New Adventures

Nate Marren

I tried to take a breath but quickly grabbed my throat, forgetting I was still underwater.

I tried to swim to the surface but I felt like someone had sucked the energy right out of me. It was too late and I felt myself slowly slipping away. The bright blue water became black and I felt darkness taking over my senses.

As I finally started to give up on trying to swim, I felt a warm presence come closer to me. Long muscular arms wrapped around my drifting body and I felt myself being pulled to the surface.

At the first sign of air, I coughed out, what seemed like the whole lake, but stayed in the warm bundle that was still carrying me. I looked around to see fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances surrounding, what used to be my house. It was now a burned clump of wood and different pieces of furniture.

I looked up at the warm figure carrying me, "She'll be okay," I noticed him talking to a medical assistant. "The boy is with Tom, on their way to the hospital. I'll get her to the ambulance."

He looked about 18 with deep green eyes and short brown hair that dripped sparkling water in the dim sunlight. I heard car doors opening and slamming shut, as he carried me into the back of the ambulance. 

The inside of the ambulance looked like a mini hospital. It had a gurney, chairs with armrests and seatbelts, computer screens on the walls, a couple windows, and several cabinets. He laid me down on the gurney and put his warm hand on my head. He looked down at me, catching me staring at him like he was an angel.

"Your hot" he said as he broke away from my gaze.

"Excuse me?" I looked at him outraged.

"I mean your temperature." he lifted his hand and chuckled.

Good one Jo.

I shivered as the cool breeze hit me from the open door. He got up and closed it yelling something at the driver I couldn't make out because the chatter of my teeth was so violent.

“Do you remember your name?” the strange boy asked me as he walked back over to the gurney.

I didn’t really understand why this was relevant but I guess it was all part of the procedure.

“Jordan Mallery.” I told him with a feeling of confidence at my father’s last name. "Well Jordan, that-.” “Jo,” I stopped him abruptly. “you can call me Jo.”

I’m not sure why I said that. There was a feeling that I could open up to this boy and trust him, but I knew I couldn’t let that go to far.

“Well Jo, that was quite a fire they put out back there.” He said somewhat impressed as he handed me a towel. “Was that your home?"

I nodded and shifted onto my side. I winced at the pain growing in my left wrist but ignored it and decided to focus on the stranger that practically saved my life.

"Who are you?" I asked, looking at him suspiciously even though I knew there was nothing to be suspicious of.

"I'm Nate Marren." he responded smiling, "I help out with medical treatment over at the hospital a few miles back."

He pointed in the direction. I felt the truck starting to move and shifted to a position that didn’t make me sway so much. “Is my brother okay?” I asked remembering what Nate had said about Jack being in the other truck.

“Yeah he's not to badly hurt.” He replied with a smile. “Unlike you he actually remembered that you have to come out of the water to be able to breathe.”

We laughed until I winced from the sharp pain in my side that built every time I exhaled. I shivered and looked down at my drenched clothes. I was in a gray t-shirt and black basketball shorts which, unlike the jeans Jack was wearing, weren’t that bad to have sopping wet. Nate took my icy blue hands and cupped them into his strong warm ones, which I was immensely grateful for.

“How do you feel?” he finally asked me.

“Cold” I replied and shivered, while giving him a half hearted smile.

The truck went over a bump making my chattering teeth bite each other with severe impact. I groaned at the pain.

“They’ll give you new clothes when we get you situated in the hospital. In the meantime though…” he reached for the heater, cranked it up, and pointed it in my direction.

“Thank you.” I said with a half-hearted smile. “So,” he continued as he wrapped the towel tighter around me, “where are your parents?”

That’s a good question. Where were my parents?

“I…I-I” I stammered. I just couldn’t find the right words.

“I don’t know.” I said in a whisper and looked up longingly into his big green eyes, hoping he would have the answer, which of course he didn’t. Nate pushed a long strand of my wet hair out of my face, brushing my cheek with his warm fingertips.

“Just go to sleep.” He said it as more of a loving suggestion then a demand so I let him stroke my hair as I drifted off, smiling to myself.