~Chapter 19~

   "Caleb... Come with me," I said, hand outstretched towards him. The look he gave me was severe, scary.
   "When will you let it go?" He asked. "I don't love you."
   I fell to my knees as he walked away, tears streaming down my cheeks. "NO!!" I yelled after him, but he kept walking, going, leaving, fading into the distance, leaving me alone to fade into the darkness surrounding me...

   I sprung straight up from my bed, heart racing, gasping for breath, just like you do in those dreams where you just died and wake up the second you're about to hit the ground after falling off a cliff or something. Another one... I sighed and shut off the alarm clock that I realized had been what woke me up in the first place. Another stupid day of school I have to get up for... Not like I'll learn anything. I haven't been able to focus at all, ever since Caleb... ever since Caleb left me...
   Caleb...
   After finally getting up and ready for school, I opened the front door to my house, expecting to see the rain that had been plaguing the sky for the past week. Instead, I found a beautiful clear blue sky, with only a rainbow betraying the secret that there had been rain. Well, at least there's nice weather today... If nothing else...
   I stepped out into the daylight and began my walk to school.
   And then I saw him.
   At first I thought I must be imagining things. Then I considered that maybe I had somehow been transported back in time a month or so. Hell, I'm the reincarnation of the queen of Heaven, why not? But it wasn't. I wasn't imagining things, nor had any time leap happened.
   Caleb was standing at the corner of the sidewalk, waiting for me, just like he used to every morning.
   There's no way...
   His eyes found me and stayed on me as I approached him. "Caleb...?"
   "Adri." His voice was flat, emotionless. It stung, but the very familiarity of it healed a little cut inside me. Only a little one.
   "Are you really Caleb?" I asked cautiously. Is it really possible that maybe he came back? Made the change? Realized the truth?
   "I'm always really Caleb," he said with a little condescension. All those questions I just asked? No.
   "No," my voice cracked with the coming tears, "the last Caleb I talked to wasn't really him. And neither are you."
   Finally some real emotion came to his face. But, it wasn't the kind of emotion I wanted. He became mad at this statement. Rage and annoyance thick in his voice, he asked, "And how would you know Adriana!?" I winced at my full name. So serious, so formal, so...hurtful... "How would you know what's really me and what's not!?"
   My instinct to yell back kicked in. "Because I know you! I know you better than anyone else!" The tears broke free from my eyes.
   "No you don't! You never knew me Adriana! This is me! Right here, right now, this is me!" He paused, I said nothing. "Whoever you thought you knew doesn't exist." His voice had calmed a little bit, but the anger was still present. "So stop looking for him."
   Before I had a chance to respond, Caleb turned from me and walked away, quickly turning the corner. I rushed after him, but when I ran around the corner, I didn't see Caleb. I saw a demon. A sick portrayal of Caleb, with feathered wings sprouted from his back, the slick black of night. He turned his head to glance back at me with cold, piercing eyes, then took off, leaving me alone to fade into the darkness that I almost wished was surrounding me.