• “But I know people can’t tell me what I believe in is wrong! It’s in the constitution!” Xara was breathing heavily as she said all this.
    “Yeah, but...Xara, are you okay?” I asked.
    "Fine!" She snapped. "Totally fine! God, just because ive been sick you people think i cant walk up a hill! Just continue, please!"
    Xara was slowing down too. This made sense. It was a big hill. Probably just running outta steam.
    “Yeah, that’s true, but…”
    “Josh…” She mumbled.
    There was a load thump behind me.
    “Xara?” I called.
    There was no answer.
    I turned around.
    “Xara!”
    There on the path lay her crumpled body, motionless and bloody.
    “Oh no.”
    I rushed to her side and knelt down. With my fingertips I swept the dark strands of hair from her eyes.
    “Please no…”
    I put my cheek about an inch away from her mouth and watched her chest, like she had done so long ago…
    Faint breaths. Very faint. They were slow and shallow.
    “One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand…”
    Another breath.
    Okay, keep your cool. What is happening, and what can I do? I thought to myself.
    Ummm…So Katie passed out without warning. She’s breathing, but not normally. Were in the middle of a grassy hill. No cell phone bars. She’s bleeding… looks like from her arm and shoulder…and from her head? It’s so hard to tell… She needs medical attention. Fast.
    I prayed quickly, holding her hand in mine. Then, gently, I gathered her body in my arms and began to run. Her head flopped awkwardly over my arms, however, and I had to change the hold so that her head was supported to.
    I was too shocked, determined and scared to laugh at the fact she looked just like a very large baby in my arms.
    My heartbeat thumped loudly in my ears. I was gasping for air, and my legs felt like they would collapse any second. I hurt, and all I wanted was one second to rest.
    But I didn’t have one second to spare. Xara, my friend, my sister, needed help, and she needed it now. Her life might be relying on me.
    I ran faster.
    “Please be okay…” I muttered to her.
    She stayed quiet. A tear slid down my cheek as I looked back up, even more determined than before.
    “Just a little bit longer Xara…Hold on…I’m going to help you.” I told her.
    I wasn’t in control anymore. Salty drops of tears slid silently down my face in a constant stream.
    “I would kill to hear your voice right now.”
    My arms were getting tired, so I heaved her body into a position that was kinda a piggy back ride, but she was facing me. And there were no arms clinging tightly around my neck, no legs gripping around my waist…
    “Please be okay…”
    It could have been ten minutes; it could have been two hours. I didn’t know. All I wanted Katie to wake up.
    The sun continued to rise up into the sky. I was staggering. Covered in blood, sweat and tears, I laid the body carefully on the dirt path. And, unable to stand any longer, I collapsed.
    My eyes closed slowly and I slipped my hand into Xara’s.
    “I miss you so much…you don’t even seem to be here…” I told the body, gasping, and gave a little squeeze to her hand, just so she’d know I was here and wasn’t about to leave.
    Maybe it was just me, but I swore her hand tried to squeeze back.
    A bird chirped.
    And chirped again.
    And again.
    In fact, it wouldn’t shut up.
    I grabbed a rock and looked up.
    “Oh!”
    Just beyond the bird-a blue jay-at the end of a hill, there was a pay phone…a pay phone means…civilization!
    “Yes! Thank you!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. I gathered Xara’s body and ran...
    My eyes opened slowly. Next to me Xara body lay on the dirt path, just where I had left her. I sat up and looked around. We were both still in the middle of the feild.
    "It was all just a dream..."
    I fell back down on the ground and, disapointed, broke down sobbing.