As life dragged him forward with a forceful rage,
Death whispered sweet coaxing in his ear.
-RW
"Absolutely not!" The doctor said in anger, his voice rising. Sharon glared furiously but forced a smile.
"You say that, but all I hear is BLAH BLAH BLAH," she gasped dramatically as her princess act took shape. "I suppose I'll just have to inform Duchess Rainsworth about the actions of the staff." At this the man turned pale.
Sharon and the doctor had been arguing on for over an hour outside of the door to Break's medical room. Gil, Alice and Oz waited rather impatiently, sometimes throwing in an argument to support Sharon's case.
"Ms. Sharon I understand you're worried about your servant but I can't let you see him quite yet. He's been through quite a lot and needs time to recover…." He was cut off as Sharon mumbled "very well" and started in the direction of Mrs. Rainsworth's office. With a horrified look the doctor chased after her, yelling something about unemployment.
Gil looked at his pocket watch. It had taken 30 minutes to find this damn medical room, 5 for Sharon to explain how she found out Break was awake (it was a gossipy servant, by the way), and another hour for Sharon to try to budge the doctor from guarding the doorway. He looked over at Oz who slumped against the wall, defeated.
"Oz what's wrong?" Gil said quietly as he closed the watch.
"Nothing it's just….Now even the doctor's gone. Break's all alone in there and we're still not sure how he is. The way the doctor sounded….I can't help but think that maybe this may not end well. Maybe we will never know. How are we supposed to get in? Couldn't Sharon see that leaving wouldn't help us OR Break? And besides….wait…" Oz stopped and looked around confused. "Where'd Alice go? She was just here!"
"Oy, Oz and Seaweed head," came Alice's voice from behind the now kicked-down door of Break's room.
Startled but grateful of Alice's forceful approach, Gil and Oz rushed into the room and were immediately forced to their knees by one particular thing: the smell.
Oz's eyes watered as he managed to look around the dim room. Alice was leaning against a wall for support just a few feet away. Gil was kneeling beside him, trembling obviously. What Oz mostly saw was the blood.
Blood. Everywhere. Oz thought to himself as he covered his nose and mouth. It streaked up the walls and covered the floor in a vast puddle around the bed where a familiar thin frame lay. A thin frame with snow white hair, now turned orange by the crimson of his own veins. A thin frame that was most certainly not awake. Tears began to drip down Oz's cheeks as his mind tried to catch up with what his eyes were seeing. He didn't want to think. He wanted to run away from the undeniable truth.
Xerxes Break was dead.