Extra Ordinary

Chapter Thirty-Nine - 'A Cat's Choice'

"You're supposed to be dead, Cade." I repeated, my voice breaking horribly. I didn't have to open my eyes nor did I have to see him in the light to know the person standing before me was a dead man.

When he didn't respond, my eyes flickered open to find the shadowy face that I thought I'd never get to see again. He looked so unlike himself, and yet so much like the same guy I remembered. I brushed my thumb across his harsh cheekbones and he swallowed hard, unable to utter a thing as we stood in silence- so many things to say, yet nothing said in this moment at all.

It's funny, how Tyler had grown to look as Cade had, and now here in this moment it's very apparent Cade had out grown of himself, he looked more rugged, more worn, more melancholic- and it pained me in such a way to acknowledge just how long it had been.

"How did you know?" Cade finally asked, his voice hoarse.

At this, the first sound of confirmation, the sound of someone I now knew to really be Cade, I lost it- pulling him in and clutching him tightly, beginning to sob into his chest, slowly but surely, I began to feel his arms wrap around my torso until we were just holding onto each other as if his newfound life depended on it.

Perhaps all the years of being dry-eyed had been building up until this moment, my eyes stung as tears continuously streamed down my cheeks as if a dam had broken through, this was no leak. "Cade." I rasped, my voice barely audible against him and amidst the loud, deafening silence asking for answers.

"I'm sorry." he breathed, his hand cradling the back of my head as we stayed in the tight embrace. "I'm sorry." he repeated.

"All this time... you've been here all along." I blubbered.

"I'm sorry." was all he could bring himself to say, his hold on me is trembling and he's buried his face into my hair, yet his voice is muffled more by pain and it hurts to hear it.

I laughed quietly, delirious at the absurdity of it all. "I don't understand..." I began, feeling his grip on me tense, "You're supposed to be dead... you're... I went to your funeral! You're supposed to be six feet underground you- you idiot!"

Cade slowly pulled away and stared at me with a gentle, sad smile. "Idiot?" he questioned lightly, attempting to wipe away my never-ending flow of tears with his heavy-handed glove.

"I... that's what you get out of that?" I asked incredulously, kicking his shin without thinking. Another difference between Tyler and Cade was that Cade had never flinched, it didn't surprise me when he took the kick, followed by the blows my fists landed against his harsh, jagged armour. "Where have you been, dammit! How... why... explain yourself!" I cried. When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object... my knuckles hurt.

Cade finally stopped my fists after taking repetitive blows, enclosing them in his hands. "I'm sorry." was all he managed to say.

I grunted, yanking one of my fists out of his hold and throwing it back, my knuckles slamming into his face, cracking his head to the side harshly. Perhaps the fury of my actions were irrational, but the situation itself was bizarre and very much insane. I think I understand how emotion can consume people, I feel as though I've been chewed up and spat out, and now as if I'm looking at myself from his eyes, seeing the girl's pathetic inability to be rational- which infuriates me even more.

Cade pulled his hand away from his lips and looked down at his gloved fingertips, it seems as though my punch had caused him to bleed, and just as ridiculous as it had come from my weak punch, the cut began to heal over, his split lip rejoining together like badly done stitches which quickly got denser and looked tighter in the next second, soon after revealing his very fine face. He made a sound, like something halfway between a scoff and a bitter laugh, "That hurt." he murmured.