Afterward

Chapter Four

Penelope

            What if he’s right?  I can’t lose Simon; he’s my best friend and I will do anything to save him. If this is the only way to save him then maybe, we do have to consider it. If we do it though… what will he say when he wakes up? Is it worth it? Which one is worse; Simon being dead, or Simon being alive and hating us, all of us?

Agatha and I finished dishes half an hour ago and here we sit; Baz casting on Simon, Shepard Agatha and me at the table. “I have to talk to Baz. There has to be something that we can do, because those spells he’s casting aren’t working,” I say, they nod their heads in silent agreement. It takes me a few moments to compose myself enough for this argument, but eventually I walk over carrying a second chair. I set it next to him; he looks up at me with tears in his eyes and for the first time, his walls come down. Vulnerable and scared, Baz crumbles into me silently sobbing. It’s in this moment I realize why he doesn’t  want to do this; he never got a chance to say it, but he loves Simon more than anything in this life, and he doesn’t believe Simon would forgive him.

I wholeheartedly believe he’s wrong. Simon never got to say it either and now here he is, hanging on by the last strand. “Baz…” I say lifting his head from my lap so he can look me in the eyes, see how scared I am too. My eyes fill with water and my vision blurs, but I push through and say what needs to be said, “Baz, you have to save him. There’s no other choice. Magic isn’t working and if we don’t do something fast, he will die.” He shakes his head as tears stream down his entire face. “Baz… please…” I’m crying and pleading with him, hoping he’ll see what I see.

He turns away from me and continues to cast; still not uttering a word. I stare at Simon’s lifeless face for about 20 minutes just remembering the golden glow it normally has. Then, out of nowhere Simon starts to shake, violently. Baz looks at me and I him, neither of us know what’s happening. Shepard and Agatha run over to the couch after hearing all the noise. In a few seconds Shepard spit out a diagnosis, “ he’s having a seizure. We need to get him flat on his back. Penelope, see if you can find a pulse on him.” Everyone starts to move. Baz and him gently, but quickly, lower Simon to the floor and I reach for his neck and wrist trying for a pulse anywhere. After about 30 seconds I get scared; I can’t find a pulse. “Shepard,” I say my voice shaking as much as Simon right now, “I can’t find one, what do we do? Is he okay? Please…” Shepard looks from me and then to Baz, “Can you hear it?” Baz looks up at him confused. “His heartbeat, can you hear how weak/strong or fast/slow it is,” Shepard says quickly. I can hear the fear and anger rising in his voice. “Guys, we need to call an ambulance. He could die, we need professionals,” Agatha says. “Agatha, are you crazy? What would we say?! He has wings and a tail; good heavens, no we can’t call an ambulance,” I say. Baz turn towards us, “It’s there but its faint. He’s dying.”

Baz

            The love of my life is going to die. And I’m too chicken to do what needs to be done to save him.

The beautiful golden colour of his skin is almost as hard to see as his heartbeat is hard to hear. Agatha reaches for her mobile even though Penny told her not to. I start casting even though Penny told me not to. I think of the most powerful healing spells and push all of my magic into them hoping they work. Penny and Agatha are shouting at each other so loud it’s almost deafening, and I can’t bear the madness any longer, “All of you SHUT UP!” And then they do, they stare at me blankly as I say, “He’s dying. Why in the world are we arguing over what to do! Yes, we need a plan and yes, we need it quick. However, arguing and fighting with one another isn’t going to help Simon.” It takes a moment of just standing around, but then Penny comes rushing to my side, grasping me hard on the shoulders and shaking me every few words as she says, “Baz, do it. Turn him. Once he heals maybe we can find a way to change him back,” I go to cut her off, but she doesn’t let me, “He will die. We cannot let Simon die. You have to do it now.”

I look her in the eyes, and I know in my mind she’s telling the truth, there is not other way to save him. I just can’t bear the thought of what he will say and how angry he will be once he wakes up. I start crying as I nod my head, finally giving in, not wanting my precious Simon to suffer any longer. “Okay,” is all she says, pulling me into a tight embrace knowing that I just made the hardest decision of my life. I lift my head to look at her and see tears in her eyes as I ask, “Can we have the room? I don’t think I can do it with all of you in here…Penelope…I’m going to kill him, just so that he can live. How ironic is that?” She nods and laughs as more tears fall down her face. We stay like that a little while longer until she tells me that we probably shouldn’t wait any longer. She gets up and gathers the other two. They nod and silently walk out the front door, resting their hands on my shoulder as they go. And then there were two.

I gaze down at Simon and start to whisper to him, “My love, I just want you to know, in case you can hear me, I love you so so much. I don’t want to do this, but I can’t live with myself if I continue to do nothing. This was the hardest decision ever and I truly wish we had never been put in this situation. When you wake up, provided that you don’t hate me, I promise to always be by your side if you’ll have me. I feel so responsible for what has happened to you and I will never, ever let something like this happen to you again. Simon Snow, I love you so damn much it will be the absolute death of me, but not of you. I will forever miss the golden glow of your skin and the everlasting warmth of your body, but at least I’ll keep those eyes in my life, at least I’ll have you in my life. I love you, please forgive me.” I kiss him on the lips, hard. I pull away hoping for a Disney movie ending, but alas there is none. Tears continue to stream down my face as I put my lips to his neck and apologize once more, kissing him there and then…

I can’t believe I just did that. The one thing I never thought possible. I turned Simon Snow into a vampire.

___________________________________________

Many thanks to Marisah!(@_you_were_the_sun on Instagram) You've been such a big help on writing this and I can't say thank you enough! The hype I feel every time we talk about this story is unreal so thank you, thank you, thank you, I hope you enjoyed your plot twists!
                 :)
                      Enjoy!~ A.V.