The Oracle

Chapter 11

"So... what did that mean?" It was still Sunday afternoon, and Justin and Cassie's photography project was finished. They were both sitting on the carpet, their heads spinning.

"It was a fluke." Cassie spoke.

"A fluke?" Justin almost laughed. He would have if it weren't for his anger. "Cassie we kissed-"

"And it was a mistake. It was my fault, okay? I'm sorry. My emotions got in the way of my thinking."

Justin stood up. He was fidgeting all of a sudden. He placed his hands in his pockets and looked at all the tools on the wall. "So what? Everything you said about that long and important process-"

"Justin!" Cassie growled. "I'm sick of talking about this!"

"You can't just kiss me and expect me to act as if it were nothing."

"We said weren't going to do this." Cassie raised her voice, but she was no longer yelling. "This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. And it's my fault! It's my fault that we're working together, it's my fault that we kissed." And then she was sobbing. "It's my fault that I'm going to die.. It's all... my fault." Once her vision became blurry she decided to put her head in her hands, Justin clenched his jaw. He never knew what to do one someone sporadically cried. At this moment, he wanted to hold her and to tell her that everything was going to be okay. But how could he do that, when he didn't believe that himself? Instead he let her cry.

"Cassie..." His voice was raw from all the yelling, but he spoke softly and quietly. She let herself recover (slightly) and looked up at him. Her cheeks were all wet. Her white shirt was slightly damp from her tears. Her blue eyes gave the impression that more tears would come. But nothing came. It took everything in Justin to not cry. He was one of those people that didn't cry in front of others. Not because he was ashamed, but because people usually regarded him as the strong one. I need to be strong for them. Cause if the 'strong' person loses faith, then how will they feel?Justin walked towards Cassie and wiped her tears with his hand. "You're going to die," That was the hardest part. "You've accepted that. It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself. Don't blame yourself because some oaf..." Justin had to find the words as he searched Cassie's eyes. "Fell utterly in love with you."

I want to tell him, Cassie thought. But I can't. That's why he's braver than me. Justin pushed a hair behind her ear, letting the purple streaks fall out of his hand. "Because you're going to die, you can do one of two things: a) Be grateful for every single second you have and spend it with the people you love. Or b) Blame yourself and push everyone away. The choice is ultimately yours."

He's right but"I don't want to hurt you."

Justin's lip curled up as he smiled sadly. "It's not passion without the pain."

Cassie thought about it for awhile. She embraced him with a hug. Justin let his head rest on her shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him. It's not passion without the pain.