Cassie ( a not so short story)

All around American jock, that’s who I was … That is before I met Cassie, the girl who changed my life forever. Don’t get me wrong,
I wouldn’t trade her for the world. It all started like this; Another school year, senior year. Catching up with buddy’s, seeing who made the football team, and of course going to class. When I walked into first period, I noticed a girl sitting alone in a corner. This wasn’t just any girl, she was one of those Goth kids.
“Oh great,” I thought to myself. ”Just what we need … a psycho! I knew what her kind was like, and I didn’t want any part in being friends with THOSE kinds of kids.
You see our school only had jocks, preps, and nerds. Never before had Belle view High seen a Goth.
I looked back at her to see if anyone had made an effort to even say hello to her. No one. I felt guilty and obligated.
“Welcome to Belle View High, I’m Jake,” I said as I walked over to her, holding my hand out. She looked up at me from her sketch pad with the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen. But I saw a fire burning in her emerald-like eyes.
“Thanks, I’m Cassie” she said with a faint smile upon her scarlet lips. ”I just moved here from Detroit.”
“Well what brings you to Oregon, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Well Mom sent me to live with Dad, she thinks it’ll help with my “little problems” if you know what I mean.”
“I actually don’t, do you mind telling me?”
“When you’ve gained my trust, I’ll be more than happy to tell you. Don’t take it personally, but I don’t trust anyone.”
“You don’t trust anyone except your parents, right?”
“You’re kidding, right? I only trusted my best-friends… I guess you could say I have trust issues.”
“Well Cassie, do you mind if I sit next to you?” she seemed shocked by the question, but she then smiled and said “I would enjoy that.”
As the months went on, we grew closer and closer together. By semester we were inseparable.
One night we were sitting on a snow-covered hill. All day I had thought of how beautiful, smart, funny, amazing, and how I wanted her in my life forever. I stared at her beauty in awe… those beautiful emeralds that still burned like fire met mine. We leaned in closer and closer, our eyes closed, our lips met for a gentle kiss. Cassie turned bright red.
I grabbed her hands and looked deeply into her eyes and said “Never in my life have I seen such beauty. You are like an angel sent from heaven. Never before have I felt such passion, but when you are near, my heart sings your name. I love you like the veins in my body running to my heart. My love burns as intensely as the flames in hell. If I cannot have your love, then condemn me to hell because life without you, wouldn’t be life at all. What I’m trying to say is will you be mine, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, and through the good and tough times we may encounter?”
Tears and a smile were upon her face, ”Before I pronounce my love for you, you must know some things.” She started to dig in her purse, she pulled out a pistol and took off her jacket. She had an ashamed look in her eyes then said, ”I’m not as perfect as you think I am. I’m suicidal and I cut, I’m not proud of it either.”
“You’re still perfect in my eyes, no matter what. But may I ask why?”
“I’ll show you why” she lifted her shirt mid-way and turned around to revel bruises, welts, and cuts.
“What’s that from?”
“My dad abusive son of a…” she went on to call him every name in the book. “The cops said they couldn’t do anything about it.”
“Cassie, I promise to give you a better life than the one you have. I promise to love you till the end of time, and past that.” Tears of happiness fell from her eyes.
Now I know I can trust you with my heart and life. I will be yours for all of eternity”
Our lips met for another soft, gentle kiss. We walked down the hill, hand in hand, to my little white Nissan truck. When we arrived at her house she insisted that it would be best if I just drove off because of her dad. After moments of insisting other wise I finally gave up, gave her a kiss and drove home.

A few hours later my cell phone rang, it was Cassie, “Hey beautiful.”
Her voice was shaky as if she was crying. “You know how you said if you couldn’t have my love then to condemn you to hell?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, will you run away with me?”
“What happened?”
“We’ll talk on the way.”
“I’ll be there in an hour, let me pack my things. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
We hung up and I started to pack my things in a duffel bag and wrote my parents this note:1

Dear Mom and Dad,

I swear its not your fault that I’m gone… You were good and supportive parents and I promise I’ll be back soon and I don’t want you to be worried. I just have to take care of some things .I love you.
Jake

I quietly taped the note to the wall across from their door. I then grabbed my things and headed towards Cassie’s house. As I pulled up I turned off my head-lights and sure enough she was waiting with a big, black duffel bag. As soon as she climbed in she burst into tears.
“Where to?” I asked, but as soon as I did there was a loud bang on my window. It was her dad, drunk and furious. He had a pistol in his hand, loaded or not, it was intimidating. Cassie knew that it wasn’t so she grabbed her gun and stepped out of the truck and yelled:
“Do you believe in God? ‘Cause it’s written on the bullet. Say yes to pull the trigger.”
He started to walk around the truck saying, “You don’t have the guts,” she cocked the gun. “You would go straight to hell for it.”
“Well then, I guess I’ll see you there. See you in hell!” there was a loud shot and he fell dead on the ground. She seemed shocked by her decision and she climbed into the truck and was strangely quiet. A few seconds later she quietly whispered “Let’s get far, far away from here, like Montréal far.”
“Canada far?”
“Yes Canada far…”2

Three days later we arrived at the Canadian border on the Northeast coast.
“Where are you two coming from?” A Canadian border patrol officer asked us.
“Seattle” Cassie said smoothly.
“What brings you two to this part of Canada?”
“We wanted to see the sights and Visit Niagara Falls on our way to New York.”
“Did you guys hear about the man found in a small town outside of Portland, Oregon? Crazy stuff, huh?”
“Sure is”
“Well you two have a great visit! Carry on.” He said as he waved us through.
“Where’d you learn to lie like that?” I asked her.
“Well when you’ve been doing it practically all your life, you tend to get the hang of it. Let me drive, I know where we can stay ‘till we get on our feet and can afford our own place.” she said as I pulled over and switched her places.
“Where are we going?”
“To a friend’s house”
“How do you know this friend?”
“We grew up together and we just happened to kept in touch when she moved to Montréal. I use to visit her all the time.”

We arrived at Cassie’s friend’s house at around seven o’clock. Cassie got off and surprised her friend. They walked to the truck and she gave introductions. “Babe this is Alanna, Alanna this is Jake.”
“Pleasure to meet you” I said.
“Come on inside you guys. Cassie, what brings you to Canada?” Alanna asked.
“It’s a long story, but long story short, I killed that thing the law required me to call dad.”
“Holy crap!” Alanna exclaimed.
“I know, I know. We’ll be out of here in a few weeks tops.”
“As long as you need sweetie.”

Sure enough we found an apartment and moved in a few weeks later. Cassie and I got engaged a few months later and got married in the fall of that year. We are happily married and now have a house ten miles outside of Montréal, Canada. We have twin boys, Mitchell and Michael age five, and a girl, Donna age two. My parents know all about the “little incident” the night we left. They come to visit once a month and the kids love it. But there is never a dull day with Cassie.
I wrote this for a friend a few months ago and finally mustered up the umph to type it...
I know...I know...its in a dudes point of view...but that was the challenge...to see if I could do it...