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Tin
I drag Can's body to the surface while I crawl in the mud, I feel spasms in my own body and helplessly, I start to vomit the water I unconsciously intaken by coughing countless times.
However, no response comes from Can, his body is cold and white...I didn't even realized how small he is until now.
I slapped him, hit his face...nothing. Can continues with his eyes closed.
"Can! Can!" I cry desperately and look around, it is still too early for someone to be around here.
"Can! Come on idiot! wake up!" Another slap, it is useless...he still didn't answer.
The seconds seem like an eternity and I begin to despair.
I take his wrist trying to find his pulse, but I can't feel it or maybe my fingers are so cold that I can't feel it anymore.
There is no choice.
I place my hands on his chest, squeezing his sternum and start to press hard. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10..." I pressed it 30 times quickly and hard, when I finished and move closer to his nose, no breath.
With my hands, I press his nose and joint my mouth to his, proceeding to give mouth to mouth resuscitation, one per second.
I pulled away, pressed his chest again with same number of times and take his mouth again to pass oxygen.
I do not see changes, I do not see answers, Can does not wake up, before I begins to fall into complete despair, I decide to continue with CPR.
I keep pressing his sternum with greater speed as I bend down to pass oxygen again, this time I do not stop, I do it for a considerable amount of time, although all this seems like an eternity. I exhale more forcefully and at that moment I see Can open his eyes suddenly.
I turn away and he starts vomiting water, I helped him up as he keeps flushing the water out of his system without being able to measure it. He just coughs excessively, his body trembling, it is still cold so I approach to hug him, giving him some warmth, which is quite difficult to achieve with my body also frozen.
"T...Tin..." He stutters, his teeth grinding.
"Quiet, I'll call someone." I tell him, trying to comfort him, then I remember that my cell phone fell with me into the lake, this can't be!
"Can you get up?" I ask taking his face but he can hardly speak and his gaze seems lost. I picked him up, his body relatively smaller than mine, he hardly weighs anything so I decide to carry him on top.
I try to run, although, I easily get agitated and find it too difficult to keep up, it's only a few minutes and the economy cabins are closer.
I run with his body on top of mine, he does not make any noise, maybe he fainted again, I should check him but I no longer feel my legs and the oxygen I inhale is not enough.
I see a light in the distance and a couple of people, I try to scream but I don't have the strength to do that right now.
I fall to my knees with Can still on me, my vision becoming cloudy and then everything goes dark.
***
"Is it just a little fever?" I hear someone say, I think it's Pete who's talking...I have little strength to open my eyes.
"Yes, by tomorrow he will be fine, don't worry, it was just a scare. That's why they shouldn't play in the lake so early." Says another voice that I can't recognize.
"What about Can?" My eyes make a great effort to open when I hear his name. I make a noise in my throat that caught the attention of Pete and a doctor.
"Tin!" Pete says while approaching me.
"Dizziness is normal, as are nausea and fever. I recommend that you rest for this day, tomorrow you will feel much better. I have provided you with necessary medications along with a prescription that you must follow to the letter." Says the doctor.
"Can..." I whisper with little force but Pete looks at me in a strange way, I immediately know something is not right.
"The called student does not correspond to our service, we could only attend him urgently like applying the basics to stabilize him, however, he will have to call another doctor to be treated in a better measure." That doctor says, which means that he is only hired to serve people like Pete and me, but not low-level people like Can, my blood boils and I feel intense dizziness wash over me, I try to control myself or else, I'll pass out again.
"I'll pay for the service if necessary!" Pete says, pleading to that fourth-grade doctor, just like I would expect of him and his kindness.
"Child, things don't work like that, there are papers, documents that must be filled out in advance."
"Please I beg you!" My friend says again, I try to object to something but no voice comes out of my mouth. "I will pay! I will pay whatever is necessary!"
The doctor looks at us both, he have no way out, he knows who we are and what we can do if he does not comply with what we ask for, so without any other remedy, he decided to treat Can with the same care as me.
My eyes ask to close again, although I refuse inside, I don't want to sleep, I want to make sure Can's okay, that nothing bad will happen to him.
However, I feel my efforts to stay awake totally useless, the dream welcomes me against my will and again everything turns black...again.
***
I wake up again when I hear noises coming from outside, I'm still in the cabin. I look out the window and see that the sky is already dark, it is already night, seems like I slept all day.
Suddenly, his pale face and closed eyes come back to my mind.
"Can." I say out loud as I get out of bed and hold onto the furniture, I no longer have a fever, but I feel a bit nauseous when moving quickly.
I compose myself but I don't see Pete anywhere. I went to his room and saw Can in his bed, asleep like a child. Beside him is a drip connected to his right arm.
He looks better than what he looks like when I took him out of the water, there is color in his skin and his lips are no longer white, he also seems to breathe normally again.
"Silly child, look what you caused..." I whispered in the dark.
I caressed his cheek, it's still hot. I touch his hair, it's soft.
I take my hand away when I realize that I am touching him too much, that I am beginning to break the rule that I must not touch anybody.
I must leave him, get away from him. Can is already well and will be well, I no longer have to worry. I...I don't have to be here. I should not, but I want, I want...to be here and accompany him.
I lie down next to him, the bed is big so we both fit in it. I settle in such a way that I can't wake him up but close enough to feel his warmth.
As if sleeping all day was not enough, the peace that this moment with Can holds made my body accompany him in deep sleep, again.
***
Can
Everything is so warm, the sheets are so soft and I feel a body attached to mine. I think the body's hugging me...it must be mom. I want to keep sleeping, I don't want to wake up, it's so nice here...at the camp...
I'm in camp. I instantly open my eyes and focus on my left.
Okay. This is not my house and that is not my mom.
I stared at him for a long time, what the hell is going on here? Why am I sleeping with Tin in the same bed and above all else WHY IS HE HUGGING ME?
Calm down Can, calm down. This must be one of those dreams where you think you are awake but actually you are not...yes, that explains why I'm in this position and how Tin is here because this wouldn't make sense in real life.
Yes, I am such a genius.
Well, if this is just a dream, what can I do?
I move a little and something pricks my arm...a needle, I have a needle with a probe in my arm...why is there a needle in my arm?
"What a strange dream..." I murmured and Tin moves on the bed, clinging more to me like an octopus with his arms over my body.
"What a super weird dream, okay, I think it's time to wake up..."
I try to push Tin away but he's too attached to me, it's useless.
"WAKE UP!!" I screamed loudly that made the Tin of the dream woke up and falls from the bed, scared.
However, I can't wake up, everything remains the same, and the needle is still in my arm.
"How weird, I thought it would work..."
"What's wrong?" Woah, even the Tin in the dream can speak.
"Do you know how to wake up? I have to do many things with my friends today but I can not wake up."
The Tin of my dream looks at me puzzled, he doesn't seem to understand what I am saying...does this mean that I'm smarter than Tin in this dream?
Then a smile appears on his face, the Tin of my dreams smiles...
"It seems that you are well, you are already acting like yourself." He says, too softly for what I'm used to. I'm about to tell him something about his weird attitude but at that moment my friends appeared in the room.
"Can!" Everyone shouts, even my sister pounced on me, leaving me almost breathless.
"Moron! You had us very scared!" Lemon says.
"I've even brought them to this world..." I whispered and my sister moves away and looks at me strangely.
"Does anyone know how I can get back to reality? It's not that I don't like this at all, but I want to go out and play..."
They all fall silent and just looked at me.
"I think he was more of an idiot than before." Whispers Pond.
"Yes, we have to call the doctor again." Ae answers.
"Hey..." I tell them but no one paid attention to my question.
"Does anyone have the emergency number?" Asked my sister.
"I have one," Says Pete.
"Isn't it better that we call a neurologist?" Says Pond.
"Maybe a Traumatologist..." Techno replied.
Everyone starts whispering around me but nobody pays attention to me. It is as if I did not exist in my own dream...perhaps I have become invisible.
I looked at Tin and he still stares at me...I'm not invisible then, he's the only one who doesn't take his eyes off me.
The weird thing is, the Tin of this world does not throw me to the ground, nor does it insult me...this Tin smiles at me...this Tin...I like him better.
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