It's the day.. Brie and him went through all the books, all of the manuscripts, both hidden, forbidden and known, and still nothing. The thought he had on the meadow lingered in his mind though, a life for a life. Each time, he felt like the answer was there, in those words. Balancing the scale, law of nature. He just could not figure it out no matter what he did.
And now the day has come. He looked at Caitlyn, with eyes full of longing and fear. He purred as she brushed his fur with her hands and gently scratched his neck. He saw her turn towards the door and at the very last minute, he decided to just jump in her bag and go along with her. If this is the last day I will see you, I will not miss any minute of it. "Lancelot," Caitlyn whined, "you have to get down or I will be late. I promise to be back early." She attempted to get him off her bag and onto the floor but he just went running back to her and circled her legs. Please take me, please, if this is the last day I would be with you, then I would rather spend it with you than spend it thinking about when I will lose you.
Caitlyn sighed. "Ok, let's go. I'll just tell them you're sick and cannot be left alone. But you have to behave in the office and I'll just take the afternoon off."
Sam meowed. I love you. I would give anything to say that to you one last time, to touch you and look into your eyes as a man.
The day went by fast. As the afternoon came, it seemed like nothing would happen and everything will just stay as is. Maybe Caitlyn is safe and Mitch just had bad luck. Really bad luck, but bad luck. He was starting to get a little less nervous as the hours passed and soon they were leaving the office.
"I don't know why you are so clingy today but we just can't do that a lot Lancelot. Did you see the look that everyone gave me? They must think I am crazy for bringing my pet to the office," she chuckled, rubbing Sam's neck as she carried him in his cat carrier.
"Let's go home now, shall we? Since we're playing hooky, what do you want to do?"
Sam meowed, licking his paws.
Caitlyn chuckled as she started to cross the street. "You're such a lazy head. Sure, let's just have a quiet night and sit on the couch watching Netflix. Another thriller I bet? I'm telling you, if you were human, I just might date you," she chuckled to herself and was caught off guard when she saw a wallet fall from someone crossing the street in a bike in front of her.
"Hey! Mister! You dropped something!" She shouted, attempting to get the man's attention. When the man didn't turn around she ran and bent down to pick up the wallet.
In movies, the disaster always happens after everything seemingly goes well. I guess that's true in life as well that's why they called it the calm before the storm. Heroines in movies also almost always die of a car crash, and the car almost always has a broken brake. Sam felt like he was watching a movie as he saw a truck speeding towards them seemingly unable to stop or slow down. It was so cliched really, a heroine who has a death sentence, crossing the street and a truck just so happens to have a broken brake. But no, this time, it wasn't a broken brake, it was just a sleeping driver, who woke up just in time to stop the truck just as he saw Caitlyn raise her hands and braced for the impact that never came.
A movement caught his eye, a flash of silver and heard something or someone say, a life for a life. He heard a bang, something he's already heard before, about 6 years ago, and saw the bullet coming towards Caitlyn. And just like that, without any thought to what would happen, Sam did his trick to unlock the cat bag, jumped out of it so that he could intercept the bullet that was coming directly towards Caitlyn.
He's been a witch for a very long time. You know how in the movies they always show witches riding on broomsticks flying across the night sky? They don't usually really do it where they are seen, but from time to time, just for fun, they bewitch items, usually broomsticks just for the heck of it, and fly up into the air. It's very exhilarating. Almost as if you were flying on a hot air balloon or when you're sky diving. I guess humans would always wish for things that are not natural for them. To him he prefers to apparate rather than fly. He doesn't like to waste time and apparating is just quicker. He enjoys flying for fun and always remembers how it feels.
That's exactly how being hit with a 9 mm in his very small body and flying 2 to 3 feet off of the ground felt like.. minus of course the control. Why does he feel light? Why couldn't he feel pain? Suddenly, it was as if his soul was being ripped from his body, literally, then there was nothing and he was standing, as a human. What was happening? He turned around and literally saw himself land on the concrete floor. He also saw himself shift back to a human and saw that the bullet hit his chest. Blood was oozing out of the hole. It's weird, he could feel his heart beat, barely, but beating. He looked around and saw Caitlyn's shocked face. Shocked, but alive. No, don't look! He wanted to shout it but could only think it.
He saw her suddenly bend forward, holding her head then clutching her heart. Caitlyn, what's wrong? He wanted to ask. Please anyone, please, help her! He ran to everyone and tried shouting at them to help. But no one could hear him. He rushed towards her and tried to touch her but his hand just passed through, he did hear one word leave her lips though and he looked at her in shock as he heard it.. Sam.
She suddenly got a piercing headache as she saw the naked man on the floor, blood gushing out of the bullet wound in his chest. She didn't know where the man came from but she knew that if he didn't jump in front of her, the bullet would've hit her instead. She clutched her aching head and tried to stand. Instead she bent over as images started to flash in her head. Images of her and a man, happy, walking together, talking to each other, making love. Who is this man? Why is her heart aching and full at the same time? She saw herself, laughing with the man one starry night when she saw another man aiming at him and started to fire. She could not recognize what happened or what the other person fired, but one word came out of her lips in her mind.. Sam. She murmured it just as she said it in her mind.
Oh my God! As all of the memories came back to her, she looked back at the man, dying on the floor. The man that saved her, the man who saved her life. The man who was her heart. Realization came into her eyes, she looked at her bag to check on Lancelot and she knew. "Sam, what have you done? Oh my God!" She stood up with shaky legs. Her head in pain, her heart pounding in her chest. She started to walk and as she regained her balance, she started to run. "Sam!" She shouted.
She dropped to her knees beside him, "Sam! What's happening? Why is this happening? Oh my God, Sam, don't leave me!"
He felt a little pull. He wasn't dead after all, just dying.. helplessly dying. He allowed himself to be pulled, to be reunited with his body, to be able to talk to the love of his life, one last time. He opened his eyes, as best he could, just a little, just to be able to see her. Please, God, just let me touch her, see her one last time. He felt her hand on his face, cupping his face. "Sam," he heard. "Please Sam, I can hear the ambulance, please hang in there, don't leave."
Just then, he knew. A life for a life. He looked at her, wanting to lift his arms to touch her, do anything, but he could not move. Damn. He managed to smile weakly though, and with his last breath, with the last of his strength, he whispered to her, "I love you. Live, Cait." Weakness overcame him, he closed his eyes and finally took his last breath. His soul, leaving his body, painlessly.
"A life for a life," a voice said behind him, "you had it right."
He turned around and saw an unknown woman. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I think you met my fiancé, Mitch? Right?" She smiled.
"You're Jess?"
"At your service."
"I don't understand, how could this happen?" Sam asked curiously.
"It's quite a mystery right?" Jess smiled as she walked towards his body and the crying Caitlyn. "It was quite a lesson to teach really. Cruel but memorable." She walked back to Sam, guiding him towards where his body was. "Both you and Mitch wanted to bend the laws of nature to selfishly get what you wanted. You wanted the world and foolishly thought that living the way you did was the punishment for what you selfishly wanted. But, as you have already realized, that's not how it is. When a life is given," she pointed to Caitlyn, "a life needs to be taken in return," pointing back towards him. "Both of you being alive, regardless of your living condition, has set the scale out of balance. Nature needed to set it right but the magic used was too strong, it could not be immediately stopped or tampered with. But no magic, no matter good or bad, can remain as strong throughout eternity, eventually nature would catch up and be able to get its way. Correct the balance. For this type of spell, it takes more or less about 6 years from the time it was casted. Why 6? Heaven knows why, it just is. And once the scales are balanced, the curse is lifted, explains why you returned to being human."
"Do they know about this?"
"Who?"
"The dark witches."
"Of course they did, but they wanted to be selfish too, so they never told you about the fine print."
He looked back at her, "but I was also selfish, so why did she not die after my death?"
She smiled again, "because you already knew, and consciously made the choice to sacrifice your life so she can have hers. All of the other people whom the dark witches have fooled wanted to selfishly have it all. Be able to have their person alive and be able to live together with the person they loved. Without even thinking about the effect of the imbalance to the laws of nature. But you did, you knew the effect, you knew what needed to be done, you knew you could've ignored it, called to the dark witches again. They would've come you know. But you didn't do that, instead you chose to give up your life for hers and set the balance right again. You eventually realized that what you did was not just wrong because it was illegal but wrong because it defied nature. And despite knowing there's another way, you chose the way with the biggest sacrifice to make everything right."
He looked down, didn't deny a word she said. He never told Brie and truth be told he was so afraid that he would be wrong. He also couldn't just take his life, because that's another type of selfishness. Forcing your way to get what you want, which is to have Caitlyn stay alive. He needed to wait for nature to make things right and only at that moment could he make the ultimate sacrifice. He knew and he was glad he was right. It was the only way to correct what was wrong and to make sure that Caitlyn also stayed alive. "Will she stay alive or does she still have a deadline?"
"You gave your life so she can have hers. Nature is satisfied and the scales are balanced."
"It's a hard and cruel lesson to teach, why have people go through all that just to teach this lesson."
She chuckled, "well it's not like Nature never gave us all the warnings. But when all the warnings are ignored, how else could the lesson be taught? Magic was not made to tamper with the natural order of things. It's there to help us but it's not there to go against nature. Abuse is a choice humans make. Unfortunately, magic is so strong that it's prone to be abused."
He looked at her inquisitively. "You speak like you were never human at all."
She chuckled. "I could be. I could also be the air, the water, the land, the trees and everything on earth. Once you die, you come to me, we become one. I am Jess, but I am so much more than her. I'm glad you learned the lesson. Sad it had to be this way, but I'm glad you learned."
He smiled. For some reason, he was very calm. "Could I visit her, one last time, in her dreams? Just have a way to explain?"
She shook her head. "It would be harder for the both of you if you aim to make that connection. That won't be closure for either of you, it will just be another selfish thing you would do because you want to talk to her again. Let nature have its way. She'll find out what happened and understand. Trust me," she winked.
He sighed. "What now then?"
"What else?" She held out her hand. "The afterlife awaits."
He took her hand, looked at Caitlyn one last time and nodded. "I trust you. Let's go"