Those Bygone Dog-Star Days - Chapter 37 of 37 - End
~ Chapter 37 ~
The hours that followed my escape up the tunnel, hell the days and weeks afterward are fading from my memory. Time goes, I grow, memories repose.
Kat and Tiffany were waiting in the club. I said something to them, but I've forgotten it now. I lost my cap somewhere between the warehouse and Infinitá. I never looked for it. I never went back to Infinitá.
The only thing on the news that morning talked about the break-in and robbery of the warehouse. Rembrandt Hughes was assaulted and beaten. Security footage shows Aaron committing it and dragging Remy away. There wasn't anything about me being there and, while Aaron initially had a gun, it disappeared and was never found.
I had been sitting with my parents when the news broke about what happened in the jail. After hearing that it was Aaron that did it, they wanted me to stop watching the news but I needed to know everything. I watched everything I could, looked online, yearned for news. Aaron had been taken into custody without resistance. While in jail, waiting to be arraigned, Aaron was beaten to death by a cellmate. The cellmate was in temporary holding and he had ripped off a metal handicap handlebar from the wall and attacked Aaron.
Aaron was sleeping. He never knew it was coming.
A mental health specialist was on to discuss the interment and mentality of the cellmate, but there was little pity for his victim. The news faded.
Dad drove me to Aaron's funeral. We stopped and got some dog roses and a sunflower for me to place on his grave. I stayed back in the cemetery as a small party walked past the small gravestone. An old, graying Arabian Wolf couple was the last to leave and I approached them. Both looked timeworn.
"Hi," I shook their hands, "My name's Caleb."
"Nice to meet you, Caleb," Aaron's dad said, "Did you know Aaron?"
I never did place the flowers. I never made it to Aaron's grave. It's okay, though. I don't regret not walking those final yards. He was gone forever and I accepted it.
Becky recovered enough to go home and finish her physical therapy there. Mr. Hughes stuck to his word, by written letter, to my parents and paid for everything. They invited him for dinner but never got a response. Jason and Becky eventually got back together and got married.
I started traveling the country after Becky got better. I wasn't sure it was safe for her or my Mom and Dad if I stayed around. I didn't tell them that, of course. Becky sent me a postcard when her and Jason's adoption went through. They weren't able to conceive and it turned out Jason was infertile. Becky loved him regardless.
I spent my time doing odd jobs and tried not to draw attention to myself. I slept in strange beds in strange, nondescript towns.
And at night when I'm lying awake in bed, staring at the ceiling, I listen to the stillness that comes between the last car of the night and the first car of the morning. It is the lull between the world breathing in and her breathing out; the respite between heartbeats. This is when I think of the events that happened during those bygone dog-star days.
And I think of Aaron.
And I dream that heaven must be a walk in the park.
At night.
During the rain.