Chenford Story

4

Tim's POV

Lucy was over and hour late to roll call this morning. Only a week until she is finished being my boot, I can't have her be this late again. And yet there is something about her lateness that I just can't understand.

Whenever Lucy had been late in the last she would quietly approach Sargent Grey with her reason and it was always a valid reason. Today she just blurted it out as she went to sit down. She overslept. Really?

I had known Officer Chen for two years, almost every since day she was up before her alarm woke her. This wasn't like her at all.

Lucy stumbled around carrying the war bags, holding what should have been light enough to carry comfortably with one hand, barely with both. Once we got into the shop she kept zoning out and back in and out and back in and out and back in and out and back..."OK WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" I couldn't take it anymore and just practically screamed.

That was when I noticed the ring on her finger, a beautiful diamond, no doubt it was an engagement ring. "Oh my goodness congratulations on your engagement! When did this happen?" I tried to sound happy, inside I was dying. I HATED Emmet. With a passion.

Still Lucy seemed barely conscious. "Oh this" she lifted her hand to show me more clearly but she seemed less than excited "last night" she shrugged nonchalantly, she said saying it so casually I could have been asking what the weather was like. She completely ignored my first question, as I thought she would.

After Shift

I approached Angela calmly, she was like a sister to me she would underst.......

Angela's POV

Tim you know how much I care about Lucy why the hell didn't you tell me sooner?!" I was so mad at him.
"And yeah I agree, Lucy is normally telling everyone her business, what she ate, what show she watched. Not telling a single person about her engagement?! That's not like her at all." I was just as shocked at Tim when he told me. I understood Lucy was an adult, she could make her own choices... but they had only been dating for four months. Lucy had known Aaron longer, and it felt like he just got here.

"So what are we going to do about it?" I posted it as a question. Tim took it as a statement. A challenge.

Tim's POV

I don't think I appreciated just how out of character Lucy was before speaking to Angela. She was my best friend, obviously she knew what to do.

I approached Lucy after the shift was over. I didn't was anything, I just sat next to her.

"Um Tim" "yeah" I hoped I was finally getting through to her. "Can you go please"
Oh... "Oh um yeah, sure. Sorry for bothering you" crap. Clearly that want going to work.

6 days later

Angela and I had tried over the last week to get through to Lucy but she just ignored us completely by day four. She knew what we were doing, she wanted to be a detective after all.

We were on patrol, pulling up to a possible domestic case, Lucy got out the car first.
She seemed wobbly and more thin than ever but she said she was fine. I couldn't do anything about it.

An hour later

Lucy had the guy in cuffs after a long chase. She had just sat down to catch her breath when I heard a small thud. I turned around. Lucy was slumped over forwards, barely breathing.

Lucy's POV

I remembered very little. A few sirens here and there. My body being moved carefully onto a stretcher. It felt.... surreal.
I woke up the next day in the hospital. Emmet sat in the chair opposite my bed, looking bored and tutting at me.
"Stupid, so stupid" "she'll have the cuffs for this" I heard him muttering to himself.
I had only lost 4kg. Not the agreed 5.

I slowly opened my dry mouth. "I-im sorry baby, I'll do better next time."
"Yeah you should be, your lucky. If you were my wife right now then you would be in a whole other world of pain. Luckily there is only one and a half weeks before the wedding."

My stomach turned again. I didn't know what it was. I liked Emmet, yeah sure he hit me.... sometimes.... yeah sure that sometimes was becoming regular. But that would all stop once we got married right?
It was just a boyfriend thing. Caleb had done the same, said the same things. Yeah sure Caleb turned out to be a serial killer but...... it was all true what he said.

Tim's POV

Another doctor walked into and out of Lucy's room. And yet no one would tell me what the hell was wrong with her. Why she collapsed. I was sick of it. The next time a doctor left I asked him. "Let's see" he scrolled down a chart."ah yes Lucy Chen, brought in and treated for severe dehydration and malnutrition as well as severe acid burns to the mouth and trachea" the doctor said it with a hint of questioning in his speech, which I chose to ignore. Dehydration?! Malnutrition?! But..... But I had seen her eat, hours earlier.... acid burns...... from acid reflux..... she was vomiting a lot.

Suddenly it all made sense to me. The loosing weight, always going to the bathroom after eating. Why she did it was still a mystery. She was underweight. I knew she had been struggling with her body since Caleb.... but. I refused to believe the facts. Starving herself? It seemed extreme.

"When was the last time she ate, before the hospital?" The doctor looks at his chart again before giving me an answer. "Last proper meal, almost 5 days before her hospital stay"

Shit. Shit. Shit. How did I miss this?! All the signs were right there! I rode with her for 8 hours every single day. And every day I failed to realise how badly she was suffering.