Aquiver (Sequel)

Taking Care

Aquiver ~32

•Charlotte Carpenter•

I'm going to die here. No one is going to find me in time. Watching as day turned into night. I know I've been here all day. I've been getting weaker with the amount of blood I've probably lost and the pain of trying to move. I feel so light headed.

I'm too young for my life to end. I never had the chance to say goodbye to Aaron. I want to get out of here. I'm scared, but weak as I cough. My stomach grumbles from an empty stomach. I haven't eaten in almost a day now. The only thing I've had would be the one glass of orange juice.

My mouth is dry and pain runs through my body. I really could go for water and a warm place to be. I'm so cold.

"Charlotte!" I hear from a distance. I pray for the voice to come closer. Someone's looking for me. "Please answer me!" A little closer.

"I'm here," I try to call out, but my voice wouldn't let me call out to whoever it is. Part of the moonlight is shown in the sky to my view.

"Please Charlotte!" They are a lot closer now. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"H-Help!" I shout the best I can and the pain in my body increases tremendously. I cry out in pain now as I cry to myself. I hear steps and suddenly light is shine from above and I squint.

"Shit, oh god. Charlotte." The person immediately reaches for their phone and curses. "Dammit, no service, of course."

"Please help me," I let out weakly.

"I'm coming down Charlotte. Don't worry," a familiar voice says to me. "I'm coming to get you." It's definitely a guy. I hear lots of movement before a thump and someone is by my side and the flashlight is too bright for me.

"Please turn light off," I say softly. Immediately he turns the light off and it's easier to see who it is. I frown slightly confused. "E-Ethan?"

"Hey," he says softly and carefully placing my head onto his lap. "Shh, you don't look too well. I'm here. Don't be scared. I need to get you out of here. I'm going to get you out of here."

"Ethan, I feel nauseous."

"Here," he reaches for something at the back of his pocket. He takes out a bottled water and opens the cap. He brings the water down to my lips and lets me drink little at a time. I drink half the bottle before he stops and looks at me.

"Thank you," I whisper.

"Since you can't climb, I'll have to lift you up."

"Ethan, I was a gymnast, not a cheerleader."

"Same difference. It's not that far to get you up and I can climb up. I can't call anyone since we don't have service."

"But I think one of my legs is broken or my ankle."

"Char, you have to do this for me, please," he begs. "I promise I can carry you all the way back. You need to be strong just for a moment." I nod understanding. He helps me to stand on my one foot and he has to balance me from falling. I have an arm wrapped around his neck.

I notice how worried and afraid he is right now. I've never seen him this way.

"I'm scared." I refer to the pain that will occur after this.

"Please do this one thing Char. I know it's going to be painful. I promise to get you to safely and well taken care of." He has his hands on both of my hips as I stood on my okay leg.

"Please don't make me do this," I whimper. His expression looks panicky now.

"I'm begging you, I have to get you out of here. I know you're tired, in pain and weak. Just do this and I'll do the rest of the work. The only thing you have to do is step onto my hands and pull yourself up slightly to get on the grass. It's eight feet Char. It's going to be okay." I nod taking shaky breaths.

I look up to the opening and know it's not too far up. Ethan lifting me up, there wouldn't be too much to do by pulling me up.

"You ready?" He asks gently. I nod before he slowly lets go of me and bends down by holding both his hands out so it's low enough for me to step on. I take a shaky breath as I put my other leg down and put my okay leg to his hands.

Slowly he lifts my and he tells me to put my other foot down so I don't easily lose my balance. I am against the opening of the wall so I use myself to climb so it's not only Ethan doing all the work. My head spins, but I ignore it the best I can. I am soon no longer going up and the edge is just a three feet above me.

"My arms are fully extended Charlotte. You have to pull yourself up the rest of the way," Ethan calls out to me. I take a deep breath before I reach for the edge of the grass to find a firm grip and start to pull myself off the leg I think where I broke something goes against the dirt and immediately there is pain coursing through my body.

I close my eyes as I continue to pull myself up and continue to do so. As soon as I could swing my other leg up, I do and I tumble into the grass rolling over to leave room for Ethan to come up. I lay on the soft grass whimpering from the pain. Moments later I felt arms around me and I open my eyes with tears.

"I'm here Charlotte," Ethan says. "I'm going to take care of you now." He wipes my eyes and can see how worried he looks.

"Why didn't you leave me here to die?" I ask referring to all the times he told me to die somehow with tragic. My mind is still in shock from probably the amount of blood I've already lost.

"I didn't actually mean it," he says with his eyes wide. "Sure, I was told to stay away from you and even bully you, but I'd never let anything really happen to you."

"Wh-What?" He sighs and looks down for a moment before looking up.

"We'll talk about this later. You need to be in a hospital. I've promised earlier Hayes that I'd make sure you're okay tonight."

"Hayes?" Ethan looks at me confused.

"Please don't tell me you hit your head hard enough to forget Hayes."

"N-no," I stutter weakly. "Hayes sent you here?"

"Grayson and I. Gray offered to come here so we could see if you were alright. Hayes was freaking out over you all day thinking you weren't okay and something was wrong. He was right."

I nod slightly and start to close my eyes starting to fade away again.

"N-n-no. Charlotte, please don't close your eyes. You need to stay awake." I feel him bring a hand to my cheek and I can feel warmth. "You're cold..." I open my eyes and notice him taking off his official team lacrosse sweatshirt.

"You don't have to."

"You need warmth more than I do right now." He fully takes it off and carefully puts it on me where I can smell a strong scent of one of the colognes he probably uses. His sweatshirt is warm.  "I'm going to pick you up now so we can head back to where there is service."

"Isn't the town closer than the cabins from here?" As we are talking he lifts me with ease as we begin to walk the direction I haven't gone yet.

"Yeah, technically the hospital is a lot closer. I'm going to take you there. It's about a mile until we're out of the woods and less than half a mile to the hospital." Ethan looks towards me worriedly. "Stay awake, we can talk the whole way there. Don't go unconscious on me." He carries me bridal style as he has me talk about something that sounds really good to eat to that moment.

~

Next update: Saturday