The Unforgettable Summer

C - Gratitude

Shit.

She's on the kitchen floor and she's not responding. Life seems to stand still and I kneel down to check her pulse. She's alive. She's not bleeding. I'm lucky.

This is all my fault.

It's a blur as I scream for Nova and Kaden, crying but not really feeling. Nova ran in. I wondered if Lou gave Sam the flowers.

"What the fuck happened Cara!" Nova shouted.

"I- she fell- she- I-" I couldn't speak. My mouth was full of cotton wool.

Nova shook her head, kneeling next to me. She checked Sam's pulse, breathing a sigh of relief. She kissed Sams cheek and my breath hitched, I seized up. "Hey" I warn her. She nodded, all the while looking down at Sam.

"We need to do something, call 999, no, call her Mum, no, 999 first" She told me, and suddenly time caught up again. Fast, too fast.

I dialed my phone with my hands trembling.

"Hello?"
"Emergency Services, Which service do you require?"
"um, the ambulance, please"
"okay, i'll put you through"
"um, thanks"
"..."
"Hello, Ambulance, what's the nature of your emergency?"
"My friend, uh, girlfriend, she, she fainted, i don't know why"
"okay, can you check her pulse for me please?"
"we did, she's alive"
"okay, where are you?"
"Uh, Sam's house, 156, Westcliff Avenue, Southend"
"Okay, I'll send an ambulance now. Do you know how to put someone in recovery position?"
"Uh, no, but Nova might, I'll ask"

I put my hand over the receiver and turned to Nova, who had been tentatively watching me. "Do you know how to put her in the recovery position?" I asked. Nova nodded,and began moving Sam into the recovery position. My mind wandered as to where Nova's hands had been, how she had touched my Sam, how Sam could have touched her. I snapped back into i the room and went back to the phone.

"Nova put her in the position"
"brilliant, there will be an ambulance round soon, just keep checking her pulses and if she wakes up don't let her get up, just allow her to lay on her back and bring her knees up. Hope everything will be okay sweetheart"
"thank you, goodbye"

I sat next to Nova as we watched Sam's slow breathing, in wait for her to stop. After a minute or two, Nova's hand reached out and held mine. I held hers aswell. "I'm sorry Cara. I want you to know, that she broke off whatever we had for you. She adores you. She thinks you're perfect. She looked at me with lust, she looks at you with love. You're lucky, she's an amazing girl" Nova said softly, still watching Sam.

"Thanks. I'm very lucky, I promise I'll take care of her if she- you know" I said, trying to push away thoughts of not seeing Sam again. My moment of anger could be the cause of her death. My moment of anger could be the last think she thought of. I could be her killer.

All I wanted was to love her.

The ambulance came, the paramedics asked Nova a few questions, and then placed Sam on a stretcher and put her in the ambulance. "Are either of you family?" A paramedic asked us. Nova and me looked at eachother for a second.

"She is, I'm just her friend, I'll stay" Nova said, gesturing to me.

"Alright, You come with us sweetheart" The paramedic led me to the ambulance. I glanced back at Nova and mouthed "thankyou". She just nodded and smiled.

As the ambulance drove away from Sam's house, my head started spinning. This was all too real. The siren sounds made me dizzy. I looked down at Sam, and held her lifeless hand, trying to ignore the fact that it felt weird to hold an unconscious girl's hand.