-Show me what it's like to be the last one standing. Teach me wrong from right and I'll show you what I can be. Say it for me, say to me and I'll leave this life behind me, say it if it's worth saving me- Savin' me, Nickelback
The smell of stale urine, the acrid scent of blood and sweat. The constant murmur of traffic punctuated only by the shrill scream of a distant siren. Cold chain link and concrete surround us. The ring of steel. The splintering of wood. A perverse melody to a deadly dance.
Sliced skin, torn flesh and shattered bone. Bodies battered, bloodied. Bruised. There's no feeling anymore, only seeping numbness.
Kneeling against the trash strewn asphalt, I hold my brother close to me, as the life slowly ebbs from him and pools around me. Trembling he reaches for my face and I catch his hand in mine. The pain has left his face now, leaving only haunting serenity. His eyes, blank yet glassy with tears, flutter, searching desperately for mine. He can no longer see, darkness clouding his vision.
A thick trickle of blood slides from his mouth, running across his paling cheek before dripping gently against my wrist. He smiles, crimson smearing across his teeth, darkening his mouth. His breathing is heavier now, juddered. Catching in short, rasping gasps. Stuttering for words he makes me promise not to leave him, his face lax and emotionless, his eyes quietly pleading.
"So cold," he whispers faintly. I pull him closer to me, tighter. Cradling him in my lap I rub his arm with my hand, willing warmth back into his limbs. My hand is slicked with blood, cold and purplish in the lamp light.
"I'm here."
His body is shuddering now. "You'll be okay. You're going to be okay." I'm lying, we both know it, but we let it pass into the night air unchallenged. Silence hangs thickly between us.
He coughs; chokes. More blood bubbles between his lips, hissing with each waning breath.
I rock him gently back and forth, emotion cracking my voice, memories come tumbling forth, spilling out around us, comforting like a blanket, recounting happier times, times still to be had. His body slackens in my arms, his breath stills. Fear and grief give way to anger. "Don't you dare!" I yell at him. "Don't you dare give up! You have to stay!" I can no longer steam the tears as sobs catch in my throat. "Don't go… we need you." I pull him into my chest hugging tightly as if I could squeeze the life back into him, as if by sheer will I could bring him back. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," only street answers.