Drew’s feet propelled him forward like a pair of rocket launchers. He’d never moved so fast in his entire life. One minute, Copeland stood right in front of him and the next, she was gone. He nearly overshot the edge of the cliff following her into the water below.
It was vicious and alive, a puppet on a string for Mother Nature and her temper. When he made contact, he lost his breath. The icy cold bit into his skin and he went under before surfacing.
“Copeland!” he shouted into the darkness.
“Drew!” Her voice came from his left side, sounding as though she was gagging on the water. “My leg,” she said. “I hurt my leg!”
“Hang on, I’ll find you.” Thunder boomed across the sky, another bolt of lightning followed shortly after. He counted five seconds or so, near as he could tell, that meant it was about a mile away. They had to get out of the damned water or they could both be in serious trouble.
“I'm over here."
He squinted, able to make out the silhouette of arms trying to desperately grasp on to air‑ to anything‑ as her head submerged itself.
“Hang on!” he repeated.
“Hurry,” she yelled, working harder for her words, “please.”
He swam as fast as he could, ducking his head down from the waves caused by the fury of the storm. When he reached her, she was sinking, taking in mouthfuls of water.
“Drew.”
“Turn on your back,” he directed. She did as he told her, allowing him to loop his arm across her body, securing her to him. He headed in the direction that he thought the shore was, the lightning striking relentlessly.
Damn it.
The sooner lightning came after thunder, the closer it got. His last count was three seconds. Trying to swim, pulling Copeland’s weight, counting the strikes and finding the shore was his sole reason for existing in this moment. Each time the thunder crashed, he cringed, hopeful that the lightning that followed wouldn’t touch the water.
He powered forward, ignoring the prickling numbing pain in his legs from the sub zero temperatures in the lake as the water continued its assault, tossing both of them around like rag dolls and robbing him of any sense of direction.
It felt like hours before he managed to get to water shallow enough to stand in. He hadn’t noticed until now but somewhere along the way, Copeland stopped struggling against the water and went still.
Drew wasted no time laying her on the rocky shore. “Copeland,” the sound of his own voice was foreign and desperate as he shook her shoulders. “Copeland, c’mon, talk to me.”
Nothing.
He shook her again. “Copeland.”
Still nothing.
Panic seized him, his stomach rolling and twisting into knots.
“Copeland.” Anxiously, he rested his head on her chest. Her breaths were shallow and labored but they were there.
Drew turned her head to the side, and a rush of water left her mouth.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
He turned her head back so he could face her and pinched her nose before putting his mouth on hers. He breathed into it. Once, twice, three times before her chest heaved and she started coughing violently. He turned her head again, rolling her body on her side as more water left her lungs. When she was done sputtering, spitting up the water she inhaled sharply, gasping for air.
It was only then that he let out a breath without its purpose being to save her. “Copeland.”
She sobbed.
“It’s okay,” he said. “You’re okay.”
The thunder shook the sky again and the lightning came almost instantaneously.
“Can you stand?”
She shook her head. “No,” she said weakly. “I did something to my leg.”
Drew stuck one arm beneath her legs at the back of her knees and the other behind her shoulders to hoist her up. He didn’t have a clue where they were. The ground beneath his feet was filled with rocks, jagged and sharp, not the softness of the sand near his own campsite. The water had been moving so fast, he wouldn’t be surprised if it carried them a mile, maybe more away from his campsite.
“We have to get out of here,” he said, unsure if he was speaking to her or giving himself a pep-talk.
In the moonlight, he could see cliffs. Cliffs meant there was most likely a cave nearby that could keep the sheltered from the storm. He moved as far and as fast as he could, locating an opening in the face of the rocks. He slipped through the opening, Copeland cradled in his arms. As soon as it felt like there was room to move, he knelt on the ground, setting her down as gently as he could.
He rooted around in his pocket, thankful that even in the adrenaline fuelled moment, chasing after her, he'd thought to put his shorts on. When he was camping, he always tried to have an emergency stash in his pockets that included a few protein bars and a lighter in a ziploc bag. An old trick he’d read about long ago for situations pretty much exactly like this one. It was the first, and hopefully the last time he’d ever need to utilize the books advice.
It was still there, even though the bag was soaked. Drew opened the baggie and removed the lighter, running his finger along the wheel to spark it.
As soon as the light from the fire illuminated the cave, he felt better. It was spacious.
“Can you slide further inside?”
She didn’t respond but did manage to slide her body several yards from the entrance.
He could hear her teeth knocking together over the havoc nature was wreaking outside. He fired up the lighter again, wrapping Copeland’s fingers around it and pressing her thumb on the fuel release.
“Can you hold this for me?”
She nodded.
Drew wasn’t even touching her and he could feel her vibrating, her body shaking uncontrollably. The light she held in her hand flickered and shook almost as ferociously as she did.
He framed her face in his hands moving strands of wet, icy cold hair to inspect her head and her neck.
Her face was filthy, stained with dirt from the rocks, streaks from her tears running through the muck. He checked her arms and her belly before he got to her leg. The skin was bloodied and her leg, the same one he’d first bandaged up the day he met her, was twisted in a grotesque angle.
He hardly touched it and she yelled out in pain, dropping the lighter and erasing his view. He felt around on the floor for the lighter, striking it again before bringing his free hand to her forehead.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
She chomped down on her lower lip and looked to the side, away from him.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.
He headed to the front and was able to find several small sticks and leaves to use as kindling and a pile of firewood; the kind you buy at a gas station in the summertime. Obviously they weren’t the first to discover the cave. He could seriously kiss the party-goers who had left the unused firewood behind.
He’d finished gathering it in his arms, when the thunder crashed such a deafening roar, that it vibrated his eardrums. Lightning shot from the sky in a fierce bolt, directly in front of him, illuminating the cave like it was daylight. It was the last thing he saw before rocks broke free of the cliff and covered the entrance to the cave, erasing his view just as Copeland had when she dropped the lighter.
She delivered a frantic scream. "What the hell just happened? Drew?"
He dropped the wood in his arms long enough to get his lighter. "I’m here,” he assured her.
"What happened?"
"I think the lightning hit the rocks above us. It all fell into a pile in front of the entrance."
"So we're stuck?"
The last thing he needed to do was create a state of panic on an already panicked girl so rather than directly answer her question, he muttered. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”
He rummaged around for the kindling he’d found and made a small pile, igniting it, blowing on it to power the fire with oxygen. Once it got going, He put a couple of pieces of firewood on top until it ignited into a small blaze.
Despite the heat, Copeland was still shivering so Drew lay beside her, pulling her to his body and wrapping his arms around her. The rocks provided a barrier to the noise generated by the storm so he whispered, “you scared me.”
“I thought I was going to die.”
He had thought the same thing, not that he’d admit it to her. “You’re okay,” he said instead.
“I think my leg is broken.”
“I think you might be right.”
“It hurts so bad.”
“Try not to think about it, okay?”
She nodded, turning her body over to bury her face in his chest. His own clothes were drenched, soaked down to the core but it didn’t matter to her. She continued to shudder so he ran his hands up and down her bare arm as fast as he could to try and warm her up.
“Bad things happen when I wear shoes,” she said.
“Bad things happen when you wear shoes that aren’t yours,” he corrected. “You’re okay now.”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m okay now.”
As he tucked her even more inside his arms, Drew tried not to think about the fact that if he hadn't followed her, she might not be there to hold.
His arms may have been locked around her but the same arms that made her feel secure, set free a wave of emotion following what had happened.
She tried to keep her sobbing quiet and to herself, but Drew no doubt knew anyway.
She suspected that he was the type of person that could sense the slightest change in mood. The smallest shift in the energy around them was loud and clear to someone like him. She knew because she could feel it too.
His thumb ran up and down her upper arm but he didn't say anything.
"That was so stupid."
"You're dedicated to your art," he said, "it's admirable."
"I could have died. I can't swim."
"I know," he said, "but you didn't."
"Maybe not,” she allowed “but I’m shaken, rattled and stuck in a cave in a turn of events that is so utterly cliché it belongs in a movie.” She brought her hand up to swipe away another tear. "My camera. It's gone."
"It's just a camera," he said softly.
"It keeps my memories," she replied.
“Memories are kept here, he touched her temple, "and the really good ones live on forever here." He rested his hand on her chest directly above her heart.
More tears escaped. Maybe because she was scared and tired, but mostly because he was right.
"Don't cry," he said. "I promise you that there are so many things more important than your camera."
“My leg is broken.” She knew she’d said this several times already but it the entire situation was so surreal, perhaps repeating the details would help it sink in.
“I know,” he said.
“I’m scared.”
“I know.”
“Are you?”
“No,” he said. “We’re okay.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Yes,” he said, “I do. Try to sleep, okay?”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For saving my life.”
***
It was hard to tell if it was even morning given that everything was black. The ambers of the fire continued to flicker on, clinging on to the life they had had in the form of the fire.
Drew slept soundly beside her.
She owed him everything.
She was still pressed up against him, unable to see very well but she was certain that his eyes opened because soft lips pressed against her forehead. "Morning," he whispered.
"Good morning.”
He rolled over, making the sound as if he were stretching before rising to his feet and throwing another small log on the fire so it restarted again. Kneeling beside her, he touched her arm.
“Will you be okay here?” he asked. “I’m going to try and move the rocks so we can get out of here.”
That sounded like the best idea she’d ever heard and she nodded excitedly. “Yes, please. I want to leave.”
She couldn’t help but think that this entire situation would be movie magic. Getting stuck in a cave. Really? Were they Swiss Family Robinson? She watched Drew peel off his shirt which was still considerably damp‑she knew‑waking with her face stuck to it. She couldn’t blame him. The fire heated the small space wonderfully and although it didn’t allow for them to be completely dry, she was warmer.
He picked up a few of the pieces of rock, moving them behind him in a pile. As he continued his task, the pile behind him grew bigger and bigger, while the one in front of him seemed unchanging.
This continued for at least an hour and aside from a few cracks of light peeking through, he’d made little progress.
He stepped back, inspecting his work and swiping his shirt to his forehead. “It’s like rubble from an earthquake,” he remarked.
“Why don’t you sit down for a few minute, take a break for a while?” she suggested.
Drew did, flopping down on the ground and sitting cross-legged. He reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a protein bar. The ink on the wrapper was a blotchy mess but he opened it, inspected it and it was fine. He broke the bar in half, offering one to Copeland.
“Lighters and protein bars?”
Drew shrugged. “Emergency camping kit. Always carry a lighter in a Ziploc bag. You never know when you’ll need it. I also happen to like food so I bring protein bars everywhere.”
Copeland nearly devoured her piece. “I’m glad you do,” she said.
Silence stretched out, filling the space along with heat from the fire before Copeland blurted out, “are you mad at me?”
Drew regarded her with an expression that was shocked and curious at the same time. “What? No. Why?”
“It’s my fault we’re here,” she said. “I should have listened to you.”
“I never listen to anybody either,” he said. “And there is no one I’d rather be stuck in a cave with.”
“I can’t believe I lost my camera.”
“You still thinking about that thing?”
She nodded. “I’ve had it forever.”
“Forever is a long time,” he said. “How’s the leg?”
Before she could answer, Drew scooted to where she was, rolling up the fabric of her pyjama pants. She fought her gag reflex and looked away.
Her leg was at least three times it’s regular size, ballooning into an nearly unrecognizable limb. A huge, crescent-shaped gash started at her knee cap and wrapped around her leg.
Drew’s gentle touch prompted tears of absolute pain. She didn’t need x-ray vision to know she’d really done a number on herself when she fell.
He shook his head and mumbled, “we need to get out of here. This is going to get infected.”
After their lunch of the half protein bar, Drew went back to work trying to remove the rocks. For every one he took, three remained. He was right, it was like digging through rubble in a horrible earthquake zone. Less of a storm and more of a tsunami.
“Do you think we’ll get out of here?” Copeland asked watching him.
Drew looked back, for the first time looking less than confident. “I hope so.”