Let Me Hold You //Apply Fic//

//chapter .11//

Avery dragged Kai along behind him, feet pounding on the white tiles of the hallways. Their pace was considerably slower than he would have liked, but he didn't want to force Kai to go faster than she was right now.

His breathing was already catching in his lungs when the turned another corner and saw Corben against the wall, legs bent upward, arms draped over his knees.

Aver came to a stop, his shoes squeaking and scuffing in complaint to the sudden lack of motion. Kai stood beside him, panting, hands on her knees, and a twinge of guilt shot through him. Then his attention turned to the boy in front of them.

Corben looked like a wreck. His hair was chased into points and curves, flopping in senseless directions, such a contrast to the order its white strands usually held. His eyes are swollen and red, and his cheeks were a blotchy pink. And his lips were a mess, flecks of chappedness and spots nibbled raw and-

Avery flushed hot, and not just from the run. He shouldn't be staring at Corben's lips, even if they were just the right shade of pink, almost like a rose. He shook his head, fast, chasing away those disorienting thoughts.

Kai finally looked up, and her soft face creased into something of sympathy, and, Avery noticed, just a hint of pity. "Oh, you poor dear! Whatever is the matter?"

Corben scowled at the two of them, and the look paired with the slightly unhinged aspect to his appearance made fear grip at Avery's chest. The look wavered, then dropped into one of sullen emptiness. "Maylea almost drowned," he said slowly, as if the words weighed down his tongue and it was a struggle to get them out.

Avery drew in a sharp breath, and Kai gasped, her hands covering her mouth. Corben exhaled a long, thin breath, chasing his fingers through his hair again, leaving it swept back in such a way that Avery was finding it hard not to stay fixated on it, on the slight yet telling motions that Corben was pushing himself through.

"She's ok."

How did these words seem to be more sorrowful than the last? Why did it seem like her being ok was somehow more of a tragedy than her drowning? Apprehension quivered in Kai, but he tucked it away. He would have time to examine all of these strange feelings later.

Kai stepped forward and knelt in front of the older teen. "Well," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's terrible that something like that happened to Maylea, but I'm guessing from your still damp hair that you're your one who saved her?"

Corben had flinched at her touch at first, but now he seemed to be softening, closing his eyes. "She's ok," he whispered again, but these words were filled with awe and exhaustion. "She's ok."

Kai took one of his hands in both of hers. "You should probably check on her," she said, then made a face and flipped his hand over, revealing red smeared across the palm of his hand. "Oh hun."

Avery stiffened at the sight of blood, and took a step back, instinctively. It honestly could have come from anywhere in his hand, but his entire palm had a reddish tint to it, so he couldn't tell where the actual wound was.

Corben snatched his hand back. "I'm fine," he snapped, cradling his hand to his chest for a moment, then dropping it. "I just got a couple cuts from the glass."

Kai knitted her eyebrows together, frowning at him. "Glass? What on earth were you doing today, Corben?"

Corben ran his fingers through his hair again, and this time, Avery realized that the tips of his white hair was a faintest pink-from the blood on Corden's hand. Bile rose in his throat, and he had to turn away.

"I told you, Maylea almost drowned. A glass box- it, it was filling with water and I couldn't stop it and she kept screaming and I couldn't think and I don't even remember what I found but it cracked and there was glass and water and Maylea and-"