?Baby I?ve been here before.
I?ve seen this room and I?ve walked this floor.
You know, I used to live alone before I knew ya.

There was a time when you let me know
What?s really going on below,
But now you never show that to me, do ya??

Jeff Buckley

Skyler waited for a long, long while. He knocked repeatedly, each time more loudly, but no one ever answered the door.

He was disappointed. There was no use denying it. No one came to greet him, and he heard no sounds of life inside, so Skyler decided it was time to take matters into his own hands.

He knew Jewell wouldn?t appreciate him entering without permission, but what she didn?t know wouldn?t hurt her.

Besides, what did it matter if he upset her? Anything that happened between them was a long time ago. He was certain she had no trace of her former feelings left for him now. Not after this.

This was probably intentional? a firm, yet clandestine gesture to show him his place in her life, her way of getting back at him for some grievance he laid upon her. She knew he was coming; he had told her so, yet she hadn?t made an effort to be home to receive him. All he wanted was a lousy book, a book that revealed pertinent details about his life. Would it have been so hard to let him have it? Did she think he was dangerous? That he?d try to harm her in some way?

Saddened and angry and feeling self-righteous, he circled around to the left of the villa until he saw what looked like the master bedroom on the second floor. Skyler employed his physical fitness and quietly scaled the wall of the house, using window ledges and other architectural quirks for grips and footholds. Luckily, the window he had seen from below that he surmised led to the master bedroom was unlocked. He worked it open and slipped into the shadows within, as quiet and stealthy as a ninja.

He knew exactly where to look. The sword she?d given him had smelled like a woman?s closet. If she had more of his possessions, they?d likely be there. Silently he lit a candle on the nightstand, then crept to the closet and opened it. He rummaged around on the floor for a few moments until he found a box.

Skyler?s eyes began to moisten with tears of shame as he saw what lay inside. He was violating her by doing this, he realized. These weren?t his possessions anymore ? they were hers until she gave them over to him. No! They?re mine. These things are mine. They were mine before and they?re mine now. She didn?t care enough to actually be at home to give them to me, so I?m taking them!

With quivery lips he rifled through the objects ? a brown coat, a wristwatch, a napkin, a music player, and, of course, a small notebook that read ?Ledger.? He put on the brown coat and stuffed the rest of the things into his pockets, leaving the black hoodie where it lay.

?Well, that?s that,? he whispered. Skyler went to the window and prepared to exit, but he wasn?t satisfied for some reason. There was still anger inside of him that needed out. He let out a groan of rage, an audible one, not caring about being quiet anymore.

He took a good long look at the room in which he stood. It was a typical bedroom with typical bedroom furnishings, although they were all the fancy expensive variety that a rich girl would own. He wondered if he had been here before, back before he had died. Carefully scanning the walls and the floors, he searched his memory banks for signs of familiarity. Suddenly images came to him, centered mainly around the bed. His breath hissing in and out through gritted teeth, he yanked Ledger from his pocket, opened it to a random page and read the words. His own handwriting lined the pages, with a distinctively different blue female script in the margins. That blue script was what he read now.

?I was okay because you took care of me. I wish you could come back now and we could pick up just where we left off . . . be happy.?

He turned the page.

?You did make me feel good, almost every day. And we didn?t have just lust and passion ? you were my friend. I trusted you and needed you. . . I still do. I want to hug you ??

Pain filled his eyes. He turned the page.

?Poor Sky, I love you so much. It really feels like my heart is breaking without you at times.?

He turned the page.

?I was so nervous asking you to move into this house. I think it was the right decision though, even though it?s just made life so much harder without you. I miss sleeping with you at night and know you?ll be there to snuggle up with when I come in ??

Frustration exploded from him. ?I have been here before! I?ve seen this room and I?ve walked this floor!?

The boy grabbed the old black hoodie, gripped the collar tightly with both hands and pulled as hard as he could. The fabric stretched surprisingly far, and for a moment he thought he wasn?t going to be able to tear it. But finally there came a groaning rip and the sweatshirt split down the middle. He then tore away the hood and both sleeves and tossed the tattered remains on the bed. Finally, in one last act of appalling immaturity, he went to the box that had carried all the stuff and stomped on it, hard. His boot pushed clear through, leaving a nice big hole.

Then, at last, he went to the window, dangled from the sill, then dropped the rest of the way to the ground. Lips pursed in a boyish, wounded pout, he ran to the horse that grazed patiently on the front lawn. Skyler climbed into the saddle, took one final look at Jewell?s villa, and galloped away into the night, eyes streaming.

Once she had placed Devyn on her bed, and removed her muddy little slippers, Jewell made retired to her own room for the night, although sleep was not her aim. It rarely ever was these days. Even on the few nights when her body truly sought and needed sleep, being able to endure much longer without true sleep and on mere resting of the body if not the mind, it eluded her. Tonight would be no different, she knew, so when she entered her room she did not first seek her bed. Rather, she was headed for the closet to find something more comfortable to wear before she even noticed that something was amiss. Several things, in fact.

The window was open, letting in the fresh scent of the sea that used to sooth her but now, more often than not, irritated her nerves as it reminded her of what it had taken away. Although Jewell felt safe enough in her house to leave some windows unlocked, trusting to the wards she had set up around the property and house, she knew she had not left her window open when she had went out earlier in the evening. There was no reason to with the chill spring wind in the air; they had even had the fireplaces still lit at night.

Suddenly she was on high alert, stepping back to keep the wall behind her as her eyes shrewdly searched the room for an intruder. She didn?t feel another being present, just the two children in the house and Iona, but that did not mean they had not masked their presence from her. During her visual search, she noticed the open closet door, not unusual, and the torn garment on the bed, very unusual. Keen eyes spotted the impression of shoes in her soft carpet, her own feet rarely ever leaving any, while her nose sniffed out that floral and fruity scent lingering by the front door; the scented spray gave him away. ?Unbelievable,? she growled out.

While not unusual while they were together, Skyler entering her room unbidden now was inexcusable. Narrowing her eyes, Jewell approached the bed to see what mess he had made there. Her hardened expression softened with sorrow when she saw the tattered remains the impatient young man had left scattered across her bed. She reached out, picking up the torn arm of the battered old sweatshirt she had kept for far too long. She remembered wearing it for weeks after his death, finding solace and sanctuary within its warmth that still contained his scent. Sighing, she let it fall back to the bed, ?Skyler, why this madness?? She asked the empty room, not understanding the sign clearly left for her. Why had he not waited for her to return? Why not just come back another night for the ledger? Why break into her room to get the ledger only to wreak such destruction? What had she done to so clearly upset him when she had tried to be nothing but sweet and obliging? She had no answers.

Jewell could not get back the original rage she felt at knowing he had entered her room, even as she approached the closet and realized he must have gone in there and rummaged through her things, even if he only emerged with the sweatshirt. That violation of her privacy was not enough to greatly rouse her indignation. Rather, she felt empty, as if Skyler?s actions poked holes in her already tumultuous emotional state, causing the release of the last amount of life in her after weeks of steady deflation. Stepping inside the closet, she activated the mage light and frowned at what it revealed.

The box, previously filled with simple possessions so treasured, lay in ruins at her feet, empty. That he had taken more than what he had come for, more than she would have ever been willing to give back, hurt more than she would have previously imagined. Those items had served as relics for her, a way to remember him when he was gone. Even though he had returned, she knew that they would serve her once again, further down the road than she could currently see, when her life in RhyDin and the people in it would possibly be nothing more than a memory.

She closed her eyes momentarily while her fingers massaged her temples, the desire to scream vying with the desire to cry. Neither won out in end. With firm resolution not to do anything, she stepped over the box and grabbed several items of clothing from her closet before stepping back out into the room. She would deal with the box another time. She simply couldn?t now, couldn?t deal with anything. Refusing to look to her bed, she exchanged the dress she wore?perfect for a night out at the theater with her family but hardly fitting for where she planned to go?for the black leather and lace that was acceptable for I?Yulna. Clearly serenity would not be found at home this night, but perhaps she could search for it beneath the enlightening influence of Faerie wine.