Page 28 of Jacob Michaels is Not Here

Lucas smiled as he poked around in a pot on the stove.

“Maybe I can fill out so my hip bones don’t hurt you so much.” I winked at him. “And so Oma will stop shoveling so much food on my plate at meal times.”

“You probably weigh less now than you did in high school.” Lucas laughed. “Though…that’s all kind of hazy.”

I did my best to ignore his statement.

Lucas wasn’t that easy.

“Maybe one day we’ll remember it?” He suggested, glancing up at me from the stove. “I mean, we can’t forget forever, right?”

“I guess not.”

“You might want to start thinking about what you’re going to do about Jacob Michaels.” Lucas, mercifully, changed the subject.

“What do you mean?” I frowned.

“Well,” He said, opening the oven to look inside, then shutting it once more, “I know you haven’t been back all that long, but you haven’t said anything about what you’re going to do about your alter-ego, babe. Is Jacob Michaels still with us?”

Explaining to Lucas that Jacob Michaels, the identity and name I had assumed when I left Point Worth for Hollywood, was a thing of the past was going to be difficult. When I was sixteen, and I had jumped into the well for the first time, I had been granted a wish—even if the magic involved had taken me way too literally. Jacob Michaels was born out of a need to escape my previous life—to give myself a new identity and help me forget the things I had asked to forget. It had hidden me from…people it needed to hide me from. With my memories returned and the well gone…Jacob Michaels served no purpose anymore. Why pretend he did?

“Jacob Michaels is not here anymore, Lucas.” I slowly shook my head.

“That’s a funny way to say you’re done being a movie star.” He gave me a crooked smile.

“I’m not him anymore.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t want to ever be Jacob Michaels again.”

“Okay.” He said once more.

“Say ‘okay’ one more time.” I grinned wickedly at him.

Lucas stared at me for several moments, his face impassive as my wicked, teasing grin slowly and nervously melted away.

“I’m glad that I’ll have you around here, Rob.” He said simply. “It’s nice to know you won’t be running off to some faraway land to film a movie or record an album or put on a concert or…”

Lucas trailed off, his eyes drifting to look out the window.

“What?” I asked. “You don’t want to be my boyfriend if I’m not going to be a famous actor and musician anymore?”

The smile that came to Lucas’ face was tight, and the lightning flash from outside illuminated his face for a moment. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know what my boyfriend was thinking about me.

“I was so sure that you’d want to keep being Jacob Michaels.” He said. “At least part-time.”

“Is that one of those things you just knew?”

He shrugged.

“Are you disappointed?” I asked. “I mean…if I’m just Robert Wagner, I can stay in Point Worth and just live a simple life. With you. And Oma. And…the others.”

“The creatures in Mrs. Wagner’s house?” He asked but didn’t turn his face back to look directly at me.

“Yes.” I nodded slowly, watching him carefully. “Ernst, Lena, Oskar…all of them. I can just live my life.”

Lucas’ head slowly went up and down, agreeing with me as he continued to look out of the window as rain spattered against it and lightning flashed again. Northern Ohio. The snow had barely been able to melt for Spring. The ground was nearly still frozen and saturated. So, of course, a torrential downpour was in order. If Lucas’ property wasn’t one big marshland in the morning, I was going to be stunned.