1It Just Takes One Moment
Chapter 24. It only takes a moment, one terrible instant, to make a whole life end- and another self-destruct. Shoutouts, of course, to everyone who's reviewed. Warning: CHARACTER DEATH. Has the song "Now Comes the Night" by Rob Thomas.
Arielle's whole world bent over backwards and went from color to black and white all in an instant, in the terrible time it took for the trigger to be pulled. All the times she remembered in her life were brought back in that second-
birth, life, mother, father, stepfather, school, friends, family, pain, death, love, loss-
-Danny, Flack, the force, failed trial and error-
and then disappeared, as she saw Danny fall to the ground.
"NO! DANNY!" she screamed, a chill obliterating her senses and numbing her mind. There had to be a catch. He couldn't just fall like that. The Tanglewood Boy had bad aim, he missed somehow, he couldn't have just killed her best friend, her newfound love... Danny would get back up in a second, he wouldn't die on her...
When the hour is upon us
And our beauty surely gone
No you will not be forgotten
And you will not be alone
No you will not be alone
And when the day has all but ended
And our echo starts to fade
No you will not be alone then
And you will not be afraid
No you will not be afraid...
She fell to her knees, in shock, as cops bore down on the group. Hands grabbed her and pulled her to her feet, and she saw Flack's face staring down at her. Aiden was being helped to one of the cars, and Mac and other cops were handcuffing the remaining Tanglewood Boys. One went on the run- the one who had shot Danny- and she started after him. Flack held her back and said, "No, Arielle. Let him go."
Hawkes swooped over Danny, bag in hand, kneeling down and checking his pulse. Nothing. Hawkes started CPR on him, and no response. "Come on, Danny, don't go on me. Come on... come on! Stay with me, Danny!"
When the fog has finally lifted
from my cold and tired brow
No I will not leave you crying
No I will not let you down
No I will not let you down
I will not let you down...
And just like that, Danny was gone. There was no pulse, no breath, no trace of life from the body of the once lively, wisecracking, street smart CSI they had all once knew. Danny Messer, top of his class at the Police Academy, Level 1 CSI, and beloved friend, was dead. Arielle watched Hawkes slowly rise and bow his head over his body, and she knew.
"No." She whispered it, and Flack tried automatically to calm her down. "No!" she cried, louder, the tears streaming, her body shaking, her mind and heart racing. "God, no!"
She broke away from him and raced away, to where no one else was, her heart pounding in her chest and her eyes blinded from tears. She kept running, and had no idea where to go.
Now comes the night
Feel it fading away
And the soul underneath, is it all that remains?
So just slide over here
Leave your fear in the fray
Let us hold to each other to the end of our days...
She tripped, fell, and stopped where she was, screaming his name, looking up to the sky and wondering why they had taken him from her. What did it mean? What did it prove? Why had they taken Danny away from her? Why couldn't he come back to her?
Flack knelt down beside her, putting his arms around her, holding her in the darkness and letting her cry. His tentative tears mixed with her free ones. Together they cried, and together they felt as if, by losing one of their closest friends, they had lost a part of themselves.
When the hour is upon us
And our beauty surely gone
No you will not be forgotten
And you will not be alone
No you will not be alone...