CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle Two: A Captain's Journey

74 ∞ The Empty Apartment

Shortlisted - Day 0001-0002

The apartment door was still open when Gareth Levant exited the elevator with heavy steps, heart pounding, thoughts numb with his wife's words echoing in his head. He stepped inside, passed his duffel bag on the floor and paused, the door closing behind him.

Silence.

It struck a tone in his soul he couldn't bear. Automatically, he scanned the living room. Everything looked the same as when he left six months ago. But something felt off. It took him a moment to notice the difference.

The pictures of them together were missing. The photo of them on their wedding day had stood on the table beside the sofa. Looking around, he saw only pictures of scenery and her—all the ones of himself or of them together were gone. He strode to the bedroom and surveyed it. None of his belongings were visible, so he checked the closet. He found his stuff there and noted the lack of Caitlin's clothes.

So she'd already packed. This entire event had been planned.

He'd spent six months of his life enduring the most grueling training he'd ever experienced, only to come home to this. He'd placed in the final two hundred of the LS selection program and had come home to celebrate and make that decision, only to have her do this.

Why? Why hadn't she told him of her diagnosis? He could have requested an emergency leave. Did she not tell him so he wouldn't be disqualified?

To hell with the LS program! Nothing compared to Caitlin dying. She should know that about him, so why not tell him?

Nothing added up about this whole situation, and he wasn't getting anywhere staring at the empty clothes hangers in the closet.

He returned to the living room and sat on the sofa to gather his thoughts. After a while, he spoke to the room, "Ancilla, open Caitlin's files."

The wall monitor before him lit up, displaying the files in neat categories.

"Ancilla, search for all incoming communications with a medical tag on it."

"Medical communications are sealed and private."

"Family member request: husband, Gareth Levant. Override."

"Override accepted."

A list of correspondences appeared in chronological order, the earliest starting five months ago, along with several doctors' names.

"Ancilla, show all outgoing communications to these medical tags, as well."

The list grew longer with a lot of back and forth. He started with the earliest, a request for an appointment. As he read, a story retold itself. Requests to come back and do more tests, the test results, then referrals to other doctors for more tests. Medications prescribed, then changed, then changed again. The end of the story came three-and-a-half months ago, positive test results for Ahron's disease, then a whole new list of prescriptions.

He didn't know much about Ahron's disease, but everyone knew it was fatal. Why hadn't Caitlin told him?

"Ancilla, try Caitlin."

A moment's pause. "I am sorry. Caitlin has blocked communication from this number."

A single curse word escaped him, and he jumped up from the sofa. He headed for the kitchen to look for some wine. But he stopped short in front of the refrigerator. Its door used to have little pictures of all their vacations together—instead, it was empty.

He stared at the blank door for a long time, unwilling to accept what was happening. What was Caitlin doing? What was going through her mind? It hurt that she had turned away from him, but he couldn't understand why, and that hurt most of all.