We Are Broken • Geetrick

21

His eyes are shut, chest just barely moving, burns covering his body and Gerard wastes no time in pulling him from Pete's arms and setting him down besides a tree, immediately pressing two fingers to Patrick's neck and his ear to his chest.

"Where's Brendon?" Gerard yells to Dallon.

"He's still in the house!" Dallon calls back.

Gerard grits his teeth as he finds a faint heartbeat, "We need to get him to a hospital right away!"

"Ambulance will-"

The house comes all the way down. There is no more house. Nobody could have survived. It's flat. All a pile of wood. It's all silence beside the crackling of fire and I feel tears rise to my eyes. All gone. They're dead. Brendon, Joe, Andy, Ryan. All dead. All that's left is Dallon, Hayley, Tyler, and I. My hands are shaking and I feel my heart pounding in my chest. Dallon screams for Brendon. I sob for all of them. The ambulance comes wailing down the street but I know the only one they could save would be Patrick.

The firefighters get out of the truck and as soon as they have their tools set up, they begin watering down the house, putting out the fire while a medic quickly comes to me.

"Do you need any help, Sir?" She asks quickly, blue hair drifting down her shoulders.

"No, but he does," I reply, pulling away from Patrick and letting her quickly get to work as I try to get the image of everything else out of my head.

I hear a few other medics come to her and I squeeze my hands through my hair.

"What's that mark on his chest?"

"Is that a slave tattoo?"

"He's a slave."

"Fuck this... Hey, Sir?"

I turn, squeezing my sides tightly to see the girl looking me straight in the eye, "We can't save him."

"What? Why? What happened?" I ask right away.

"He's a slave," the girl replies with a shrug, "just buy a new one."

"He is free in my household!" I yell.

"Not legally. Sir, we're not authorized to work on slaves." She replies.

I watch in despair as they pack up and head back to the ambulance after a short conversation with one of the firemen. I fall back into the grass, holding a hand to my mouth while I sob and eventually get back to Patrick. I shakily, pull him up to my chest and hold him close, watching his breaths draw shorter and shorter.

"I love you, so fucking much..." I breathe, "S-So m-much please don't l-leave..."I watch Dallon fall to his knees in front of the building, hands shaking and tears falling from his eyes.

"Patrick, I n-need you... I need you so bad..."

I watch as he exhales his last breath and when he doesn't inhale again, I realize it's over.

I clutch him hard against my chest, hands shaking with my head in his shoulder.

"At least you're finally free..."