Saving Carter

Chapter 17 - Promise

So…I gots nothing to say so yeah

I’m still picturing the Boston accents.

I’m going mad

 

“School starts tomorrow and it’s our last year in school” she said, sobering up suddenly which only made Carter feel nervous. Lately she’d been reminding him that they had one year left in school. He had been planning to go to a University in the country and he thought Sarah wanted to do that as well.

“So? Aren’t we going to the same University? Or at least Universities that are close to each other” he was feeling increasingly anxious to hear her answer. Especially since she had gone silent. “Sarah?”

“I’m going to Africa” she mumbled. He was barely able to make out her words. He felt something he had never really felt before. Heart break.

“What?” he said, standing up. “Africa? You’re going to Africa? Why?” he asked, feeling furious. Sarah whimpered and he felt his expression soften slightly, he knew he was scaring her but that wasn’t the issue at the moment.

“My grandparents live in Johannesburg and I’m going to live with them and study at the University there. They have a really good Science program. I can’t miss out on that” she said, her voice shaky, he noticed she was close to tears so he took her small hand in his but that wasn’t enough to calm him down.

“We’re leaving” he ground out, pulling her towards the area where he had parked his silver sports car. He heard her soft sobs and wished he could find a way to comfort her.

“Why Africa?” Why not somewhere else?” he asked, clutching onto the steering wheel. He knew he probably shouldn’t be driving in his state but he had to get Sarah home. He needed to think.

“Can you please think for a moment?! This would be a great opportunity for me! I don’t want to do this. I have to do this! For us! Because I love you!” she yelled. He turned to look at her.

“We can still talk on the phone right?” he asked.   

“No phone service there” she answered in a slightly detached voice. He turned to look at her once more and accidentally lost control of the car and they collided with a pole. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, Sarah’s screaming and he was trying to get control of the car and the next thing he knew when he turned to make sure Sarah was alright, she was unconscious.

“Sarah?” he asked in a barely audible voice. She didn’t respond, his breath hitched and he reached across to feel her pulse, it was barely there. Soon enough the ambulance came, they were going to carry him and Sarah and separate cars but after he fought against it, they were put in the same car. The doctor inspected him while he was at the back of the truck.

They said he had a slight concussion but it’ll ware off after a few days but they had to wait till they reached the hospital to inspect Sarah.

The ride seemed to last forever and so was the wait as he stood outside her hospital room. All he could do was hope she was okay. Soon enough a doctor came out with a grave expression on his face which only made Carter’s anxiety worsen.

“She had a lot of internal and external injuries and she suffered trauma to the head but she suffered a lot of brain damage. She’s in a coma, but we called her family and they told us to go ahead and pull the plug” the doctor said in a smooth voice. “We’re sorry but she died.”

Carter jolted awake, lately he had been having that same dream every night. He looked up at the picture of Sarah on his dressing table and sighed. She didn’t deserve to die.

He turned the light on to his room and lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. How could he tell Lucky how he was developing feelings for her if he still felt grief over Sarah’s death?

He knew he had to fix things with Lucky and find out what had upset her so much yesterday but he had no idea how to go about it.

“Lucky!” Carter hissed, throwing pebbles at her bedroom window. He was standing outside her bedroom, on the balcony. On impulse, he came over to the house but five bruises later from climbing up onto the balcony; he was beginning to regret it. It was harder to climb considering he was carrying his team jacket in the other hand.

He sighed in relief when she finally stirred and got up and looked out on the balcony. He gave her a small wave and smiled when she got up and opened the balcony door. Her hair was messy and her eyes were full of sleep but she still looked beautiful.

“What do you want Carter?” she snapped. He was glad it was dark so she couldn’t see the hurt expression on his face but sadly she turned on the lights to the balcony.

“I need to talk to you” he said softly. She hadn’t spoken to him in two days and he hadn’t realized how much he missed her company until that moment.

“About what?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. He sighed and leaned against the banister, he didn’t know exactly what he wanted to say, he just wanted to see her.

“Why weren’t you talking to me?” he asked, cringing at how desperate his voice sounded.

“I’ve been busy” she said with a shrug but he could detect the lie in her voice.

“Be honest Lucky” he pleaded.

“Can you please just go away? Danny is in the room next door and if he sees you here, he’ll flip” she whisper yelled. “Just go talk to Sarah or something.”

“I can’t” Carter snapped at her. He felt guilty for snapping but she hit a touchy subject.

“Why?” Lucky retorted.

“She’s dead. Sarah died two months ago” he said, sobering up, feeling grief now. He felt his heart lurch at how Lucky’s eyes filled with tears as he tried to hold back tears of his own.

“Your girlfriend died?” she asked, her voice shaky. He looked down at his hands and nodded. “How?”

“I lost control of the car and crashed into a pole. I came out with a few scratches and she hit her head and she went into a coma and her parents gave permission to pull the plug because leaving someone in a vegetated state isn’t really a good thing to do I guess” he said with a humourless chuckle as he felt tears threatening to spill. “Then I guess I was moping around too much so my parents send me here to live with my uncle. They were probably glad to get rid of me.”

“And that will explain why I was so moody when I first got here. I didn’t want new friends so I just tried to push everyone away because I was depressed” he continued.

“I’m sorry Carter” Lucky muttered after a while. He took her hand in his and placed one finger under her chin for her to look straight at him. He felt vulnerable in that moment but he couldn’t find himself to care how vulnerable he looked.

“Promise me you’ll never leave me” he pleaded, looking straight into her watery brown eyes, he felt a slight panic when she didn’t answer right away. “Promise me.”

“I promise” she said, he smiled at her and pulled her in for a hug. Now the next step was to tell her how he really felt.

This was my favorite chapter to write so far because Lucarter.