AU: Dreaming Wide Awake [Maebelle]

[Kieron Sharpe]

It had taken Kieron several days to be able to get home. He had gotten lost more times than he could remember and there had been no one to give him directions, but by sheer luck he had somehow managed to make it back to Pilot Ridge. Back to home. Back to Maebelle.

But she had not been in the house when he had arrived. Kieron wasn't sure where she had gone, she had left no note. Then again, why would she have? The house was much the same as it was when he had last seen it, the day they had left for their weekend break in New York. Some of the fish tanks could do with a clean now, but he could see flakes floating on the top of the water in some of them and a few shrimp were scuttling around the base of others. Bless Maebelle's heart, she had clearly been doing her best to look after them while he had been away.

Hazel eyes flicked around the room, but it looked so very different now. Even though the early afternoon sun poured through the windows he felt no discomfort or unease as it met his eyes, but it offered no warmth against his skin. He sighed sadly and wandered towards the unlit fireplace, fingers of his right hand resting ever so lightly against the dark wood of the mantle.

Four photos were located there inside their delicate silver frames. His and Maebelle's favourites of the photos from their honeymoon. The photos were selfies taken on the beach, slightly out of focus and at wonky angles, but they had captured the madness and exhilaration of that week away so perfectly. One with them pulling silly faces. One with Maebelle kissing his cheek. One with him kissing her nose, and the final one of their lips meeting. It was just over a year ago and yet Kieron still remembered that day perfectly. He desperately hoped they were memories he would be able to cling on to, even as everything else began to fade away.

The sound of the key turning in the lock caused Kieron's lips to curl into a smile. She was home! He would get to see her again after all these days away! He moved towards the door but stopped instantly the moment he saw the look upon her face. The sheer anguish and misery that contorted her features that usually lit up a room brighter than any sun ever could.

Her heart had been shattered, and Kieron knew that he was the cause of it.

“Maebelle?”

[Deleted]

Home. Home was not home anymore. The house felt empty, despite the hundreds of fish swimming around in the big aquariums. Despite the plants Maebelle had so strategically placed around there that they would get at least a glimpse of sunlight throughout the day while the curtains remained closed for the sake of Kieron’s sight. While the latter had always gotten her priorities, a switch was taking place now. The flora received the minimum of attention required to keep them alive, and the fish… She desperately clung to memories of how her husband used to take care of them. She wouldn’t fail him while he was away.

Flakes were floating around in the aquariums as evidence of this, and at the moment that was the only sign of people living in this house. Flowers in vases were scattered around the place. Flowers that were doomed to die for they had been dissected from their roots. It was oddly fitting. Death. It lingered and almost made the house as dark as it always used to be, despite most curtains having been pulled open now. It wasn’t a happy place to come home to… but it was their place. Maebelle cherished that thought to encourage herself to not fully neglect its maintenance.

Today, however, all would be ignored. After Mae was dropped off at the house, quietly whispering her thanks to those who had insisted to at least mean that to her, she headed up to the front door before turning the key in the lock. A simple, yet elegant black dress hugged her slightly slumped frame as the young woman stepped inside. A small floral black headpiece with matching attached veil sat on top of loose brown wavy locks as the purse in her right hand simply dropped to the floor the second the door closed behind her. Mae just stood there for a couple of seconds, fully ignoring the surroundings as empty eyes just stared straight ahead. Then they slowly drifted to the staircase, and feet were forced to ascend it, walking straight past the man. The walk down the corridor upstairs, towards the door of their bedroom felt like an eternity. It only ended as she placed her hand upon the wooden surface, slowly pushing it open.

Only one side of the bed was made – Kieron’s. Stepping over to the bed, Maebelle stopped at the end of it and slowly unzipped the dress before shedding it. The shirt that lay on the bed got picked up and momentarily brought towards her face, both hands holding onto it as the brunette slowly inhaled Kieron’s scent. Only when the fabric got lowered again was the empty look replaced with pure sadness. Tears brimmed as the young woman slowly tugged the shirt on, and soon the headpiece dropped to rest next to the dress on the floor.

Aimlessly, the gardener headed downstairs and into the living room. There she settled on the couch, took the remote and switched on the television before pressing play. The DVD that began to play had been watched for over ten times the last couple of days: her and Kieron’s wedding, their honeymoon…

Till death do us part.

Those words broke her as tears began to flow and attempts at muffling the sobs followed. The last Mae had expected was for their love to come to an end like that.

Kieron was gone... and he wasn't coming back.

[Kieron Sharpe]

Perhaps he should have known where she was, why the house had been empty upon his return. It must have been, what, nine days now? Ten maybe? He wondered what they had said about him. Had he been declared a hero, or a reckless idiot? Perhaps both. It had been idiotic, to attempt that one last trip when everything was literally falling down around him, but even now he wasn't sure if he would change what he did. He was the only one there who could have helped; no one else would have been able to reach such a high window, and the fire brigade had been so slow to get there...

That said, he would have given absolutely anything to have been able to lift the pain that was clear as daylight on his wife's features. Watching Maebelle's obvious torment hurt so much more than the flames had, and his hand passed through the mantle as his arms slumped to his side. Kieron had never thought about what might have lay on the other side, but he never could have imagined the pain in his chest to feel so intense, even when all life had long since left him.

“Maebelle?”

His words were soundless, unable to pierce through the veil between life and death, and his slumped and suddenly so very heavy spirit faltered as he crossed the space between them. “Maebelle, I'm here...”

Fear was keeping him from reaching out to her, trying to hold her just like he always had done before. What if she felt him there? What if it scared her so much that she fled to where he couldn't follow, to a place where he could never so much as see her again? Or even worse – what if she did not feel him at all, and he was doomed to spend eternity watching, but never so much as able to brush his fingers against her skin? Never able to let her know that despite how it seemed, she was not alone.

From downstairs Kieron could hear her sob and it cut through him like a knife, but as much as it hurt he could not cry. That release had been stripped from him as his last breath had left him. Instead the pain welled inside, raging like a hurricane so hard he thought he might explode, and Kieron wailed soundlessly in his torment.

Eventually Maebelle returned downstairs, and desperation took over from the fear. As she sat on the couch his hand rested upon her shoulder, stroking gently, but Kieron's hand snatched back as he saw the goosepimples immediately rushing to her skin, the shiver that shot down her spine. But maybe, just maybe, she would have felt it.

Maybe neither of them would have to spend the rest of eternity apart...

[Deleted]

Maebelle had let most of the words about Kieron run over her like water drops on a duck. Bloodshot eyes had been fixated on the coffin the entire time while a hand had clutched a handkerchief. At the end of the ceremony, she had just stood there while people squeezed her shoulder in a wordless goodbye. It had taken quite some time (Mae wasn’t even sure how long) before she turned around to approach his parents who stood waiting for her in the distance to drop her off at home. Their son had been reckless and an idiot… and Mae couldn’t agree more. She was also proud though. Proud to have been married to a man so selfless and caring for others. Those thoughts wouldn’t bring him back though – nothing ever would.

While seated on the couch, the fleece blanket sloppily draped over her shoulders, the sudden chill ran down her spine and a hand immediately moved to clutch the bare skin. Within seconds she readjusted both the shirt and the blanket, and had blue eyes warily scan the room behind her. Of course it was all in her head – Mae knew this – but she could have sworn…

It clearly made her uncomfortable as she shifted and hugged the blanket close while getting up off the couch. Straight into the hallway to double-check if the door was locked. Returning into the living room, another shiver went down her spine. Not because Mae was cold, but thanks to the discomfort that had now taken over. She didn’t feel safe without Kieron around.

“I’m going crazy, huh, Stripey?” The gardener managed to tweak a weak smile before feet dragged her past the aquarium and over to a nearby closet. There the young woman squatted down and plucked out a beautifully wrapped gift. On it a note had been attached: If you find this before our trip to New York, do not open! <3 Mae. It wasn’t like Kieron opened that closet a lot, so Maebelle had promoted it to ‘keeping gifts hidden’.

With it in her hands, the brunette returned to the couch and placed it down on the small coffee table before taking a seat on the edge of the cushions. She plucked the note from under the purple ribbon, gently running her thumb over the delicate letters.

“I’m sorry…” Mae whimpered quietly as fingers slowly began to tear away the wrapping paper. Of course the girl was talking to herself… There was no one else there. “Sorry…” Retrieving her hands, tearful optics gazed at the half-exposed shirt, but its logo was fully visible.

World’s best dad since 2014.

And Kieron... Kieron would never know.

[Kieron Sharpe]

It was an incredibly surreal thing, seeing the after-effects of his own death. The emotional ebb and flow was strange; he felt deeply sad and yet it weighed strangely on his ethereal shoulders. He could not cry, felt no apathy. Instead he just felt... cold, and distant. Like he desperately wanted to cry and scream and rage until the entire world knew of his torment, but all that hurt and sorrow and loss was locked behind an iron portcullis, unable to leak past. It would have been impossible to explain, but then again, who could he have ever explained it to anyway?

Kieron had never really considered the ideas of heaven and hell or reincarnation or anything else that could have existed beyond the mortal realm. In truth, the prospect of death had always deeply terrified him and so he had done all in his power to avoid even thinking about it. Maybe that was what happened. Those who believed in a Beyond went there, but those who didn't became like this. Lost souls wandering through the veil, caught between this world and another. He certainly hoped it would not be this way forever. He would not ever wish this isolation upon Maebelle – he would rather die a thousand times over than think of her trapped in this confusing apathy.

Surprised and not a little intrigued by the fact that Maebelle had seemed to feel his attempt at a touch on her shoulder – or felt the chill at least – the ex nurse backed off a few paces, staring at his hand as though he had never seen it before. If he could gain her attention like that then maybe, just maybe, he could let her know that he was still here. Could let her know that she wasn't alone, that he hadn't left her. In their vows he had promised 'til death us do part'. Perhaps he could extend that beyond even the grave.

Stepping over towards one of the fish tanks, Kieron laid his hands upon the glass. He could see the thermometer inside, and if he could control this enough to get the temperature to drop, maybe he could use that ability to find some way to communicate with her. It didn't have to be much; just a degree or two. Just enough to be noticeable. Concentrating as much as his fleeting mind would allow him, Kieron focussed on trying to get the temperature to drop... but instead it started to rise. The gauge on the thermometer tank began to ever so slowly inch closer towards the red, and Kieron panicked as his hands suddenly started to turn black and peel, ethereal flames licking slowly across the burned skin as the stench of searing flesh began to fill his nose.

Horrified and silently screaming in panic, Kieron backed away from the glass quickly and tried to calm down, tried to quell the feeling of terror at the sight and traumatic memories and return to the blunt pain that he had been trapped in before. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Maebelle moving, and he followed her. Focussing his mind on something else helped; his ambient temperature began to lower and his skin began to reform, the cremated black flesh once more returning to his natural pale hue.

Hazel eyes watched her opening the parcel with curiosity, watched her peeling back the paper... and then saw the shirt.

He was a father... He was going to be a father... Maebelle was going to have his child... And he would not be there for her.

The shock and intense joy and pain combined felt like a spear through his chest, the portcullis shattering away as Kieron's mind crumbled beneath it. He would not be there for her. He would not be there for his child... But there would be a child. There would be some part of him still in the world, still in Maebelle's life. His unbeating heart felt like it was going to explode through his chest as he collapsed against the wall, folding into a pile on the ground as his temperature soared, skin peeling and crisping to cinders as his scorched wings exploded out of his back, the phantasmal force knocking a photo frame off the mantelpiece and sending it shattering against the fireplace, the carpet singeing and smoking where he sat.

He had no voice, and yet all he could do was scream.

[Deleted]

The small note that had been peeled away held a date. That date had taken place a couple of days, and perhaps Kieron would have recognized it as the one Maebelle had demanded he kept free. She had said it was a surprise, unable to inform him about her intention to drag him along to the first checkup with her doctor. The man would have freaked out, worried that she were sick. At the moment, the brunette regretted not having told him. Perhaps it would have kept his heroic actions to a limit. He might have placed his own safety before that of others, and he might still be here and ready to become a father.

Either way, Mae did not have a lot of time to once more mull on that as all of the sudden a photo frame went tumbling down off the mantelpiece. It startled the young woman and eyes were dilated during that single second. She was quick to get up as well, mainly because that photo was a deeply cherished one. Carefully Maebelle took it from between the glass shards, smiling weakly at the picture in her hands – it being the one of Kieron pecking her nose. After a couple of counts, however, an even more disturbing interruption caught her attention. The smell of something burning made her head turn at a rapid pace. Eyes widened once more and a painful expression appeared on features as well as a plant standing near the spot got affected by it.

The gardener could feel it hurt; she could hear it scream in fear. Her moves were quick, yet filled with panic as the plant got dragged away a couple of inches. Then Mae spurted into the kitchen to grab the biggest pan that could be found, immediately filling it with water before attempting to run back without spilling too much. Soon the water went flying on the scorched spot on the rug, as well as on the few leaves of the plant.

While Maebelle did feel reluctant after that, she did approach it and carefully peeked underneath the fabric. The floor didn’t seem to be burning… and it was the only somewhat logical explanation the girl could think of. Not that she got to figure it out too long though, for soon the wailing of the plant made her focus on it again. Her actions smooth and gentle, Mae cured the couple of leaves while seated on her knees – unaware that Kieron was located right next to her.

“You’re okay, sweetie. You’re safe with me,” she soothed the plant, though her own voice was still full with fear and anxiety. Either way, her current location also gave her the chance to open a nearby closet and to take out the small envelope that also had the same date from earlier on it. Inside, and Mae took them out mostly, ultrasounds were located. It made the young woman sit back on her legs, sadly chuckling down at the photos. Heck, she even showed it to the plant. “Even from this.” The young woman laughed lightheartedly. A baby would be prone to harming the plant, and Mae used it as an example to make it clear it had nothing to be scared about… even though the fire was weird and hard to explain.