The other sister

chapter ten

Cassie drove herself home and was parking her car when movement on the front porch caught her eye, Levi was knocking on the front door while gripping a walking stick.

She sighed and sat in her car for a long minute watching him, her heart constricting painfully as he struggled to feel his way to the doorbell to ring it.

Levi had been her friend and neighbor for so long, he was the life of the party, he was going places, he wasn't scared of anything and now seeing him like this was hard. Now, something as simple as crossing the street was nearly impossible for him.

She climbed from the car and at the sound of her closing her car door he turned.

"Hey," she said softly as she climbed the stairs to the large porch.

"....Cas?" He ventured carefully.

"Yes, it's me."

"Hey, is Carly home? I would have texted but...its kind of hard to text now." He said, sounding embarrassed.

"She was home when I left, let me just check."

She tried the door and found it locked which was a good clue her sister wasn't home, using her key she entered her house and did a quick walk through confirming that Carly was gone.

She returned to the porch and found Levi standing where she left him.

"Sorry, she must have went out while I was gone."

"I walked over here for nothing," he said with a sigh.

"Here, let's sit for a minute."

She took his arm and led him to the swing on the far end of the porch, he carefully had to feel his way to sit down.

"I had a doctor appointment yesterday," he said.

"What did they say?"

"They uh....they want me to get used to using this. They mentioned a few colleges for the blind too."

Her heart sank at the tone of his voice and his admitting that his eyes weren't better.

"They....they can't do anything?" She asked.

"The swelling behind my eyes went down some but....I can't see anything. They said give it time but...just in case I should practice."

She saw it on his face and heard it in his voice, he was defeated, he was giving up.

"The doctors don't know everything."

"Yeah they do Cas, that's why they're  doctors."

"No, they don't. They know a case number, and symptoms they don't know you. They don't know what you're capable of, I do."

She reached out and squeezed his hand tightly in her own.

"You're going to be okay," she promised.

"Thanks Cas, I appreciate it. You know you're the only person who hasn't treated me any different through all of this."

"You're still you."

"I don't feel like me, not anymore."

"Hey, let's do something fun tonight, it will cheer you up."

"Like what? My options are kind of limited. I can't even drive."

"That's it, how about the drive ins? I'll drive. We can just hang out in the car listen to a ridiculous sappy rom-com and binge on horrible unhealthy snacks until we are sick."

"That sounds......awful and like it's exactly what I need right now."

Carly had always loved romantic comedies, she loved trying to guess if the couple would finally get together, she loved laughing at the predictable predicaments the female leads got into but Cassie and Levi hated them. They found them ridiculous and loved to make fun of the cliche lines.