Panic Mode

The Choices You Make

"Are you paying attention?" Carl snapped for the umpteenth time that afternoon. Ace turned away from the window to stare at Carl's scowl.

"Yeah," he lied. Carl raised a skeptical eyebrow and stared at him.

"What's the first thing to do in any situation?" Carl quizzed. Ace's eyes darted away and he shifted in his seat.

Ace cracked a hopeless grin, "you call the medic?"

"You are the medic!" Carl shouted before rubbing his forehead. "you're going to learn how to dress a wound, even if it kills me. Try again."  Ace groaned and shrugged.

"I don't know," Ace mumbled, "I wasn't paying attention." Carl nodded and leaned back in his seat, placing his pen on the desk. The hospital wing was empty, except for a few sick people in the back rooms. It was the perfect time to learn basic first aid, but Ace simply couldn't find the motivation.

"Tell me about your sister," Carl asked suddenly. Ace narrowed his eyes.

"Why?" He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. Carl shrugged and twirled the pen in his hand.

"If you're not going to pay attention, might as well find some motivation," Carl grinned.

"You're not going to touch my sister," Ace bared his fangs, "are you?" Carl's eyes widened at the implication of his words.

"No!" He sputtered. "I just meant if I found out more about your sister, maybe I can use her as an imaginary example. I mean, has she ever gotten hurt?" Ace relaxed as he thought about the question.

"One time, when we were about ten, she fell off the big rock in the flower fields." Ace searched his mind as he tried to remember exactly what happened. "She cut open her knee, so it was bleeding pretty bad."

"Ok, good start," Carl sat up again, filled with energy. "Where did she fall?"

"She landed in a puddle," Ace answered. A laugh bubbled up and he let it slip, giggling at the mishap. Carl stared at Ace, confused.

"A puddle?" Carl repeated, "what did you do first?"

"Well first I started crying because there was blood, then I used my shirt to wrap it around the cut." Ace babbled waving his hands around as he spoke. "Then I helped her stand up and we walked home. The owner of the grocery store in the downtown area drove by and saw us, so he gave us a ride home. Our parents freaked out and my mom bandaged Sierra's knee while Dad scolded me for using my white shirt. The Grocery store owner was nice to us though. Too bad he's dead." Ace mused on the thought for a moment, then turned to Carl, who stared back. He started to say something, but a loud bang interrupted him.

Ace turned in his seat to find the doors to the hospital wing had been swung open. Standing in the doorway, was James. His hair was a mess. His normally neat shirt was buttoned wrong. He left on his pajama pants instead of his usual shorts. Ace stared at the duck print on his pants until James yelled something incoherent. Ace's gaze lifted back up.

"What," Ace asked, his voice and expression flat. James flinched and rushed forward to grab Ace's shirt.

"Katie!" James yelled. "I can't find her!" Ace rolled his eyes and took James's hands off of his shirt.

"Calm down, she probably slept in or forgot about breakfast." Ace patted his white T-shirt, smoothing out the wrinkles.

"She's not in her room!" James cried, grabbing his shirt again. "The maids checked. She's not there." Ace glared at him, causing him to flinch away. Ace smoothed out the wrinkles in his shirt once more. It was practically his uniform now, so any wrinkles would annoy him to the point of throwing it out.