Saving Carter

Chapter 1 - New beginning

Picture of Nick >>>>>>

Going to school was hard. Cater knew all he would receive is pity he didn’t want. There was a large picture of Sarah next to the trophy case. She was athletic. She was a runner and she was on the drill team and everyone loved her. She didn’t deserve to die. People had written different stuff about her or left flowers and other stuff by the picture. Carter could only stare at the picture with a scowl on his face. His eyes had been red rimmed so he was wearing a pair of shades.

He sighed and a muscle in his jaw ticked as memories of Sarah ran through his mind. A few students had passed by him but they didn’t say anything, but he felt their stares. He closed his eyes tightly and walked away.

That’s how it was for the next two weeks. He had barely said a word to anyone and his parents didn’t know what to say to make it better. He wasn’t as chatty as he used to be but he couldn’t do anything about it. The damage was done. She was gone and it was his fault.

He stared at the ceiling in his bedroom. There were a whole bunch of pictures of him and Sarah up on the ceiling. He heard a light knock on the door, he grunted and both his parents walked in.

“Carter, I know this has been hard on you and we need you to recover so we’re sending you to live with your uncle” his dad said, saying each word cautiously.

“What? Why?” Carter asked, feeling his temper rising.

“Because we figured that you need to be somewhere else for the time being” his mother said, putting a hand on his shoulder. He was feeling abandoned, as if his parents were sending him away so they could have their lives back without having to worry about him.

“Okay” he breathed out, feeling hurt.

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Carter looked around the airport in the airport for his Uncle Sid but he was nowhere in sight. His parents seemed a bit too excited to send him away. He knew it was probably good for him. A new school and basically a new start where nobody knew about Sarah was probably good for him although he planned to avoid girls. He didn’t want to fall for someone and then be let down.

“Carter!” he heard someone exclaim happily. He turned around to see his Uncle who looked to be in his thirties. He looked just like Carter’s father which was natural since they were brothers after all. Same light sandy brown hair and deep blue eyes. Carter on the other hand had gotten more of his mother’s jeans and he had jet black hair which he kept short and brown eyes. He liked to believe he was rather muscular and he was rather tall, just like his father.

“Hey” Carter said, giving his uncle a small, fake smile. Uncle Sid was probably his favourite relative at the moment but he hadn’t cracked a real smile since the accident unless he was smiling at a memory of Sarah.

“You’re going to love New York” Uncle Sid said, taking Carter’s suitcase. He nodded and looked around at his surroundings. There were a lot of high buildings in New York. He followed Uncle Sid out to his car and they drove to a nice apartment.

“So this was slightly last minute but your room is ready” he said. “You like blue?” he asked. Carter nodded, not really caring about the colour of the room. The room was light blue with a huge bed and a shelf with a few books.

“I decided to let you decorate it so I kept it simple” Uncle Sid explained. Carter simply nodded and rested his bag down on the bed and took a seat. He felt Uncle Sid’s eyes on him and when he looked he was giving Carter a look of sympathy.

“I’m sorry about Sarah” he said softly.

“Thanks. Where’s the new school?” Carter asked trying to change the topic.

“It’s like ten minutes away but you could use my car if you want. The students are bound to love you” Uncle Sid said giving Carter a pat on the back. Little did his uncle know he wasn’t planning to make any friends for the time being.

“I hope so” he responded. Before he left, his best friend Jordan had been trying to get him to be himself again but he gave up soon after. Carter made the choice not to talk to anyone from his home town unless it was his family, not even Sarah’s family.

“And I have a kid who comes here every afternoon. He works for me on weekends. I called him over to meet you” Uncle Sid continued. Carter resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He didn’t want any friends, let alone forced friends. He didn’t get a chance to respond though because someone had knocked on the door. “That should be him.”

Carter followed Uncle Sid to the door and a boy who looked to be around his age was standing there. He had short brown hair which was messed up stylishly and brown eyes. His features were playful. He looked like someone who everyone liked.

“Hey Sid, I brought the stuff you wanted” the boy said, handing Uncle Sid a folder.

“Thanks Nick, this is my nephew Carter. Carter this is my right hand man, Nick” Uncle Sid said taking a step back.

“Hey” Nick said, holding his hand out for Carter to shake.

“Hi” Carter grunted out, he wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone.

“Nick can you do me a favour and show Carter around. I got stuff to do” his uncle said, looking down at the folder. Nick nodded and rested a hand on Carter’s shoulder.

“So where are you from?” Nick asked, pressing the button for the elevator.

“Miami” Carter said. Nick nodded and started whistling much to Carter’s annoyance. He didn’t generally have a short temper but anything made him tick since Sarah died. He didn’t confront Nick since he wasn’t in the mood to talk in the first place.

“So anyway, I’m just going to show you some hot spots because I have to meet my girlfriend in an hour. You’re cool with that?” Nick asked, looking down at his watch. Carter felt a pang of jealousy that Nick had a girlfriend because his had died and now he was all alone while this random idiot had a girlfriend. “Maria is going to be mad that I’ll be late.” Nick complained.

“You don’t have to show me around” Carter snapped. The elevator ride was taking longer than he expected. He didn’t mean to snap at Nick but it was the first time someone had mentioned having a girlfriend to him since Sarah and he didn’t know how much it would hurt to hear someone else was happy with their boyfriend or girlfriend.

“You okay?” Nick asked, he actually looked amused at Carter’s outburst.

“I don’t know” Carter sighed as they finally stepped out of the elevator.

“I know about what happened you know. You can talk to me” Nick told him, it was the first time he had seen Nick looking remotely serious since he met him.

“I miss her” Carter blurted out.

“I know you do. I can tell. But it’ll get better. You have me and Maria now” Nick laughed, patting his back.

“Yea I guess” Carter mumbled.

After Nick showed him around, Carter felt like he knew the area well enough to drive around and run basic errands if need be. He started school tomorrow and he felt somewhat relieved to have one person he knew even though he wasn’t interested in making friends. His only fear was Nick seemed popular and he might be forced to make more friends which was something he wasn’t ready for.

He didn’t feel ready for anything yet.

Hope you liked this chapter

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