The Toll Death Takes
The wind howls outside. A stark contrast to yesterday. The weather was much warmer than it is now. Paul and Caleb are both seated in Lilith’s room, next to the bed with a frame. The one in the corner, where the sunlight–if there was any–could not reach it. Ronald is in the bed, curled up into a ball.
“You look tired.” Caleb whispers to Paul, not wanting to wake up Ronald. Caleb was correct, Paul was exhausted. The dark circles under his eyes were practically black, and his eyes were half closed, like he was threatening to nod off at any second.
“Mmm, maybe just a little.” Paul hums in response, rubbing his eyes not a second later. “Haven’t slept well in a while, but I guess it’s only now starting to catch up on me. Not like it’ll matter anyways. We’ll all be dead soon.”
Caleb reaches for Paul, but does not touch him. Something restrains him from doing so. He instead, pulls his hand back and gently places it in his lap. The other hand follows. The room is silent, there is nothing to say. Eventually, Paul gets up, checks on Ronald, and leaves the room.
Downstairs is quiet. There is no longer anyone to fill the void. The human girl, Luz, is seated on the couch, alone. Usually someone would be napping there, or two people just chatting. Now there is one, sitting, staring at nothing.
“Hello.” Paul says, begrudgingly. The strain in his voice can be easily heard, but it is not acknowledged. Luz turns her head towards him, but doesn’t say anything. She does however, raise her hand and wave at him. “You alright?” Caleb was rubbing off on him.
“Mhm.” Luz hums back. “Are you? I’ve never seen eyebags get that bad. No offense, or anything.” She laughs to herself, covering her mouth with her arm as she does so.
“Yeah yeah, I know, they’re bad.” Paul rolls his eyes. “And yeah, I’m alright. Well as good as I can be in this type of situation.” Paul tries not to depress the whole room up, but his presence alone is enough to wilt flowers.
“Well that’s something.” Luz smiles, shifting slightly. Like she was uncomfortable. But her expression did not read that way.
“Yeah.” Paul replies, with a nod. “Sorry you had to be here for the end of it. We didn’t mean to crash at your place and die in your aunt's bed.” It was a joke–an attempt. Luz just shrugs, Paul takes this as a sign to leave.
The kitchen is empty. Paul stopped and stared at the table, then his eyes shifted towards the floor, where they found Kevin’s body. Where he had been laying for ten minutes. The drool had stained the wood. Paul noticed it when he sat down with a bowl of cereal he had made for himself. Paul was never much of a chef. He never had to be, so he never cared to learn. Cooking for pleasure and cooking for fun are very different. He knew the essentials. The bare minimum that would keep him alive.
“What would you think of me now?” Paul whispered to himself, before scooping up a spoonful of milk and a couple of hexios. “Would you be disappointed in what I’ve become?” Then he placed the spoon in his mouth, but did not eat it. The exhaustion finally caught up to him. His head hit the table, the sound was loud.
Next thing he knew, he was in Lilith’s room, in a bed. This time he was the fallen. Caleb was standing above him. The look on his face was enough to kill Paul right then and there. “What happened?” Paul groaned, as he sat up.
“Not sure. Luz heard a loud sound and called me down to help her get you up off the table. Your head was in the bowl of cereal you were eating.” It was clear that Caleb was trying not to laugh with the last sentence. “I knew you were tired. I knew you should’ve taken a nap. Or at least a break. Well now you have to.”
“You would’ve been a good father, Caleb.” The sincerity caused Caleb to stop moving. Just a couple of blinks. The only sign that he didn’t just die. “I think I’m gonna lie down for a little bit longer. Then I’ll help out.”
“Yeah, take as much time as you need. Do not worry about me.” Paul smiled, a very weak and strained smile, before sinking back into the mattress. Caleb grabbed the blanket that was now no longer covering Paul’s body, and pulled it over him.
Caleb turned around, back towards Ronald. His eyes fixed on Paul’s back. Worry in his eyes, worry that he cannot express. Caleb knows though, he can understand. The dying man looks up at Caleb, and slowly blinks. Like an animal who is trying to alert another animal that it’s safe. “Everything will be okay.” Caleb whispers to Ronald. “I promise.” He takes Ronalds hand, and gently uses his thumb to rub the side of his hand.
Shortly after, Ronald dies. It’s painless, it happened while he was asleep. Caleb noticed that his chest was no longer moving up and down like it had been before, and the snoring was nonexistent. Caleb didn’t cry this time, he had no more tears to shed.
Caleb left the room, and headed towards Eda’s room. He sighed before knocking on the door. Eda opened it not a second later. “What’s up?” She asks. Caleb doesn’t reply, he doesn’t have to. His face says it all. “Raine, come help me, will ya?” Eda calls for her partner.
The two are going to bury him. Caleb isn’t going to go help, nor even go visit the new grave. Caleb isn’t going to move. He cannot, something is forcing him in place. There is no way to describe what he’s feeling, or maybe to describe the lack of feeling he is experiencing. It’s not empty, but there also isn’t anything there.
Outside, Eda and Raine are dragging out another. They’re on top of the hill, dropping his body into the pre-dug hole that was designated to him. “Lily left.” Eda says, as she reaches for the shovel.
“Left? What do you mean, she left?” Raine questions, rather confused. “That doesn’t seem like a Lilith thing to do.” They raise an eyebrow.
Eda is shoveling the dirt pile back into the hole, the body being covered by it. She cannot help but think of him opening his eyes and begging to be let out. What a strange thought. “She just left, I dunno.” Eda replies.
“You didn’t ask her about it?” Raine once again asks. Eda shrugs, and continues shoveling. The body is no longer visible, completely covered by the dirt. “Eda, you okay?” Their tone is suddenly much softer.
“Yeah. Just tired.” Her grip tightens. “I’m so tired.” Now she's slamming the shovel repeatedly into the dirt, to pack it in. To assure nothing will ever escape. To assure that it will look untouched, that if it weren’t for the tombstone, nobody would even know there was a body under there.
“Do you want to lay down?” They ask, reaching for Eda, but she pulls away from them, before they can grab her. Eda didn’t mean to pull away, but she did. The damage has already been done, and there is no way to undo it.
“I’m going to go and take a nap.” Eda grumbles, before leaving. Raine is left on top of the hill, with the graves, the bodies. They watch her enter the house, but don’t ever follow. Eda heads up to her room, but doesn’t enter. Her hand slowly lets go of the handle, and walks back down the hall and into Lilith’s room.
Inside is Paul and Caleb. Paul is asleep on the mattress, looking comfortable, like he’s being consumed by it. His body is sinking into it, likely to leave an indent. “Hey Caleb.” Eda hums, and sits next to him.
“I am certain he is going to die.” Caleb begins. “Worst of all, I know I am going to be forced to watch him. Like I watched all the others. And just like then, I still cannot do anything to stop it.” Oh, Eda is not equipped for this conversation.
“None of this was your fault. You know that right?” Caleb nods. “But do you understand it? Knowing and understanding are two different things.” Caleb does not nod. He does not even look at her.
“I am afraid.” Eda stares at him. “I do not want to die. I do not want this to end. What if it is nothing? What if I am just gone. What if they are all just gone? But there has to be something no? There cannot just be nothing!” Caleb pauses and turns towards Eda. “Right?”
“I don’t know.” Eda replies. “No one knows. It’s the one thing that cannot be answered. I mean, you’ve died before.”
“It was painful.” Caleb sighed, pulling his knees to his chest and resting his head on them.
Eda’s face scrunched up, frustrated. “No I mean–”
Eda was cut off by Caleb. “I was stabbed. That did not kill me. I, instead, bled out and slowly burned as my killer held me in his arms.”
—
Gus stares at his phone, messages spammed by Luz and Hunter. He doesn’t reply, he cannot. Though he does read them. The words misspelled and jumbled like they were written while running, or a stroke.
FriendofOwlsandTitansGus you fxskced up sox badQ!!
FriendofOwlsandTitansThey deying!!
FriendofOwlsandTitansDying+*
FriendofOwlsandTitansGus, this is so bad.
FriendofOwlsandTitansI know I’m usually all for redemption, but you crossed the line.
Hunter had sent Gus a few messages the other day, they all went unopened. Gus swiped left, deleting the notification from the scrolls home page. Luz and Hunter both didn’t show up to school today. Luz said it’s because she was helping out. Nobody knew why Hunter hadn’t shown up.
“Hey Willow, have you seen Hunter?” Gus asked Willow, during lunch. He was wondering if he was simply avoiding him.
“Nope. He never responded to my texts this morning. Maybe he got sick? Or had a panic attack when he woke up, so he stayed home.” Willow shrugged, before taking a bite from her lunch.
“Yeah probably.” Gus sighed. “What about Luz? Amity have you heard from her?” He turned towards Amity, who wasn’t eating.
“She said she was helping out Eda. Dunno with what, but when I do, I’ll let you know.” Amity responded, something clearly disturbed her, but she wasn’t all sappy with Willow or Gus like she was with Luz.
So now, Gus was sitting on his bed, staring at the ceiling, his scroll on his bed next to him. The buzzing finally stopped, but mostly because there were too many notifications. The room was quiet, besides the buzz from the ac unit in the wall. It was set to a heating setting, because of how cold it had gotten overnight.
—
Hunter was laying on the floor. The bathroom floor to be more specific, mainly because of the cold tiles. His head was throbbing, so he pressed it into the floor, but that didn’t help like Hunter wanted it to.
Eventually, he got up and left for the kitchen. He was insearch of a snack. So he opened the pantry. There was a variety of food, but nothing looked good. Why was he so sick? He wanted to ask Darius to make him something, but he knew he couldn’t. Darius was too busy weeping in his room.
Eber was in there with him, making sure he didn’t go do something stupid. But also to provide some comfort to the man. Hunter could hear the loud sobs echo through the house. He’s sure if he asked one of his friends, they’d be able to hear it too.
His hunger wouldn’t be satisfied like this, he knew he had to leave. So he grabbed his bag, and left the house. Not bothering to go tell somebody where he was going. Not that he even knew where he was headed too.
Hunter locked the door with the spare key he owned, and walked off the property. No money in his bag, not that he would’ve even bought anything. Nothing could make him full. After a while of wandering the streets, he somehow ended up at Willow’s house, knocking on her front door.
The door opened. Willow had opened it. “Oh, hey Hunter! What are you doing here?” She asked. Distant laughter could be heard from inside the house.
“I’m starving.” Hunter replied.
—
Paul was dying. Caleb was watching him. Watching as he slept, waiting for his breathing to stop. Waiting for him to die. “Paul.” Caleb whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
It would take hours for his suffering to end. And it wouldn’t be a peaceful end either. In fact, Paul died awake, screaming. Somehow he hadn’t lost his voice. “Please! Please kill me! It hurts, oh titan it hurts!” He cried out in agony.
Caleb sobbed, trying to find something to ease his pain. Maybe some medicine would do the trick? So he headed towards the bathroom, and swung open the mirror. The shelves were empty, no medicine in sight. It had all been used, or simply never existed. Why would they need medicine, when they have magic?
“Eda! Eda you must heal him!” Caleb cried. “Please, I beg of you!” He pleaded, almost falling over as he did so. She stared at him, and looked away. “Please! Please, please, please!” Now on the floor, he grabbed her hands.
“I can’t! I don’t have magic!” Eda exclaimed, pulling away from Caleb’s grasp. Leaving him to flop over. “And Raine is restricted to Bard magic. I’m so sorry, but there is nothing we can do to help.” Caleb stares at her, with his mouth wide open. Paul’s distant screams can be heard from down the hall.
Everyone gathers inside Lilth’s room. Around Paul, who is now kicking as he clutches his side. “I can’t do it!” Caleb whimpers.
“Don’t you want his suffering to end?” Eda questions, rather rudely. She’s done with the yelling. She’s done with everything. She wants this to end. “If you can’t do it, I will.” With that, she grabs the axe and cuts Paul into two. Then she hits him again, to insure he’s dead.
Caleb stares at him. There’s so much blood. It sprayed onto him, onto his clothes. He’ll never be clean and he didn’t even do it. The color drains from his face. Paul is gone. Not naturally, no, he was murdered.
—
Caleb doesn’t get sick. He doesn’t ever fall. It’s been two weeks. Nothing has happened. Lilith’s room has been cleaned thoroughly. It looks normal again, all the blood is gone. The mattress wasn’t able to be saved, so Eda got rid of it.
Lilith didn’t come back, Eda won’t tell anyone why. Caleb knows though. Who would ever want to come back to a place like this? If he could leave, he would. But he cannot, there is nowhere for him to go. So he shall stay.
At night, he swears he can hear them. They whisper to him, the words are hard to understand, but he tries nonetheless. They tell him to kill himself. They tell him to bury himself alive.
Tonight, he will listen to their demands. It’s dark out, and everyone in the house is asleep. The house has gone back to normal, like they were never there. Caleb has been sleeping on Lilith’s bed.
He quietly opens the door, and slowly steps out. Praying that the wood doesn’t creak. The last thing he needs is for someone to know he’s leaving.
It’s hard to bury yourself alive. Usually you need someone else to do it. So he goes out insearch of someone to get the job done. He’s willing to pay, with the money he stole from Eda. There’s someone on the corner. His arms twitch and he doesn’t look all there. “Hello!” Caleb smiles. The man doesn’t reply. “I’m willing to pay 20 snails for you to bury me alive.” The statement must sound insane.
But the money catches the man's attention. His head whips around towards Caleb. “20 snails? To bury you alive?” Caleb nods. “Alright.” The man agrees. So Caleb guides him back to the house and takes him to the backyard.
“You can leave the way you came, just don’t enter the house or alert the people inside of what has transpired.” Caleb states. The man agrees to these terms. In order to assure that Caleb won’t get out, his hands are tied behind his back and his legs are tied together. The man pushes Caleb inside the grave. He lands on his stomach. Then the dirt starts to pile on top of him.
He suffocates. It’s slow and painful. The first dirt pile hit his back and caused him a grave wave of pain. Then the next one hit his legs. He could feel himself slipping. Before he knew it, he was gone. The man packed the dirt as nicely as possibly. Like it was never dug up in the first place.
Eda woke up the next morning with a bad feeling. She got up and headed for Lilith’s room, mainly to wake up Caleb and get some help with breakfast. But Caleb wasn’t in there. She searched through the whole house, but he was nowhere to be found.
Then she noticed the back door was unlocked. She decided to go outside and check to see if he was out there.
Then she saw it, his grave was packed tight. He was buried. For some reason, she did nothing about this. When Raine and Luz questioned where Caleb had gone, Eda replied, “Home.”
A few months later, Eda noticed a small tree sapling begin to sprout where his grave was.