Page 49 of Out Of Time

She took a step towards him, then hesitated, not gettingtooclose. He didn't blame her, not after what he had put her through, not after the last few days, not after his silence.

“And what's the truth, Max?”

“The truth?” he asked, buying time.

“The truth.”

“No passes,” he affirmed.

“Thetruth, Max.”

“The truth is that I’m going blind, Rem.”

He watched her knees buckle at his admission. He watched her face, ever confident, ever strong, ever inviting, falter into something broken, confused, and sad.

He hated to see her like this.

“Remi?” he asked quietly, taking a step towards her, taking her hands in his.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

“Pretty sure,” he said.

“How sure, Max?” she asked, her voice shaken with a hint of denial in her tone.

“Remi, maybe we should sit down,” he offered, hinting at her couch. She did as he suggested, sitting down next to him, her body tense as they faced each other, panic on her face, worry on his.

“I went to see an eye doctor,” he offered.

“Okay. And?” she asked.

“And he saw something.”

“Something bad?” she asked.

“Yeah, Rem. Something bad,” he said.

“Like, like… cancer or…” she stammered.

“No, not cancer. He saw something in my retina. I had like, clumps or something,” he offered, not wanting to use the proper terms he knew by name after Google search upon Google search. Not ready to speak them into existence.

“And how do they fix it? When can you get treated for it?” she asked frantically.

“Remi,” he said softly, gently taking her hand in his.

“Max, stop,” she pleaded.

“Stop what?” he asked.

“Stop being so calm. It’s freaking me out.”

“Remi…”

“Just fucking tell me what we can do. I can drive you to your appointments. I can help.”

“Remi, I… it's not treatable. It’s hereditary. My dad …” He tried to find the words to explain.

“You spoke to your dad?”

---