Open Minds || Book 1 || Golix [OLD]

Chapter 16: Putting a stop to a friend's death...

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⚠MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING!!!  MENTIONS OF SUICIDE AND ATTEMPTS MENTIONED IN THIS CHAPTER!  IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO SUCH TOPICS, I SUGGEST UTMOST CAUTION READING THIS!  ⚠⚠

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Phoenix's POV

  It's been maybe two weeks since Jeremy was attacked by Foxy.  My dad of course beat me as soon as I got home.  Jere's dad did the same to him as well.  And something else happened.

  Mike and Vincent's parents divorced.  Vincent had to go with their mom and got his last name to changed to Miller.  Mike and Mary are still with their dad.  Also, Mike is starting to get closer to Jere! Hmmm....maybe it's time to start shipping them!  Wait, no, that wouldn't work.  Mike still has Doll.

   Anyway, Jeremy, Mike, Vincent and I are now walking to Mike's house.  We're working on a Social Studies/History project together.  When we get to the house, Jeremy and I throw our bags onto the couch before running upstairs.

  We open the closet to get a towel so that we can clean up any mess that we make, only to get a horrifying discovery.  There's Doll, hanging by her neck from a rope, her life force fading.  Both Jeremy and I stand there in shock for a moment or two.

"MIKE!" Here yells at the top of his lungs, pure fear makes itself knows as his voice wavers as he takes a step back with fear evident in his aura. 

  Mike and Vincent run up the stairs, stopping short seeing Doll hanging there.  I quickly snap out of my shock and use my claws to cut the rope, catching my classmate before she can fall to the ground, ignoring the irritation of the scans on my arms.  I place her on the floor and swiftly -but carefully- tear the noose off of her neck and activate my abilities.  I quickly force as much energy into her dying body as I can.  I feel her waking up as more than half of my energy fades. 

  Her eyes flutter open and she looks around, confused.  She slowly pushes herself up into a sitting position, finally taking notice of me and Jeremy's presence.  I give her a tired, forced smile as Jeremy starts to take deeper breaths.  Oh...uh, Jere, please don't have a panic attack!  Please!  We have enough to deal with right now!

  I hug Doll the second I stop using my abilities, and half force another smile as she hugs back.

"E-em...please, never do that again.  You scared all of us!" I whisper in her ear with a shaky voice.  Almost to prove my point, Mike starts hugging Jeremy in order to try and keep him from having a panic attack.

  Doll lets out a choked, near silent sob as I stroke her back gently.  I wince slightly as I feel the after effects of using too much energy at once catching up to me. 

"Em, it may hurt, but be happy for them if it does go in that direction!" I pause before whispering, "plus, Fritz has a crush on you!"

  She giggles, a light blush dusting her cheeks as I say that.  I grab her hand and help her stand up, even though I can barely stand straight myself.  Doll notices this, and wraps my arm around her shoulders and neck, letting me lean on her for a little bit of support. 

  We walk down the stairs and flop next to each other on the couch.  Mike sees us just kinda half awake and laughs.  Vincent does the same, and Jeremy comes over and joins us on the couch.  Heh...he actually curls up in a ball and puts his head on my legs.  I just do what I like doing, and start to pretty much pet Jeremy's head.

  There's no complaints, and we sit like that for the next half hour when I decide to move.  I gently shove Jeremy off of me and stand up, stumbling a bit before stretching. 

  I turn to the others and smirk slightly.

"So, how about we work on that project now?"

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(12/27/18)