It made Whisper feel guilty to dream of coffee. She'd been feeling guilty an inordinate amount lately. But she was entirely too exhausted to get scared of it like she had been. The past month had been wearing on her, and now too many sleepless nights had made her physically unable to shut off her feelings. The unwanted thoughts of home were pressing in on her like a threatening promise. But that was nothing compared to the daze of tiredness and guilt.
It was all her fault. Everything.
She had ruined her own life and Laney's too. Though she would never admit it. Not to mention the godlings in an indirect way. He was in no state to admit anything. He was dead. Or he would be. It was only a matter of time.
She knew nothing about what to do, and despite her unshakable smoke screen she had never seen anyone die. The god wasn't supposed to die. He wasn't allowed to die....
How could he f1i live f0i0 when he was half dead? The godling had lost a leg back in the alley. Thank god the leg itself had stayed in frog form. It had been bad enough to see the godling with his face and chest bloodied, an obviously shattered thighbone actually f1i showing f0i0 . If she had had to deal with a disembodied leg as well she knew she would have lost it. Sobbing and vomiting in the streets would not do anything.
Getting back had been a nightmare. Passerby staring as she tried to be inconspicuous while half-dragging the godling- she cursed herself silently for forgetting the kid's name... very unprofessional. It could almost make her smile. Professional had gone down the drain.
Whisper had taken the precaution of wrapping his limp body in a discarded tarpaulin at the back of the alley. The stairs to her current residence had been the worst part. Tripping over the tarp and gasping for breath was the order of the day. With the occasional heart-stopping interval of when Whisper lost her balance for a second and nearly toppled both of them to the pavement beneath them. At last it was over. Blessedly over. She had dim memories of fumbling for the doorknob, and stumbling over to lay the godling on the couch. Oh yes, she vaguely thought, leaning against the wall as she trembled with shock and exhaustion. The godling's name is Adesron.
Looking at the pitiful figure lying there, she was startled to find herself thinking that now she knew what name to put on the grave. Poor Adesron, so far from home, and now he would die here. There was no way he could live. Whisper herself knew nothing about first aid, and it wasn't like any doctors in the world could save him the way he looked.
Besides, wouldn't his being a god mess things up? Wouldn't he like have a different blood type or something? There had been something about divine blood in the myths they had read in school. Actually, she and her friends had passed notes the entire unit. Crud monkeys. The one time she'd let herself remember home in a month and it had done absolutely nothing except make her miss her family and friends more. Drat, she wasn't supposed to even remember them at all. There was just too much to deal with.
Nothing like this was mentioned in the books she had read. No one else ever got dumped with dying immortals or got locked up in "detention centers" for weeks on end. Not fair...
Okay. Time to stop feeling sorry for yourself. Just take a nap. But what if the godling dies while you're asleep. Damn, I'm talking to myself. Screw him. I'm going to sleep. Just a nap...
Two hours later, Whisper didn't feel much better. But well enough to take perfunctory care of Laney, who seemed to like Adesron. She was unusually quiet, spending hours at a time wedged onto the couch with the dying godling. Whisper had even had to chase her off his chest a few times. Whisper herself was fairly sure that she was going to get sick sometime. Not sleeping, living off peanut butter for a week. Can't be good for you. At the end of the week she was seeing through a haze. So much that she didn't notice what was happening to Adesron. Whisper was dozing against the end of the couch wrapped in an old quilt at the time... So how bad am I at cliffhangers? If you want to have a hint at what happened, take a look at the Greek myth of Prometheus. If you're too lazy, wait a few weeks and I'll update again. As always, you can save my friends by reviewing. Otherwise they will be pestered by me until they review again. You wouldn't want that hanging over your head, would you? So do your good deed for the day... week? and review! }