| Chapter 51 She ran as hard as she could down the beach to the water, all the while keeping her eyes on the last spot she saw Nick. She hit the water at a dead run and dove in. Frantically she searched, hoping to see him. She came up for air and looked around, hoping he'd come back up to the surface, still nothing. "God where is he?!" she yelled, then dove back down. The moon was bright, but under the water the light seemed to disappear. She came back up for a second time, "NICK!!" Seeing nothing she went down again. * "This way," Jade said in her ear. * She swam to her left a little, and dove deeper. Something caught her eye, and she swam towards it. It was Nick. She grabbed him and headed to the surface. When she got to the surface she turned Nick over so his face was out of the water. She could tell he wasn't breathing, his lips had already turned blue, and his face was gray. She swam as fast as she could back to shore. She reached the shore and pulled Nick clear of the water. Then she knelt beside him and checked for a pulse, nothing. "Damn it," she said, tilting his head back and starting CPR. Several minutes went by and he still wasn't responding. She looked around for help, but there was none. Their two houses were the only ones on this stretch of the beach, and no one would hear her if she yelled. "God, please help me," she said as she continued working on Nick. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian woke up and turned on the light. Tara was squirming in her sleep. "Tara, wake up," he said gently shaking her. "NO!" she screamed and sat straight up in bed. She was trembling and had a panicked look on her face. "Honey what's wrong?" Brian asked sitting up and putting his arms around her. She started to cry, "Bri, something's really wrong." He held her tighter, "Tell me what happened." She looked up at him, "It's Nick, something's wrong. I feel like he's in trouble." He looked at her with concern, "Like what kinda trouble?" "I'm not sure, all I got was flashes. I saw water, and I felt like I couldn't breath, then I saw Nick," she said. Brian felt a wave of fear come over him, "Could you tell where it was?" "No, but I felt cold. Bri, I'm scared," she cried. He held her close, "I know, I am too." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Tracy and Jade knelt beside Nick as the girl continued to do CPR. They looked at each other, and as the girl blew air into his mouth, Tracy touched him on the cheek.* Suddenly Nick started coughing, and the girl turned him on his side as he spat water out of his mouth. He was gasping for air, and shaking uncontrollably. The girl got up and ran to where Nick had left his jacket and shoes, grabbed them and went back to him. She draped the jacket over him, trying to keep him from going into shock. She rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. He couldn't breath for coughing. She turned him on his back and looked into his eyes. What she saw scared her. There was no life behind them at all, he just stared at her. The sound of thunder caused her to look across the ocean. There was a storm moving in, lightening was dancing across the waves. She turned back to Nick, "We need to get inside before this hits." Still he just stared. She grabbed his shoes and put them on his feet, and pulled him to a sitting position. She grabbed his chin and made him look her in the eyes, "Nick, you have to help me. I can't get you in by myself." She stood up, and pulled him to his feet. His knees buckled, but she grabbed him, putting one arm over her shoulders and holding on to his waist with the other. Slowly they headed for the house. * Tracy had Nick by the other arm, and Jade was helping the girl. They exchanged worried glances. "I hope she's ready," Tracy said. Jade nodded her head, "We'll see." * Finally they got to the house. She immediately took Nick into the bathroom and sat him down in the tub. They were both covered with sand, and dripping wet. She turned the water on as hot as she thought he could stand it, and let the shower run over him. He was sitting with his knees to his chest, shivering. "I'll be right back," she said and left the room. She ran upstairs and into an extra bedroom filled with boxes. She tore open several boxes and pulled out a shirt, sweat pants, socks and underwear, then ran back downstairs. When she entered the bathroom he was still in the same position. He didn't even acknowledge she was there. "Nick, we need to get you out of those wet clothes," she said. Not even a hint that he heard her. She reached over and unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off. "Now how the hell am I gonna get your jeans off?" she said. She rummage through the cabinet until she found a pair of scissors. She proceeded to cut his jeans off him, until he was sitting there in his boxers. She looked at him, "Please don't make me do this." Still no sign that he heard her. She took a deep breath, and pulled him to his feet. She turned him around so his back was to her, and pulled his boxers down and cut them from around his feet. She turned the water off, grabbed some towels and dried him off as best she could with her eyes shut. She then helped him out of the tub, and dressed him in the clothes she had brought down. She took him into the master bedroom and helped him get into bed. It seemed that every other breath he coughed, and he was still trembling. She ran to the closet and grabbed two more blankets and put them on the bed for him. She pulled the covers around his shoulders and felt of his forehead, he was burning up with fever. "God," she said as she ran to the bathroom and grabbed the Tylenol and a glass of water. How the hell am I gonna get him to take these?, she thought. She went back to the room and took two pills from the bottle, opened his mouth and shoved them in. Then she took the water and poured a little into his mouth and held it shut until he swallowed. She checked to make sure he'd actually swallowed the pills, which he had. She looked into his eyes, knowing he wasn't aware of what she was doing. "Nick, I'll be back in a minute," she said. She walked over to the closet and pulled out some clothes and headed to the bathroom. She hurriedly rinsed off in the shower and put on the dry clothes. She walked into the kitchen and put some water on the stove. The crack of the thunder made her jump. She looked out the windows to see the storm in full force outside. She went back to the bedroom to check on Nick. He was still shaking, and she knew he was in shock, plus he was sick. It worried her that he didn't seem to know what was going on, he'd been without air for several minutes, and she was beginning to wonder if he had sustained some kind of brain damage. The pot on the stove started to sound, so she went into the kitchen and fixed two cups of hot tea. She carried them into the bedroom and set them on the nitestand. She pulled Nick up to a sitting position and shoved some pillows behind him. Then she took one of the cups and looked at him. "Nick, can you hold this?" she asked. He looked up at her as she handed him the cup. "Can you hear me?" she asked. He slowly nodded his head. She smiled as some of the worry left her. "Drink that, it'll help warm you up," she said. His hands were still shaking, but he managed to take a couple of sips before he handed the cup back to her. "You want me to help you?" she asked. He shook his head. "Nick, you need to drink something," she said. He stared at her, she was about 5'7" he guessed. She had light brown hair that came past her shoulders, with blonde highlights, and hazel eyes. She was pretty athletic looking too. "Nick?" she said. He started to say something, but coughed instead. She held the cup up and let him get a drink. "You know who I am?" he asked, his voice was strained. She smiled, "Yeah, I'm kind of a fan." Under any other circumstances, Nick would have been frightened at this point, but there was something about her, something that was comforting. "What's your name?" he asked. She set the cup down, "My name is Tara." That was the last thing Nick heard before he passed out. Chapter 52 |