Chapter (2). REALISATIONS.

                                   

 

 THE PORCELAIN DOLLS. Part (2)

 MAGGIES' STORY.

 

 

Chapter (12). REALISATIONS.

 

“Oh my god, oh my god. Mr Trent, Mr TRENT.” Maggie’s tears were mixed with the fine rain and were running down her face as she reached Trent’s bloodied body. She could see the red stain showing through the material of his coat. His eyes were shut and his skin was pale but she could see a movement behind the eyelids. She didn't know if he was dead or dying. Falling onto her knees she instinctively put her hand on the side of his face and sighed. She wiped the rain from his forehead and eyes, she could feel his skin was still warm.

“Carlton.” Her soft voice called his name and his eyelids flickered, just for a second, but they did move. Maggie glanced across at the other body, she was sure she could see a slight movement from the boy, yes, he was still breathing. She didn't know where to look, there was blood seeping everywhere across the wet sidewalk.

“Oh god Carlton, please don't leave me.” She couldn't stop the tears as they flowed down her face. Her heart was hurting and she knew then that her feelings for her employer had taken a new direction. Maggie looked at him lying on the floor with his blood staining through his clothes. A gasp escaped her as her eyes roamed across Trent's body. Christ, look at the arm. Trent's right arm was a mess. A chunk of his jacket sleeve was missing and bits of skin and bone clung to the torn bloody edges of the material.

Maggie was frantically looking around to see if anyone was there to help her. Her eyes caught sight of shape across the street, it was a figure in a long dark cloak and a wide brimmed hat. She couldn't see any details as the figure stood with his face crowded in shadow.

“HELP ME, HELP ME.” She knew the figure must have heard her cries but it just moved away and vanished into the wet shadows.

“WAIT, WHERE ARE YOU GOING? COME BACK. HELP ME.” The figure never looked back he just vanished into the dark rain. Maggie looked back at Trent, her mind was racing.

“Stay with me Mr Trent.” She slapped his face, not too hard.

“Stay with me.” The school, there had to be somebody still in the school.

“I'll be back in a minute I gotta get to a phone.” Maggie didn't want to leave him there, she had no choice. She was running frantically back up the steps. The wet pavement glinted under the dim lights as Maggie aimed for the doors of the school. Shouting and wailing like a banshee all the way. She ran at the doors of the school and pushed hard and they opened as she crashed through into the dry corridor.

“HELP ME, SOMEBODY HELP MEeeee.” Running down the hallway her voice echoed loudly around the walls. Suddenly a man appeared from a doorway in front of her, without giving him time to speak Maggie screamed at him.

“Get the police and an ambulance quick, pleeeese, there's been a shooting. I think both of them are still alive.”  Her voice was hysterical.

“Oh God what do I do?” The guy didn't bother to speak, instead he turned on his heels and ran into an office a few feet away.

 

When she managed to follow him into the room Maggie could see he already had the telephone to his face and was speaking to the police. He turned to face her and gave her a slight smile as he spoke. Maggie turned to look back the way she'd come in.

“I have to get back to them. Please tell them to hurry there's a lot of blood.” The guy nodded and as he continued to relay the information.

As Maggie ran back to where the bodies were lying it had stopped raining.  She didn't remember crossing the concourse or descending the steps. As she dropped to her knees between the bodies she could hear a groan coming from one of them. The blood was mixing with the rain on the sidewalk and it wetted her knees and stained her dress, her lovely new dress. Kneeling between the two bodies and she could hear that the younger man was trying to speak. He was lying on his front, his left arm was showing but the right arm was buckled underneath him. She couldn't see his injuries. Several of his books had fallen and were scattered around him. Placing a hand gently onto his cold rain soaked back Maggie spoke softly.

“Please don't move. An ambulance is coming to take you to hospital. My name is Maggie, please don't try to speak.” She felt the muscles in the young man's back flex and relax. He made a weak groaning sound.

“That's good.” She told him. “Everything will be okay. Just lie still.” She didn't know what else to say to him. Her attention returned to her employer. As she carefully undid his coat and jacket she was near to fainting as she watched the spreading stain of blood on his shirt. What do I do? What do I do? Then she remembered she’d seen a movie where a man had pushed a piece of cloth onto a bullet wound to stop the bleeding. Ripping a piece of material from the hem of her new dress she pulled open Trents shirt.

“Oh my god!” she gasped through her lips. Maggie had to gulp for air, she hadn't expected to see this. Nervously folding the flowered cloth she pushed it onto the bloodied hole. She had to look away for a second as bile rose into her mouth causing her to wretch, gulping the damp air she managed to keep from vomiting. Tears started to flow again as she kept the scrap of her dress pressed against the wound in his chest.

“Oh, Mr Trent, what HAVE we done?” Trent was unconscious and he didn't hear her. The sound of the the police sirens sent a wave of reassurance through her, this was quickly followed by the slap, slap, of footsteps running towards her. Within seconds a pair of black boots appeared in front of her. A thousand tiny raindrops on the shiny toecaps reflected the scene in the dim light. Maggie looked up to see a tall figure in a police uniform. His voice was calming as he spoke.

“It's okay Miss an ambulance will be here very soon. Let me see.”  The police officer knelt beside her and looked at Trent.

“My God, Carlton Trent.” He exclaimed. Maggie looked sideways at the officer.

“Do you know Mr Trent?” She asked. Without looking up from the body the officer replied.

“We worked together on the force miss.” The officer then glanced across at the boy lying next to Trent, just as quickly he looked directly at Maggie as he asked.

“Do you know the other guy Miss?”

“Well yes, er no, not really, I think his name is Isaac Asimov.” Not sure if she'd done the right thing in telling him. As she was trying to get her thoughts in order another voice shouted at them from the concrete steps.

“Hey sarge, we got a weapon up here.” They both turned to see another officer waving a handgun.

“Don't think it's been fired cos it don't smell sarge.”

 

The young officer with the gun started to approach their position.

“That will be Mr Trents gun I think, look his holster is empty.” Maggie told the sergeant who stood up and motioned with a raised hand for his colleague to stay where he was. Turning back to Maggie he placed a hand against the side of her shoulder.

“Listen miss, there never was a gun, you understand?  We never found it.” His voice was quiet and his face was stern. With that he quickly approached the young officer higher up the steps. Maggie watched them as the sergeant turned and pointed at Trent as they were talking. The young officer was nodding in agreement as he handed over the gun and walked away. The sergeant quickly came back and with a quick glance over his shoulder he offered Maggie the weapon.

“Here Miss put this somewhere safe.” He handed her the gun. Maggie hesitated for a second not knowing what to do with it.

“Hide it, quick.” The sergeant urged her. Almost without thinking Maggie dropped it inside the top of her dress. It nestled cold and damp between her breasts.

“That's good.” The sergeant knelt down and leaned in close to Trents' ear.

“Trent...Trent... it's Dominique... Dominique Gresham... remember?... the precinct. I got your piece, it's safe.” He got up and looked Maggie in the eye.

“Don't know if he heard me Miss but we never found a gun. Okay?” Maggie nodded her head to show she'd understood. The sergeant crossed to look at the other young man lying on the ground. As he did so they heard more footsteps running towards them. The sergeant turned his head and shouted to the approaching group of men.

“They're both alive, hurry it up you guys. Get this one first.” He pointed to Trent. Maggie stood up and moved back so that these newcomers could start to save her boss.

“He's one of ours.” The sergeant told the men. Maggie watched for several minutes as they inspected the wound in his chest and then one of the men turned to her and said.

“I think he'll be alright miss. You can come to the hospital with us if you like.” Maggie couldn't speak, so she just nodded. Two of the men carefully placed Carlton onto a stretcher. They lifted him up and started back up to the waiting ambulance.  Another team had already placed the young man on a stretcher and he was being taken away. His books were being collected by an officer. Maggie bent down to pick one up as the officers' voice stopped her.

“Excuse me miss, please don't do that it might be needed as evidence.” She handed him the book.

“Sorry.” She said apologetically.

“Thank you Miss we'll take care of this.”  The sergeant had picked up one of the books and was looking at it intently. As he looked about him at the blood stained ground and scattered books he said. “Would you look at that?” He held the book out to show the other officer.

“A bullet must have gone straight through it.” He held it up against the yellow streetlight to examine the hole. Handing the book to his colleague, the sergeant turned to speak to Maggie.

“I'll need a statement from you Miss. I'll come to see you at the hospital later. Okay? “

“Yes, yes of course sergeant, although I wasn't here to see it happen.” The sergeant gave her a reassuring smile.

“I know miss, but we have to do it anyway. Don't worry, Old C.T. is a tough old nut, he'll pull through.” Her mouth tried to make a smile, she wanted to believe him. Trent's hat was lying by the bottom step as she turned to walk back towards the ambulance. It had bloodstains and had been walked on. Maggie picked it up without thinking and quickly followed the medics back to the ambulance.

As she climbed into the back of the Packard to ride with Carlton she started to cry again. It was cramped as she sat and watched the medic working on Trent, the air in the ambulance smelled of antiseptic.  Maggie held Trents' hand as they raced along the wet streets with the klaxon blearing clearing the way for them.  It seemed to take forever but they finally arrived at the Bellevue Emergency Hospital.

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Author's Note

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT. EVEN JUST TO SAY YEAH. I WANT YOU ALL TO ENJOY THIS STORY SO TELL ME WHERE TO IMPROVE.

Reviews

[Kathy Van Kurin]

"Chapter (2) REALIZATIONS"
MAD ENGLISHMAN,
This chapter is a good explanation for future happenings, I liked the shadowy people which seemed present when Trent and young Asimov are shot. It gives the story a mysterious edge. So far I see a bit more well roundedness to the context. Your writing gives some context and context is really important. Thankyou for posting your own unique writing. I look forward to more detail as you have now put out some good bait with this story!
Blessings,
Kathy

[1Disawsum]

I like the idea and change to a new perspective of this story, and ultimately, I knew most authors would turn a book into romance. I just hope you can do it better than others, and though I do not like romance novels at all, I will keep reading this as the previous chapter was too good.
In this chapter, it is just getting started but at a good pace. You can pace your chapters really well, and that's great. Great chapter one so far, can't wait to read the next one!

[MAD ENGLISHMAN]

Wow thank you for a great review. I don't want to make it a love story but I think it just happened. I'll be sure to get back on the sci fi crime track soon. regards. Clive.

[1Disawsum]

aha no problem :)

[MsJewel]

I enjoyed this chapter very much. I do think, however, you need to make your female character a little more hysterical...if the man she loves is bleeding to death would she care how the police officer knew him? I'm thinking it probably wouldn't register - and the police officer giving her the gun seems a bit far fetched - However, with that said - I hung on every single word and can't wait to see where this story is going..
:) Julie

[MAD ENGLISHMAN]

Yes I agree that she would probabaly be more hysterical. i'll see what I can come up with.
If you've read book one you might recall that Blake used that gun to kill hoodlums. His pals in the force knew it. He had already decided to get rid of it but didn't have the time before he had to make his rendezvous Gresham is trying to protect Blake from an investigation. Well that was the idea anyway.