Facing Down Fear

[prof_stargazer]

Date: November 2, 2001
Time: around noon
Location: Stella's old house, moving to Caleb and Stella's flat
Characters Involved: Caleb Moore, Stella Sinistra
Rating: PG

Stella's eyes blinked open as bright sunlight streamed in from the nearby window.  It took Stella a moment to figure out exactly where she was- she wasn't at Hogwarts, nor at home with

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[wolf_caleb]

When Caleb finally woke, he was too disoriented and confused to do more than drag himself to bed. A few hours later, his memories of the night before, invaded his dreams until he woke up, distraught.

The flat was utterly silent and he didn’t have to get up to know that Stella hadn’t come back. After what she had seen the night before, the odds were she wouldn’t be coming back at all.

He’d lost her, and the pain of it was worse than any transformation had ever been through. He dragged himself out of bed, trying to ignore the ache of muscle and the rawness of his skin. Caleb couldn’t stay there, not when everywhere he looked was a memory.

But he couldn’t bring himself to leave, not yet.

Caleb went to the kitchen, grabbing a can of soup from the cupboard. He didn’t bother heating it up, he just removed the top and drank it down before grabbing another. Now that the initial hunger had been mollified, he could have taken the time to heat it up and eat it like a normal human being, but he found he really didn’t care. He drank the second can as he leaned against the counter top.

He was putting off leaving, hoping that Stella would return, but by noon, she hadn’t come back. She probably didn’t want to even see him, and all things considered, he didn’t blame her. But this had been her home before it had become their home, so it was only right that he be the one to leave.

Exhausted and hurting, he went back to the bedroom and put some clothes in to a bag before actually getting dressed. His clothes felt like sandpaper against his skin, but it was nothing compared to the pain in his chest. He hadn’t thought it was possible for a heart to actually break.

Caleb tried to write her a letter, apologizing and begging her to come back, but the words wouldn’t come. In the end, the note was simple and to the point.

I love you. I’m sorry.

With a last look around the flat, Caleb left in search of the nearest hotel.

[prof_stargazer]

The silence after she'd said Caleb's name was deafening to her ears, and Stella slowly walked through the front room, seeing no trace of Caleb. She took a deep breath as she walked towards their bedroom, whispering again softly.

"Caleb?"

When Stella reached the doorway and was greeted with the sight of an empty bed, her stomach dropped. "Caleb?" she asked again, her voice louder and more frantic now as she quickly looked in the bathroom and the kitchen, but only found empty rooms. Stella nearly ran back into the bedroom, looking frantically around everywhere- on the floor on the far side of the bed, in the closet, but he was nowhere.

He's gone.

The realization hit Stella like a weight, and she weakly sat down on the bed. This was all her fault- she shouldn't have pushed him into letting her be here, she shouldn't have been so adamant about seeing him in his transformed state. Stubborn, stupid, idiot- Stella berated herself as the tears began welling up in her eyes. Why couldn't she have listened to him and just left when he'd asked her to?

She lay down on the bed, her body shaking as she cried. Her eyes caught a glimpse of a piece of parchment on the small table next to the bed, and Stella grabbed at it, frantic for some word from Caleb.

'I love you. I'm sorry.'

That was it. No mention of where he'd gone, or if he was coming back- Stella's tears started flowing again, and she started gasping for breath, unable to control her sobbing.