Fallen

Chapter 7

The words slapped Deena in the face. This wasn't real, this was some cruel joke. Deena had to be dreaming.

"I'm sorry about her," a tall man appeared in the doorway. "Would you like to come inside?"

Their house was small, but well furnished, just like Deena remembered it to be, from the short time she's been inside it, with Caleb. The man sat the woman down and covered her with a blanket as the woman trembled, Deena suspected not from cold, it was one of the warmer mornings that day.

"My wife can be a bit sensitive at the mention of Caleb." The woman flinched at the word. "You said you knew him?"

"Yes. Caleb's my best friend. We go to school together every morning, he's always over at my house..."

"Are you sure you're not thinking about a different Caleb Miller?"

"No. This is his house. Is he not here?"

"I'm afraid that can't be true. Our son has been dead for 8 years."

"What? That's impossible..."

"Are you ok, Miss? You look a little pale." Understatement. Deena was as white as a sheet. "Can I get you a glass of water or something?"

"No. Thank you. I should get out of your hair. Sorry to bother you." She didn't look either of them in the eye.

The words replayed in her mind over and over. "He's dead!" "He's been dead for 8 years." She couldn't believe them, there was no way Caleb was dead. How could he be? She saw him just yesterday, or maybe it wasn't yesterday...

Deena was once again running. Every step a memory of Caleb. She ran to the park, the only place she felt truly safe, the place she met Caleb. As she neared it, the exact tree they'd climbed together, she saw him. Caleb was there, leaning against the thick tree trunk that supported their childhood dreams.

"Caleb!" She ran to him, more like into him, and embraced him. "I knew it wasn't true! I knew you weren't dead!" She spoke into his chest. "How could I have ever believed them."

"You should have." He carefully pried her off of him.

"What?"

"They were telling the truth. It's all real. Except me."

"Caleb what are you talking about? Are you feeling ok?"

"Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good for a dead guy." Another ill attempt at humor. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"This is not happening. You're out of your mind. We go to school together every day! I see you every day! How could you be dead?"

"Come with me."

Caleb lead Deena to the bridge that overlooked the creek. It was a small wooden bridge, but the drop was long and Deena felt herself shudder as she looked down.
"Here. This is where I died."

"You can't be dead. You're standing right in front of me."

"Let me finish. Deena, you didn't dream everything. You have epilepsy and schizophrenia, you're mom was telling the truth. Why do you think you have so many pills to take every morning?"

"I- I never really asked what they were for..."

"We were in third grade. We'd seen each other around school, but never really spoke, until one day when we were both playing in this park. That's when we actually met. As you probably remember, we had a lot of great memories in this park." He looked around at the trees and the flowers, and breathed, taking it all in. "Eventually, we found our way here. You looked over the edge to see the water and..." he stopped. "And I didn't know you were so afraid of heights. You had a seizure and fell. Luckily I saw and I was able to grab your hand, I pulled you up just as some jogger came past, I told him to take you to a hospital and he did. As for me, well, something caught my eye. The sun was glinting off of it, I leaned over and saw your locket, I knew you'd want it back because you never took it off."

"I never wear necklaces. And if you retrieved it for me, why don't I have it?"

"That's the thing. I reached over and tried to grab it, but it was just out of my reach. I leaned a little further and I lost my footing. And there was no one around to grab my hand. That's why I still have it." Caleb pulled a long silver chain out of his pocket, at the end of which, was a locket.

It was like a switch flipped. Blurry memories floated around her and she saw it, the locket, around her neck.

"I- I remember it. The locket."

"Yeah. I hope you do, because I died to give this to you."

"I didn't ask you to."

"No, you didn't, but I hated you for it. I hated that you got to live to see your 10th birthday. And where was I? 6 feet under of course! I know I shouldn't have, but I did, that's why I placed myself into your hallucinations, to get back at you."

Deathly silence.

"...what?"

"Yeah. I wanted revenge. But I ended up falling. Not only to my death, but for a girl I could never have, although I suppose they're the same thing."

"I... don't understand..."

"How! I've spelled it out for you, Deena!" His body trembled. "I love you."