The Stories of Latia, Vol. 2: Demon's Curse

Chapter 9: ...Came a Little Late

Chapter 9: ...Came a Little Late

The Narrator

Cassidy and Avery have been engaged for 3 days. No one's heard from James since, and Jayme had been avoiding the two.

That was, until he found himself in the kitchen on a Monday morning, with Avery seated at the small, square table that sat against the wall of the kitchen, beside the doorway into the waiting room.

"Do you want eggs or toast, or something?" Jayme awkwardly asks, breaking the silence between them.

"Uh... yeah, I'll have some toast. Thanks," Avery replies in a tired, yet cheerful tone.

Jayme drops two pieces of toast into the toaster and takes a seat across from Avery.

"You look happy this morning," Jayme notes, his voice flat, like he's forcing it to be that way.

"Yeah, well. It's a good day," she smiles.

"What's the occasion, or is it just one of those days?" Jayme forces a smile to match Avery.

Avery giggles a bit from happiness "Cass and I are going to start our planning today."

Jayme's face falls quicker than the pounding rain outside "P-Planning what?"

"Didn't she tell you?"

"Yeah... yeah, she told me," Jayme's bottom lip quivers as he holds back tears.

Why isn't she devastated? Was all Jayme could think.

"Yeah, well... we're headed to a place a few blocks down for arrangements and stuff this afternoon. I'm thinking of going dress shopping with Elek later this week but I have to talk to them first..." Avery rambles.

Why does she seem... excited?

Why isn't she upset at all? Jayme thinks.

"Oh! And of course, we've got to get a cake. I helped plan a wedding for a friend once, and getting a cake is a pain," Avery continues.

"'Wedding'?" Jayme asks, confused.

"Yeah...? Cass and I got engaged on Friday...?" Avery's confused too.

"Oh..." Jayme's finally figured out what she was talking about.

"That's not what you were talking about, was it?" Avery deduces after a minute, her voice trembling a little.

"There's something else going on with Cassidy, isn't there?"

Jayme can't find his words because he knows the moment he does, he's going to start sobbing.

"C-C-C-Cassidy... she's...she's..." two rivers of tears are streaming down Jayme's face and dripping onto the table.

"Jayme...what's happening with Cassidy?" Avery is crying a little now too, as she stretches her arms across the table to rest them on Jayme's shoulders.

"She's... she's s-s-sick," he finally croaks in a tearfilled whisper.

Jayme's words drain whatever was left of Avery's hopeful expression off her face, replaced by teary eyes and her trembling lip.

"What does... What does that mean?" Avery hopelessly asks, but she already knows the answer.

"Hey, Ave. Hey Jayme... What's going on?" Cassidy interrupts this breakfast of pain and tears, entering the kitchen from upstairs just as the toast pops out of the toaster.

All it took was a single glance into her golden brown eyes that glimmered with many tears for Cassidy to figure out what Jayme had told her.

"Jayme, can we have the room please?" Cassidy asks, her voice cracking from the tears she's holding back.