Children of Dawn

Jinxx’s POV
I was climbing up some rocks about a hundred feet from where Ashley and I were camping. I was searching for some deeper water where the flow wasn’t as fast so I could break through the sheet of ice and fish for a little bit. Not only that but Ashley was being bitchier than he normally was. All he was doing was complaining about the cold making his ankle hurt more, and he didn’t like the fact that I wouldn’t talk to him. After I fixed his ankle I had stopped talking to him, I needed to think, and I needed him to leave me alone. I figured that if I pretended he didn’t exist he’d probably get bored with me eventually and leave. I wanted him gone. He was nothing but a whiny burden that I had to deal with. I clamoured up to the top of the rock pile and looked down. About twenty feet below was a frozen area of water that I could tell had only a gentle current under it. I could probably manage to fish there.
“Dude why won’t you listen to me!” I heard a voice come from behind me. I set my jaw. It was Ashley coming to whine some more. I looked down at the water and pretended like I didn’t hear him. I could hear him panting and struggling to climb up the slick rocks. The idiot wasn’t in the best of shape. I kept my back to him, I needed to find some way to break the ice without going out on it, it probably wasn’t going to take my weight.
“Come on man I’m trying to plan how to get us out of here, I need to know if you’re going to help me or not,” Ashley panted from a few feet behind me. I could live here quite happily on my own for some time. He could leave if he wanted. I needed to make a fishing rod. I turned and started to walk past him so that I could go back to our camp. As I passed by him I did not so much as look in his direction. As far as I was concerned, he was not there. We thumped shoulders as we passed and I thought that was going to be it. He’d shown absolutely no aggression towards me in the past, so I had no reason to believe that he would then. I was surprised when I felt him grab me by my jacket and pull me around so I was facing him.
“Listen here asshat. I’m trying to survive and not get caught by the cops and I need you to help me out! Okay I still can’t walk right and I need to move, the police could be here looking for us at any minute!” He said grabbing my shoulder so hard that it actually hurt. I smacked his hand away and gave him the best death glare I could manage. I didn’t want him touching me. I started to walk by him again, but he grabbed me by the back of the shirt and pulled me back so hard that I ended up on my back on the rocks. I sprung up off the ground and my vision started to get dark around the edges. I went at Ashley and shoved him backwards as hard as I could. He stumbled back and I saw his face set with rage. He came at me but he still couldn’t stand quite right because of his hurt ankle. I was ready for him. We grappled, but he was stronger than me. He started pushing me backwards I wasn’t thinking, I wasn’t about to let this little jerk push me over. I knew he was on his right side so I planted my feet and pulled him over to the right. I didn’t realize how close we were to the edge of the rocks. His hands slipped from my shoulders and he fell straight down.
I watched him slip over the rocks but there was nothing I could do to stop him. He plummeted straight down to the ice. The ice cracked and he disappeared under the dark water. I felt my stomach sink to my gut in despair and then panic bubbled up in my chest. I hadn’t meant to hurt him I just wanted him to leave me alone. I scrambled down the rocks almost tripping as I went. I stood at the edge of the water waiting to see if Ashley reemerged through the ice. He never came through.
“Ashley!” I screamed. I didn’t want him to die. I ran to the edge of the water and I was about to run out onto the ice to try to find him when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Down where the little pond area turned back into a river I saw a flash of black. I turned to look just in time to see Ashley’s head disappear under the water. I sprinted in his direction.
“Ashley!” I yelled again as I saw him float up unmoving in the water. I ran along the bank, trying to catch up with him, but the water was flowing very fast. I was never going to catch him and then suddenly he got caught on a rock. His head went under. I plunged out into the water. Feeling my feet go numb right away at the cold. I stumbled out after him as the water got higher it came to my hips, my stomach, and then the middle of my chest and I started swimming, the swirling water threatened to sweep me away and drown me as well. I could see Ashley’s hand floating above the water. I got to it and pulled his arm over my shoulder so that I was carrying him on my back. I knew his head was above the water but I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. I started back towards shore. Swimming as fast and as hard as I could. Finally my feet touched the bottom and I was able to stand. Somehow I managed to carry him all the way to shore. I laid him on the ground and looked at him, his lips were blue and I couldn’t tell if it was from cold, lack of oxygen, or both. I put my ear against his chest, I could hear his heart beating but the steady whoosh of air entering his lungs wasn’t there. I pushed upwards hard onto his stomach.
“Come on Ashley! Breathe!” I yelled. I hit him as hard as I could, driving my fist up under his ribs and suddenly he coughed. I turned him over onto his side and watched as he coughed up more water than I thought possible. Then he stilled. I rolled him onto his back again put my ear to his chest, I heard the steady, quick, thumps of his heart and the rush of air entering his lungs. I shivered hard. I had to get both of us warm before we managed to die of hypothermia. I grabbed him under his arms and started dragging him back towards the shelter where the fire was burning low. As I pulled him I saw that his left leg seemed to be dragging along at a funny angle, I couldn’t think about that right then though, getting him warm was more important. He was still fully unconscious as I pulled him into the shelter. It was weird but I had to get his clothes off. He was going to freeze to death if I didn’t.
My hands were numb so I threw a few more sticks on the fire and held my hands there until I began to feel them again. Then I turned to Ashley. It was so cold that I could feel his clothes starting to freeze to him. I pulled his coat, jacket, and shirt off. His skin was cold to my touch.That was a bad sign, but at least he was still breathing. I didn’t want to but I pulled off his jeans and boxers. His left hip was bruising and swollen and as I looked him over his collarbone seemed to dip in a weird spot. I kneeled over him and pushed the bone until it popped back and looked straight I would put him in a sling once he got warm. As far as his leg, there was nothing I could do about it but straighten it. He was going to be in a lot of pain when he woke up. I flinched and felt a surge of guilt and self hatred pulse through my chest. He would have been so much better off if I was just dead. I shook my head and pushed the thought away. I pulled one of the blankets from our bag and wrapped him up in it, pulling him a little closer to the fire.
Then I undressed myself and put on clean warm clothes and wrapped up in a blanket as well. I huddled close to the fire, watching Ashley closely for any sign that he was waking up. Slowly his lips faded from blue back to their usual pink color. Then a few minutes after that he stirred, his brow furrowed in his sleep and he groaned. When he tried to move his eye shot open and he let out a cry of pain. I looked away, feeling more and more awful by the second.
“What did you do to me?” He yelled. His voice trailed off in a gasp of pain. I looked away, unable to form any words. Guilt settled in my gut as I shivered next to him. He tried to sit up but his efforts resulted only in another harsh cry of pain. I heard him collapse back into the gravel cursing loudly. I didn’t move.
“Dude you gotta get help my leg is broken, please it’s bad,” he begged. I glanced over for just a second, long enough to see tears streaming down his face. I couldn’t take him to a doctor. A doctor would turn us both in. I shook my head. We were silent for a moment, the only sound was the crackle of the flower and Ashley’s labored breathing.
“Did you take my clothes off?” Ashley said after the long silence. I nodded.
“You fucking pervert,” Ashley spat.
“You were gonna freeze to death if I didn’t,” I said. Ashley stared at me from across the fire, tears rolling down his pale cheeks.
“You should have just let me die,”

Notes

Things are going to get more intense as the next few chapters come out. Sorry if there's some typos in this one, I was talking to my roommates while I was writing this. Anyway comment for me and let me know what you thought, I really appreciate it! Love you guys.