S.O.S

Summary: Getting lost in the middle of nowhere with the resident Goth of her school during a school trip isn’t exactly what Sophie White would categorize as ‘fun’.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to me.

Chapter T W O

A large hand caught my arm and I whirled around, a scream fighting its way out of my throat. Then, I felt my feet leave the ground. In a mad attempt to rescue myself, I threw my arms around the person that had frightened me and we both went tumbling into nothingness. Then, I knew no more.

There’s not much I can remember about waking up, besides the frantic thoughts running through my mind, the numb pain that had grabbed my body and the coldness that clung to my skin. I was soaked to the bones and my body protested loudly as I tried to lift my bruised cheek from the hard ground.

What had happened? I could remember close to nothing about how I had gotten myself in this situation. I gingerly cradled my head in my hands, which were probably the only parts of my body that had remained unharmed after I had taken a straight dive into nothingness.

My head hurt like hell. Actually, my whole body hurt like hell. I felt as if someone had repeatedly beaten me but what had really happened was actually worse. Once the previous events started coming back to me, I couldn’t help but curse my own stupidity.

“You really did have to go after him, didn’t you? God, you’re such an idiot, Sophie White.”

Suddenly remembering that there had been another person I had dragged after me, causing us both to fall, I opened my eyes and, squinting against the sunlight, looked around. The first thing I saw was the majestic waterfall staring right back at me.

“Well, at least that explains my wet clothes.”

The breathtaking and yet, rather wild view only heightened my panic. I was stuck right in the middle of nowhere without a map or without any real chance of getting out of there soon. Tears burned the back of my eyes but I furiously held them back, not feeling all that ready for a long sobbing episode. I bit my lower lip to control my shallow breathing and to pull myself together.

“I’m going to die.” That may have sounded dramatic and a little over the top but at that moment, I was convinced that my life would be cut short. A sudden image of my lifeless body being torn apart by some hungry animal made me shiver in disgust and panic.

However, as soon as my eyes landed on the still body of one Tristan Hemington, all thoughts of death and wild animals flew out of my mind. At first, I could only stare at his body in shock. He had been the person I had grabbed onto, causing us both to fall into the water? Cheeks burning, I called out, almost shyly:

“Hemington?” I received no answer. Frowning in confusion, I wrapped my arms more tightly around myself as I shakily stood up. A gust of cold autumn wind hit me like a slap on the face and only my arms preserved the little body heat I had left.

If you won’t get eaten by animals, you’ll surely die frozen.

Forcefully pushing those morbid thoughts to the back of my head, I called out again, my voice taking a hopeful tone:

“Tristan?” Still, no answer. Biting my lower lip, I continued to look at him, hoping beyond hope that this would turn out to be another sick joke of his. He was only pretending to be dead, right? I analyzed his pale skin and his wet clothes. His features were strangely blank, his face expressionless. Nervously, I chased a glance at his chest, expecting to see it rise and fall, matching his breathing.

It was then that it hit me: He wasn’t breathing.

For a few seconds, panic hit me so hard that I was unable to move. My mind was barely processing the desperate commands I was shouting in my head. Paralyzed with fear and filled with panic, I barely even recognized the sound of a dry sob that escaped my lips.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was rushing to his side as fast as I could, my legs shaking with the strain. It was as if my body had a mind of its own and I soon found myself on my knees in front of his body, my hands grasping his cheeks while I screamed at him to wake up.

“You can’t be dead. Not like this. Not now.” Another sob escaped my lips and I felt the hot tears running down my dirty cheeks before tainting the earthly ground. All hope left me and I hid my face in my hands, my shoulders shaking with the sobs that shook my small frame.

Leaning down, I pressed my ear against his chest and watched as my tears fell onto his already wet shirt. My hands were grasping the fabric of his shirt tightly, as tightly as I was holding onto the hope that he might still be alive somehow.

Deep down, I felt guilty. No longer did I blame him for our situation. It had been my fault for listening to Amanda and following him into the woods when I knew that it was not a safe place to be in. Hell, if I hadn’t been so stubborn and hadn’t refused to listen to reason, the both of us would probably be back with the rest of our classmates, preparing our tents and sitting around a campfire that would keep us warm.

Through my guilty thoughts, I suddenly heard it. My eyes widened and I pressed my ear more tightly against his chest, hoping that what I had heard only moments before had not been a silly fragment of my imagination.

Surely enough, there it was again. Through all the tears, I felt the strength to hope again.

Tristan’s heart was still beating, albeit a bit slowly.

Quickly, I let go of him and took a step back. My mind was racing as thousands of thoughts filled my distressed mind, all at once. I tried to remember what I had seen in all the movies I had watched. What did those actors do in a situation like this one?

Out of the corner of my eye, I looked at Tristan and decided then and there that I was not going to let him die. The fact that we did not usually got along hardly mattered anymore; this was Tristan that was dying, my classmate, and the kid that used to make fun of my braces in third grade.

“I’m not going to let you die.” My hands were once again pressed against his chest. Slowly, I applied pressure, pushing the palms of my hands tightly against his chest. I repeated this movement five more times and felt like crying again once I saw no evident result.

“He has to cough up water. At least, that’s what happens in the movies.” Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and thought. Okay, so the whole hand against chest thing had been a bad idea. What else could I do?

The answer was simple but I simply refused to acknowledge it. No way in hell was I going to do that.

A single glance at Tristan’s pale face made my resolve crumble to the ground. Without even noticing it, I found myself lowering my face to his, my fingers keeping his lips apart. Closing my eyes, I pressed my lips against his and blew air into his mouth. Then, I repeated this a few times before pressing my palms against his chest again and pushing.

“You will not die.” I punctuated every word with a forceful push against his chest. Then, a miracle happened. I watched in wonder as his chest heaved before he started coughing water into the muddy ground. Tears of happiness blurred my vision until I could barely even see him.

With his eyes still closed, Tristan was clutching his chest as he continued coughing, obviously finding it hard to get all the water out of his lungs. Before my tired mind could process what I was doing, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, while whispering:

“God, you’re okay. You actually made it.”

“Uh… Sophie? What are you doing here?” His arms stayed limply by his side before he moved to pat my back in an awkward way. Letting go of him, I asked, trying to keep the confusion out of my voice:

“You don’t remember?” He didn’t answer but instead touched the back of his head gingerly before wincing.

“I think I hurt my head.” Nodding, I took a few cautious steps back, only just realizing my own stupidity. Me and Hemington were never friends to begin with. Friends hug. Me and Hemington don’t. Swiftly, I turned around, trying to hide my burning cheeks.

“Actually, my whole body hurts.” A pause followed his words. Then, he continued: “What on earth are we doing here?” Rolling my eyes at his obvious lack of memory, I started walking towards the waterfall, trying to escape his presence while I replied:

“You fell. Actually,” I turned around and faced him again. “We both fell. From right up there.” I pointed towards the waterfall, a couple of meters above the place where we were now standing.

Ignoring his shocked look, I faced the waterfall and kneeled, eager to wash the mud off my face.

“You look like shit, Sophie. That must have been quite a fall.” Looking into my reflection, I couldn’t agree more. There were cuts all over my cheeks and forehead. My hair was sticky with blood and the salt of the water. There were dark circles under my eyes, looking more like big, purple bruises than anything else. Grimacing, I looked away.

“Here. You’ll need this.” I was surprised to see Tristan standing right behind me. A piece of black fabric was being tightly clutched in his right hand, which was extended towards me. He had obviously ripped his black T-shirt, I realized. Wordlessly, I took it from him. I put the hand that was grasping the cloth into the icy cold water before taking it out.

It was a little hard to clean the cuts on my face by myself. I’m not the bravest person and I was almost afraid to press the wet cloth against my bloody cheek, fearing the pain that it would undoubtedly cause me. I could feel Tristan’s eyes on me, observing me, but I stubbornly ignored him. Even as I felt him kneeling down beside me, I ignored him.

“Here, let me help you.” His low, masculine voice sent shivers down my spine and I raised my eyes to meet his as I felt his hand grasp mine and gently take the cloth from my grasp.

“Look, I know you don’t like me and I don’t blame you for it. I’ve been nothing but a pain in the ass all these years.” He smiled but his smile held no happiness. Instead, it looked rather grim. “But we have to work together and find out a way out of here.” Pausing, he made eye contact before quickly adding: “We’re in this together.”

I winced as he gently pressed the cloth against my cut. It stung like hell but his words distracted me from the actual pain. Deep down, I knew he was right.

“I’m sorry.” The words left my lips before I could stop them. He stopped cleaning my wounds and peered down at me, confusion written all across his handsome features.

“Sorry for what?” Unable to think of any excuse that would get me out of this situation, I opted for the truth:

“I’m sorry for getting us both into this situation. It’s because of me that we are stuck right in the middle of nowhere with very small chances to get out of here alive.” I sighed and moved to get up but he stopped me.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. If I hadn’t gone out smoking, you wouldn’t have followed me and none of this would have happened.” So, he finally remembered the past events. “Speaking of which: Why did you follow me anyway? I thought you hated my guts.”

“I did. I mean, I do. It’s just that…” Pausing, I gathered me thoughts before continuing: “Actually, I wanted to thank you for helping me out this morning.” His eyes softened and he looked as if he wanted to say something. Instead, I felt him press the cloth once again against my cheek as he whispered:

“You’re welcome.”

Author’s Note: Greetings to my fellow readers! I hope this chapter finds you all well and I especially hope that this chapter will leave you craving for me. I decided to end this chapter here because I think that this is the perfect ending. I’ve already started Chapter Four. I’m eager to continue this story because I love it; I love the whole idea of it, even if it may sound a little clichéd. Anyway, I’ve started rambling again (as usual).

I would like to thank Black Rose and Dark Star, Johannas mirror, upinstars, cup of glee and sparkles, Meggie, skibird17, Moonlit Promise, Far.abi and Smileysmiley248 XD for taking the time to review the first chapter. I’m incredibly grateful and I hope to hear more of your thoughts in the future.

Xoxo,

LittleBookworm