She stands there unknowingly being watched, she truly is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Her curly blonde hair lays halfway down her back. She seems to be taking in the view, Sault Ste. Marie is always booming with color this time of year. Her house is large, it has to be at least a hundred years old. As soon as I get enough courage, I walk across the street to introduce myself.
“Uhh, hi?”
Her voice was as perfect as she was, he thought to himself.
“Hi, you must be new in town. My names Gabriel, but my friends call me Gabe for short.” I say, hoping I hadn’t made the wrong choice in coming over here.
“Carter.” She says with a wide smile on her face.
Carter’s mom walked out of the large house and took in Carter's smile. “Well you’re a keeper, that’s the first time I’ve seen her smile in a long time. Thank you. Oh, and you are?”
“Mom, this is Gabriel, but his friends call him Gabe for short, I believe he is living across the street from us, being that I just watched him walk out that door and across the street just to make sure he introduced himself to us.”
“Well, it’s truly a pleasure, why don’t you join us for dinner tonight? I’m sure Carter would love the company, instead of it just being her, my boyfriend, and I.”
“Oh you don’t have-” Carter began to say before I butted in.
“I’d love to,” I said not leaving the chance for Carter to say no.
***
“So what do you like to do for fun?” I asked her hoping we’d have something in common.
“I go to every single football game.” Carter says hoping to not look entirely dumb.
“Really? I play. I’m quarter-back” I say, hoping she’s seen me play.
“Guys, Kyle’s home!” Liann screams excitedly from the kitchen
“Oh no,” Carter whispers. “He wasn’t supposed to get here until next week… We need to leave now. Don’t ask, just come on.”
We walk to the high school in the freezing cold. This time of year it’s usually snowing, surprisingly today it isn’t.
“So,” I break the silence, neither of us have said a word since we left her house. “Who’s Kyle?”
“He’s just not a good person, okay?”
I didn’t understand at all, if he wasn’t a good person, why did her mom speak so highly of him?
“You can tell me anything Carter. I’m here for you.” I put my arm around her and we sit in silence for a few more minutes.
“I should go. Kyle will be angry if I’m not at dinner…” She gets up and walks away.
***
For the entire week I’ve spent all my free time thinking of Carter. I found out that she’s head cheerleader, except my sister Lilian hasn’t seen her in over a week so the teams considering re-voting captains. She hasn’t left her house in days… I’m starting to wonder what was going on that night when she insisted we left as soon as we found out “Kyle” was home.
It’s midnight and all I can think of is her. I know I’m nothing special to her, but I wish I was. She’s the only person I’d ever met that’s had this much of an effect on me. My room suddenly fills with flashes of red and blue, I get up to find Carter’s mom and her boyfriend handcuffed and being pushed into a police car. I quickly throw on a t-shirt and run across the street. I need to see her, I need to know she’s okay… except she isn’t.
My eyes fill with tears as I see the girl I fell in love with be pulled out of the house on a stretcher unconscious. I run to the truck and ask what is going on but they said they couldn’t tell me.
I’ve convinced my mom to bring me to the hospital and demand to let me see Carter tonight. Since my mom is a lawyer, she gets her way and I am allowed to stay as long as I want. When I get to the hospital a police officer who is on Carter’s case asks me if I knew what happened, I don’t. Officer Susana tells me that Carter has taken a bottle of 50 antidepressants and is in a coma.
“Why would she do that? She's a happy person? I’ve never seen her unhappy.” I say wiping away my tears.
“Apparently she’s been abused for the past 9 months. Kyle wasn’t a good person, he’s been arrested for abusive actions before. I’m sorry about your friend.”
***
I’ve been sitting with her for the past 24 hours and she’s barely made any improvement.
What if she dies? I haven’t gotten a chance to tell her how I feel yet... I think to myself. Suddenly she squeezes my hand and everything seems alright... She flatlines. The doctors rush in and tell me to get out, i’m frozen still. The doctors grab the defibrillator and start trying to bring her back, tears flood down my cheeks, she’s dying. Everything happening in the room goes blurry. BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…
***
It’s been a week and Carter is still in a coma. She’s shown signs of improvement, but she’s still not waking up. The doctors think it might be a while until she wakes up, until I can see her beautiful eyes again. Her nurse and social worker have officially decided that when she wakes up she will need professional mental help before she is allowed to go home. I just need her to be okay and to make it through this, I need her to know how much I love her. She will never understand how much I love her especially if she dies. 50 antidepressants and somehow, someway she's still breathing. It’s truly a miracle that she’s still laying here beside me. I haven’t known her long but she already means everything to me, my mom says it’s love at first sight .
I’d fallen asleep at 1:04am. Yesterday was filled with a lot commotion around the room, doctors in and out. This morning i woke up to a tingling feeling in my hand… Carter… She’s woken up from her coma and she was holding my hand.