Chapter 12 - Creating A Monster.

"Carson! Carson wake up!"

The girl gasped for air, shooting up and nearly banging her head against someone else's.

"Holy shit! Are you ok?"

Carson tried to speak, but as soon as she opened her mouth she started coughing, and she placed a hand on her stomach as she rolled to the side.

"Woah, easy, girl. Easy–"

"I'm not a dog, Elliot. Stop treating me like one," the girl snapped, not taking her eyes off the floor.

Caleb and Elliot looked at each other, both slightly shocked by the blonde's behaviour.

"H-how are you feeling?" Caleb asked, his voice soft, almost as if the older girl might run away if he spoke any louder.

Carson turned her head towards the boy she'd grown close to, locking her eyes with his. That's when Caleb noticed it. The usual fire burning in her golden orbs had completely faded, replaced with a grey veil of little to no emotions. They almost looked... dead.

The girl had been out for nearly an hour. She just stood still most of the time, her body wrapped in a blanket and placed by the fire, completely motionless. Her skin was pale, he could barely see her chest rising as she breathed. After a while of Caleb looking over her, she had suddenly started screaming, thrashing around in her sleep. Elliot had been in another room with Bradley, but he was by Caleb's side as soon as he heard the screaming.

Carson just looked at him, not knowing what to say. She just kept thinking about the dream

–well, memory– she'd had. She hadn't thought about that day in years. That day, she'd lost the most important person in her life. What had happened to Bradley had reminded her so much of–

Bradley.

The girl's eyes snapped back and forth between the boy and the man before scanning the room. He wasn't there.

"Where is he," she asked, her voice so light she thought the two hadn't heard her.

"He's ok. He's still asleep," Elliot answered, looking at the girl, wondering why she was so concerned with his son. That was his job. He was their father, she was just a silly little girl that had come along to do his dirty work for him. But then again, he felt like he was her father too.

"C–can I see him?" Her voice was trembling, the cold making it's way into her bones once again.

"Carson?"

The girl's head snapped towards the voice, and she was on her feet in a second, her arms around Bradley's neck as he pulled her close.

"Oh my god," she whispered, not knowing what else to say as her eyes filled with tears.

"It's ok. You're ok," the boy whispered to her, trying to calm her down.

The two pulled away form each other, brown meeting gold as they smiled in relief.

But Bradley noticed the same thing his brother had. The fire that was always in her golden orbs was gone, replaced by the tears she was trying so hard not to let out. The two turned back to Elliot and Caleb, and Carson walked towards the kid as he stood up from the floor. She hugged the young boy tightly.

"Thanks for staying with me," she told him as she pulled away and ruffled his hair.

The boy grinned, flattening his hair back down as Carson picked her blanket off the floor, wrapping it around herself before she sat on a chair.

Bradley copied her actions, taking a seat next to her.

They were all quiet for a moment before Elliot broke the silence.

"I fucked up."

The three teens turned to look at him, and Carson almost got scared of the look in his eyes. He looked almost crazy, as if the mask of sanity he'd been wearing for years had completely crumbled to the floor.

"I fucked up," he said again, tears brimming his eyes.

"It's ok," Caleb said, trying to make his father feel better. "We're having fun."

Carson nearly snorted at that. She knew Caleb just wanted to make Elliot feel better, but the lie in his words would be obvious to a pinecone.

Elliot laughed though. But it wasn't his normal laugh. It was a laugh that showed how much he was trying to get himself together. He looked at Bradley and Carson, wrapped up in blankets and huddled next to each other, looking at him.

"I thought I was gonna lose you," he said, sadness filling his eyes. "I thought I was gonna lose you."

And then he broke.

Elliot started crying, bending down and tightening the grip on the blue blanket around him.

The teens glanced at each other, worried, and, partially, completely terrified of what was happening to the man in front of them.

"D–dad, it's ok..." Caleb tried to comfort him, but it didn't really do much.

Carson was petrified. She'd never seen Elliot like this. She never thought she would. But while the boys could only see their father crying, the girl could see right through his tears. He was going insane. He was turning into someone she knew. Or, rather, someone she used to know. And this scared her. It scared her to death. Without realising it, she slipped her arm from under her blanket and under Bradley's, grabbing his hand.

The boy glanced at the blanket, feeling Carson's hand in his underneath the layers. He gave it a light, reassuring squeeze, trying to make her feel like she was going to be ok. But he was just as scared as she was.

"Dad..." Bradley said, not knowing what else to do.

Elliot didn't even look at him. He simply got up, grunting, and slowly and heavily headed towards the window. He placed his head on the glass, and kept sobbing.

"Dad..." Caleb said, slowly getting up and taking a few steps towards the man. Caleb placed his hand on his shoulder, trying to get Elliot's attention, but Elliot just kept his forehead pressed to the icy glass, his eyes closed.

Carson couldn't take it anymore, so she moved the blanket away from her body, slipping her hand out of Bradley's, who simply grabbed it again.

"What are you doing?" He whispered so Elliot wouldn't hear.

The girl simply looked at him, taking her hand away from his, gently. She headed towards the man, not hesitating like Caleb had. She pressed her hand against his other shoulder, forcefully turning him to face her.

"Elliot," she said sternly, her eyes as cold as stone and her voice filled with an emotion no one in the room could really place. "Go back to the fire. You're scaring them, and you're scaring me. Stop it. Stop sobbing, stop crying, stop acting like this. We're all stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere, not just you. Go. Back. To. The. Fire."

All three were shocked at what the girl had just done. This man had just broken in front of her, and she still acted this way. It was a cold thing to do. Something Carson would never do.

Elliot listened to her, though, and sat down by the fire with his sons while the blonde moved back to her original seat next to the brown haired boy, who was looking at her, confused. What she had just done was something brutal. Something had happened to her, and it was because of that iced lake. She had been acting weird ever since she'd seen it.

"Dad?" Caleb asked, snapping his brother back to reality.

"I'm ok, I just... I just need to sleep." Elliot mumbled.

The teens waited for the man to head to the back room, where the beds were, but instead, he just looked at his sons and the girl.

"I can't lose you guys," he said, his voice cracking slightly because of the crying. "I just can't."

Carson gave the man a skeptical look, not daring to look into his eyes. She had meant what she said, but she never would have said it if Elliot wasn't acting so much like the man that had abandoned her for drugs.

If he hadn't acted so much like her father, then maybe she wouldn't have snapped at him like that. But she had.

And now, she had to face the consequences.

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Short and shit chapter, I know, but I've been busy with school, I'm sorryyyyy.

Next chapter will be better I promiseeeee

Until next time beansss