Smells Like Winter

26: Help Me Stand

"Carter, come on, wake up," begged Sia, gently smacking his pale cheeks with her dark hands. The contrast was huge.

They had dragged him out of the lake and lay him on the ground. His wet black hair was falling in front of his shut eyes, brushing his silky skin, which was so white it almost looked transparent, his cheeks and nose red from the cold.

Maddy was pacing a few meters away from him, refusing to take another look at his face. She was scared, and she didn't like it. She had been scared many times before. She had been scared when that girl died in the detention class, when the cops were chasing them, when FROST were shooting at them, when the decking had shattered beneath her feet, when she had to drive the car...

She had been scared ever since she had woken up that god damn morning in her kitchen and was late for school.

But this was different. This was the same kind of fear she had experienced years ago, the same kind of fear she had been trying to bury ever since. She was scared like when her brother had-

When he died.

A shiver ran down her spine, and she gulped down the lump that rose in her throat.

"He's breathing, right?" she asked, trying hard to disguise the worry in her voice.

"Yes," answered Sia. "But he's bleeding. Bad. I don't know what to do." Sia's voice was barely more than a whisper from her panic.

Maddy finally looked in his direction. Sia was pressing a piece of cloth on his left biceps. Maddy was too much of a coward to get closer, but knew she would eventually take that step.

Just not yet.

"We should get him to the car," stated Mia, her hands on her hips.

"He should come to his senses first." Sia gave Carter another soft slap on the cheek. "Carter, wake up, damn it."

This isn't going to work.

Maddy blew out a breath and strode towards Carter. If Sia kept on being so easy on him, he would never get his ass up. Maddy knelt down next to him on his other side, opposite to Sia, and her hands gripped his shoulders. She shook him vigorously, his entire body going up and down, his head tapping against the solid ground. He didn't even budge.

Okay, you asked for it.

And she slapped him. Not gently or softly like Sia had. This was a real slap. This was a head turning slap that left Maddy's fingerprints tattooed on Carter's red, sensitive cheek.

She yelled at him. "Wake the hell up, you selfish little-"

Carter's eyes popped wide open, and he almost jolted upright from the shock, as if he had been electrocuted. His dark and hot eyes narrowed into a heavy-lidded glower. "Did you just slap me?"

Maddy couldn't help the little sigh of relief that escaped her lips. You idiot. "I did. And I found it very enjoyable, too."

"You're lucky he can't even move right now," laughed Sia, looking relieved as if a hundred-pound burden had been thrown off her shoulders.

Carter only growled in reply, weakly, but still viciously.

"Welcome back from the dead, sunshine," mocked him Maddy, taking advantage of the lifeless shell he was.

He opened his eyes only enough to send her a scathing glare, but she had grown to be used to it already. "We're taking you to the car," she informed him.

He nodded once, closing his eyes again. Sia didn't let him. "No no no, hey. Open your eyes. You need to stay awake."

Carter groaned, but let Sia lift his head slowly. He looked dazzled, as if black spots were spreading on the edges of his vision. He blinked them away and shook his head slightly.