Phoenix's Revenge

33.

Nikolai's POV

We all file out and head towards the van. Silence shrouds our groups as we each take in everything that we've lost.

Bastard deserved it.

My hands shake as I look down at my fathers blood dripping off of them. I clench and unclench them, silently willing the past 4 hours to be erased. The guilt that threatens to takes over my body slowly grips my throat, suffocating me indefinitely.

What kind of son does something like that?

Kills his own fath-

Shut up. He deserved it.

The gravel crunches beneath our feet and I look up to see nothing but grim faces. Calen stares straight ahead, visibly shaking. He just lost two of the most important people in his life. His jaw is so tight that I fear his teeth will crack under the pressure. Tommy stares at his feet as we walk, failing to hide the tears that fall.

Then there's Phoenix.

She just stares blankly ahead, her face reminiscent of something carved from stone. Her grey eyes take on an even more storming look than they normally do as she walks completely rigid.

I know words will be useless in this situation, so I walk up to her and grab her hand.

"How bad is it?"

She looks at me and for a split second I can see the brokenness in her heart before she covers it back up.

"I'm an orphan."

She says this void of emotion and then she does something that I'll never get out of my head.

She laughs.

Not a humorous one, but one that chills you to the bone. Her shoulders shake as she laughs like it's the funniest things she's ever heard.

"I'm a fucking o-orphan." She says between giggles.

"How fucking pathetic."

Her hand flys up to cover her mouth as she doubles over with laughter.

I catch eyes with Calen and we both share the same look. What the fuck do we do?

"Phoenix, I'm so sorry." Calen whispers.

Her mood changes at the drop of a hat and her face fills with complete and utter disdain.

"Don't say that." She grits out. "Don't you fucking say that."

She starts towards Calen with her fists balled.

I reach out to grab her but Calen shakes his head first.

"You were supposed to protect them!" She screams before landing a punch square on his jaw.

"You failed!"

Another punch.

"I hate you!"

Another.

Calen stands there and eats everyone without ever fighting back.

"It's okay. I'm here." He says as she beats him relentlessly.

"That's the fucking problem!" She drops him to his back and leaps on him. "You're here, and they're not!" She pounds on his chest and screams like a wounded animal. Her bloodied fists raining down their punishment.

Finally, when Calen is bloody and bruised, she tires out. She looks down at him while she heaves in air. Then the tears fall. She collapses on his chest and screams so loud I'm sure everyone within a 10 mile radius can hear. Her uncle wraps his arms around her tightly.

"Let it out. Don't stop until you feel like it."

He picks them up off both of the ground and steps to me.

"She needs you." His eyes shine with grief as he passes her sobbing form to me. I grab her in my arms and she clings to my neck.

I carry her into the van and sit.

"I'm here Phoenix. What can I do?"

She looks up at me through soaked eyelashes.

"Turn back time."

If only I could, my love. If only I could.

For now, I'll settle on just holding you.

...

She finally sleeps as we board the jet. She curls her body into mine as her puffy eyelids close.

I sit for a while before Tommy hands me a glass of whiskey which I accepts wholeheartedly.

I down the entire thing, then raise my glass for more. He obliges.

"You good?" I ask raising my glass again.

"Are you?"

We both avoid answering, yet that answers everything.

He sits by me.

"What a day."

"Yeah. What a fucking day."

We sit by each other simply taking our presence as comfort as we get absolutely trashed. Calen sits at the other end of the plane not saying a word, but every once in a while we can see his shoulders shake.

What a fucking day.