I'd like to start by apologizing about the S&M scene in the last chapter, there's no justification for it and with the fantastic invention that is hindsight I see I shouldn't haven't included it. With that being said I thing I've managed to fit it in with this chapter and I hope this one goes down better.
Also to someone who commented on both chapter β you know who are β I welcome constructive criticism but please do not repeat yourself, if your complaint is on one chapter I'm going to read it there's no need to put the same one on a different chapter.
The headaches had returned. For months since my time with Billie they had ceased to exist and I'd completely forgot about them; now they were back stronger and meaner than before.
The news of T.J.'s death was a shock to me and Billie, we both loved him, he was her ex and my best friend after all. Add to that the fact that he was a young father and it just seems unfair that he's gone. The two of us spent a lot of time with Jane and Kathy, poor Jane was devastated, couldn't stop crying. A few times she got really angry and yelled verbal abuse at the two of us but we never said anything, Kathy, only be about 2 years old, was oblivious to her father's demise, she just smiled and gurgled, I don't know if I felt happy and envious of her innocent little mind. I hate to sound selfish but I think T.J.'s death shocked me the most, obviously Jane was hit the hardest but for most of our lives me and T.J. both knew, or at least thought we knew, that I'd die first, I was unprepared for this, we all were. Unfortunately it seemed T.J. wouldn't the only loss I suffered, about four or five days after T.J.'s murder Billie and I were round Jane's house, Billie had just managed to get Jane to sleep and I was in the kitchen with Kathy, I barely heard Billie enter.
'Hey.' Billie whispered, 'That's Jane asleep, how you doing?'
'Ain't sure, I'm still in shocked by this whole ordeal. Clearly Jane's taking this hard but damn it I miss him just as much as her.'
'I meant with the baby Cay but thanks for the honesty.'
'Sorry, she's been a good little girl. Ain't that right...?'
I stopped talking, for some reason I could not remember Kathy's name, I was just drawing a complete blank and I couldn't explain why, after all this was my best friend's daughter and Billie's god-daughter why could I not remember her name. Billie picked up that something was wrong.
'What's the matter Cay?'
'I, I can't remember her name, I'm getting nothing.'
'Cay, is this.' Billie took a deep breath, she was afraid to ask the question and honestly I was afraid to answer it. 'Is this part of you condition?'
'I think so, the Doc warned me about memory loss, Jesus I know I've been forgetting little things and useless information but nothing like this.'
'You want to go see Doctor Freeman, I could stay here until Jane wakes up.'
'You sure Billie?'
'Yeah, you need his help, I see you at home.'
Without thinking I kissed Billie, nothing special just a goodbye kiss a husband would give his wife before leaving for work. Neither of us said anything but as I looked into Billie's eyes before leaving I saw she was thinking the same thing as me, the kiss didn't feel weird and that was what was weird about it, until then the two of us had only kissed in the heat of passion but this was so casual, such a small yet complete show of love. If it wasn't for Kathy I would made love to her right there and then.
I arrived at the Doc's office about 20 minutes later and told him my problem; despite the hostility of out last encounter he was quite calm and thankfully respectful of T.J.'s death. Again I lay down on the sofa while he sat on a chair next to me.
'I've been expecting this for years Doc, the memory loss, but I never expected it this soon.'
'How come?'
'It just, I always thought this would happen near the end, when this bastard in my head started taking over.'
'Are you scared?'
'No. I don't know maybe, I've accepted my fate and that's worked out fine for me but as my time grows shorter I'm forced to face my own mortality and I hate it. I mean fuck Doc I'm 20 years old, I've basically lost my right arm and already I'm regretting all the stuff I've never done and ever will do. I'm never going to get married because I'm living on borrowed time, I'm never going to have a kid because I'll just pass this shit on to them.'
'Do you want to get married?'
'I always hoped so, I imagined meeting the right girl then whisking her away for a whirlwind romance where we get married mere weeks or days, hell even hours after we first met. The two of us would live quietly somewhere, away from the hypocritical bastards who feign sympathy, just the two of us and perhaps a kid, a lucky son-of-a-bitch that inherited their mother's genes and bypassed my condition. Then at the end of it all, dying peacefully in her arms content with what I did with my limited time. Call me a hopeless romantic Doc, my time with the screen business has ruined me, but I believed that could happen, but now I'm not so sure, and with this shit with T.J. I'm starting to wonder if my view of the world was just a pipe-dream. '
'You sounded very profound there, quite unlike you Caleb.'
'You sound like my sister, just because I'm a cynic doesn't mean I can't dream.'
'How is it with your sister, have those feelings returned or manifested into something stronger.'
I sighed. 'Why is this so important to you Doc? So I have feelings towards my sister she's my sister, I'm supposed to care for her.'
'Caleb you don't care for Billie you're in love with her I can tell, we covered this last time. I'm only trying to stop you from doing something stupid.'
'But why is it stupid, I love Billie, she loves me, we're both consenting adults. If the feelings are mutual and if, and that's a big IF, if we do have sex how is that so bad; we know about protection and we know what the risks are.'
'The risks are just one of many problem's Caleb, what if you make a mistake and she ends up pregnant, you're going to leave her alone with a deformed baby. But that's not the biggest problem, the fact that you're so casual about this whole affair suggests that you're psyche has adapted to dying, but like you said you were faced with your mortality and it scared you, if your mind in that state has to truly come to terms with that when your time grows nearer you'll snap mentally.'
I'd had enough at that point, without saying a word I left the office. I heard the Doc shout something at me but I wasn't listening, something about 'letting my feelings for Billie cloud my judgement.' What did he know?
When I returned home it was still empty, checking the answering machine I heard a message from Billie telling me her friend Heather had called and she was meeting up with her, she'd be home later. I felt a sense of thankfulness as now with the house to myself I could lie on the sofa and get some well-needed rest. I don't know how long I'd been sleeping when Billie got home but she and her friend Heather managed to wake me up. I overheard them as they came in.
'...I'll have to talk to her, see how she's taking this.' That was Heather, she and Billie had been friends for ages and she was a nice girl. Good, friendly personality as in you felt like you could talk to her, she a very thin girl though, when compared to Billie's voluptuous figure Heather seemed almost anorexic but she never complained. Her hair was a dirty blond colour and just long enough to go past her shoulders, her best feature however was her face, she was incredibly cute, like a little chipmunk. I would never make a move on her, she was Billie's friend and I always considered her a person to talk to more than anything else but when you talk to her you can't help but smile.
'You should Hezz, you'll never know until you make that leap.' Billie put something large against the wall.
'Speaking of leap making...'
'Hezz give it up, I'm not telling you who I slept with.'