Grasp My Hold

seven

Austin opens his bedroom door, thinking it was Ally again to ask if she could see his iPod.

She was temporarily permanently (confusing, right?) staying in their house until her case got sorted out. As far as they know, her father is now an alcoholic, drug abuser, who lives on the streets. They're not sure if Ally will be put into the foster system since she was sixteen, almost seventeen, but their mom was sorting it out quite well.

Grace told him music helps Ally's anxiety, so he actually found it quite... per se, cute because she'd be shy to ask and probably ramble off until he gave his iPod to her. He's learned it's better to genuinely smile around her; no smirk or teasing smile or sarcastic ones, none of it. Austin didn't know how it was like feeling like you're being judged every second with a bad case like hers, but he wanted to help her, or at least make it easy.

His eyes are met with a hazel-eyed brunette, giving him a small smile. Austin's eyes immediately light up, seeing Charlie for the first time in weeks since her therapy sessions were in state town. "Charls!" He exclaims happily, opening his arms and pulling her into a hug.

She hugs him, smiling as she smells his freshly cleaned shirt. "I missed you," she speaks, muffled by the fabric. "So much."

They pull away and Austin smiles as he takes in her beautiful eyes. But he notices that they're not glistening like usual. Taking in the appearance, he notices she's actually quite pale in a sickly way. She even has dark bags under her eyes.

"What's up?" Austin asks, pulling her into his room and closing the door. "I'm glad to see you're up again and able to leave your house."

Charlie goes over to his bed and takes a seat, Austin following her actions as he takes the spot next to her. She sighs, putting her head on his shoulder while he grabs her tiny, warm hands.

"My cancer has jumped to level 4," she speaks quietly, making his fingers that were rubbing her hand come to a halt. "I'm going to break this down for you."

Austin wants to argue, he really does, but he can't seem to form words. His brain stops. His world stops. She has to be joking. This can't be real.

Charlie is supposed to marry him. She is going to marry him. They're going to have four children because that's her favorite number. But before that, they're going to graduate from high school and study at the same college and rhen graduate together again before starting their life.

"I have close to a year before the tumor overcomes all my cells, and then, I, um, you know," she sighs, looking down at her lap. "Substitutes are, I go through with the major surgery and there's an 85% chance the tumor will be completely gone and they'd clean my entire body for bad cells, but there's a great chance I'd die in the middle of the surgery since it's so close to my brain. And then, there's a strong medicine that I'd be subscribed to. But it'll just slow my dying process down and that's all. It'll weaken me, I won't be able to move after some time."

"Where-Where's the substitute where you don't die and we'll-we'll be alright?"

Charlie turns to him and frowns, seeing him not even holding his tears back as he sobbed. "Baby," her voice croaks, pulling her into his embrace, hugging him tightly. Charlie can't help, but join his crying, holding him tighter than ever before. "I'm-I'm so scared, Austin! I don't want to die, and my parents joke about it because they think I've accepted it but I haven't! I'm sorry for pressuring you; I wanted to be strong, but I can't. I just can't anymore!"

Austin hiccups and pulls her body closer to him. He pulls away, looking at her flushed face, which probably mirrored his, and eyes glistening with fresh tears. "I-I love you. I always will."