Small Town Summer

19: CULLY (final part)

Josh

"YO! Jackson!" I hear Jake's voice boom from down the road a little further. I had just spent the last thirty seconds frantically looking for Callie around the portable toilets Ruby led me to.

Mason, Ruby and I all move quickly to where Jake called out from. As soon as I see her, my knees go weak.

"Cal, Cal?! You good?" Jake says to her. He is kneeling on one leg, and using his other leg to support her back. He's holding her neck with one of his arms and trying to get the hair out of her face with his other. I stumble down next to her on the other side.

"Callie?! Cal?" I slide my arm behind her neck and Jake takes his away. Her eyes are closed and her body is limp. Fuck.

"She couldn't fucking breath bro." He says, panicked.

"What the fuck do you mean she couldn't breath?" Mason says.

"Shut up, all of you. Give her some space." Ruby demands. I slide my body slightly behind and to the side of Callie's to keep her supported as Jake stands up, letting her go. My heart is beating out of my chest, and not at all at the same time. The fear that Callie won't wake up sends adrenaline through my veins.

I hold the back of her neck as she jolts awake, trying to sit up. Her chest immediately starts to rise and fall quickly.

"Hey, hey. You're good. We've got you." Ruby touches her arm and leans her back into me. I do my best to get the remaining pieces of hair out of her face so that she can see me before engulfing her body with my arms, making sure she feels as safe as she possibly can.

"What happened?" I look up and ask Jake, who's standing next to Mason with his hands on his hips.

"She fainted." He replies. "She couldn't breath." I take this and assume Callie was having an anxiety attack and wasn't getting enough oxygen into her lungs. She's also pretty drunk, which probably wouldn't have helped things. Why the fuck did she have such a bad anxiety attack?

While Jake and I are speaking her body starts to shake as she brings her knees up to her chest and puts her hands over her face.

"Cal, can you stand?" Mason asks her.

"Yeah, let's get you back to the camp and you can head to bed." Ruby runs her hand back and forth over Callie's forearm, comforting her. She nods without taking her shaking hands away from her face.

Ruby stands first, offering her hands to Callie. I hold her hips and steady her as she stumbles, trying to find her feet. By the time I stand up, Callie's knees buckle again and Mason steadies her by putting an arm out and placing it on her back. She winces and leans away from Mason's hand. My eyes land on her back.

"Cal, what happened?" I start to lift the back of her shirt up when Jake steps next to me. She winces again and makes a super quiet "ouch" noise. I lift it slowly, and more carefully. As the light hits her back, my stomach lurches. There are red scratches all up her back, some of them are bleeding slightly. Jake reaches out and lifts the other side further, the scratches only get worse the further up her shirt goes. Past her bra, her back is red raw and smeared with blood.

What. The. Fuck.

I look at Jake, who is staring at her back with his jaw tight. Ruby glances over Callie's shoulder and gasps quietly, before pulling Callie into her front. She just stands there with her forehead leaning on Ruby's shoulder.

"It's stinging." She whispers with a shaky voice.

I drop her shirt, and put my hand up to my eyes, pressing on my temples on either side of my head.