The Widow's Cabin (Completed)

Chapter 24

“That’s impossible,” I answered. My world started to crumble, and I lost my sense of direction. I was standing, yes, but I didn’t know which was which anymore. I felt like I was sent to another place, where time and space didn’t exist. My gut went cold and I felt like I needed to get away from everything that was happening around me.

“But—but I… I added absent-mindedly.

“But you what, you sick shit? You think you can just show up in my house and ruin everything? Is this your way of getting back on me?” Philip yelled.

“Getting back? What are you talking about? What did you do to him, Philip? Julie asked, confused.

“But I saw her and I touched her and… I… I talked to her and…” I continued to mumble. I was talking more to myself than Philip.

“How dare you use the memory of my daughter to fuck me up. How dare you!” I felt him lunge toward me. His head hit my stomach, and the force made me topple over. I heard Hendrix rush towards him and I guessed he pulled him off me because I felt his weight shift and finally disappear.

“I… I don’t understand. I talked to her… I even felt her skin and—”

“Stop it! Stop it you piece of shit! How dare you use her memory to ruin my family! She was the one who told me to reach out to you and tell you everything!”

“What?” I asked, my voice wavering.

“That night when she got so weak she can barely open her eyes, I told her everything. I told her everything, from start to finish. I wanted to show her the files—your mother’s files, but I burned them even before I came to the hospital. I wanted her to know the truth, if it’s the last thing I can ever do for her. Just as I finished talking her mouth opened. The last thing she ever said was ‘look for her son and tell him the truth,’ and now you come rushing here pissing all over her memory, you sick bastard!” He yelled. The commotion between us was heating fast.

“I… I don’t… It’s impossible,” I managed to say.

“After her death, Julie and I decided to leave Palms town. We couldn’t swallow it all. Everything around us reminded us of her. For chrissakes even the floorboard reminded us of her. We moved out because we wanted to move on. We wanted to get away from her death, but never her memory. We moved out to avoid people who come to us and show us fake sympathies. We moved out to avoid people like you!”

“But Vittoria… She… She was there… She…”

“Get the hell out of my house! Both of you! Now!”

 I felt rough, strong hands pull me upright. Philip almost shoved me aside when Hendrix came to my aid. He pulled me close and wrapped his arms around me just as I was about to topple over. I never said a word then, I just cried like the most defeated man existing in this cruel world. I let the tears fall; I didn’t bother wiping them away. I welcomed weakness and grief with open arms, and let them gnaw at me until there was nothing left in me but that soulless, empty shell. I could still hear Philip’s vicious yells; it reverberated in my ears down to my empty soul. Hendrix kept me close to him, and I was thankful for that. I was weak, helpless and afraid. It seemed like the world had its eye on me from the start; waiting for the happiest day of my life to occur before pulling its little trick on me. You can almost imagine the Beatles singing their melodic pun, “the joke was on me,” while pointing their sleek fingers in my face.

 The tears that were streaming down my face were dried by the fierce wind almost immediately when I realized we were already outside of Philip’s house. I could still hear him shouting at me and his wife. I gathered everything I had inside and started to turn around and tell him that I was sorry for everything when my head started to throb with pain. The pain started from my temples and traveled along my spine. The pain was excruciating that my ears seemed to shut down immediately and all that I could hear was a loud, high-pitched beep, like the sound of a flat line. I instantly cupped my head between my hands to shut the pain and the deafening sound out, but it had little but no effect. I remembered shouting in agony and slowly falling to my knees until I was finally lying there outside Philip’s front door. The pain was unbearable, let alone the deafening sound. I wanted to bang my head against the cold marble floor just so I could get rid of them. I heard panicked footsteps all around, the revving of a car engine and my weight leaving the marble floor. I guessed Hendrix carried me to the car while Philip drove with his wife on the front seat. I continued shouting my lungs out, but the pain never left. My heart thumped like the sound of a hundred horses racing towards a clear spring. Hendrix was saying something to my ears but I never caught a word. I was in the verge of passing out when I managed to fumble for Hendrix hand and hold close it to my chest. I heard Hendrix’s quiet sobs as he whispered, “Hang in there pal, we’re almost there.” I never managed to answer his warm assurance. My head was throbbing harder by the minute, and I could feel my eyeballs rolling back. Again, one of life’s many special effects took place. I closed my eyes and suddenly I was in another place, in another time. Darkness lifted, and all I can see was the sun reflecting on the clear creek. I covered my eyes and squinted at the sun, when a woman’s voice called after me a few meters away. I slowly turned my head to the right when I saw the woman calling after me. She wore a knitted gardening hat, an orange dress and a white apron covered with dirt. She was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She raised her hand and covered her eyes and beckoned me to come closer, and as I did, another woman came out from behind her. She wore a pink sundress with her hair falling freely to her chest. She moved beside the other woman and they held hands, while the older woman beckoned me to come closer. They were smiling, and the sight made my chest heave rhythmically. I never understood why, but it felt like I was finally home. I took one step forward when I heard someone call out my name from behind me. I strained my ears harder, and all that I was able to make out of it was Hendrix yelling, “Caleb, not yet. It isn’t time to leave yet.”