***Writer's Note: the quotes I use in this story come from Moments Shared: A Selection of Writings on Friendship by Flavia Weedn, Poems of Love (which I will credit the authors after the verses), a few Hallmark cards (Gotta love those things), and several of my own.***
A Phoenix arose from the ashes…
If I could write a tale of kindness, strength, and courage…the hero would be you.
This one quote encompasses all that I feel and all that I have learned from Abigail Peterson. She is the one person on this planet, besides my family and 'brothers' that I would lay my life on the line for. I would give everything I own, everything I have, everything I am, for her happiness. She touched my life in such a way that I am speechless but at the same time, rushed to get my words out.
I heard a quote once that said: Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.
This is what Abby did to me. She was and always will be in my heart and soul. What I learned from her will forever be instilled inside me and my soul will be thankful for her being every day of my life.
I guess I should explain what I mean by all of this and why I like to quote people so much. That is another thing I learned from her. Lord, did she love quotes…and poems and songs and everything to do with this world. She saw the beauty in this dark and hurtful thing we call life and made me see it for all its glory. I am so blessed to have met her that ill-fated day.
And what a day it was. Never in my life had such a day occurred that I wanted the world to end. If I could have crawled into a cave I would have, and stayed there forever. But somewhere among the crowds of people, the terror that surrounded them, and the pain that so many were feeling…a phoenix arose from the ashes to save us all, and captured my heart. I didn't know it at the time but I do now and hope that wherever Abby is, she knows how much I love her.
My story began almost ten years ago when I was out with some friends at an amusement park….
"Yeah right you're famous."
"Dude, I swear. Me and the guys are really big over in Europe. We have screaming fans wherever we go. It's a mess over there."
"You are so full of it, you know that. Come on, let's get in line for the Ferris wheel before too many people come. I wouldn't want your 'groupies' to find out we're here and attack you."
"Ha ha, you are so funny. You just wait. I know you don't believe me now, but in a few months I'll show you."
"Can you two knock it off for one second? I would like to enjoy our last days of the summer before we go back to school…well some of us go back to school. Man, you are so lucky you aren't in college. Its gonna suck this year."
"Oh I'm sure. All those college girls and parties must really get to you. I feel so sorry for you."
"It's not that, I can't wait for the girls and the parties, but its just that we are going our separate ways. Branching off in our own directions, expanding our horizons, challenging our minds…"
"Making your friends want to puke."
"Come on, you know what I mean. Our group is breaking up. We hardly ever see each other as it is and now we'll no longer be the Three Musketeers."
"Dude, we were never called that."
"Hey, that's what I called us." The young man got several gentle shoves from his two best friends. "Okay, so we're not the Three Musketeers. How about the Three Stooges?"
A round of laughter was heard from the other two boys. "Yeah, that would be more like it. Come on, the Ferris wheel is waiting."
The three young men found their way to the 'Spinning Wheel of Death' so deemed by the others that rode the ride before them. They were in an amusement park built in the early 1900's and by the looks of things, it needed to be torn down a long time ago.
"Step right this way, gentlemen. Do you dare to ride the Spinning Wheel of Death?" An elderly man said to them.
They each looked at one another before busting out laughing. "Yeah, Bring it on!" Announced one of them.
The three boys climbed into the small cart and waited for the Ferris wheel to lift off. Several other people were trying to board so the ride was only moving one cart at a time. The three boys sat in their seat, looking out over the park. They noticed the old rollercoaster at the far end and then the game booths set up to rob people of their money.
This place reminded them of a traveling carnival but it never left. It was one of the oldest amusement parks in the country and they found its history to be amazing. So many people had come through the gates of this place. Some for work, others for enjoyment, but all for an escape to a fantasy place outside the real world.
Today was no exception. One of the guys had just had an awful fight with his girlfriend of over a year and ended things earlier that day. His two friends were trying to cheer him up but it wasn't working. They brought him to the park to get his mind off his problems, since he found out his girlfriend had been cheating on him while he was gone overseas.
The young man in question was not the typical boy-next-door like he appeared. He was far beyond that. His good looks and great personality kept him on the list of 'Most Wanted' by the girls in his town. Every girl wanted his attention but he would politely tell them he was taken and walk off.
His greatest quality was that he was loyal to a fault. When he let someone into his world, they were in forever. He was an all or nothing kind of guy and his friends felt honored to be in his life. He would do anything for them and they would do the same in return.
His passion for life was what made him strong, along with his belief in God. He learned to live each day as if it were his last for he never knew when his time was up. He prayed each day for the strength to make it the best it could be and found that his life was better than he ever expected.
His other passion lye in music. He was born with it in his heart and soul. He would often be found humming an unknown tune aloud. His friends would ask him what the song was but he had no answer for them. 'Just something I'm putting together' was all he said. He had a song inside of him for the longest time, but the words just weren't there. He knew that someday, they would come to him and then he would have a hit on his hands.
His passion for music is what lead him to meet his 'brothers'. These four other guys had become his new family. Each with a different personality, different upbringing, from all over the country, but their love of music was what bonded them together forever. He knew without a doubt these four men in which he had spent the last two years with, would remain his closest friends.
The two guys with him now where friends he had grown up with but soon they would be going off to college. Their lives taking them in different directions. Sure they would keep in touch, but reality had to come into play here. Most relationships, even those formed in a treehouse on a hot summers day, would fade away.
In years to come, they would see very little of one another, and the young man would come to realize that the bond he had with one of them wasn't what he expected. His loyalty would be challenged and in the end, ultimate betrayal would be the outcome.
But for now, all the world was open to these three friends. They were on top of the world, figuratively, but it felt so real to them. The Ferris wheel helped in that feeling. Up there, they could see it all: their futures, their joys, their pains, their…
"OH MY GOD…FIRE!!!" Yelled one of them.
The others turned to see the smoke coming from the nearby pavilion. Screams could be heard around the park as the occupants were trapped inside the building. The three boys demanded to be let off the Ferris wheel and when they were, ran straight towards the screams.
People were surrounding the area, trying their hardest to free the trapped people inside. Men rammed huge poles at the doors to open them and finally found one loose enough to break. Smoke filled the sky as the door came crashing down.
What seemed like thousands of people, came running out of the building, yelling for help. Some were burned, some merely bruised, but all hurt inside. It would take a long time to forget this incident. A lot longer for some, especially the young man who saw too much.
"LET ME GO!"
This plea was heard over the crowd of people trying to escape the inferno. The young man noticed a girl, not more than 15 or 16 yelling at an older gentleman. He walked closer to them to try to help her.
"I SAID LET ME GO!"
"I can't let you go back in there, it's too dangerous."
"DAMMIT, DON"T YOU REALIZE HE'S STILL IN THERE?" She yelled to the man that held her at bay.
The boy arrived just in time to stop the situation. "I think she said to let her go." He faced the older man and demanded her release.
"Boy you have no business being here, the place is about to go up and…"
The girl was able to break free as the two began to argue. She immediately ran back inside the burning building and out of sight.
"LOOK WHAT YOU DID?" The older one yelled.
The boy could only watch in horror as the building became engulfed in flames. No sign of the young girl was evident. All he could hear was the screams of those still inside.
The firemen arrived several minutes later and began to rescue as many people as they possible could. They roped off the area and pushed the young man back behind the barrier. "If she dies, you will be to blame." The older man finally said to him as he approached from behind.
The boy turned to face this man, tears stained his face and he buried his head in his hands. "I didn't know she would…"
"Like hell you didn't. You heard her say he was still in there. You knew she would go back in, didn't you?" He forcefully turned the boy to face him.
Panic ran throughout his body. He did hear her words but was only thinking about the man hurting her by not letting go. "I just didn't think…"
"That's right you didn't think and looked what happened. I may have lost both my children because of you."
His face fell even more, if that was possible. He was beginning to understand what was happening. This man before him was the father of the young girl and her brother, who was still trapped inside. By letting her go back for him, he may have lost his children to the flames.
His thoughts were interrupted abruptly when he saw a glimpse of someone being carried out of the building. Hope returned to him when he saw the same young girl walking along side a fireman who was carrying a boy, presumably her brother.
His face soon fell when there was a loud crack of noise and then a huge flash of light. The building in front of them blew up, sending everyone within the short radius to their feet.
When he gained his balance, the young man stood and surveyed his surroundings. If it was possible, more screams were heard, the kind of screams that were imbedded into his brain forever.
Paramedics were around helping those they could. Firemen hurried to put out the flames. Everyone else just stood there, frozen to what had happened.
His eyes searched the area. No sign of her anywhere. He helped the older man up and then saw the look of fear come over him. He followed his line of sight and saw a figure approaching them. This shadow moved with such grace and ease that it looked like an angel floating towards them. The young man readjusted his eyes to the figure and realized it was the same young girl from earlier.
She walked towards them carrying her brother's lifeless body. The strain of his weight was evident in her face but she willed her legs to keep moving. She would not let him fall.
The father called for her and ran towards the two. The young man only watched the family reunite under these terrible conditions. One child was saved while the other was carried off to a forbidden place by the living.
This tore at the young man's heart. He fell to his knees and wept. He couldn't remember the last time he had done this. Most of his life had been about fun and not worrying about what would happen next. He lived each day as if there was no tomorrow but with that came the realization that this little boy's tomorrow would not arrive. That hit him like a ton of bricks. He was facing death, facing it head on and didn't know how to handle what he saw.
The lifeless body of this young boy not more than 10 or 11 would haunt him for years to come. He would find these images in front of him, in his dreams. It wasn't the fact that this little boy had died a horrible death, but it was the fact that if his sister shared that same fate, he would be to blame. That made him sick to his stomach.
He clutched his body with both hands and leaned over to throw up. He was releasing everything inside of him. All the love he had for this world, all the wonders it once held for him, everything was released to the ground beside him. In its place came a hurt, pain, and an anger that he never knew existed. He cursed himself that night for what could have happened, and vowed never to stop thinking.
His thoughts were blinded by this young girl's pleas for escape but he had overlooked the possibility of her getting hurt. He would listen to what was being said and evaluate each situation before leaping forward and acting on impulse. He grew up that night, in more ways than one.
His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a hand on his shoulder. His tired eyes looked up to find a burned and bruised young girl standing over him. She held her hand out to him to take. He obligded and quickly stood to face her.
Her frail body was mangled and bruised like she had gone ten rounds with a mountain lion but the look in her eyes said that she had won the fight. Her hair was fried by the flames and the smell of smoke and burnt flesh was almost too much for him and he felt like throwing up again.
She reached for his hand when she saw the pain in his eyes. "It's okay. It's over now."
He couldn't believe this was happening. One minute he was riding a Ferris wheel with his friends and the next he was in the middle of a towering inferno. Here stood the same girl that had freed herself from her father's grasp and went back into the beast to rescue her dying brother. Without hesitation, she risked her own life for his. The young man had to think if he was in the same situation, would he have done the exact thing she did? He wasn't sure.
"Thank you…" She began.
The young man looked at her, shocked she said that to him. She had just been through hell and back, literally, and in the process, lost her younger brother, but she was trying to comfort him, a total stranger. He didn't know what to say.
"Thank you for helping my father when the building blew up. He was so frightened when I left, I know he was, and you helped him through it until I returned. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that." Her own tears were evident through the smug of smoke and debris on her face. She touched his face to make sure he was okay and knew her gratitude.
"I, um…I didn't do anything…" He tried to say.
"You did more than you'll ever know. My father would have died in that fire if he had gone after Stevie. I couldn't live with losing both of them." Her hands found their way to her face and she covered it with them.
Her sobs were more than he could handle. Without thinking, something he just vowed not to do, he wrapped her in his arms and let her cry on him. Her body felt so tiny to him but the strength she had inside of her outweighed her by ten times.
She calmed down a minute later when she heard her father cry for her. She pushed herself away from the young stranger and went towards her father. He had a paramedic with him, loading her brother on a stretcher. She would be next to get checked out.
As she was walking away, she turned to the young man behind her and smiled. "I will find a way to repay you, someday I will…"
Her words were interrupted when another spark of light engulfed the park. The firefighters had disturbed an area untouched by humans but housed the core of the fire. When they hit the door open, what was left of the building, blew up.
The young man tried to shield his face from debris but was not so lucky. A huge piece of metal came straight at him and hit him in the head. The last thing he remembered seeing was the young girl standing there helpless looking at her father, who had a similar piece of debris through his skull.
Unfortunately, the worse was yet to come.