Capturing Ella

Chapter 34 - Joe

I sat isolated on the platform in the wooden staircase as I stared out to sea wondering how on Earth I had managed to cock this up so much. This wasn't what it was like for Jake and Leannah – they were joint at the hip the second they found out. This was not the way that people portray it to you. When my parents told me I would have a dream girl out there, they always said when we found out it would be the best moment of our lives, but currently I felt like crying all because I couldn't keep my bloody gift under control. All because I managed to see Ella and her daughter playing with in the shallows of the sea. One second she was completely fine, the next second she was pissed off thinking I was laughing at her freezing half to death. I wasn't laughing at that – I would never – but I was laughing at her daughter tackling her in the ocean and Ella pretending to fall but making sure the little girl was completely safe.

I shivered, suddenly aware that I wasn't in a shirt and was still dripping wet from the icy water Ella had chucked at me before it had all gone wrong. But I hadn't heard the car start up. Honestly, I hadn't even heard any doors slam close. I forced myself to walk up to confront the situation, but got scared the second I looked down at the wooden steps seeing the small trail of water that must have dripped from Ella's oversize shirt or her shorts – but the trail of water was now a trail of ice.

Ella, are you okay? I whispered but she didn't reply. It was almost like she wasn't there – not like she was blocking me off but more like she was asleep. That's odd? I walked up slowly, allowing herself to lock herself into her room for probably the next twenty seven days or so.

By the time I got to the top of the staircase and I looked up I just saw Ella sitting down of the side on the small brick wall around the house. Head towards the ground, holding onto the pavement that was on the top of the wall as a stopper as if trying to steady herself. I sighed audibly out of relief. She didn't hate me too much – I mean she was still outside and wasn't locked away in her room. I walked over to her, ringing the water from my shorts. Perhaps denim wasn't the best idea. To be fair, I didn't plan on getting soaking wet. As I got a bit closer to her, I noticed she hadn't moved at all.

'Ella?' I called to her but only when I walked down the three stairs into the garden where she was sitting did I notice her were shut. Was she ignoring me? Her baggy dark grey shirt she was wearing was rolled up revealing her belly button where it looked like she had tried to take it off. I sat down next to her, but even I knew something was off.

'You alright, hun, look I'm sorry -' I asked, but no reply. It was only then I started to panic. I touched her thigh flinching at how cold she was. It was actually painful to touch her.

'Ella?'

I put my arm around her shoulder and she leaned in slightly but completely lost consciousness and collapsed into my arms entirely. I quickly picked her up, amazed by how little she weighed and took her straight into the house using telekinesis to unlock the door. Not bothering to walk to her room, I kicked open the door to my room, moving the duvet off one side with my mind, before laying her down and putting it back over here again. What the hell do I do now? For all I know she could be dying of hypothermia right now and I'm sitting here useless. What the hell do I do? I didn't realise how much I cared about her until I'm practically crying because I had no idea what to do.

I suddenly remembered the training we had before we went on our primary school residential trip to the Lake District. The training included what to do if someone contracted hypothermia. We all sat in the schools hall with a camping expert. As the trip was in late November and we were doing lake walks within this time, it was just in case someone would trip and land on their knees in the water or something. The first step was the step everyone was most uncomfortable with (especially in Year 6) and that was to remove the person's wet clothing and get them changed into dry new clothing.