ChapterThree
1010 Words
I stared at the text message, a single line that held a lot of
words.
“Meet me at my house. It's urgent.”
Caleb and I had just left each other an hour ago at the park. He had taken me there to apologize. For his brother and his father. I had also wanted to put all that aside. Today was our anniversary and I wanted the ugliness behind us. I didn't want anything to ruin the mood.
But what else hadn't he say?
I reread the text. “Meet me at my house. It's urgent.”
There was only one thing that came to mind. The elder council meeting.
I tried to calm myself. It isn't what you're thinking, Luna, I said to myself, trying to calm my racing heart. It isn't what you're thinking.
I stared at the phone again, reading that one line over and over.
“Meet me at my house. It's urgent.”
Urgent?
Urgent enough to cancel our anniversary dinner? Urgent enough that he couldn't wait until later?
With shaking fingers, I turned down the stove, stopping the
noise of the bubbling stew.
I had prepared his favorite. Beef stew with chicken tendrils in it. Maybe we would come back later to eat it. Maybe it wasn't what I was thinking. Maybe. Just maybe.
My stomach churned, a mixture of anxiety and anger. Anxious because I wasn't ready to face his father and the elders that would surely be there, and also angry because Caleb couldn't defend me against them, angry that he couldn't tell them off and keep the sanctity of our anniversary.
I had to do this today of all days. Really?
Twenty - five minutes later, I was at his house. The door was opened and I entered.
Then I stopped.
I was rooted to the spot, my eyes unable to look away from the scene right in front of me.
Caleb. And Melody.
He had her pinned against the wall, kissing her passionately while his fingers moved in and out from underneath her skirt.
Melody moaned and arched her back. “Yes, yes, Caleb. Just like that.”
“I know, baby,” I heard his voice say breathing against her
mouth. “I know.”
I didn't know if I had made a sound but Caleb suddenly turned his head towards me, surprise and fear spreading across his face when he saw me at the door.
My eyes was clouded with anger and pain and sorrow but I saw Melody smirked and heard her say, “I told you he's mine.”
Caleb was walking towards me. “Melo - Luna, please, I -”
He stopped when he saw my eyes focused on his fingers - the fingers that had just been inside her. Inside another woman.
They were still wet and coated with her juices. Caleb saw this and wiped them on his trousers.
“I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please let me explain -”
Melody interrupted him and walked towards us with the confidence and arrogance of one who knew she had won. “There is nothing to explain. She has eyes to see with and I'm sure she's intelligent enough to interpret what's going on here.”
My voice was unrecognizable when I spoke, “Caleb,”
“He's -”
“Melody, stop! Stop, please. Let me handle this.”
Melody smirked at me once more and left the room
"What's urgent, Caleb?" I demanded, my voice tight.
He hesitated, then blurted, "It's Melody. She… we… it's over."
Over.
After all the assurances and the promises, the late night talks of being the only one for each other, the only one till forever.
All over.
Why? My mind screamed accusations, but my voice remained strangely controlled when I spoke. “Over?”
“Yeah,” he mumbled, avoiding my gaze. “It's over.”
“Look me in the eye, Caleb, and tell me it's over!”
“Luna, please, don't let's start with all the drama. It's over. Please.”
“You're my mate,” I said, the tears welling in my eyes and streaming down my face but my voice was steely, strong.
“Yes. I was,” came his response. “But that was then.”
My voice went down to a whisper. “That was then? That was then?” I asked, disbelief shrouding my voice. “You said it was till forever.”
“Plans change, Luna. And besides, we haven't gone through the bonding ceremony yet.”
“It was supposed to be in a few days.”
Caleb flinched at my words. “It's over, Luna. It's over but I want you to know that I'll always love you. You know that right?”
“YOU DON'T HURT WHO YOU LOVE!” I screamed, losing the control that I had held strongly to. “YOU DON'T. IT'S NOT POSSIBLE!”
“Keep your voice down, Luna!” He screamed back at me.
Then his eyes saddened and his voice softened and his words, once a warm blanket, felt like sandpaper against my raw heart. “I love you, Luna.”
“Love? Do you know what love looks like, Caleb? What it feels like? Because it doesn't look like betraying your partner, hiding behind lies, and expecting forgiveness just like that.”
Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring the image of Caleb, who seemed to shrink under my gaze, trying to make himself smaller. The man I loved, the man I had planned a future with, was melting into a stranger, reaching far, far out of my grasp.
"I'm so sorry, Luna," he rasped, his voice laden with remorse that did little to ease the storm within me.
“Sorry doesn't fix this," I whispered, my voice trembling. "It doesn't fix the years of lies, the broken trust, the shattered dreams.”
With that, I turned away, leaving Caleb alone on the bench, the weight of my grief a heavy cloak around my shoulders.
- Writer
