The Worst Days of Our Lives

Chapter 26: Chance

“Cassandra,” Chance breathed her name, the syllables flowing off his tongue in an intimate familiarity. She looked at him, her eyebrows furrowing together slightly, like she didn’t recognize her own name. This was one of many things to further Jack’s frustration, his mind full of unanswered questions. What happened next confused Chance even further. Instead of beginning to collapse into a useless pile of feels, like Chance himself was doing, she simply seemed to move past whatever had phazed her moments ago. She smiled and said, “It’s so great to see you.” No tears, no loving embrace, no screams of relief, just a casual greeting, as if they ran into each other at the supermarket the day after they had a date. All of Chance’s thoughts stopped abruptly and all he could do was stare at Cassandra blankly, his mouth hanging ajar.

However, Cassandra really didn’t acknowledge this, keeping her content expression all throughout Chance’s mental breakdown, she didn’t understand why he was reacting in the manner that he was, it was good to see him. Was he not happy seeing her? Slowly, she began to push herself up into a sitting position, out of Chance’s stiff, motionless arms. His mind was scrambling, trying to grasp and cling to any piece of information. Every thought that crossed his mind was far too complicated and confusing to hold on to for more than a few seconds at a time.

Jessica was also standing motionless, behind the both Chance and Cassandra. She was analyzing everything about Cassandra's appearance. In the back of her mind, she had the thought that she should definitely be worrying about Chance at this time, finding out what had happened to Cassandra and trying to sort things out. Despite knowing that’s what she should be worried about, all she could do was size up her new competition. Jessica had never been the jealous type but she had heard enough about Cassandra that she knew how much Chance idolized her. In a side by comparison, Jessica hoped she would come out on top. However, this was the Cassandra, she knew Chance wouldn’t even see this as a choice, it was already decided.

The three of them remained in their spots for some time, Chance gaping into empty air, Jessica starring venomously at Cassandra, and Cassandra simply enjoying the beautiful Georgia sky. They may have stayed this way the entire night, if the owner of the store hadn’t turned off the lights, in and outside of the store. They’re only source of light now was the moon and the dim red glow from Chance’s still running truck.

The sudden darkening of their atmosphere was enough to pull Chance thoroughly into reality. He stood up, already fuming before he even began the undeniably long rant, “Great to see you? Great to fucking see you? Cassandra, it’s been two years! Do you realize that or have you lost all sense of intelligence? I have been killing myself looking for you for two whole years. Every day, I hated myself for letting you be taken. You remember being taken right? Dramatic screaming, fighting, back of a truck, ringing any bells? It’s been two whole years and it would be different if I had happened upon you, maybe tied up in the back of this liquor store, screaming for help. But is that what happened? No, you were simply sitting out here, gazing loving at the sky while you drank until your blood was consisting entirely of rum. I’ve been imagining the worst possible things that you could be going through daily, how miserable you might be, how close to death you were, or even that you were dead! Every day for two years I have thought about you in the most horrifying situations, but here you are, sitting, completely free and alone, at a god damn liquor store! And after all of that, the best you can muster up is ‘Great to see you’?”

When he was finished, his face had turned into a bright shade of red, his chest was heaving for air and all Cassandra could do was take her turn being dumbfounded. She wasn’t the only one, for Jessica was staring wide-eyed at Chance now, this outburst was the first time she had ever seen Chance like this, ever. For the past months they had been together, he had been mostly tentative, quiet, and shey, except for the occasional annoyed argument like the one at the coffee shop, even those were infrequent. Now, here he was, screaming vehemently at the supposed love of his life and the worst part was, she didn’t know if was scared of this side of Chance, or excited how angry he was with Cassandra.