Casey came through the oak tree that led to the house. He sighed happily, finally coming home.
“Cedric?” he called as he unlocked the door. Cedric never locked the door. He walked in, the lights were off. The windows had been closed tight. A light sheen of dust covered the marble kitchen countertops that he made himself.
He ran upstairs to the bedroom, yelling “Cedric!” thinking something horrible had happened. He ran into the bathroom first – no, he wasn’t in the tub. He ran to the bedroom. The bed had been made. He ran back downstairs, to the living room, and then into the cellar – no sign of him. The furnace was turned down low enough to not freeze the pipes in winter.
He looked around now, a little more slowly. What could have happened? He got back to the bedroom, and that’s where he saw the note on the pillow.
Casey carefully unpinned the note, reading it while he did.
Dearest Casey,
I know you’ve been busy in Detroit and in Canada. I’ve missed you. I know that Soniac wants you to clean up Canada and the wastelands in Detroit. I don’t want to get in the way of that.
I love you, and I want you to be able to do what you need to do without me being in the way.
Love,
Cedric
Casey sat on the edge of the bed, reading the note over and over. It got dark, and he still read the note. In the twilight, he got up and looked at the dressers. He opened them all. Then he tore the empty drawers out.
He tore through the house, making the plants go wild, the wood in the floors growing under his feet into small branches, then trees. He went outside, and in a burst of fury, raised his hands, forcing stone from the ground to encompass the house, passing through all the windows, making them shatter. It looked like ruins, like the woods had taken the house and eaten it up.
Then he let the woods eat up the driveway, small acorns buried in the driveway became mighty oaks in minutes.
When he finished, he was bathed in sweat. He stood in the middle of the woods, and cried out a mourning song.
Then he went back into the oak, back through the spirit lands to Detroit, and got rip-roaring drunk.