"Finny I-" I burst into the room he shared with Gene, only to find it empty, but the beds had been slept in. I quickly thought about what Brinker had been asking me before, about Finny's fall from the tree. He'd been questioning me in the Assembly Room, acting all official while he asked me these things. Why he asked me when I wasn't there, because I was so close with both Finny, obviously, and Gene.
So, I turned around, and sprinted to the First Building, up the marble stairs, and into the Assembly Room. Leper was there, saying crazy things I could care less about hearing about, and Brinker said, "Ah Isabella, thank you for joining us. So, it has been rumored you are with Gene…"
"I don't care." Phineas got up, and started out towards the door. He wasn't about to listen to an accusation that I was with his best friend behind his back.
"We haven't got all the facts!" Brinker cried out.
"I'm not like that; I wouldn't hurt Finny like that." I muttered, so only Finny who was close by could hear. Finny then lost it, just as he had muttered, "Let's get going Maddy." He whirled around and exclaimed, "You get your facts Brinker! You get every fucking fact there is in the world!" he was already storming out the door towards the stairs, crying.
I glared at the guys in the room, and then sprinted out after my fiancé. "Finny! Wait!"
The words had barely gotten out of my mouth when Finny had suddenly lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs like a toy, clumsily. He fell down and down, and the moment, he reached the bottom, unmoving; laying sprawled out across the bottom of the staircase unnaturally.
At that, I screamed, and got down the stairs in a blur to reach his side.
"Finny, you're alright." I told him, as my hands fluttered around his chest and body trying to help him in some way. He just calmly looked at me, letting me fuss over him, and I saw the slightest smile on his lips. By my actions in the past few minutes, I'd proved I loved him and only him, Gene was never in the same ball park as he was for me. Plus, he probably thought I was cute for fussing, as if we had been married for years already instead of just being engaged.
Everyone else got down the stairs, and Stanpole eventually took him away, and he told me and Gene it was a clean break, and I let out a ragged breath. It would be easy to reset, and Phineas was okay. It had been the most frightening experience of my life to watch the accident myself unfolding, instead of me just rushing through the school to see him.
That night, I had the same idea as Gene, and went to visit Finny, but Gene was not welcome and Finny was thrashing around. With me however, he was calmer, and happier. In order for me to not talk about the events of that night, we discussed wedding plans.
I stuck by Finny's side all the time, and this was no exception. Gene came by with the suitcase of Finny's stuff, and he stood there in the doorway, and Finny and I got silent and looked at him. I looked at Finny, then at Gene.
"I...I'll be outside…If you need anything Fin, just shout." I smiled, leaned in, and pecked him on the lips, whispered that I loved him, then exited. I didn't eavesdrop, as Stanpole told me I could go and come back around five after the surgery when Phineas would be waking up.
So that's what I did, but when I got there, Gene and I weren't greeted by happy news.
"I'm sorry, but he's dead. The bone marrow escaped and went into his bloodstream, stopping his heart. Right in the middle of procedure. I should've sent him to Boston, but I didn't, I mean it was such an easy set…" he broke off, and Gene remained stoic, and tears flooded my eyes, my heart was slowing too.
I was dead now as well. This wasn't real. Phineas, who had promised that this, well, variations of this, would never happen.
Without me realizing, I was now shouting at the doctor, Gene holding me back. "Let me see him! You're lying! No! It's not true!"
Stanpole sighed, and beckoned his finger for me to follow him, totally unfazed by my screaming at him, and I left Gene and went to see Finny.
I knew the second I saw the body that this wasn't a good idea.
He wasn't there, everything about him that I loved was gone…it was a shell.
I still wandered over to him, and stroked his face, and kissed his lips goodbye, and talked to him for a bit, still sobbing. His cold hand made it all so final and real. I wanted to join him, but that wasn't going to happen. He'd want me to go on, to be happy. And it isn't an assumption, it was genuine. He had told me that once, that if anything should happen to him…
It was all so final, and I knew that no one would want to talk about Finny now, and I'd be a sad reminder. I was as good as a widow. I was pitied.