text: Forever Fifteen by: Asher Romero Moeckli Caelum turned 15 tomorrow, and Camila had spent her entire day off working on his present. That morning she’d begged Nic, Caelum’s best friend, to drive her to a nearby photo store so she could print a picture of the three of them. Not one of their official photos that were used to promote the Academy, but one of the three of them out by the lake. Camila’s other brother, Lewis Smyth, had been the one to take the picture, forever freezing the moment when Caelum was attempting to throw a goldfish into Nic’s mouth and Camila was sitting in the sand, building a wall of rocks behind him. It was Caelum’s favorite picture of them. They weren’t posing for the camera, they weren’t putting on the front of a happy family, they were a happy family. Camila had framed that photo once it was printed. It had been a simple wooden frame that had the words “Family is Forever” engraved along the bottom in fancy cursive. Now, it was a decorated frame with stickers, shells, and rocks that they’d collected together. Camila had never been much of an artist but she’d asked Luka Jackson and Dylan Davis, two of the boys in her grade, to help her glue the shells and rocks on. They had used Dylan’s magic glue. Shortly after dinner, Camila had wrapped the present with probably thirty layers of tissue paper. Her older brother, Lewis, had walked in on her while she was in the middle of trying to tape one of the layers down. He’d laughed at her and told her she should stuff the bag with the rest of the roll before he continued on his merry way to his bedroom. So, of course, Camila stuffed the remainder of the gift bag with the rest of the roll of tissue paper. That night she slid the bag under her bed as Nic flipped through the book he had been reading her, trying to find where he left off the night before. “Ready for bed kiddo?” Nic said, smiling warmly at her and patting her on the head. She nodded, excited to hear more about Shelby the Shellfish’s adventures through the Mariana Trench. Camila tucked herself under the covers quickly and stared at Nic, waiting eagerly for him to start reading. Tonight, Shelby was getting ready for her big dinner with her new neighbors. She had to spend all day gathering supplies and putting together the perfect dinner party. Camila giggled at how similar their days had been. She had also spent all day putting together the perfect present. “Sounds like you,” Nic had teased, shaking her leg from where he was sitting. This only caused Camila to giggle more. “Yeah. But mine is a present! I could never make dinner for someone, I can’t cook!” Camila replied. “No, you can’t. I’ve tried your cooking. It gave me food poisoning!” Nic said through his chuckles. Nic had no ties to the Academy, but Camila felt like he was her fourth big brother. He had the same messy brown hair that Lewis had before he was appointed Cardinal and hazel eyes were close enough to brown. “You were the one telling me what to do!” Camila sat up and tried to smack him. Nic swatted her hand away. “Lay down, it’s bedtime.” He ordered, closing the book. “Wait, are you not going to finish the story?” Camila asked as he set it back on its place on her nightstand. “Nope, you were getting too riled up. You need to be calm to sleep. Your dad wouldn’t be happy if his favorite daughter was a zombie tomorrow.” Nic replied, reaching for the ends of Camila’s covers and pulling them up to her shoulders. “Fineeee,” she reluctantly agreed, tugging the covers over her shoulders and rolling onto her side, facing the door. She could no longer see Nic’s face as the light from the door cast a shadow over his face. “Do you think everything will be okay with Caelum and dad?” Caelum and her father, the Headmaster of the Academy, had gotten into a huge fight during dinner about whether Caelum could do a year at a normal school. The fight had ended in Caelum storming up to his room, yelling about how he never wanted to set foot in the Academy again. Of course this wasn’t the first time the two had fought. They fought about just about everything from schooling to training to Camila. But they always hugged it out and Nic would tell Camila everything Caelum said. “I think everything will be okay,” Nic replied, rubbing the top of her head and causing her flyaways to stick up, “I’m gonna go check up on him before I head home, alright?” “Okay. Tell me what he says tomorrow?” Camila asked, holding up her pinky finger. She couldn’t see Nic’s face but she would swear that she felt his smile as he wrapped his pinky around hers. “As always.” Camila laughed and snuggled into her pillow, “Goodnight Nic.” “Goodnight kid, I love you.” Camila was asleep before she could say it back. Camila turned 15 tomorrow, and she sat on her bed with that old box that she’d been hiding under her bed for five years. When Caelum had turned 15, Camila spent all day making sure she gave him the perfect present. He had helped her so much following Grayson’s death and with her training. She found the perfect picture- his favorite one- and enlisted the help of the best craftsman in the Academy to help her add her own flair to the frame. ~Family is Forever~ It had read. And Camila thought it was perfect, they were her family. Camila never got to give Caelum the picture. Because when she woke up the next morning, scooping the present out from under her bed and sprinting to give it to Caelum, she found that he wasn’t there. Turns out he had run away with Nic the night before, finally deciding that Camila wasn’t worth sticking around for anymore. He had left her a flashdrive where he had recorded his final goodbye. Camila might have listened to it once before throwing it into a box along with his present, the pendant he had given her for her birthday, and Nic’s letter that she’d received about three years ago. That box sat under her bed for almost five years. Now, Camila sat on her bed- forcing her nausea away and telling herself that she wasn’t going to throw up- with that box on her lap. She was almost Caelum’s age now. Fifteen. Obviously she knew he wasn’t fifteen anymore. Five whole years had gone by, he was closer to twenty now and no longer legally tied to the Academy in any way. Yet, to Camila, he would be fifteen for the rest of his life. He was dead to her and he was dead to the Academy. And as of tomorrow, she would be older than him. It was time for her to get rid of the last remnants of her brother. She unclasped the box and slid the top off. It was like opening a time capsule. Everything inside was just as she remembered it (albeit a little jostled around from being moved). The flash drive sat taped onto an old letter Camila had received from Nic. She figured bullshit belonged with bullshit. She didn’t open that either. Sprawled out in a twisting maze on top of everything was the pendant. It was a small green pendant that had some sort of tracking device in it. Caelum had given it to her when she turned ten, five years ago tomorrow. He had told her it was so they could always find each other because family was forever. She should smash it. At the very bottom of the box was that damn picture frame. It was covered in dust and some of the shells and rocks had chipped off, leaving large holes where they once sat. Guess Luka and Dylan’s magic glue wasn’t so magic after all. She wanted to destroy the picture. Her hands shook as she picked it up, blowing the dust away so she could clearly see what she had been missing for so long. Just one look , she told herself. One look before she would begin destroying everything. Look at the three of them, so happy, so unaware of the misfortune that was going to befall them. Camila stared down at her brother, smiling like he wasn’t about to destroy her entire world in less than a month. She had always wondered if he’d always known he was going to leave her. Maybe that’s why he gave her that pendant. It was time for her to let go of Caelum. He was dead after all. Her grip tightened on the frame and her tears dropped onto the frame. She wished for them to stop. There was no point in crying over something that happened five years ago. Her tears fell faster and faster until she was bent over the box, sobbing. Sobbing for Caelum, for Nic, for the life she lost. Camila had been born into a family of four, a happy family of four. And now this was all that was left. An old flash drive, an apology letter, and two meaningless birthday presents representing a family torn apart by time and by tragedy. Camila is turning fifteen tomorrow. And Caelum would forever be fifteen.