depends, have you heard of Picasso?" he asked, and just as he expected, Katherine gave him a hard stare instead of an answer. He answered anyway.

"Sure you have. His work was so good and well-known, his art is priceless. Know why? Because a lot of his art pieces involved taking things apart and putting them back again so that the deconstruction was just something even better. So, to answer your question Katherine, I don't think the vase will ever be the same, I think it will be better than it ever was."

"So you went to go and deconstruct our vase so it could be better?" Katherine shouted, now upset. Alarmed, Jace stopped the door she was about to slam in his face. Maybe the metaphors weren't such a good a idea. He thought he broke down a layer of her wall by being poetic. How wrong he was.

"Katherine, that's not what I'm saying at all. Can we just call a councilor? Please?"

"What if this doesn't work Jace? Don't you think you're trying to save what is already dead?"