Ethan
I found myself floating amidst the darkness. The best way I could describe it was like floating belly up in the middle of the ocean with no sound and a black starless sky. I felt at peace, drifting away. Then I heard something really far away. Almost like an echoing whisper.
"Ethan!" the voice said, "Stay with me. Hey!"
The voice grew louder and suddenly an image was forming before me. A face I recognize but can't place. This face had beautiful blue eyes and a scared and unsettled look about him. But he wasn't alone.
That's right. It was all coming back to me. We were traveling. We need to go to San Antonio, and then Galveston. There was something about a dead pop star, her crossdressing brother, and a fan of hers. I became aware of what happened before. I was trying to calm someone down and I felt something push me over the edge and I fell. I became aware of a pain coming from my ankle but I couldn't respond to it.
"Ethan?" the face called out to me again. Riley. That's who he was. I have never seen him panic like this before. I wanted to reach out to him, but my body couldn't move. Instead, I had this irresistible urge to sleep. "Don't fall asleep. Stay with us, please. Ethan! ETHAN!!!"
That was the last thing I heard before falling into a dreamless sleep.
Aaron
This was all my fault. I was so upset that I pushed Ethan over the edge. He wasn't moving and I couldn't tell if he was breathing.
"ETHAN!!!!!" I screamed his name so loud that a few moments after, Riley and Natalie came running.
"What happened?" Riley asked.
I didn't get a chance to answer because Riley took one look over the edge and ran down to where Ethan lay.
"Natalie," Riley called, "Get a blanket from the cabin and bring it here. Aaron, get down here, I need your help."
Natalie ran back to the cabin and I made my way down to the bottom. The moment I got there, I was so flustered I started apologizing to Ethan and Riley. "I'm so sorry. This is my fault. I didn't mean to push him. Oh God please don't be dead."
"Ethan! Stay with me. Hey!" Riley was calling to Ethan. "He's still conscious. He's probably got a concussion. We gotta keep him awake."
"This is all my fault. If I didn't push him away…" I couldn't finish my sentence because the next thing I felt was a hard slap to the face.
"Snap out of it!" Riley said, "Right now, Ethan needs us and I can't do this by myself. As pissed off as I am with you right now, I have to focus on keeping Ethan alive. You want to make this right? Calm the fuck down and help me."
I took a couple deep breaths and once Natalie came back with the blankets, she laid them out as a makeshift stretcher.
"Don't fall asleep." Riley said, "Stay with us, please. Ethan! ETHAN!!! Shit, he fell asleep."
"Is that bad?" I asked.
"Oh God," Riley said as he examined Ethan's body further, "His leg looks pretty bad. Look." Ethan's right leg was bleeding.
"Is it broken?" asked Natalie.
"I don't know," Riley answered, "Moving him is going to be difficult."
Riley wasn't kidding. We had to be extra careful moving Ethan. As he said, one wrong move, and Ethan might die.
Riley
I lost Ethan once, I will not lose him again. We managed to carry him back to the cabin and put him in one of the beds. I filled a bowl with water and using a rag, I cleaned his wound. I sighed in relief knowing that there wasn't a bone protruding from it. The wound looked like a bad scrape more than anything.
The others ate the food Ethan had prepared earlier, even though it was now cold. They ate in silence and then went to sleep. I, however, remained by Ethan's side. I couldn't eat knowing that Ethan might never wake up. There was nothing we could do. There weren't any hospitals we could go to or any ambulances we could call. I've never felt so powerless in my life.
After what seemed like an eternity, Ethan finally opened his eyes. And looked at me.
"Riley.." he said in a gruff voice. "I've never seen you make that face before. Stop overreacting."
"I'm not you jerk," It was the first time I ever called him that. "We're out in a campground away from everything. We have no Ice or medicine for you. We can't even take you to a hospital. I was so scared because one wrong move and we could've killed you." As I said this, my voice was faltering and tears were streaming down my eyes. It was the only time I believe that I ever did cry in front of him.
"Who cares?" He said coldly, "I would just be the first to go."
"I care." Hearing that from him, literally broke me. I couldn't hold back my emotions any longer. "I care dammit. I don't want to see you die."
"Riley…" He called out.
I cupped his hands in mine and I pressed my forehead to them. "I always wanted to come see you. I wanted to apologize for what I did. How I treated you then. I promised that if I was given another chance, I wouldn't make any mistakes with you. I know I should've told you sooner but…"
Ethan pulled me close and held me while I cried. "Just go to sleep already. You're exhausted."
"I'm sorry," I managed to say through the tears, "Ethan, I'm so sorry."
"It's ok," he said, "Really it's fine." He looked me in the eye and told me, "I forgive you. I mean it this time."
He pulled me in and kissed me. I was able to accomplish a part of my goal. But with now four days left there was no point in regretting the past, nor hoping for a future. Even so, in our final moments I probably will do just that.
Ethan
I had slept most of the day, but I woke up to find it was 5:30 in the afternoon. Riley had woken me and when I saw him, he was all sweaty.
"Wakey, wakey," He said, a bit too cheery for me, barely waking up. "How are you feeling?"
"A little light headed but other than that ok."
"Great," He responded and pulled out a bag from his backpack. "Eat up, then take your meds."
"Meds?" Did I hear him correctly?
"Yeah, some pain meds I got for you."
"How?" I asked, "Where?"
"I backtracked to Austin and scouted a few hospitals but by the looks of them, they were cleaned out. It was a horrible sight to see. But I managed to find a small clinic and a doctor to help me out."
"Wait, you went back to Austin?" Then that must mean… "And the gas?"
"All gone." Riley said. "I took one of the bikes with me and made sure I was able to bring everything back. The doctor provided me with pain meds, a crutch, some gauze and an ankle brace."
"Riley," I reached over to his hand and leaned in against his shoulder. "Thank you."
Riley smiled and moved away to the other side of the room, "Sorry but I'm sweaty and I reek." He reached for a new change of clothes. "Gotta change clothes and wipe myself down."
"Hey," I asked, "May I ask you for a favor?"
"You don't have to ask me if you want to watch me." He said jokingly.
"Not that," I chuckled. "But seriously. Could you tell Jonathan everything that happened?"
"What?" He asked, his face showing how clearly frightened he is on the subject.
"Tell him what happened between you and Dani."
"Are you sure you want to hear that?" He asked and I knew why he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want me to hear something about what happened.
I nodded and said, "Look, no matter what you did in the past, I'll stand by your side. I promise."
Riley left the room and I heard him call out, "Aaron, Natalie. Start a campfire, and get dinner started."
I grabbed my crutch and made my way to the living area and prepared myself for what I was about to hear.