บท 18: Chapter Eighteen: A fatal shot
The impact of the fall knocked the air out of my lungs. Liam was on top of me, shielding me from any potential threat.
From my referral vision, I could see the woman instantly halt and fall to the ground, dropping on her knees first before she was sprawled out on the floor lifelessly.
Fear consumed me and my heart was racing, thrashing against my rib cage. Liam and I remained flattened on the ground for a couple of seconds.
He got up first, still crouched as he looked around. Then I followed him and quickly rushed towards the woman.
"Miss! Miss!" I cried, holding her body. She was bleeding relentlessly and the crimson stained my flare skirt.
"Please don't die! Don't give up on me!" I yelled, watching her chest rise and fall erratically. She looked at me and then looked forward at Liam who was approaching us.
Her eyes remained fixed on him for a while until they stopped moving. "Miss?" I said, tapping her cheeks. She was irresponsive to my touch.
"No, no, you can't die, please, miss!" I screamed loudly, pulling her arms up and releasing them. They dropped lifelessly on the floor.
Blood continued to stain my legs and soak the ground around us. Liam held my shoulders and pulled me away from her.
"I just called an ambulance, they will be here soon."
It was like his words fell on deaf ears because I didn't even care about what he had to say. "No!" A hoarse cry escaped my lips as I crouched down beside her.
I looked up at Liam with my teary face. "They're animals! Whoever did this is a monster!" I screamed at the top of my voice.
He got down to my level and wrapped his arms around me, rubbing my back slowly. "It's okay Bianca, at least we're alive."
I shook my head. "It's not, what about her?" I almost choked on my own spit.
From the distance I could hear the sirens blaring, the ambulance was speeding directly towards us. Liam gently pulled me away from the body as the paramedics came down from the car with a stretcher.
"Please do everything you can to save her, please!" I said to the group as they walked past me.
They quickly put her on the stretcher and took her into the back of the ambulance. I broke away from Liam's embrace. "I want to come with you guys," I requested.
One of the men standing in there nodded and gestured for me to get into the ambulance. I look back at Liam, "come let's go, I think there's room for two."
"No ma'am there isn't, one of you have to come on your own," the man said.
"It's okay Bianca, I'll call George to come pick me up and I'll meet you in the hospital."
I nodded and they closer the door to the ambulance, driving straight to the hospital.
"I need her to connected to an oxygenator now!" One of the paramedics said.
He grabbed something that looked like a fire extinguisher, presumably the oxygen tank. There was a tube coming from it which ended in a mask.
They put the oxygen mask over her and gave her an injection. "Try to keep her alive!"
I wasn't much of a medical personnel so I couldn't tell what they were doing, but I saw them hovering around her and one of them was giving CPR.
With fingers crossed I watched. I rested my head against the interior of the van and looked skyward. "God please let her survive," I muttered under my breath.
Why did things like this happen to me? Just when I was this close to uncovering the truth? I felt rage wash over me, it was right here in my fingertips, the answer to all my questions.
"Record time of death."
Immediately I heard those words I jumped on my feet. "What?! Please you have to do something! She can't die!"
"I'm sorry miss but there's nothing we can do, she took a bullet to the head, we lost her."
I didn't even realize when I went down on my knees crying. What if she was a mother just like me? What if she had a family at home waiting for her, kids, her husband, siblings, friends.
My crying intensified and it felt like my lungs were going to burst through my chest.
By the time we arrived at the hospital, they wrapped her body up and took her to the morgue. I was sitting by the reception area, staring blankly into space.
Everything felt so numb, I had cried all my tears away. Even though my head was heavy, there were no more tears left to cry.
"Bianca," is familiar voice called as he showed up at the end of the hallway with a worried look on his face.
He rushed towards me and crouched down, hugging me. "I heard what happened, she couldn't make it. I'm sorry."
I swallowed the lump in my throat. "It wasn't your fault, it was the monster that shot her mercylessly like that." My voice was bitter and harsh.
"The police are already on the case, I'm sure they doing everything they can to find whoever was responsible for this."
I got on my feet and clenched my fists by my side. "How can someone be so heartless? They just shot her and killed her like she was an animal. I can't even-"
My voice broke and I didn't even know what to say. There were no words on earth I could use to describe the anger I was feeling right now.
I collapsed into into his embrace once again, it was the only thing that gave me strength at this moment. He made me feel safe and I needed that now more than ever.
Gripping a shirt tightly I continued to cry again, a fresh set of tears spilling from my eyes. "Whoever is behind this doesn't want me to find out the truth, they are hiding it from me. I won't stop till I find out who it is, even if it's the last thing I'll do. I will make sure that I destroy whoever did this."
He held me tighter, "And I'll be here with you every step of the way." He wiped my tears away with his thumb.
"I want you to know that this isn't just your fight Bianca, it's mine too. There's somebody out there that is out for you and I can't let that slide."
A weak smile formed on my face. It felt reassuring to know that somebody had my back in a world filled with traitors.
I think the only good thing that came from Aiden's betrayal as well as my sister's was my marriage with Liam.
"I want to go see the body for one last time."
"Are you sure you can handle it?" He asked. I nodded.
Together, we approached the morgue. As we got nearer and nearer, the sound of somebody crying met my ears.
I exchanged a troubled look with my husband and he placed his arm on my lower back for support.
I took a deep breath and made my way in. I said I pushed the door open, the lady who was inside crying turned around to face me.
We maintained eye contact for a while before her face squeezed in anguish. "You! You're the reason my sister is dead!"
"No, please. I had no idea that anything like that will happen, she was the one that picked the location for us to meet up I swear-"
"Get out, I don't want to see your face." from the tone of her voice I could tell that she was extremely angry with me.
So, I respected how wishes I left the room with Liam. When we got back to the main hospital hallway, we spotted some uniform men in the corner.
A woman where infeated brown pants and a white shirt walked up to us. Her jacket had a police insignia on the chest area and another on the shoulder area.
"Hello I'm Kate Brooks, under detective in charge of this case," she said, her wavy brown hair bouncing over her shoulders.
"I'm Bianca and this is my husband Liam."
Kates eyes landed on my blood stained skirt. "So, I would just like to get your statement concerning everything that happened tonight."
I narrated the whole ordeal to her as she took down notes. "Ok then, I'd like to have the number she used in texting you yesterday."
"I'll provide that immediately, and anything else you need. Please make sure you catch whoever is behind this, she died trying to tell me the truth."
Kate nodded and then walked away. "Would you like to go home? I'm sure the kids are waiting."
"Give me a minute I want to use the bathroom and wash off."
I made my way towards the bathroom, my mind still preoccupied with thoughts. I halted the moment I saw Aiden coming out of the corner where the restrooms are.
"What are you doing here?"
ของขวัญ
-- ได้รับของขวัญแล้ว สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง