Chenford Story ✔️

10

Lucy's POV

I just kept walking. 3 miles, 2 miles 1 mile.
I started walking through dense woodland. Following the trail that Tim and I knew by heart. It opened out.

I could smell the sea breeze, hear the gulls. I looked out over the city, it seemed so......
far away. So bright and busy. Up here.... it was just me and my thoughts. At least when I died, Emmet would have to start over. I would be free from him, from my parents, from everyone.

I checked my pockets one final time. Took in everything. The smell of the sea breeze. The sound of wind through branches and leaves. It was early summer. Sunset was later. It was still eavning. Around 9 I guessed. About an hour till sunset. That was when I would do it. If life gave me a reason not to kill myself before sunset, then I guess I would live. I looked over the edge. One staircase down. It would take at least 5 minutes for anyone to even run down those stairs. I would bleed out by the time anyone got there. It was at least 100m down. Probably more, I couldn't tell.

I sighed. Sitting down only a few inches from the cliff edge, watching the sun slowly sink and the pink sky growing.

Tim's POV

Grey called an emergency meeting. Lucy had quit. Oh. Lucy. Quit. No. Surely not.
I had seen her only minutes before......... writing.......... a note.
Shit. Shit. Shit. I sprung up from my chair and ran towards  the car park, calling Grey as I did.
"Um Officer Bradford why did you leave the meeting so abruptly?"
"Sir" I was out of breath "I have reason to believe Lucy Chen is about to do something incredibly stupid"
"What do you mea-" I cut Grey off "she's going to try and kill herself!"

I ran to her car, seeing a note neatly folded by her phone. The keys. Where were the fucking keys?! I looked around frantically as other officers emerged from the building. Angela found the keys in seconds. I unlocked the car.
Unfolding the note carefully, I started reading.
(Note in chapter 9)

Lucy......Lucy loved me? Lucy loved me?! Why the fuck didn't either of us say anything?! I shook the thought out of my mind. That didn't matter right now. What mattered was saving Lucy. I analysed the letter. Sunset. Sunset. How long was it until sunset? Crap. 40 minutes. "EVERYONE" I shouted to get their attention "Lucy Chen is going to try and kill herself in 40 minutes. We need to find her!"
I started panicking. 40 minutes, now it was 39. What it the sun set faster than that. What if she did it before sunset? What if she drove somewhere where sunset happened sooner? I was spiralling.

No. Her car is still here, so she didn't drive. As is everything else. She couldn't have gone more than a few miles. The beach? No too many people. The city? Same problem.
Unless she was going to cause a scene which didn't seem like Lucy at all. She went somewhere quiet. Somewhere you could see the sunset. The cliff.

I started dashing to my car. Crap. The car wouldn't get us close enough. "Grey call an air ambulance to the base of the cliffs by Oakland Grove. I know where Lucy is, but I don't know if we're going to make it in time.

It was a trek. We all practically ran for 30 minutes before we reached the cliffs area. Lucy. She stood there, back to the woods. Eyes closed, just enjoying the sunlight. The sun was setting. There were two minutes left maximum.

"Luce....." I started softly, conscious that she could jump off at any second. "Please don-"

Lucy's POV

I was turned away from the woods. I knew Tim was there, probably around 5 metres behind me. "Tim I was an officer. I know the tricks." I didn't even turn to face them. Tears streamed down my face but my voice remained stoic.
"Luce please....." I hated how absolutely desperate and destroyed Tim sounded. I heard him shuffle a step closer so I turned around. "Stop Tim" he stopped moving. "If you take another step forward I will jump off this cliff" I stepped back to prove a point. "Get it?"
Tim nodded his head cautiously. "Please Luce..... I can't live without you. I read the note." I stopped myself from crying. "Then you know why I have to do what I'm doing"
"No Lucy please" Tim's voice was willing me to listen, to stop. But I didn't "Tim. I've made up my mind. I know it hurts right now, but give it a few years and you'll forget, I'll will get easier"
"But it won't Luce"
I could feel the sun disappearing, I turned around to watch the sun setting one last time. "Goodbye Tim Bradford." I stepped off the cliff, feeling nothing. "I love you more than you will ever realise" I whispered the last part. Only Tim could hear it.

Tim's POV

Lucy's last words. 'i love you more than you will ever realise'. I ran at her, reaching out my arm to try and grab her. I only felt her hair with the top of my fingertips. She was gone.

I collapsed to my knees. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!"
The cliff was 108m tall, I had searched it on the way here. She would be lucky to survive with entire body paralysis. Just then I saw the small footpath leading down the cliff. I bolted. Even if it was only for a few moments. I wanted to be with Lucy. Know that she was....... ok....... as wild as that sounds.

It seemed like I was at the bottom in seconds and hours at the same time. I rushed over to the pool of blood that Lucy's body sat in, the air ambulance was only a minute away. She was somehow still barely conscious.

"Hey Luce" I slowly grabbed her hand, softly kissing it. "Sing to me?" Lucy wanted me to sing to her. "Sure" I quickly thought of a song that might make her at least a little happier and I started singing. "And I think to myself what a wonderful world...."
I made it to the end of the song and saw Lucy smile before he pulse stopped.
I instantly started chest compressions. Where the hell was the damn ambulance?!

I heard her probably already broken ribs shatter further. Please. I needed her to wake up. To give me some indication she was still alive. Ten seconds, twenty, thirty.
A pulse.

The air ambulance arrived. Loading Lucy onto the stretcher. It was all a blur from there. Lucy was unconscious. Blood pooled onto the gurney she was lying on. She had lost 3 maybe 4 litres. She had four heart attacks on the way to the hospital. Flat lined  the same amount of times. Lucy had two seizures and just wasn't doing well.
Luckily she was still alive.

At the hospital

Lucy was in surgery. She would be there for hours, maybe 12 perhaps more. Apparently she had broken over 150 bones, probably had severe brain damage. They would only know the full extent of her injuries once she woke up. 16 hours later, Lucy had just gotten out of surgery.

"Tim Bradford?" A doctor called my name. "Here?" I responded, unsure of why then needed me. Was Lucy dead? No. Surely not. Anyway, they would call her husband first. Where the hell was Emmet anyway? His wife was in the hospital and he was no where to be seen?!
"Can I speak to you somewhere more private?"
"Yeah sure....." This was the most nervous I had been in my life. The girl I loved was dying. And she loved me too.