"Family Means No One's Left Behind"~ A Greenflame and Children Story

Chapter Thirty Two: Too Late

Kai's Point of View~
I got on Kabaz's dragon while Skylor got on Akidah's and Lloyd got on Lari's. We took off. When Skylor mentioned Sker, the kids looked terrified, which made me worry. Did something happen to Sker? Were he and the others okay? I questioned in my head. "Please say he's okay. Please say he's okay. Please say he's okay." I heard Kabaz say over and over. That made me even more worried. "Kabaz, what happened to Sker and the others? Are they okay?" I asked him as I placed my hand on his shoulder. He looked back at me with eyes filled with worry. "I-I don't know how to really explain it right now, but all I can say is that Sker's hurt really, really badly," Kabaz said nervously. My eyes widened in shock. I looked over at Lloyd and he looked back at me. He had a  worried expression on his face as well.

Soon, we arrived at a broken down mattress factory. They hid here? I thought as I got off the dragon. I heard faint voices coming from the inside and they sounded panicked. We all rushed in and found Mia performing CPR on Sker who was laying on a mattress. "Sker!" Skylor screamed as she rushed over to his side. The rest of us also rushed over to him. "What happened to him?!" I shouted. Sonia and Kano looked up at me and started to explain. "W-w-well, in the beginning, Sker tried using Haru's powers, but it only ended up in him getting poisoned and it was killing him from the inside!" Sonia said in a panic. "And then we saw a sudden bright light and heard him scream. We came over to find him all tensed up, his eyes rolled back into his head! Then he just stopped and went limp. Mia checked his pulse and his breathing, but he didn't have one or wasn't breathing! That's when you all came!" Kano finished. My eyes widened in horror. Sker was dying?! I thought. Skylor gasped and covered her face. I went over to her and hugged her. I, then, felt Lloyd embrace me as well. I felt tears begin to fall down my face and I bit my lip. Everyone was quite as Mia continued to compress Sker's chest. The tension in the air was so thick that you could feel it. Please be okay, please be okay. Please wake up, Sker. Please wake up. God, please, I'm begging you don't take my son away from us. I begged inside my head. My heart raced and ached at the same time. Once again, another one of my kids' life was at stake and the pain was unbearable. I looked around the room and everyone seemed to have tears in their eyes. I could hear Skylor's soft sobs and feel her tears on the side of my neck. After an agonizing couple of minutes, Mia stopped the chest compressions, breathing heavily and shaky. Sker's body didn't move and he didn't make a sound. Mia placed two fingers on the side of his neck, checking his pulse and lowered her ear to his face, checking his breathing. My heart was feeling like it was about to explode. The expression on Mia's face was my answer to my burning question, was he alright? Mia's face had an expression of remorse. "I-I'm so sorry, but h-he's gone." She said as her voice broke. My heart shattered when she said that. Everyone started bawling. Tears poured from my eyes. I didn't want to believe it at all. I wanted all this to be one nightmare I needed to wake up from.

Memories of Sker poured into my head, reminding me of the son I just lost. From the moment he was born all the way to his fifteenth birthday, all those memories made flooded my mind. "He was too young! There was so much he wanted to do with his life!" Skylor shouted as she sobbed. Lloyd, Kabaz, May, Akidah, and Lari were all crying while their friends looked remorseful. I couldn't take it. I went over to Sker's lifeless body and held him tightly. I wrapped my arms around him, locking them in place and I held him tight. I felt his cheeks against mine, they were cold and void of color. His arms were still, not reaching up to hug me back. I wanted to believe it wasn't true. I wanted to believe that Sker wasn't dead. This is not true. This is not true. This is not true, he's not dead! I thought, trying to convince myself into believing it. But no matter how much I thought, no matter how are I tried to believe, I still knew that Sker was dead and would not wake up. My body was shaking, but I didn't pay attention to it. All I wanted was for everything that happened to be unreal and for Sker to wake up.

I stroked the back of my son's head. His hair was soft, just like how it was before. "Sker, I am so sorry. You did absolutely nothing to deserve this," I said softly. I loosened my grip on him and slightly lowered him so I could see his face. His face was pale with the exception of debris and scars on it. I couldn't help but cry even harder. "Sker...Sker..Sker...," I said softly. My tears fell onto Sker's face and slid off the sides. As I sobbed, I felt Skylor, Lloyd, and the kids' embrace as they crowded around. Everyone was in tears.

After a while of mourning, everyone and I were able to pull ourselves together and walk to Borg Tower. I picked Sker up and carried him all the way there with the others following behind or next to me. Jay, Zane, Cole, Nya, and their families glimpsed our way and ran up to us. "Kai! Lloyd! Skylor! You're all okay!" Jay shouted. I remained silent. "Hey, are you all alright? What happened to Sker?" Cole asked, showing a look of worry. I didn't know what to say. "Sker's...he's...gone. He...he passed away," I said faintly, but loud enough for all of them to hear. They all gasped. "He's gone?" Cole questioned. I slowly nodded and lowered Sker's body. Zane stepped up and examined him. He checked his pulse and lowered his head down to check his breathing to be final. Zane stood up and lowered his head. "It's true," he said.