Infernia

"You know I can’t always be strong, and this is one of those moments. I mean, how can you stay strong when the one thing that gives your life meaning isn’t there anymore?”

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Ryker didn’t say anything to me. He just squeezed my hand as tightly as he could muster and let out a whimper. It broke my heart.

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“Ryk,” I started out quietly, “I just want you to know that I love you.”
His eyes fluttered open, looking straight into mine as he managed to croak out, “I love you too, Dae.”
Tears were streaming down both of our faces, and we refused to let go of each other. The heart monitor connected to Ryker was beginning to beep down, and this time a feeling deep in the pit of my stomach told me it was going to be for good.

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(Two days later- At Funeral)

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I stood in the back of the room, silently drowning in my own sadness as I watched each family member or friend step up to talk about Ryker. I was barely allowed to leave the hospital that evening, but had managed to convince the doctors and nurses to let me go for just long enough to attend the funeral. Now, I was beginning to wonder why I had come. Person and person stepped up and delivered their own speech, but I wasn’t really listening. I had already gone up to say what was on my mind, and now I just wanted to run. Time ticked by as the funeral proceeded, and I was avoiding everyone I knew. By the time I left the back room where I had been down on my knees, squalling like a baby, the entire building had nearly cleared out. Ryker’s parents, my parents, and Ryker’s little sister were the only patrons who still remained. I approached them at a limping gait, wiping at my bloodshot, swollen eyes. Ryker’s mother handed me a small, rectangular shaped box without a word. I went to open it up, trembling hands fumbling with the neatly-tied bow on top of it. The lid dropped to the floor and I was surprised at what I found inside of the box: three identical feathers, all colored in a variety of brilliant greens. There was a note, scrawled messily on a piece of paper. As I lifted it from the box and started to read, my eyes began to burn once again with the tears that flowed down my cheeks. They were from Ryker. The message scribbled on the paper felt like a knife to the heart. He had written it in the hospital, and asked for it to be delivered to me.

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“Daemon, I’m sorry I couldn’t give these to you in person. You mean the world to me, and I want you to have something to remember me by. Promise me that you won’t ever give up. If you go down, I know you’ll go down fighting. I love you. –Ryker”

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(I have decided to put it in story-form for you, dear anon. Just know that Ryker is Dae's best friend, and they were in a terrible accident on the way home from a party the night before and are now in the ICU at an emergency room. This is only part one, part two and possibly part three will follow.)

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I laid in bed wide awake that night. I was too worried about Ryker. His labored, choked breathing, small whimpers, sound of his heart monitor slowing nearly to the point of a flatline, then picking up speed at a painstaking rate. The medical personnel were doing everything they could, but he only seemed to grow worse. I wasn’t sure how we had ended up like this. I mean, I knew, but I didn’t understand why it had to happen. I was sixteen, and Ryker was eighteen. Both of us were still in high school. We had so much to look forward to. Now, he was starting to wave good-bye to all of that, and I was balancing on a line of determination to keep fighting and exhaustion that screamed for me to give up. I let myself drift off to sleep. By the time the sun rose the next morning, I realized Ryker was so far over the edge I knew there was no coming back. He had given up, despite my pleading. It was driving me insane, having to listen to him drift in out of consciousness, struggle for every breath, and whimper every time he attempted to move even a fraction of an inch. Our parents had only gone home to change clothes and get breakfast, and would be back in about an hour or two. A stream of visitors- friends, family, people we barely knew- had been in and out for the majority of the night before, trying to talk to me and ask questions. I didn’t talk though, not to anyone. I had fallen into an unescapable abyss of depression knowing that my best friend would not be able here with me for much longer. I got permission from the nurse that had been watching over us to go to Ryker’s bedside. She helped me up from my own bed, helping me move my maze of wires, needles, and bandages to the side of the room where Ryker laid. The nurse left us alone, and as I stood there on weak legs looking at my best friend, I felt tears come to my eyes. I gripped his hand with one of my own.
“Please don’t give up, Ryker. I don’t know what I would do without you. You mean more to me than anyone else I’ve ever known. I have learned so much from you. You’ve always been there for me, and I need you now more than ever. Without you, things won’t be the same. Just think about all of the memories we’ve made, the things we’ve done together, how much we truly do need each other. I can’t help but feel like I’ve cheated you, like this should be me instead of you. I can’t do this. I’m not strong enough. You’ve helped me face my fears, no matter how irrational, you’ve always believed in my dreams, no matter how ridiculous, and you’ve always had my back. You’ve always given me that extra push I need, supported my decisions, treated me like family… And for that, I’ll never be able to thank you enough

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(I really like this question too, omg.)

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I feel like I would choose some period from the older Egyptian times. The people going would be my mom (I just sent her a text xD) and Minho from The Maze Runner series because I really like him. In the bag, we would obviously have food, medical supplies, and whatever other important things we would need to survive until we could get more from somewhere else. I'm also going to less us all have a weapon of choice for this one. My weapon of choice would be broadsword, my mom would probably just yell at them to stop leaving dirty dishes in the sink until they cried, and Mino would probably use his speed/agility and hand-to-hand combat.

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Daemon; I would love to go back to the Medieval period. I feel like I would make an amazing king or knight, hehe. The last person I talked to would have to be you, and a fictional character would be Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. In our bag, we would obviously have things needed to survive, plus a few of our own personal items and other things. My weapon of choice would either be a tomahawk, throwing knives, or maybe even a blowdart gun.

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