A Life Frozen In Time

Wolfe turned twenty-six today.

The leaves had already started to fall off of the trees, and he’d personally consider it an early autumn, especially since it was only the end of August.

Like the changing of the season, his hair had also changed colours to the point where he could no longer consider himself blonde. He didn’t remember it happening, really, until Q pointed it out. It made him feel somewhat old, but he digressed.

As he walked to the ghost town, he carried two new additions with him.

In his left hand was a succulent, an especially colourful one that Clove had fallen in love with on one of their shopping trips. He went back for it just before they closed.

In his right hand, a cane. The doctors had told him it would now be necessary for living a fulfilling life, so he worked three long days to save up for one. It reminded him of his grandad’s, which also made him feel old.

And in those three long days, he hadn’t been able to find a lot of time to come to the ghost town. It made him feel guilty, in all honesty, but he was sure things would be fine. He taught them how to care for the garden, how to make his homemade pasta bake, and how to breathe when they felt the world was crushing them; they were practically self-sufficient.

That was good.

Entirely lost in thought, Wolfe didn’t see when Mutt started to run at him at top speeds, barrelling into him to give him a tackle-hug — that was their specialty. In shock, and due to being knocked into, Wolfe dropped his cane on the floor and let out a wheeze.

“Mutt,” Wolfe wrapped his arms around them, “I missed you too.”

“Dad!” Q yelled, with Clove following hot on their tail, “You’re ok!”

“I’m ok,” Wolfe echoed in reassurance, opening up his arms to hug Q and Clove as well, “I’m sorry I seemed to worry you all.”

The hug came to its natural conclusion, and Wolfe knelt down to grab his cane.

“I wasn’t scared,” Clove spoke bravely, “You always come back eventually.”

“Liar! You were just as worried as the rest of us!” Q punched Clove’s shoulder playfully. Clove stuck out their tongue.

“I’m sure you weren’t worried at all, Clove,” Wolfe spoke, straining a bit as he stood back up. Clove glimmered in the assurance.

“What’s that for?” Q asked.

“This?” Wolfe asked, absentmindedly giving Mutt his hand to nibble on in an attempt to make sure they didn’t bite the cane, “It’s just to help me get around, I’m not as fit as I used to be.”

“It looks boring,” Clove put their arms behind their head, “Can I put stickers on it?”

“Of course you can. You can all decorate it, if you’d like.”

“Let’s go!” Q cheered, “Clove, let’s go and grab our stickers and markers!”

The two left as quickly as they had arrived.

Wolfe took in the silence, removing his hand from the light chomps of Mutt and petting their hair, “Has everything been ok since I’ve been gone?”

Mutt grumbled, shrugged a bit, and then nodded. Wolfe smiled.

“Of course it has, you are very capable of looking after yourselves.”

Wolfe and Mutt started walking to wherever Clove and Q had run off to. It filled Wolfe with a strange warmth, walking through the ghost town.

He hadn’t told them when his birthday was. He felt no joy in growing older, so he told them to guess when his birthday was. Clove had said it was in November, because it was mysterious like Wolfe; Q, on the other hand, had decided it was in March, because Wolfe made the plants grow like spring did. Mutt didn’t seem to mind either way.

He told them they could celebrate both dates as his birthdays, and opened up a whole world to them that they could celebrate their birthdays whenever they wanted. It was worth it, really. Clove had five last year.

As Wolfe and Mutt walked in, Clove politely collected the cane and presented Wolfe with a cup of tea. There was even a homemade brownie next to it; and it wasn’t burnt.

As Wolfe went to sit down, Clove invited Mutt to decorate the cane with them. Excitedly, the two went off with whoops and growls.

With a smile, Wolfe took a sip of his tea. It was perfect. The brownie was nothing to shy at either.

Wolfe had missed this.