body on the beach

who: caleb and dee
where: lakeshore
when: dawnish

True to Dee's prediction, the sun was peaking over the horizon as the elemental reached the halfway point between Presque Isle Park and her house. She wondered if Corwin (the vampire?!) had made it to shelter in time to avoid the sunrise, and somewhere under the bewilderment and the newfound wariness, she hoped that he had. Despite her misgivings, Corwin had been nice.

As she waded south, knee-deep in the welcoming water, Dee allowed her eyes to trail the shore far more reflexively than she had on the way up north. She wasn't bent on exploring terrain that she'd already gone over, after all. It was because of that inattention that she nearly missed the bloody mess ahead of her, except that she caught sight of circling gulls and wondered what they were up at arms over.

Curious, Dee began towards the object of their excitement.

The object in question wasn't quite an object. Not yet anyways. Technically, he was still alive, though that probably wasn't going to be the case for very long. Which really, had been what he'd been going for, so that worked. Some part of his mind had thought about Melia, and how he'd promised her certain things. Thus he'd sort of been on his way in the vague direction of the island. He just hadn't actually made it. He'd dropped, falling forward to the ground and while he'd made an effort to get back up? Yeah, that didn't happen. He was dimly aware of the annoyance of the seagulls squaking, but eh. It'd be over soon. In theory. He was just so exhausted. And more from just the bloodloss. He knew he was a mess, the sand beneath him was getting soaked, and he was aware he'd left a bit of a trail behind him.

As the sun cast a bloody glow over the shore, Dierdra caught sight of the crumpled mess that (at some point, anyways) had been a person. There was no mistaking what was soaking into the sand, what had trailed along behind the figure up and over the dunes. She gave a gasp and brought her hands up over her heart, a reflexive gesture that was accompanied by a frantic crashing of waves as they sought to reach up and provide the girl with some respite.

She fought the urge to turn tail and flee into the water, thoughts of vampires and cannibal mermaids and monsters and worse piling up in her mind and driving rational thought away.

Her hands fluttered uselessly for a moment and the water churned behind her, reflecting her agitation... and then Dee pulled her sopping hood back and hurried up the beach, dropping to her knees beside the mess of a human being. "Are you okay?" she asked, knowing the answer already but needing to know if he ('it' was more of a 'he'!) was conscious!

Caleb made a little incoherent sound, kind of an exhale that might have been meant to articulate something. Possibly 'fuck off'. He was drifting, and while he was aware of her there on some level, he wasn't with it enough to really be aware of her. One brown eye opened up to angle at her. He noticed hers were sort of a pale blue, and she had dark hair. Oh and he'd never seen her before. Now usually this would bother him, but he really couldn't work up the emotion to be bothered. Much like he couldn't work up the energy to tell her to just walk away. At least, not right now. Maybe she'd go away on her own. That would be nice.

Whatever Caleb's wishes, there was no way that Dee was going to go anywhere. She recognized him as the boy she'd caught sight of several times around town, on the rare occasions that she did venture out of the water and on to land. He was the sulky one with the headphones... but what on earth had happened to him?!

Had he been beaten up? Mugged? She didn't have an answer, all that she knew was that he was badly injured, but not so badly that he was unconscious, and that he needed help. Her first thought was that she needed to bring him down into the water... but that was foolish, that wasn't going to do anything.

Instead, the girl had as good a look at him as she could without touching him. Where was the blood coming from? What could she do to staunch the flow? For once she wished that she had a phone on her -- she didn't want to leave him, but she definitely couldn't handle this on her own!

It was probably difficult to judge where Caleb might be bleeding from, considering he was kind of bleeding everywhere. After a good 24 hours of looking for and finding trouble, the kid could barely move, and that was taking into account the high pain tolerance. That was probably the only thing keeping him awake...he was in screaming pain but it still didn't bother him like it did everyone else. He shifted the slightest bit, and put a hand on her knee, giving a weak shove that did absolutely fuckall, particularly in light of the fact that basically all he did was smear blood on her skin, then his hand slipped in it. Fading. Things kind of dimmed for him, and he wondered if he was just passing out, or dying. "...leave..."

"You need help," she countered, chewing on her lower lip as she tried to think of what to do. She cast a frenzied glance up and down the shoreline, looking for somebody -- anybody -- else who might be able to deal with this. She remembered first aid training very hazily. You weren't allowed to administer aid if the person didn't want it, right?

Dee was at a loss. "I'm going to go find someone to help you," she told him as clearly as she could, brushing a (usually welcome) stray strand of hair out of her face. There were houses not too far from here... she'd run to the nearest one and pound on their door if she had to. Seeing the boy this hurt tugged her out of her self-induced solitude. She might not be worth saving, but she wouldn't stand to see somebody else die under her watch!

Which was unfortunately, pretty much exactly what Caleb was going for. He tried to push her again, but fell short, not having the strength to do it. "..no.." he said, and that was it. Blackness swept up and he went still. He was still breathing, but probably wouldn't be for very much longer. As he'd intended.

And now came the dilemma. Did she oblige his wishes or did she go against them and do what she thought was right? Dee struggled under the weight of the decision, and finally decided that she needed to do something. If he wanted to refuse help, he could try again when he was in his right mind to do so. Right now, he didn't seem to have enough blood to live, let alone make proper decisions!

The girl leaned over him, despite his bleeding (from everywhere! What had happened?!) and pressed her fingers carefully to his neck. Still a pulse, if a weak one. Still worrying her lip, Dee carefully rolled him to his side, positioning his head on one arm, hoping she was doing this properly.

She didn't notice what was protruding from his pocket until she began to bend his leg -- this was how the recovery position worked, right? -- and then she didn't at first realize what she'd caught sight of.

A phone!

Dee pulled at it, though she was unsuccessful the first time; his hands weren't the only ones covered in blood, now. Wiping her hand on the sides of her shorts, the girl grabbed the phone again, flipped it open, and dialed for an ambulance. This was much faster than running to a house!

As soon as the operator answered the phone, Dee gave as much information as she could -- she wasn't sure exactly how far up the beach they were, but she pointed out the landmarks as best she could in the early light.

Soon enough the phone went dead; the emergency crews had their information, and Dee felt as though she'd fulfilled her end of an unspoken obligation.

She looked longingly out across the orange-tinted waves of the lake, wanting to disappear under the surface and calm her frazzled nerves... but not yet. First she'd wait until the ambulance arrived. For now, she simply fiddled with the boy's phone, anxious and uncertain of what else to do.