A few years passed and Benjamin's overwhelming desire to go back home faded little by little. He had learned his way around the establishment and was eager to please in any way possible. He became very fond of Amelie and Josiah, giving them the pet names of Auntie Lee and Uncle Jo. Benjamin greatly respected Gideon, who never seemed to want to interact with him more than a superficial, but cordial level. And Lila; she had become an object of devotion. After he finished helping with the guests and whatever other chores Amelie or Josiah needed help with, he was off to where she was. Everyone around Lila knew that Benjamin loved her deeper than a 'normal' friendship went.

As she grew older, her studies to take over the establishment increased, and her days of fun grew few and far between. But Benjamin understood the great responsibility she would have running the residence, and he learned to study with her. It was the only way he could spend time with her. Even though there was much that eluded him, and he did not understand, he gleaned much knowledge from helping her. He knew she enjoyed his company because her eyes would smile when he was around.

Benjamin had become like one of the family; mostly brought on by Lila's more mischievous nature when she was younger. Four months into Benjamin's stay, after he had completely come out of his shocked state, Lila snuck him into her room. She knew fully well that no one was allowed to ever see where the host family lived, but she never felt she had a choice. Benjamin was scared to be alone, so she snuck him past the lock doors so he could sleep under her bed. He did that for quite a few months before Lila's parents discovered them. Gideon, of course, knew from the first night, but did not think it was worth getting Lila in trouble over. They were just kids after all. After Benjamin was found out, Amelie and Josiah gave him a room of his own right beside Lila’s, against their better judgment.

After five years passed, Benjamin overheard Amelie and Josiah talking about the possibility of adopting him. A shiver of terror and joy ran up his spine as they quietly debated the realities of their situations. Benjamin knew that he would have to settle in his heart the warring emotions he felt about finding his way back to his family. However tempting the thought of staying with Amelie and Josiah was, they would never be his parents. “My parents must think I’m already dead, it’s been five years,” he thought. Or, “I can’t just come home one day and pretend like nothing happened.” The inner war raged on and there was no victor, staying and going back weighed equally in his heart. He didn’t want to have to answer that question in his mind, let alone out loud. He couldn’t.

Benjamin kept anticipating Amelie or Josiah asking him to stay with them permanently, but the question never came. At first he was relieved; he wouldn’t have to be confronted with making that choice. But as time passed, day in and day out, waiting and wondering when they would ask him became slow torture. At one point all the built up stress made him very ill and he was bedridden for a week.

Three more years passed and still the question never came up. But at seventeen, Benjamin felt brave enough to confront them about the possibility. And he did. It was Lila who rejected the idea of Benjamin staying with them. She had no notion that her parents had pondered the option and were open to him residing there. Benjamin was Lila’s best friend, but she felt strongly about his going home, no matter what. Amelie and Josiah were surprised at Lila’s unwavering stance, and in the end decided that it might be best for him to go home after all. If Lila was so determined to see him off, then how could they keep Benjamin with them when there were still doubts about “the right thing to do”?

Benjamin argued with Lila often when they were alone together, and he became angry with her. After all this time, he had finally decided to stay with her for the rest of his life, and she was rejecting him flat out. He knew the rules she lived under, but he didn’t care. In his heart he already chose to stay, and that is all that mattered to him.

Lila tried to make her case as calmly and poised as she could; the strict rules she lived by existed for a reason. What if time changed because he did not go back? She already knew his fate, and it kept her up at night. Benjamin was to die at war. A dog’s death, as far as she could tell from the sparse, pieced-together history she found on him. It was a death that seemed insignificant, and she had entertained the possibility of Benjamin staying with her. She wept every time she imagined him being hit by a bomb, his limbs being torn from his body, and surviving long enough to suffer and die from disease. He wouldn’t become a great American hero, or save someone important. One less soldier wouldn’t matter, right? Or would he? What if his being there was important to someone? Someone who made a larger difference? The risk was too great, and she refused to take the chance that time might alter because she loved him.

Before Benjamin turned twenty, the color of his sky appeared. Usually the days of returning home were joyous, but this day was filled with heavy sadness. Benjamin said his goodbyes, and walked with Lila to the crossroad. There was still time before the wind picked up, even with their slow approach. He would only go because that was what Lila wanted him to do, but not without one last attempt to change her mind. He took her hand and placed it on his heart. They had never outwardly acknowledged their feelings for one another, but they both knew how the other felt. If this was the last time they had together, Benjamin needed to tell her that he loved her. Lila tried not to, but she began to cry as she nodded her head up and down. She put her head to his chest and told him that she would always think of him.

The wind began to twist and turn at the crossroad, and the tear in time became visible. Lila pushed herself away from Benjamin and nodded for him to walk towards it.

“It’s not the war that scares me, it’s the thought of dying out there and never seeing you again.” Benjamin told her as he looked towards the growing tear in time.

“I’m sorry, Benjamin. I wish…” Lila caught herself as Benjamin paused to look back at her. She shook her head so as to not allow herself to walk down that path. “You have to go back. You have to.”

He turned back towards the tear and let himself fall into it. As he did, he looked back towards Lila, but her face was distorted by the winds. It looked like she was sobbing.

The winds calmed and dissipated. Lila stood still there until her knees buckled underneath her. He was gone. Lila’s eyes burned with the tears she shed, but there was no end to them. She had just sent her best friend of ten years, and first love, to die a gruesome death in a horrific war.