After Happily Ever After (a short story)

Written as an entry for the NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge, #86

John opened his eyes and stared up at the cabin roof deep in thought. The smell of sex had drifted away during the night. He heard the whistle of the wind outside. Must be a draft somewhere, he thought. He lay still, only turning his head to stare at Jane, still asleep. He dared not disturb her slumber.

She looked so beautiful while asleep.

We were gone for so long but the only evidence of that are our clothes that look way worse for wear than they should.

I think I need to take a piss.

John lay in silence, trying to piece together what happened the other night - that Friday evening to be exact. There was a light – no, before that. I wanted to sit by the lake, take it all in, maybe it’d help me. That’s where I met Jane. What a coincidence, she just happened to be walking by and we’d gotten to talking. Then that light. Why the hell did we walk through … no it swallowed us up, right? It was so long ago, but it was just the other day … at the same time.

He thought about the months he and Jane spent elsewhere, yet for all intents and purposes, the calendar only moved two days. Sunday morning. Sun. The sun is going to be up soon. I guess we really didn’t have any time to talk after being brought back; we were too busy being all over one another. Neither John nor Jane understood where they went and why they needed their help. Why him, a greeting card writer? Why her, an employee at a call centre? Weren’t there people more … qualified to help?

The sun hit Jane’s face and it woke her up instantly. She turned and smiled to John. I don’t think I could ever explain all of this to anyone else. All the memories of her and John came flooding back. She wasn’t sure if they’d even be able to come back. After the first couple of months in that elsewhere, they knew each other better than they knew themselves.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“No, the sun always wakes me up like that,” she yawned out, “if you kept the curtains closed I could’ve dozed the entire day.”

“Quick bathroom run,” John got up and headed for the washroom, “you just stay there and relax.”

Relax? So much for that relaxing weekend I was looking forward to. I really don’t want to head back to work tomorrow. After all that, I have to head back to a boring, dead-end job? Sometimes I wish we could’ve stayed. What were we talking about just before we started our crazy adventure? Right, John was telling me about how he wanted to just get away, hopefully some inspiration from nature to help his writing. Me? I was just walking by looking for a quiet place to sit under the stars. City life can be so suffocating sometimes. You can’t really see the stars in the city.

John came back and crawled into bed. “I really didn’t have any plans for the weekend, plus it’s pretty early. When was the last time we even had a good night’s rest? The number of times we had someone stand guard for us was way too many.” said John.

“Well, I know the number of times we slept under a roof I can count on one hand.” replied Jane.

“I don’t want to go back to work tomorrow, but I have to leave early to prepare for a meeting Monday.”

“How could you back to work after all that?” Jane was looking for an answer but all John could do was shrug his shoulders.

During their adventure, they both realized they lived in the same city, not too far from each other. The thought didn’t cross any of their minds until now.

“Hey, I don’t want to leave either, but I need to prepare for my meeting tomorrow, so I have to start heading back to the city. How about lunch Wednesday… say at Coleraine’s?”

“Sure, Wednesday,” replied Jane, “but … you remember that fair that passed through … I don’t know how long ago – it got me thinking, there is a state fair next week. We never got the chance to go to one, how about that?”

“Yeah, I like it. I figure it’ll be tamer than what we got used to.” John gave her a quick kiss then started collecting his clothes off the floor.

After watching John get dressed, Jane lay back in bed thinking of all the things they had gone through. All those months in two days … that’s going to be tough to explain. Just last night – that, I need to still process. We did so much over there … how can I just go back to my daily routine like that? Jane couldn’t get the last thought out of her mind. I could do so much more.

===

“Here you go sir, ma’am … enjoy your meal.” said the waitress.

“Sir? Ma’am? Kind of fancy, isn’t it?” Jane quipped.

“Beats whatever they called us over there.” replied John.

 

“So, how did Robbie take it?” asked John.

“Shit,” Jane replied, “I haven’t gotten the chance to speak to him. Damnit, John I’m so sorry but—“

“Yeah, it might sort of hard to explain how you have to dump him over some guy you met over the weekend. But is two weeks really going steady? Just curious.” asked John.

“I promise I’ll deal with it. So, how about a movie tonight or something at my place? It isn’t someone singing at an inn or a campfire tale but I sure missed being able the watch movies.”

“Sorry Jane, they’ve got me working pretty hard this week. But I am still up for that fair on Saturday.”

After lunch, they both went their respective ways back to work but both felt uneasy about earlier. Over there, everything was simple. Sometimes dangerous but simple, easy. They could tell each other anything - maybe because their lives depended on it, or maybe because they might not see each other again. But now?

John suddenly felt a surge of regret. Why couldn’t I tell her? I hope she believed me; I really am busy. Promotion to head writer is a big deal, why couldn’t I mention it? We’ve been through thick and thin for all that time, isn’t that enough? Why couldn’t she just tell Robbie that it was over? So simple, no explanation needed, just “I’m not feeling it” or something, right?

Jane’s thoughts raced while at work. She kept scribbling on a pad on what to say to Robbie. Sure, it’s only been two weeks with him. We aren’t even that serious. Hell, I almost forgot all about him. How come I can’t just let him down easy? John, John, John … are you really busy? We were practically joined at the hip over there but now all he can tell me is that he’s really busy? Is he trying to avoid me? No, that doesn’t make sense … ugh. ‘Robbie, I don’t want to lead you on but –’, no that sounds stupid.

===

Jane caught John waving in the distance by the fair gates.

“I have your ticket right here!” John yelled, waving a pair of tickets. Jane raced towards him.

“I told him the other day – Robbie,” Jane said, “and to be fair, he was kinda a douche about it.”

“I guess sooner rather than later right?” Jane giggled in response to John’s question.

There it was, that familiar feeling, they both thought.

“C’mon, I’ve been meaning to show you my mean throwing arm.” John pointed at the fair games.

“You know, last time I checked, I was the one who tossed the rock at the guy behind you just in time.” wagging her finger at John.

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” John smiled.

“What was his name again?”

“The Black Rider.” John replied, and then all of a sudden Jane burst into laughter.

“He was already unhappy to see us but when we started laughing at him being a cliché…”

“I don’t think they had clichés over there.” said John, failing to suppress his laughter.

For the whole day, both John and Jane were focused on trying to say something important. They kept reciting it in their heads, trying not to betray their thoughts to one another. John wanted so much to tell her about his promotion. Jane had wanted so much to say something about how she wanted to quit her job and pursue something better.

By sunset, both John and Jane were covered head to toe carrying souvenirs from the day’s events.

“You know, I hope we didn’t win too much stuff. I don’t want to get pulled over by the cops because I have too much stuff blocking my view.” said Jane.

“On that subject,” John chuckled, “how was it coming back to driving? I was terrible after coming back. I was about to go look for the nearest stable or rent a carriage.” Jane chuckled in return.

Finally, Jane broke her unspoken silence. “Look, I have something important I need to say.” John immediately turned to attention.

“I’ve been thinking a lot after we got back,” Jane continued, “that I can do better than this dead-end job I’m in. I want to quit. Hell, you should quit too, we could go--” John immediately stopped her.

“Stop right … stop right there. Listen, I know you don’t think much about my job but that is just insulting,” his confusion quickly turning into anger, “because I was meaning to tell you they promoted me to head writer earlier this week. Yes, I still write silly greeting cards but this is a promotion and a pay raise and I like what I do.”

For a minute it was silent as the both of them let their conversation-turned-argument sink in. It wasn’t their first argument but this time there wasn’t anything at risk but their relationship.

Again, it was Jane who broke the silence. “Look … maybe I was a bit too … rash with calling your job dead-end--”

“Yes, I like my job very much Jane. They don’t just take anyone who dicks around all day to be head writer.”

“Alright then, truce? Can we just drop it? I mean,” she sighed before continuing, “we’ve been through way worse. Like, we-could-actually-die worse. You know, like the time with that big dude?”

“Okay, the guide told him not to call him an oaf or mention how ugly he was. Or laugh at his voice.” John began to light up, trying to suppress a smile, as if this moment should be too serious for one.

Jane tried to lighten the mood, “Didn’t know you were related then.”

“Fine,” John surrendered, “truce. I guess we both overreacted. Listen, not to say what we did wasn’t amazing because …” John paused to gather his thoughts.

“Okay, you remember, I told you this a while back. I had writer’s block. I couldn’t come up with anything for even a stupid birthday card. But then the entire time we were there – everything we saw – when we came back, it was just … I could write again.”

“Since we’re being honest,” continued Jane, “I didn’t feel like I had any purpose in life but that adventure showed me – as corny as it sounds – I can be so much more. I can do much better than working at a stupid call-centre, bothering people during dinner.”

Again, it was silent for a moment. Then John broke the silence.

“So, how about a movie at my place? And then after we can figure out what you want to do and maybe how to make a dramatic exit at your job?”

“Sure, what did you have in mind?”