Mitchie POV

My throat stung, and each breath burned. The last thing I remembered was the darkness of the water surrounding me, and then suddenly, I was on the shore, in Shane's arms as he cried and repeated my name over and over. My body reacted automatically, and I began coughing. Weakly at first, then stronger. I couldn't stop, couldn't breathe. I was vaguely aware that Shane was asking me if I was alright, and helping me up into a sitting position. Black spots appeared in my vision again, but I fought against them with everything I had. I won, but by the time it was over, I was exhausted.

"Mitchie, don't you ever scare me like that again!" Shane cried, crushing me gently to his chest. I sighed and just laid there, too tired to do anything else. Thunder rumbled not too far off, making both of us jump. Shane stood up with me still in his arms, and began heading towards the lake house.

"Shane, what are you doing?" I rasped. My throat felt raw and thick, like I had been at a screaming at a concert.

"There's a storm coming, and there's no way we'll be able to make it back to your house in time," he replied simply. I frowned. I knew he was right, but when my parents asked where we were, I would have to tell them what happened. I knew that if they knew about the lake and the house, and what happened today, they would never let me come back here. When I voiced my worries to Shane, he simply said, "So we'll sneak in through the back door of my house, then tell your parents that we were there the entire time." I frowned again, but allowed myself to be carried to the lake house anyway.

Somehow Shane managed to get the door open, even with me in his arms, and he carried me to the bathroom where we'd moved the towels. I sat on the edge of the bathtub as I dried my hair, knowing that if I stood up right now, I would probably fall; I felt so weak and unbalanced, probably due to the lack of oxygen my body got for however long I was out. After changing into some spare clothes we kept there, Shane scooped me up again and placed me on the mattress. I curled up on my side, wrapping my old baby quilt around me as I did. Shane laid down next to me, and we stared into each others eyes for a while. But something about his eyes bugged me. Throughout the entire summer, his eyes had been lit up and alive. Now they were dull, and seemed dead, like he was burning up on the inside.

"What's wrong, Shane?" I asked, lifting my hand to stroke his arm. "And don't you dare tell me nothing, because I can see it in your eyes." Shane sighed and rolled over onto his back. I propped myself up onto my elbow and stared intently at him.

"Come on, Shane. You can tell me," I prompted. Shane sat up and buried his face in his hands.

"Do you have any idea how scared I was today, Mitchie?" he asked in a quiet voice. I reached out to touch his shoulder, and he looked up. I realized he was crying, and I sat up and wrapped my arms around him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," I kept repeating.

"I thought I'd lost you," he continued, in a voice so quiet I had to strain to hear. "You have no idea how scared I was."

"Then tell me," I urged. "Get it all out."

"Mitchie, you had no pulse!" he exclaimed, his tone suddenly frustrated. It startled me, but I refused to let go of him. I knew he needed to be assured that I was alive and next to him.

"You had no pulse, and I though that you were gone. You were dead and I thought that you would never come back! You mean absolutely everything to me, Mitchie. I don't know what the hell I would do if you left me." He turned so that he could pull me up onto his lap, and I kept my arms secured around his neck.

"I'm here," I soothed him. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Later, when the rain stopped, we quickly snuck back to Shane's uncle's house, then exited through the front door after explaining everything to Shane's aunt and uncle, minus the me-drowning-and-having-no-pulse thing. My mom was waiting for us at the front door, and quickly opened the screen as she saw us walking up the pavement.

"Where have you two been?" she practically screeched in our ears. "I have been worried sick! Dylan said that he'd seen you around town, but then you disappeared."

"We're fine, mom. We were over at Shane's uncle's house, 'cause Shane wanted to leave his jacket there. We were going to come back over, but then it started thundering and lightning and raining, and his aunt and uncle told us to stay there till the rain stopped," I said, surprised at how easily the lie came out. I've never been a good liar, and it made me feel guilty that my mom seemed to believe it.

"Alright, well I'm glad that you stayed there instead of trying to come here."

"I know, mom, lightning could strike us, and we could die." I hugged her and retreated to the living room. Shane followed me, and we curled up on the couch together to watch television. Dylan was already there, but he got up and left as soon as he saw us on the couch together.

"You guys are disgusting," he teased us with a smirk. I threw a pillow at him, and he stuck out his tongue and followed my mom into the kitchen. The day's events seemed to sink in then, and I felt my eyelids drooping. I nestled my head in the crook of Shane's neck, knowing that it was pointless to try and fight the fatigue. I let myself slip into a dreamless slumber as Shane put his arm around me and pulled me closer.

When I woke up, it was dark out, and I was much too comfortable to be on the couch. Something long and warm was draped across my side, and a soft wooshing sound was coming from outside the house. Slowly, as my brain cleared a little, I realised that I was on my bed, and that it was Shane's arm that was draped across me. I heard him snoring softly, and smiled to myself. Only my mom would allow her daughter's boyfriend not only sleep over, but trust him enough to sleep in the same bed as said daughter. As sleep claimed me again, I snuggled closer to Shane and took his hand in mine.

Okay, first off, I am soooooooooooooo freakin' sorry that I haven't updated in literally over a year and a half. Second, I'm proud of you guys for waiting so patiently for a year and a half for this chapter! Especially the ones who were so impatient before. And speaking of which, I accept all of your apologies. I wan'st mad at you, per se. I was more frustrated that people seemed to think that I didn't have a life outside of fanfiction. But anyway,s I'm back, and hopfully it won't take me another year and a half to get the next chapter up. I already know what I want to heppen, but I can't seem to piece all the things together, so please bear with me.

Also, I have a few conflicts with updating. I recently got my permit (which gives you an idea of how old I am, which also means you now know why my writing sucks compared to some other authors), which means I'm attending driving school. In the summer. Fuuuuuuuuuuun. I've also been going all over the country on trips and retreats, two examples being a mission trip with my church, and a retreat with my church and another from the town over. And in three weeks or so, I'll be heading off to New Jersey, where my grandparents live, to help out some family friends who run a day care program. I can promise you that I will have my laptop with almost at all times. What I can't promise is that I'll get very far with this story. They only have dial up, and there's no WiFi in their house.

Feel free to sheck out some of my other stories that I've been a little better about updating. Or something. (Normally I don't do this, but I feel that they haven't been getting enough attention. Just kidding.)

Review please?