The chase

chapter 4

Cade’s POV

I remember this one time, when I was thirteen I had fallen off a tree I had climbed. I was with Alexis and her brothers’. Lexi didn’t want to climb so she had sat down at the trunk of the tree and read her book, looking up to check on us every few minutes. Her brothers and I had stayed up in that tree for three hours straight, telling jokes and mucking around. We were on our way down when my foot had slipped and I had fallen. It hurt like hell, but I sucked it up. Within a blink of an eye, Lexi was there asking me if I was okay. She had started crying for my sake and the worried look in her eyes, it had showed me that she truly cared for me. She looked so hurt by the fact that I was in pain that she had to turn her head away for a few seconds, to catch a breath.

“Cade, are you okay?” she had asked.

“I’m fine,” I grunted.

She looked at me with such pain filled eyes, it burned me.

“What can I do to take the pain away, let me do something.” She sobbed.

My eyes had softened at her tone, “Lex, I’ll be fine. See, I’m okay. I’m taking this like a man.”

She looked at me, straight into my eyes. Her violet eyes were striking and so full of emotion I had found myself out of breath.

“The first step to being a man is admitting your hurt. You can tell me how painful it is, you’ll still be the Cade that I like and you’ll still be taking it like a man.”

Her words had struck me, she was right.

I didn’t know that then, being thirteen I had thought that a man doesn’t show pain. But in reality, everyone shows pain.

She had sobbed all day, gave me endless hugs and kisses on the cheek until I demanded that I was okay and that I wasn’t in pain anymore.

I wasn’t lying.

I didn’t feel pain, it was like her concern, her care, her words, and her presence… had healed it.

She healed my pain, and now I’m struggling to heal hers.

She didn’t come to school today, after her brothers had confronted me, she’s been on my mind. Not one second had passed without the image of her lying in her bed, crying and broken.

I hated myself.

By the time lunch time rolled around, I was itching to go to her house to see her and apologise. Her brothers told me to give her some time, let her relax a bit and that she hadn’t gotten any sleep last night.

I felt worse.

“Dude, what’s wrong?” Micah asked me as I stared at my food.