Chapter III - Callum

Chapter III - Callum

Only moments after my eyes begin to return to their state of rest, I am awaken by a loud ringing sound. I turn onto my stomach in discomfort, covering my ears with a pillow. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this sound. In fact, I hear it every morning in the first through fourth days of the week. It usually sounds it’s voice to wake me for school, however, this time it is ringing because I now must get up, get ready for breakfast, and prepare myself for the journey that lies ahead. I, once again, drop my feet to the floor and rise up out of my resting place. After dressing myself in a silver sequined shirt, a silky green skirt, and a white knit cardigan I walk over to the mirror and pull my blonde waves of hair into a tight ponytail. I then proceed to make my way towards the breakfast room. 

“Hey there, Apple Bomb!” says the loud, booming voice of my uncle when I enter the room.

Apple Bomb is the nickname he’s called me by for as long as I can remember. Apparently when I was little I ate a lot of apples. One day, my uncle told me “Olivia, you eat so many apples you might just explode one of these days.” To which I replied.

“Like an apple bomb!” I’ve had the nickname ever since. 

“Uncle Berke!” I say excitedly then walk over to his spot at the table to greet him with a hug.

“Hey, Liv, Can I get one of those?” says another familiar male voice. I turn around and am surprised to find my cousin, Callum, also sitting at the table. Well, he’s not really my cousin. My uncle used to be married. But, she got sick and passed away. In Cultridia, when a family member dies, you hang their picture on the Wall of the Passed in the very center of the city. It is probably one of the clearest distant memories I have. Usually, the entire family goes to mourn the loss. However, when we went, I saw a lone, brown-haired, blue-eyed boy the same age as I was at the time. Even though I was only five, I knew it was strange to see him standing by himself in this place of grieving. So, I walked over to him.

“Hi” I greeted him.

“Hello” He replied, wiping tears from his eyes.

“Why are you here by yourself? Don’t you have any family?” I questioned.

“No. My mother and Father were the only family I had. But, they’re gone now too.” He explained in between sniffles. “That’s them, right there” He pointed to a picture of a tall man and woman. When he began to cry again I wrapped my tiny arms around him.

“There, there. It’ll be all right.” I said in attempt to comfort the boy. The voice of my uncle ,who had also been crying, sounded from behind.

“What’s this?” said the voice

“It’s just awful Uncle Berke. This boy doesn’t have any family.” I said still holding onto the boy and beginning to cry myself.

“No family at all?” The boy shook his head in reply of the question. “Well, we’ll just have to change that.” After this, my uncle took him in and raised him as his own and he became one of my closest, and only friends.

“Callum! What are you doing here?” I let out in an embarrassing girlish voice, moving over to hug him.

“Well, Berke invited me to come along on your journey, and since I got ahead and finished my schooling early, I thought, why not?” He says after escaping my embrace. 

“Olivia, you must sit down and eat your breakfast now or the whole day will be off schedule.” Snaps my mother. My parents have never liked me being friends with Callum. Unmarried girls and boys being friends is yet another thing that goes against the flow of the social rules in Cultridia. Of course, my uncle doesn’t mind. Where he and Callum are from, the laws of social normality are not as heavily applied to such relationships. 

After a definite eye-roll aimed towards my mother, I proceed to sit in the empty chair next to Dahlia. Then I glance over at Callum to find a smug grin on his face displayed in an attempt not to laugh at my parent’s strictness. I smirk in agreement of the fact that my parents can be quite ridiculous when it comes to social rules. As are most parents from Elatus. 

When Aralyn and I finish eating, we head off to our rooms to gather our things while Uncle Berke discusses our travel route with my parents. When I enter my room, there are two black, shiny cases sitting on my bed that my mother must have put out. I open my closet and begin to fill them with clothes, when I hear a knock at the door.

“Come in.” I say, looking over my shoulder to find Callum sneaking in.

“Hey, I told your parents I was going to pick apples in the garden to take on the trip.” He says once inside.

“And they believed you?” I laugh.

“They did, but, Berke knows me all too well.”

“You realize you’re actually going to have to pick apples now, right?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to talk to you first.”

“What about?” I ask as I place a blouse in my case and look over to him. His countenance has gone from the loose and happy one he usually carries, to an expression of seriousness and deep thought. “Is something wrong?” I continue.

“Olivia, I know you, and I know how hard all of this must be for you.” He pauses. “Look, maybe we should sit-” He starts.

“-Just tell me, Callum.” I let out.

“I know you don’t want to get married.” He continues.

“Of, course I don’t want to get married. I’m only seventeen plus, I’d be marrying a stranger. What’s your point?” I stop then start again. “Oh, no. No, you don’t agree with all of this do you?”

“No. Olivia, you know I don’t-”

“-Then what is it?” I say raising my voice, and beginning to worry.

“Olivia, I- I don’t know how to say this.”

“Callum, please just spit it out!” 

“I’m trying but, you won’t stop talking!” He yells back.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve never heard you talk like this before and with everything else that’s going on-” I stop as my eyes begin to water. Callum walks over and wraps his arms around me. I burry my face in his chest, tears now streaming from my eyes. 

“Liv, would it be easier if you married a friend instead of a stranger?” He asks nervously. I lift my head from his chest.

“What are you saying?” I reply. But, his next words bring on a shock I will never fully understand.

“Would you marry me?”