The moon was nearing its zenith in the sky, when I was awaked from a sharp pain in my side. Even though it was obvious Alaina wasn’t trying to wake me, her gentle movements were enough to send ripples up and down my ribs as she eased up. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to remain still and quiet, so as to avoid waking Laulaia.
Curious about what Alaina was up to, I slowly unwound my arm from beneath Laulaia as I worked to catch my breath. Luckily, Laulaia seems to sleep almost as soundly as Shadow, and no amount of pushing or nudging on her was enough to bring her from her deep slumber.
“Steffan, up?” Seeing my movements, Alaina squatted and eased her arm beneath mine, helping me struggle up until I was standing. Smoothly sliding herself under my left shoulder after, Alaina supported me naturally, much as Laulaia has normally been doing.
“Thank you,” I told Alaina. With her help, I, hobbled towards the bushes. I didn’t want to awake again in the morning, to the same embarrassing fate as yesterday.
“Nagu, Steffan,” Alaina corrected me. “Thank you.”
“Thank me? For what,” I asked, while draining my poor aged bladder.
“Steffan puff puff puff Laulaia,” Alaina answered me, while blowing air out in three short bursts. Her eyes sparkled as she stared at me in the moonlight, almost as if she was gazing at some legendary hero.
“Puff puff?” It took a moment for my still half-asleep brain to sort out what she was talking about. “OH,” I suddenly realized. “CPR. You’re talking about when I did CPR on Laulaia. I’m no hero,” I assured her. “Anyone would’ve done that.”
“See Pee Are?” Alaina wrinkled her nose in confusion, unable to follow all my speech. I guess that’s to be expected, since we probably only know a few dozen interchangeable words between us.
Leaning my head down close to hers, I blew gently on her face three times. “Puuufff. Puuuffff. Puufff.” I figured she’d know what I meant by, “CPR,” with this.
“Aaayyyyyyaahh!!” Eyes opening wide in shock, Alaina shoved me backwards as she suddenly hopped away from me.
The last thing I saw, before a torrent of pain washed away my consciousness, was her standing frozen, mouth agape, looking as pale as a corpse.
----------------------------------------
It was still dark when I awoke to loud arguing, barking, and shouting. My side felt as if liquid fire was being crammed into my lungs with each breath I took. Forcing my eyes open, pure pandemonium was erupting all around me, in our small campsite. Laulaia was screaming something at Alaina, and waving her hands back and forth in her face. Alaina was screeching back at her, red as a beet, with her hands clenched into fists. Shadow was running back and forth between the two, barking and jumping at both.
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It was the type of hellish scene which made me almost long to return to the bliss of unconsciousness.
Moaning weakly, I tried to force myself to sit upright, but my feeble struggles were in vain. The pain was too intense, my strength was gone, and all I could do is lay and suffer. The only thing I really managed to accomplish with my feeble attempts was to catch Laulaia’s attention. Noticing I was awake, she threw her hands up in disgust at Alaina and stomped over to close the short distance between where I was laying and where they were fighting.
“Steffan nagu see pee are Alaina?!” Shouting, Laulaia sounding almost as if she was demanding something from me, while at the same time asking a question at me.
“Steffan see pee are Alaina,” Alaina yelled, storming over as well.
“Nagu!” Face red with emotion, Laulaia denied her completely.
With the pain washing down my consciousness, like the tides washing away a sand castle, I struggled to comprehend what they were shouting about. It took me several moments – while the two screamed and argued with each other relentlessly – before it finally registered that they apparently were fighting about whether I’d performed CPR on Alaina or not.
My mind couldn’t comprehend what the whole fuss was about, nor why both the girls were so emotional that it looked like they might end up coming to blows over the issue at any moment. However, I was certain that apparently this whole mess was all my fought. The moment I blew in Alaina’s face, her reaction was extreme and unexpected. Apparently, I had performed some taboo action which now had the two girls fighting with each other.
As a man, I need to take responsibility for my actions. Especially when I honestly feel like I might be dying. Since this whole fight was about whether I did, or I didn’t, I needed to stop it. It wasn’t exactly CPR which I’d performed on Alaina, and I had a sinking feeling that the girls were misinterpreting the word’s meaning completely, but since that was how Alaina conveyed my actions, I need to affirm I did them.
“I…. did…” It took all my strength to get those two little words out, and I barely whispered them, but they were still heard.
“NAGU!!” Looking completely shocked, Laulaia staggered almost as if she was going to faint. Dropping to her knees, her face looked as if her whole world had crumbled somehow.
“SHINA!!” Alaina yelled just as loudly as Laulaia. Jumping several times, she pumped her fist in the air in a show of victory.
Laulaia, face blank and unblinking, stumbled up and trodded zombie-like away. Stumbling drunkenly, she slowly made her way down towards the beach, Shadow excitedly yipping and running large circles around her.
Alaina watched her go for a moment, a strange expression of both longing and regret plainly visible across her face. Eyebrows knitted high, she looked back and forth between me and Laulaia several times, as if she was debating her next actions in her heart. Finally, shaking her head to clear it, she bounced over and knelt down to check on me.
‘What damn mayhem have I caused,’ was my last thought to myself, before the agony of my pain overcame me again.