Taint, Time and Tangents✔️

EXTRA 2. The Mrs. Caldwell

A/N:

A "drabble" is a short piece of writing usually no more than a 1000 words and is more often used to make a point about the characters or events involved, or to provide an or specific point of view. It does not affect the plot or will not progress it.

The succeeding chapters would either be drabbles or short stories. They are a bit short but I hope you would still enjoy them. From this chapter onwards, all the point of views would not be of Callie's. 

Enjoy! xx

∞ ISABELLE, a flake ∞

She was Nine – the youngest Amaranth and, from what I heard, the strongest among them.

As Flakes, we rarely see Amaranths unless there were messages we need to convey. It was so rare that I have only seen two of them on my 1463 years as a Flake. And their beauty is incomparable. It was like looking at the Highest herself. 

And Nine was the prettiest among them.

I thought I would never ever see her in my entire life. For some reason, the other Amaranths were so protective of her that they do not let her out from their fortress.

But a day has come when we finally saw her beauty as she entered our fortress. She has short red hair that time with brown eyes and freckles. 

The word "beautiful" does not give her justice. And when she smiled, it was like floating in a cloud of happiness with the rays of sun shining down on you.

Everyone was so happy to have met her. We all are. She kept on smiling at us, talking and nodding. But, as I watched her closely, I felt that something was strange, and when I was assigned to a human close her mission – I have observed it more often. 

She was so lonely. She kept hiding it beneath her warm appealing smile. But I could notice it on her eyes. They could deceive someone who just glanced. But for someone like me - who was curious enough to stare - I didn't miss that they were always so soft... like she was so close to crying.

But the weirdest thing, she never actually cried. She would just talk to everyone, paint and draw and sometimes she would look at the stars – thinking of something.

We never asked her about her previous life. We never tried probing. We just know the Highest allowed her to retain the brown eyes and red hair of an Amaranth instead of a Flake's white hair and blue eyes. 

Even her name. Once we get resurrected, we are usually given a Flake name. For me, it was Isabelle. But she stayed as "Nine".

As years passed, we became well-acquainted to her and we would come visit each other. She slowly opened up some things about her like how she lived as a student and went on a camping trip when she was a human. They were all vague information but we didn't ask for more. 

She wasn't ready yet, we presumed.

It wasn't until one rainy day when I caught her on her knees, looking for something in the middle of the woods. The funeral of her first assignment just ended and I think she was about to go back to our Fortress. 

Then this happened.

She somehow lost her ring – the one thing we've been really curious about. One was because she was the only one I met who was able to preserve an object from Earth after resurrection and Two, what does that ring signifies?

I helped her look for it and, after hours of frantic searching, we saw it wedged on the middle of  muddy stones. Then she cried.

I couldn't move as I watch her sob  – hugging that little gold band on her trembling hands. She was holding it so close to her chest as she wept continuously. Her cry held so many emotions. And when I saw her place her enclosed hands against her forehead, tears damping her fingers, I felt like crying.

I heard Amaranths have no ability to shed tears and, right now, she was crying like she had been keeping them for years... Maybe she really was.

The rain became harsher as if it knew her sadness. I left her there and just watched her. Some people just need a shoulder to cry on and they would be okay but there were some that tears would weigh more and would be too heavy for a shoulder.  And she was of latter.

It felt like hours before she had calmed down.  She was hiccuping when she looked at me. I just smiled and watched her brush the dirt from her ring. 

It was a simple gold ring with a small scarlet stone at the middle, underneath were engraved letters that read: EZEKIEL x CALLIOPE 

She wore it on her ring finger but it was too big. She must have lost weight that's why it slipped from her finger. She tried it on her middle one but it still didn't fit. She then decided to wear it on her thumb.

I chuckled and fished for a necklace given to me by another Flake. I would apologize for it later and handed the chain to her, removing its pendant. I told her to put the ring there, instead of wearing it.  

She was hesitant at first until she agreed and wore it around her neck. That day, she told me about the love story of her and her husband and how they got married before she became a Flake.

Some might think that they were too young to be married but when I heard their story, I realized that their love was greater than any logic. It was magnificent.

At that same day, she introduced herself to me.

Her name is Calliope Caldwell. But she said I may call her, "Callie".

I shrugged and instead called her "Mrs. Caldwell". She smiled and I swear, I have never seen her that happy.

∞