The second to last petal of the rose fell. The sculpture in Guertena's art gallery was at its last stand; it had fallen apart under mysterious circumstances. It was speculated from the damages that a large earthquake knocked all the guests unconscious. No one was hurt in the accident.
It was 9:47. The skies had darkened into a gray mass above the quiet city. The art gallery that was bursting with people just that morning was now a quiet hymn, a song of mourn.
"Is this the end?"
A sweet voice was filled with a desperate plea, a cry of desperation for the end not to come, for a chance to go back, a chance to be a hero.
"Is this the end?" The brunette asked again, bowing her head to hide her tears. "Does the end have to be like this?"
"Eve..." The man that stood behind the girl placed his warm hand over her shivering head. "Goodbyes are never easy. They're always filled with sadness, even more so when..." He clenched his teeth and closed his eyes but the pain remained. "When you lose a friend."
She looked up at him with her somber eyes that sparkled with her tears.
"Sometimes you just can't be a hero. No matter how much we may want something to change or something to happen, we can't do it. We're humans, Eve, and humans have their limits too. We can't be the perfect people we imagine." He stroked her head with such care like she was a newborn puppy just out of it's mother's womb.
Eve leaned her head into his hand as he continued to run it up and down her head. It felt good to escape the hurt in those few seconds.
"Gary..." Eve looked up to the man that starred at the fading rose statue in a long, deep trance.
"It reminds me of those times." He spoke about it as if it was something that happened a long, long time ago; a fading memory lost in time. "I was probably more scared than you. I was so scared when she took your rose, Eve. All I saw was the red flash of your rose and in my mind I saw you falling as each petal fell. It scared me to know you might not make it." He looked down at her.
"Garry?"
"Eve..."
She wrapped her arms around the man's body and hugged him as tight as she could. He stroked her head once more and hugged her back.
Her body went limp.
Garry grabbed for her body. He pulled her up to her feet. She smiled at him through fading eyes. Her smile was the brightest she'd ever smiled before.
"Garry... I think I like you."
The last rose petal fell.