by Shay Savage
He jumps up and heads to the back of the cave, returning quickly with the preserved stomach of a deer or an antelope. I already know it is filled with water, but I still have to force myself to think of something else as I drink from it.
Ehd takes the stomach waterbag from me, slurps noisily from it, and then places it on a rock shelf in the back of the cave. Returning to the fire, he sits next to me and then reaches up to his head.
His eyes widen as he touches his hair. He makes a sharp grunt as he grabs a few strands and pulls them, trying to turn his head so he can see more. He twists and turns, trying to get a better look at his hair. He can see the ends but not farther up, and this seems to frustrate him. The expression on his face—combined with his goofy movements—looks so ridiculous, it makes me laugh out loud.
He looks at me then, his eyes full of shock and surprise. The look causes my laughter to triple, and I have to hold my stomach as it starts to cramp up, but I still can’t stop laughing. He just looks so silly.
Ehd smiles broadly, and his eyes sparkle. In fact, his whole face lights up. With the dirt and mud removed from his cheeks and forehead and his hair clean, I notice again how truly handsome he is.
I feel my face heat up as he reaches out and rubs his thumb over my cheek. My skin warms all over. I’ve never really been touched by a boy in such a way, and it makes my thighs clench, deepening my blush as I realize his touch is turning me on.
“You’re really kinda cute,” I say softly, never losing eye contact with him. “I mean, maybe not in a traditional way—that crazy beard really has to go, and your hair is way too long for my tastes—but you have remarkably beautiful eyes, high cheekbones, and really nice skin once the layer of dirt came off.”
I place my hand over the top of his where it rests on my cheek and pull it away. I push lightly against his chest, wanting some distance.
“I don’t know what to think of all of this,” I say softly. “I mean, I have no idea where I am…when I am. I knew Dad had been playing around with quantum mechanics and all that, but I never dreamed he was working on…working on time travel!”
I hold his hand between both of mine on my lap as I take a deep breath and try to get my thoughts under control.
“This is all too fantastic…too ridiculous to even fathom. I still think I’m dreaming half the time.”
He leans toward me, his face close to mine, and I hold my breath as he runs the tip of his nose over my cheekbone. Caught off guard, my heart races, and I suddenly imagine him pressing his lips to mine. I hear him inhale, as if he were memorizing my scent.
He moves closer, and I feel his thigh pressed against mine. An ache between my legs causes me to tense. He wraps his free arm around my shoulders and holds me closer to him, and I let out a sharp breath that threatens to turn into a sob.
I don’t know what’s happening to me. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with myself here, in a cave, in what is likely thousands and thousands of years before I have even been born. I can’t wrap my head around it, let alone try to come to grips with it.
And then there’s Ehd.
Where would I be, and in what shape would I be in if it weren’t for him? As much as he had terrified me in the beginning, I know well enough now that he’s kind and gentle. He might not talk, but he’s far from stupid. He’s sweet and he’s warm, and I think I might actually be falling for him.
My caveman.
Chapter 3
“Here’s the deal, Ehd,” I say as I scoot a little closer to the fire. “Once this clay dries and hardens, we can drink out of the cups and eat off the plates. I know they won’t be as good as the ones fired in a kiln, but at least those classes at the Y weren’t for nothing, right? If the cups work, I won’t have to drink water out of some bovine’s stomach, which is seriously gross even if you don’t realize it.”
Ehd ignores me, far more focused on the fish he’s caught. I’m convinced he’s absolutely obsessed with fish and firewood. With my clay dishes set near the fire, I sigh deeply and help Ehd with dinner.
As we eat, I try once again to get Ehd to offer me some kind of communication other than his expressions.
“See?” I say as I use a stick to draw a fish on the ground. “That’s a fish. Fish.” I tap the drawing, but Ehd just stares at me and chews. “Yeah, I know. It looks more like an oval with fins. How about this?” I draw two stick figures on the ground and point to each of them in turn. “This is me—Beh. This one is you—Ehd. See?”
He tilts his head to one side and then reaches over to stroke my hair.
“Beh!”
“I guess I suck at art, huh?” I try a couple more times, but I’m getting nowhere, so I toss the stick into the fire and finish eating.
Once we’re done with dinner and cleanup, the sun has mostly set. Ehd does his usual caveman thing, which is to grab me by the arm and haul me to bed as soon as it gets a bit dark.
“I’m not four,” I tell him. “It’s probably about seven o’clock. I can actually choose my own bedtime at this point, you know.”
Ehd pays no attention as he pushes me down into the furs and lays down beside me.
“I’d actually like to make some more clay dishes,” I say, waving my hand in the direction of the fire. “If I can make dishes, maybe I’ll be able to make some other things, too. I feel kind of ridiculous with all this knowledge of things that exist in the future and no clue how to make them. What else is made from clay? Jewelry is useless. I need to think of something good. At this point, I don’t even know how to make a damn wheeled cart. I’d need a proper saw to make wheels from logs, and flint isn’t so good for that.”
I’m babbling, and I can see from the way Ehd keeps looking at me that it’s starting to annoy him, but I can’t help myself. The physical presence of another person is far better than the alternative, but not having anyone else to talk to means I can only talk to myself.
“I need to come up with some better way to communicate,” I say.
Continuing his proper caveman ways, Ehd explains to me precisely how he feels about blathering by placing his hand over my mouth. He leans over me as I look into his eyes and touches my cheek with the tip of his nose, then runs his nose across my face and down to my jaw. The touch is so soft I can hardly feel it, but it still makes my heart pound.
He releases my mouth and twists his fingers into my hair as I sigh. I’m not the slightest bit tired, and I don’t want to give in. I reach over to touch the side of his face, then drop my hand to his shoulder. I swear his muscles are bulkier now than they were when I first encountered him.
“You’re pretty hot,” I say softly. I feel heat in my face, which I try to ignore as I finger the outline of his bicep. “Do you know that? You clean up pretty well, and I bet if Teresa and Sheila were here now, they’d probably go insane with jealousy.”
As if he understands my words, Ehd suddenly flexes his arm, making the round muscle bulge. I glance up at him and smile.
“Are you trying to impress me?” I ask. “Is this the caveman equivalent of picking me up in your sports car?”
Again he flexes, and I examine the tight muscles in his arm, shoulder, and then across his chest. A soft growl escapes him, and when I glance at his face, he’s smiling, clearly pleased with himself.
“Such a guy,” I whisper as I run my fingers down his arm all the way to his wrist.
Ehd moves his hand from my waist to my stomach and then farther up. He brushes against my breast, and I hold in a gasp as my nipple hardens instantly. My body tenses, but Ehd doesn’t grope me. Instead, he strokes my neck and leans in to touch my nose with his.
Ehd’s eyes sparkle in the firelight. His look is full of warmth and longing, and though I can feel something hot and hard against my thigh, he doesn’t press against me. He just stares into my eyes until I feel like I just might get lost in his gaze for all eternity.
*****
“It worked!” I hold up the clay cup, now dried and hardened, for Ehd to see. “
Being close to the fire was enough to make them usable!”
I laugh as Ehd takes the cup in his hand and turns it over and over again, running his fingers across the hard surface. I pick up one of the plates, which has also dried nicely, thinking about how nice it will be to be able to put food on this instead of just pulling meat off the bone with my fingers.
“It will feel like a real meal,” I say, my excitement growing. “I can place it all nicely with barley on one side, the fish over here, and then maybe some berries to make it look pretty. I’ll put all those TV chefs to shame!”
I giggle and hand Ehd the plate as he hands back the cup. He turns the plate over once and then tries to make it bend. The look in his eyes tells me he’s never seen clay made into anything before.
“Imagine what your expression would be if you ever saw an iPad.”
Ehd suddenly taps the plate against one of the stones surrounding the fire, and it cracks into pieces with a surprisingly loud crash, startling Ehd. He leaps backward, grasping me around the waist and pulling me against him as if the broken chips of plate are going to rise up and devour us.
I smile and shake my head and try to untangle myself from his arms. I’m not happy about the plate, but just knowing that I can dry the clay enough to make something useful is enough for me now. Plenty of clay can be found by the lake, and I can always make another plate.
Ehd releases me, and I take a step back toward the fire. As I glance down at the broken pieces, my heart drops into my stomach, and my body goes cold. In the back of my mind, I hear my mother’s voice speaking clearly through a speaker at the side of the museum exhibit.
“The Prehistoric Lovers. The dig, located near Pecs, Hungary, was discovered early in the year though the easy access to the area made extracting the artifacts relatively uncomplicated. Note the clay pieces, far more advanced than is usual for the time period, have rough edges and clearly show a slow baking process as opposed to modern firing…”
I stare down at the broken pieces of plate, knowing full well that I have seen these exact pieces before. I saw them in the museum the day I was suddenly and incredibly hurtled to this place and time. I saw them in my mother’s office weeks before then, when she opened the boxes shipped from Europe.
The jagged edges in a zigzag pattern are identical.
It’s not a coincidence. It’s not happenstance. The pieces on the ground in front of me—the ones Ehd just inadvertently broke—are the exact same pieces from my mother’s find.
My mother’s find, which was believed to have dated back prior to some ancient ice age.
My mother’s find, which included two nearly intact skeletons—one man and one woman—found in the recess of a small cave.
My mother’s find, which was riddled with controversy over the small, metal button found in the cave with the rest of the ancient artifacts. A button that clearly said “JORDACHE” on the front of it.
My father’s notes in his lab said the DNA of the female skeleton was related to him.
“It’s me,” I whisper so quietly I can barely hear my own words. “The skeletons…they’re me and Ehd.”
My legs give out, and I fall to a heap on the ground as a completely incomprehensible wail escapes from my throat. I cover my mouth with my hand as I keep staring at the pieces, willing them to fade into non-existence with my stare, but they’re still there, screaming the truth in my face.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” I can’t stop mumbling the words as I rock against my heels. I reach out and grab the pieces, holding them to my chest as if the warmth from my body might melt them back together.
I’m going to die in this cave.
Whatever thoughts and hopes and dreams of my father finding me and taking me back home are as shattered as the clay plate.
I jump as Ehd’s hand touches my shoulder. I turn and scream at him.
“You did this! You broke it! You made the pieces like this!” Ehd takes a step back, his eyes wide as tears stream down my face and my nose starts to clog up. “You’re going to die in this cave, and I’m…I’m…I’m going to die here with you!”
My head spins and I shove the pieces away from me. I stand up to face him.
“It’s you and me. Don’t you see that?” My words are ridiculous. He’s never been to the museum, and he hasn’t seen the exhibit. The museum won’t even exist for millennia. “We are going to die here!”
Ehd stares at me, looking terrified, baffled, and ashamed.
“Look at this!” I scream at him as I reach down and grab the button of my Jordache jeans. “This is the button they found! The button from my jeans! The whole reason they called my mom a fraud is because of the button from my jeans!”
I shake the button with both hands, still sobbing. Ehd pulls back in fear with his eyes wide.
“We’re going to die here! We’re going to die here! Oh my God!” I fall back to the ground and grasp at the pieces.
This can’t be happening. It’s all too insane. I can’t possibly have seen my own skeleton on a platform in a museum. None of this can be true.
I’ll make it not true.
I collect the pieces in my hands and stand again, turning quickly to Ehd. He ducks down, covering his head as if he thinks I’m going to attack him, but I can’t even fathom consoling him at this moment. Instead, I race out of the cave and down the path to the lake. I run all the way to the water’s edge and then fling the pieces far into the lake.
I hear Ehd’s steps as he comes up behind me.
“I have to get rid of them,” I tell him. “I have to get rid of these pieces. If they aren’t here, then I’m not here. I won’t be there when Mom’s team comes. If the pieces aren’t there, then I can’t be there.”
The words catch in my throat. I sound like a crazy person, and for the first time, I’m glad Ehd understands nothing of what I have said. Again, my body gives out, and I fall to the rocks, but Ehd is there to catch me.
He wraps his arms around me from behind, holding my back to his chest. I cry, and I scream, and I try to wish it all away as I turn around and wrap my arms around his neck and bury my face against his body.
Ehd holds me tightly and securely as I continue to bawl.
“How?” I cry as I slap my palm against his chest. “How can this be happening? How can any of this be true?”
I don’t know how long we stay by the edge of the lake. At some point, I vaguely sense Ehd standing up and carrying me like a baby as he walks slowly back to the cave.
The cave where I—at some point in the future—am destined to die, cradled in his arms.
Chapter 4
“You made me a comb?” I stare at the wooden carving in my hand.
The base is the knot of a tree limb, and it fits perfectly into my hand. Three prongs of slightly irregular shapes stick out from the base. As I run my hand over it, I’m shocked that there isn’t a single rough spot in the wood.
“How did you make this so smooth?” I ask as I turn the comb over again. “You must have been working on this for weeks. Is that what you’ve been doing when you go off and hide on the far side of the lakeshore?”
Ehd sits back on his heels and rubs his thighs nervously. I look at him and furrow my brow.
“You made this for me?” My voice cracks, and I feel a tear escape from the corner of my eye. I look back at the beautifully carved comb in my hand. “Oh, Ehd…I don’t even know what to say.”
I see Ehd’s shoulders slump when I look back at him. He looks positively crestfallen as he looks away from me, and I realize that since he doesn’t understand my words, he only sees my tears.
With the carving grasped tightly in one hand, I throw myself at him and hug him tightly around the neck, nearly knocking us both over. Ehd wraps his arms around my back to steady us both, and I wrap my legs around his waist to sit up in his lap. I look down and place my hand on the side of his face as my emotions flood through me.
“I think this is the most beautiful thing I have ever s
een, Ehd.” I continue to smile at him as I lean over and touch my nose to his.
Ehd lets out a long breath as he stares at me with pure adoration. Though he has rubbed his nose against mine many times, which seems to be his version of kissing, I have never before initiated the same contact. He is obviously pleased by it.
“Ehd, I can’t imagine a more perfect gift.” I scrape the tips of my fingers over his bearded cheek as I run my nose from the tip of his up to his forehead. I kiss him lightly. “You obviously spent a lot of time on it, and I haven’t given you anything. I don’t know why you think you need to make me something, but I really love it!”
A sound from the fire distracts me, and I look over to see the pot of grains and meat has started to boil over. I snicker to myself, untangle from Ehd, and quickly move the pot away from the fire.
“I should probably try this out, huh?” I run the comb through my hair, which is pretty tangled at this point. An actual comb, primitive as it is, works much better than the piece of smooth driftwood I’ve been using. “This is perfect! Let’s see if it works for you!”
I take hold of Ehd’s hand and pull him over to me so I can reach his hair. He lets out a soft grunt, but I think he actually begins to enjoy it.
“Maybe your hair isn’t so bad,” I say softly as I comb through his thick locks. “Maybe we can get it up in a manbun and make you look like one of those buff actors!” I laugh and run my hand over his much smoother hair. “I think you’d be a hit.”
I get all the snarls out of half of his hair, then switch hands to reach the other side.
“Maybe if I gave you a good massage, that would be a decent thank you.”