The Fallen Goddess

Getting as Far Away as Possible

I'm still awake by the time that Koreena wakes up.

I get out of bed to go take a shower, and as I close the door, I hear a soft, "Blake?"

I don't respond; I let the door snap shut behind me. I turn the shower on, strip down, and get in.

The water feels amazing after the sleepless night, and I sigh as the cool liquid rushes over my skin, seeping through the bandages and soothing the burns underneath.

I get done after about ten minutes, and I redress without bothering to wash my clothes. I dry my hair and my bandages to the best of my ability. I step out of the bathroom, and Koreena rushes past me, entering the room I just left.

I sit on the sofa to wait for her. She takes a significantly longer time than I did, and by the time she's done, I've nearly dozed off.

When she leaves the room, I get up and head for the main door. She wordlessly follows suit.

We go to the lobby, check out, and we walk outside into the parking lot. We go to the sidewalk and begin walking along it, as we have so many times before.

I start trying to wave down cars, and as always, it takes a minute. Before a car can stop for us, Koreena grabs my wrist.

"Blake, I was hoping we could just walk for a little bit."

I don't say anything, but continue to wave to cars with the hand that isn't being gripped my Koreena.

"Blake, please."

I still don't say anything, but I stop waving.

"Stop ignoring me," she demands, as I turn back to walk with her.

"We need to figure something out. You're too injured to teleport-"

"Says who?" She questions with a slight note of irritability.

"Says me. You're too injured to teleport, and we might not be able to get far enough with cars," I say, thinking of how to play this now that pretty much everything is screwed up.

"Well, we're just outside of Cleveland, so we can keep taking cars until I'm better, and if we head in the direction of California, then I should be able to get us to China in one go."

I nod, but don't say anything else. I begin to start to wave down cars again. This time, Koreena doesn't try to stop me, but I can see her frown.

A car finally stops, and, with the consent of the driver, we get in. Luckily for us, the driver is heading out of Ohio and into Indiana, and is willing to take us into the next state.

It is indeed about a five hour ride, and honestly I'm amazed that anyone would allow strangers in their car for five straight hours, but I certainly won't complain.

We sit in awkward silence most of the ride, and when we are finally let out, we leave the driver a twenty dollar bill, thank her, and stand on the side of the road to watch the car drive away.

I was paying close attention to the signs, and according to them, we are in Waterloo.

Koreena and I walk along the road until we reach a small city. We walk in the city just to stretch our legs a bit, but before long, we catch another car.

The entire day is spent getting rides and stretching and getting rides and stretching and over again. We only stop when we're both extremely tired and just want to sleep.

We manage to make it to a town close to Walkerton, Indiana, before we decide to find a hotel.

We check in and get to our room. I'm about to crash into my bed when, again, Koreena grabs my wrist.

"Koreena, you can't keep doing that," I say, exasperated. "We just need to sleep so we can keep going across the country tomorrow."

"I'm sorry," she mumbles.

"Yes, okay, can I sleep now?"

"If you want to be like tha-" she begins, her voice rising.

"Yes, I'm going to be like that!" I yell back.

"Why?" She shrieks. "I'm sorry for what I said; I didn't mean-"

"You didn't mean it. Then why did you say it?"

"Because I... I," Koreena finishes the sentence like this, not trailing off, just ending the sentence here.

"You said it because it's true. Just let me go to sleep," I respond, at this point very exhausted and angry.

"I said it because I regretted kissing you when you had a girlfriend! I regretted kissing you when we were just going to be separated anyway!" She yells, tearing up. "I said it because I was afraid of how I felt!"

This lingers in the air for a moment, neither of us knowing what to do.

"Did you regret the actual kiss?" I ask, breaking the silence first.

"No," she says shakily.

I nod, feeling slightly better. I don't want to forgive her, but I have to. I guess it wasn't that bad, I just felt extremely hurt in the moment because... because I think I'm in love with her.

I know it's still really early to say anything like that, but it's what I feel, and I couldn't take it when she said she regretted our first kiss.

"We should get to bed," I say, trying to hide the smile that is itching to spread upon my lips.

"Are you smiling?" Koreena laughs, still crying.

"I might be," I respond, smiling fully this time.

Koreena comes up to me and hugs me.

"I'm sorry," she says again.

"You're a work in progress," I say, swaying with her in my arms. "But I love the work."

She looks up at me, and the tears still swimming in her eyes makes her deep brown irises look bright and hazel-ish.

I kiss her soft lips, pulling her closer to me. She puts both of her hands on my chest and I twirl my fingers in her long hair.

We break apart, and we both smile.

We hug one more time, and we go get into our beds. We both fall asleep quickly, and all I can think is how wonderful it's going to be to be in the car with Koreena all day tomorrow.