Whoohoo! Chapter 6!

When It Rains
Chapter 6: Face To Face with Death

"Dot, I don't know... how to tell you this. But, Flik..." her voice was cracking, "... Flik is dead."

The tiny purple ant stared at her older sister in disbelief; that statement didn't make sense to Dot at first. Flik couldn't be dead. But the grave look on Atta's face told the little princess that her sister wasn't lying. Dot broke down into cascades of tears, her little hands covering her mouth, but doing little to muffle her doleful cries. "What? N-No! NO! Not Flik!" Dot collapsed in her sister's arms, sobbing and screaming uncontrollably. Atta did her best to comfort her sibling, but seeing her baby sister in such anguish just ripped the fresh wound open even further. The innocent little ant was so green and so sheltered from the harsh truths of the world, and her first taste of reality had to be by way of one of the worst possible losses. Dot cried and cried until she couldn't breathe. "Wh... What hap-happened?" she asked between heaving sobs.

"Hopper... brought Flik out here and... hurt him very badly." Atta couldn't bring herself to admit to Dot that she had struck the final blow herself.

Dot sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Can...can I... s-see him? Wh-where is he?"

"Oh, Dot, I... I don't know if you should see him. He's... he's in really bad shape. I don't want it to scare you."

This upset Dot further. "Don't treat me like a little kid! I want to see him!" Dot struggled and shrieked with all her might to escape her sister's grip, but Atta never loosened her hold. "Let me go! LET ME GO!" Atta tried to reason with her. "Dot, stop! I'm not trying to keep you from him to – " Dot was having none of her sister's reasoning and fought even harder. "I want to see Flik! Let me see him!"

Dot fussed and flailed in Atta's arms for a while, but shortly lost steam and melted back into tears. Atta got kicked and punched a few times in her effort to restrain her hysterical sibling, but refused to release Dot until she had calmed down. Once the smaller ant wore herself out thrashing, Atta set her back on the ground and knelt down to look her in the eye. She knew that the only way she was going to get through to her little sister was to not talk down to her. Sure, Dot was just a child, but she didn't listen when she was spoken to in a patronizing manner. Given the gravity of the situation, Atta felt that she had no choice but to talk to her sister like an adult.

"Listen to me, Dot. I promise you that I'm not trying to keep you from Flik to be mean or because you're little. He was injured very severely and I don't want you to be hurt seeing him the way he is. I wish I didn't have to see him the way he is now because I'm never going to get that image out of my head. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

The smaller ant nodded. She spotted one of Flik's antennae poking out from behind the broad leaf Atta has placed over him. "That's him over there, isn't it?" Dot asked while pointing to the leaf. Atta sighed. "Yes." Dot's cheeks were soaked with tears. "C-Can I please see him? Please? I just wanna see him one more time, even if he looks bad."

Atta questioned her own judgment. Would it be right to let Dot see Flik's body, especially when it was so mutilated? On one hand, she didn't want to try and shield Dot from the inevitability of death, but on the other hand, was Dot too immature to handle something so gruesome? Atta weighed her options and made a final decision; her sister may have still been a child, but she couldn't be protected forever from the harsh actuality of life, including the more tragic and preventable parts such as the one they were facing. While Atta certainly never wanted to have to bring her sister face to face with death, she knew Dot would be just as hurt not getting a chance to say goodbye to Flik as she would seeing his body, if not more so.

"Okay, Dot. You can see him," Atta conceded. Slowly, the two princesses walked together to where the leaf was resting with Dot holding her sister's hand the whole time. Atta slowly pulled the leaf back, just enough to see Flik's antennae drooping lifelessly in the air. "Dot, before I go further, you need to know...," she took a deep breath, "... that Flik's arms and legs are gone. I know it's going to be shocking, but I want you to know what to expect when I lift this leaf. Do you still want to see him?"

Dot rubbed her eyes and hesitated to answer for a moment. "Uh-huh." Atta pulled the leaf off enough to uncover the top half of Flik's body, or at least what was left of it.

Dot gasped and immediately turned away. Atta also averted her eyes; she knew what horror lay under that leaf, but it still pained her to have to see Flik like that again. Dot cried as she turned back around to look at her fallen companion. The little princess reached down to touch Flik's face, looking up at her sister for approval first. Atta nodded and knelt down on the other side of the deceased ant's body. Tears fell heavy as rocks as Dot looked over his pulverized body, trying to find a single spot not covered in bruises or blood. It was so difficult for her to see an ant she cared for so much in such a terrible state – no insect should have to be witness to such violence, no matter their age. Whether or not she wanted to, Dot grew up a little bit that day.

Author's notes: Keep an eye out for the last two chapters, which I'll probably post together since the last one is pretty short. :)