Last Breath~Niki Belle

Last Breath


“TOD!” I screamed. I ran to the tree and tried to push it off of him, but the weight of the wood was too much. I finally managed to roll the tree off of him the slightest bit. He was laying motionless on the ground, but I could see his chest moving. I breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t dead. I summoned all my strength and rolled the massive tree off of him, telling myself he would be dead if I didn’t.
Once the tree was completely off of him, I leaned down beside him and checked his pulse. It was coming is slow, unsteady beats. “Tod, please,” I said, dropping his arm to it’s previous position beside his body. “please wake up.” Tears filled my eyes as I said this, but I reassured myself that he wasn’t dead; not yet anyway. “please wake up.” I repeated. “I can’t lose you.” I said. “I can’t.” I brushed the hair out of his face and drew my hand back quickly. I looked at the palm of my hand to make sure I was not mistaken. My hand was covered in fresh blood. Tod’s blood. I leaned over him and I could hear his shaky breathing. I heard someone coming into the clearing and I prayed it was dad.
I looked up as Mia came into the clearing. “Wha-”I cut her off before she could ask any questions.
“Mia, go get Dad, now.” I said. I recognized a distinct tone in my voice that suggested anger, but no matter what tone I used, it made her run, which was a good thing. I leaned down over him and listened to his breathing. I could only hear a faint whistling that was almost too quiet to hear. He took one last shaking and weak breath. Then I heard nothing. He was no longer breathing. I laid my head on his chest, praying he would still have a heart beat. I placed my head right over his heart. I heard nothing. Once again I picked up his wrist, panicking, and checked his pulse. I expected to feel just a weak beat, but I felt nothing. His hand was cold and he was turning white as the blood stopped flowing. He was dead.
Mia came running into the woods with Dad on her heels. “Niki, what happened?” He asked. I was sobbing too hard to answer. I could only shake my head. He came over next to me and held me by the shoulders. “Niki, tell my what happened.” He said.
“He’s dead.” I said through my tears. It was barely understandable, but my father apparently understood. Mia came rushing over to Tod. She looked at his body and touched his arms. She drew back as though she had touched something disgusting.
“He’s cold.” She said. I could see the fear on her face, and I knew she understood. She looked over at me with tears in her eyes. “Niki,” She paused. “he’s…” I just nodded. I didn’t need to hear the rest of the sentence and she apparently didn’t need to say it. “No. He can’t be, he’s just” She stopped. She knew. He was gone. She looked back at me and collapsed into my arms. She started sobbing onto my shoulder. “He can’t be. He’s just hurt.” She looked at me. “He’s just hurt.” She said. I shook my head.
“No Mia. He’s not. He’s dead.” I immediately felt bad for saying that, but I didn’t know why. Mia was old enough to understand death, but I still wished I didn’t have to tell her. She burried her head in my neck and cried softly. I would’ve helped her if I had known how to, but right now I wasn’t even sure I would be okay.
“Why did he go?” She asked. I was asking myself the same question, but I didn’t say what I was thinking out loud.
“I don’t know, Mia.” I said. Inside my head, every part of me was screaming one thing.
Because I didn’t save him.