Legal Question in Criminal Law in North Carolina

You can be held in contempt of court if you are ordered at appear, or served personally with a subpoena, and willfully fail to appear. Typically with a Summons you are defaulted if you do not reply in a civil matter, and an Order for your arrest is issued if you fail to appear in a criminal matter. I think from your question you are asking about the situation where the Court has issued an Order for you to Show Cause why you should not be held in contempt of court for failing to attend court as subpoenaed. As a punishment you could be held in custody, or simply fined, or the Court could excuse the actions if there is a good explanation.

I strongly recommend that you hire an attorney.