Fifteen days. That's how long it's been since our plane crashed on the island. There were seven of us who survived, well eight that survived the initial crash, but he didn't make it. We tried to save him over the first couple days, to nurse him back to health, but we failed.
His sister, Carolina was one of us as well, she wasn't doing too well. I mean, physically she was fine, only some minor scrapes and bruises, but since her brother died, she's been getting worse mentally with each passing day.
I had grown quite fond of her and any moments I did see a flicker of light left inside her were well worth the effort I had to put in to try and make her feel better.
At first she ignored me and put up a massive wall, but the other five people were friends prior to the crash, and she soon realized that neither of us had anyone else to lean on.
I was in the process of working on our shelter within the camp the whole group had sort of put together, and I could see she was sitting on the beach with her head against her knees. I decided to take a break after I secured one last thing and then go to talk to her.
As I began walking down the beach towards her I was getting increasingly worried, because she didn't even look back at me, and I certainly wasn't quiet.
" Carolina!" I said loudly but she still ignored me so I started running, and when I got up to her I saw something I really didn't want to see.
She had taken a sharp rock and was drawing blood as she roughly raked it across her thigh.
" Shit Carolina." I said and yanked the rock out of her hand.
She finally looked up at me without any emotion at all.
" May I have that back please. It was hard to find." She said dully.
" No you may not." I said back like it was the most clear thing in the world.
"Fine." She said and had moved her shorts back down over her thigh before standing and turning to leave.
" Nah, where do you think you're going?" I said getting up and grabbing her shoulder to turn her back. " Sit back down Carolina."
She sat back down in the sand and I sat across from her, my back to the ocean.
" I know how much pain you are in. I know that you feel that while simultaneously feeling nothing at all. I need you to trust that I understand you because I really do, but this can't happen again and I know you know that." I said and held onto her hands.
" Vira I have nothing else." She said succinctly.
" Okay but that's simply untrue. You have me, and I know the others are, well, the others, but you have them too." I said.
" Well don't take offense to this, but you and the others cannot possibly compare." She said.
" Do you trust me?" I asked her.
" Yes?" She said wondering why I had asked.
" Okay good. We need to get your leg cleaned up and then there's something I want to try." I said.
" What?" She asked.
"You'll see, but right now just come with me." I stood up and outstretched my hand to her, which she took .
I led her back to our shelter and after taking some supplies out of the plane's first aid kit that we had brought to camp the first day, I had her sit up on the platform I was finishing up on.
"Can I move your shorts up?" I asked and looked up at her for her consent.
She nodded and so I gently moved them up to have access to the cuts. They weren't that bad which I was grateful for, but I was still scared that she did it in the first place. I wiped them down with an alcohol wipe and applied the antibiotic ointment, before making a makeshift bandage with gauze and tape.
"Okay, all better." I said and moved her shorts back down.
" Now what?" She asked.
"Now we try a different way of releasing emotions, or lack of them." I said.
" How?" She asked, looking at me confused.
" Lay in my lap." I said, so she did. " Now tell me about him, anything you want."
She was more reluctant this time.
"I don't want to." She said.
" I know you don't, and I doubt talking about him will feel good, on the contrary I'm sure it'll hurt, but that's what will get you feeling again. It has to get worse before it can get better." I said. "And I'm here to support you and hold you so I can try and absorb some of that pain you have."
She layed in my lap in silence for a few minutes as I let her think and played with her hair softly.
" He used to use some of his allowance money to get me an ice-cream cone every monday when school was let out early because I didn't get any allowance until I was in middle school." She said and I just listened.
She continued on, saying, " We lost touch for a while once he went to college because his and our parents' relationship kind of deteriorated, but when I graduated college five years later, he got back in touch with me. He told me he wanted to spend time with me to catch up and that his job allowed him a week of vacation during July, so that he wanted to take me on a trip. This was it. If I had reached out sooner..."
I cut her off before she could finish blaming herself. " It's not your fault Carolina. It's not your fault."
Those words seemed to be the trigger for the first tears I'd seen her shed. She began sobbing as I just tried my best to comfort her.
" I got you, I'm here." I said and held her tighter.
She cried for around an hour before she finally was too exhausted to continue. The both of us had been silent for some ten minutes or so until she broke the silence.
" Thank you." She said.
" You've nothing to thank me for. I should be thanking you for trusting me." I said.
" I don't know why, but you're right. I think that helped a little bit." She replied.
" Good cause I was really just guessing there." I said jokingly and she playfully flipped me off.
" Can I sleep here?" She asked.
" Yes, but please promise me that if you want to hurt yourself again that you'll come to me instead. I care about you." I said.
" I will." She said and I bent my head down to kiss her forehead before she drifted off to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
Depression/ anxiety one shots
Cerita PendekShort little stories about topics revolving around depression and /or anxiety . TW FOR MOST. This symbol (⚠️ ) , is on the possibly triggering stories . Please don't read if you think it could harm you. I mean it guys, I don't want anyone getting hu...