It was interesting. Despite being sixty years in the past, funeral traditions were more or less the same. There was the solemn church service, followed by a trip to the cemetery, and rounded out with an invitation to a somber reception.
Frankie, Evelyn, and Levi sat in the front of the small chapel. It was mostly empty, only filled with coworkers from Meyer’s Place. But Levi had been insistent on having a funeral service for Tommy. The young man may not have had any family left in his life by the time he had died, but Levi felt responsible for filling that void. Especially after knowing how little Tommy truly had; all of which had gone unnoticed.
After the service at Erie Cemetery, the small congregation slowly dispersed to head back to the restaurant, which had been closed for the day in Tommy’s honor. Frankie, Evelyn, and Levi lagged behind as they walked through the cemetery toward the exit.
“Are you okay?” Evelyn asked Frankie. “You’ve been kind of quiet the last several days.”
Frankie shrugged. “No, I’m not okay. And I don’t know if I’m ever going to be.”
She frowned. “Don’t think like that. We’ll find a way to—”
“Please don’t,” he cut in. “Don’t lie. There is no other way to get me home. It’s been almost two months since I’ve been in 1924. If there was another way to get me home, we would’ve found it by now. Besides, after two months in the past, there’s no telling what kind of ripple effects my being here has caused. Is the future even the future that I remember? What would I really be going back to if we could even get me there?” He shook his head. “It’s impossible.”
Evelyn rubbed his back and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked.
“So what can we do to help?” Levi asked. “I hate seeing you like this.”
Frankie thought about it as they continued to walk at a slow pace. “I appreciate you guys trying to cheer me up. I do. But I think the best thing you can do for me is to not lie to me. Don’t give me false hope.” He looked down at his feet as they walked along the pavement and through the fallen leaves. “I’m never going to be okay with the fact that I can’t see my daughters again. But this is the reality that I’m living in now.”
“So where do we go from here?” Levi asked.
“What do you mean?” Evelyn asked.
“Do we just go on living our lives? Or do we track down every mage, wizard, or warlock out there to find a way to send you back?”
“Warlock?” Evelyn asked with a grin.
“Hey, I took a shot. I’m not sure what to believe, or not to believe, anymore.”
Frankie sighed. “I don’t know where we go from here. All I know is that it looks like from here on out, 1924 is my home.”
Evelyn rubbed his back as they walked, but otherwise they were all quiet.
Frankie pictured Samantha and Kathy’s faces. He thought about the times they had made him laugh, the things they had done that he felt so immensely proud of, and even the little things that he would miss. Coming home every day and hearing how their days went. Sitting down for dinner each night and laughing and talking—or even bickering—about any absurd topic that was on the table that night.
He thought about his magic and how, no matter how much power he had, and how many resources he had to make his power stronger, he would very likely never possess the power to ever see them again.
His only hope was that maybe someday they would come looking for him. Eventually, maybe they would be strong enough to find him, no matter where he was in the timeline. Someday, maybe he could be reunited with them.
Someday. Maybe.