Disclaimer: I do not own Austin & Ally.
In hindsight, I shouldn't have let Ally go out on the water by herself when I had just finished teaching her to surf. I knew it was a bad idea, and I let it happen anyway. This was my fault.
"Ally!" I leaned over her once the lifeguard had laid her down on a towel. Her leg was bleeding badly, and she was unconscious. But breathing.
A small crowd was already gathering to see what had happened, and I wanted to shout at them all to go away. But the words stuck in my throat, and all I managed to say was, "Ally, please, I need you."
"Austin, what happened?" Trish asked from my left. She sounded panicky, but I didn't look at her face.
"I...I don't know."
"There are sometimes things submerged in the water," the lifeguard said. "She probably tore her leg up on something down there and hit her head too."
"So...what can we do?" I asked and swallowed back the sob that wanted to leave me at seeing the one girl I treasured so dearly now covered in blood. Her eyes should have been open. She should have been smiling at me or telling some lame joke.
"Stop the blood flow for one. Do that. I have to call an ambulance." The lifeguard got up and left.
I shifted to sit up straighter and tugged off my t-shirt.
"What are you doing?" Dez asked just before I gave a sharp tug at the fabric and tore the shirt open.
"Stopping the blood. Come on, help," I said, tossing half of the shirt at Dez before ripping my half into strips.
I started wrapping the strips around Ally's injured leg and tying tight knots in place. "Come on, Ally," I said softly.
"Hello, Mr. Dawson," I heard Trish say. I glanced up to see her on the phone and then promptly tuned her out.
Ally was not going to die.
I wasn't going to let this become some horror picture where the girl goes into a coma and never comes out. She would never know I loved her. She would never know I wanted to take her on a date to Paris someday so I could kiss her with all my being under the Eiffel Tower. So, she had to wake up.
I took more strips from Dez. The blood had already soaked through the ones I had tied. Surely, she was losing too much blood.
"Austin," I barely heard Dez say even though he was at my shoulder. "It's going to be ok."
I swallowed and tied another strip into place. "How can you know that?" I asked and pulled back. I looked at my hands; they were covered in Ally's blood.
"Because. I do."
That wasn't a good enough answer, but I would take it.
The ambulance arrived a few minutes later along with Mr. Dawson who had driven over from Sonic Boom in a state of complete panic. I stepped aside and stood with Trish and Dez as the workers lifted Ally's limp body onto a stretcher and took her into the ambulance.
"Mr. Dawson," I called, rushing up to him before he got into the ambulance. "Can I go?"
He nodded and tugged me inside with him. Whatever happened, I would make sure I was right there beside Ally the whole time. No matter what happened next, I wasn't letting the girl I loved out of my sight.