Phoenix Dawned

Part 4 Venus

1 catastrophes and tragedies are here

I see her going down. I run down the hill, and in the back of my mind, I realize that someone is screaming. It might be me. I run to her side, and I can barely stand to look. Her wings are burnt down to the bone, no skin or feathers left, and I can see a piece completely snapped off about a foot away. Her arms are mangled, and her face is unrecognizable. Her legs are covered in blood. I look and, miraculously, she's still breathing. I hear the others come up behind me, and I bend down to pick her up.

"Help me!"

"Venus-"

"Grab her legs. We can carry her to the van."

"Venus-"

"No! we have to try. We can't just leave her here!" I look up at Daren meaningfully, and he sighs.

"Fine. We'll need help."

"Guys! We need your help getting her back to the van!"

They each come over to help. We carefully carry her up the hill and set her across a whole row.

"Is she going to be ok?" I ask no one in particular.

"I hope so. I know how much she meant to you," Daren responds.

"It's just, I just got her back, then she does something like this again, and I don't think I could handle losing her for good."

"I know. I'll be here for you."

"Thank you."

"Of course. Where else would I be?"
I don't respond. I sit in the row right in front of her and Daren sits next to me, draping his arm around my shoulders. It felt nice having him embrace me like that.

"Daren?"
"Yeah?"
"Stay with me, ok?"

"Ok."

After that, we drive back as fast as we can. I didn't think I could say anything without making a big fool of myself, so I don't. I just sit with him next to me.

The rest of the day is mostly a blur. As soon as we got back, we rushed her to the hospital wing. We get her into a bed, and the nurse comes over and immediately gasps. She calls over a doctor, and they immediately start working on her. I stay there the whole time, and so does Daren. The others bring us food every once in a while, but I don't eat anything. I sleep that night in the bed next to hers, and throughout all of this, Mr. Buttoxian is alarmingly calm, as if he had done this before. The next morning, Daren is still next to me, and Athen comes in with Mr. Buttoxian to bring us food, but then I notice that it's only one meal.

"Daren, we need you for a while in my office. Your breakfast is in there already. Venus, I need you to stay here and keep an eye on her for us, please." I just nod.

They leave with Daren, and I am left alone with my dying friend. I go to her side and hold her bandaged hand, which at this point, seems more bandage than human, though that's the same with the rest of her body. Her wings are completely gone, burnt off in the lightning strike.

"Tricsh, you said that you would be careful," I say in barely more than a whisper. "What happened? Who was that? I really miss you. I wish you were here."

Suddenly, the heart monitor's steady beeping sped up until it became just one long one. It takes me a moment to realize what just happened, and when I do, it almost breaks me. I crumple from the chair and just lay on the floor crying, until Daren comes in and finds me.

"Venus? What are you doing on the..." his voice trails away as he realizes what I have. "Oh. She's dead, isn't she?"

"No! she can't be!"