The other sister

Chapter Seventeen.

The next evening Cassie was in her room, like always but this time Carly was home and also tucked up into her room. 
Their parents were out for the night and Cassie had barely heard from Jared all day, Carly was on the phone when Cassies cell phone rang on her night stand table.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Cass, it's me."

"Levi, How are you feeling?"

"A little better," He said.

In the background she could hear his parents, his father was yelling his mother was sobbing and Levi sounded alone.

"Do you need something?" She asked gently.

"Can you come over? Please?"

"Yeah, sure. Uhm...Carly is home, do you want me to bring her?"

"No, not right now."

"Okay, I'll be right over."

She hung up the phone and pulled on her sneakers from beside the bed. Levis parents had always argued off and on, there were a few times divorce was put on the table but they never went through with it. Since his accident they seemed to be doing worse.

She crossed the street quickly and as she climbed the steps onto the large porch she could hear his parents yelling inside the house. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door, it took a second before it opened, Levi standing just inside. 

He slipped out onto the porch with her closing the door behind him, his parents still yelling. 

"Thanks for coming," He said softly.

"Of course, whats going on?"

He shrugged and walked to the edge of the porch sitting down on the top step, she joined him. Taking a deep breath of the cool evening air. The street was quiet, no kids were out this late, the streetlights just turning on, fireflies blooming up from the grass. The sprinklers were kicking on and the sky was a muddied orange and pink, three houses down cut their grass and the smell clung to the dewy air.

"I wish one of them would just leave," He said honestly.

She offered him a sad smile then reached out to rub his back gently, His parents were both good kind people but their marriage wasn't good for anyone, especially Levi.

"What happened?" She asked softly.

"They found the car, the one who hit me." He said simply.

"Levi..."

"It's just some dumb kid, he was distracted while driving. He stopped but his older brother told him to leave before the cops came. He's...terrified."

He took a deep breath and didn't say anything else, she fell silent. He stared out at the street even though he couldn't see it and she watched him.

"I don't want to press charges," He said softly.

"Levi..."

"Don't, please? I know all the arguments. He's just a stupid kid and he's going to get in trouble either way, he's going to lose his license and...I don't want to ruin his life. I...think the bare minimum is fair. He shouldn't have to pay for this for the rest of his life."

"It's a big decision, maybe you should think about it."

"Think about what? My life is over, it's ruined. Doing the worst I can do to that kid won't help me, it won't give me back my sight. It will just ruin two people."