The Makeover

Questioning

Kate was shaking as she stood up, her mouth open with shock. We ran towards Paul who was going to pass out of pain any minute now. I quickly called 911 as Kate held Paul's hand to make sure he didn't slip into unconsciousness. "Hello! You need to hurry to Dooley's Grocery on Browne Street! A man's been shot by these robbers. They had a gun and they asked for money and I don't know, Paul didn't give it to them and they got angry and oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, you need to hurry! They shot him in his kneecap! Come quick!" I yelled into my phone. "Calm down ma'am, help is on the way." I didn't know what to feel. I was overwhelmed not only because this was the first time I had ever witnessed a shooting, but also because it was the first time I had seen this much blood in front of me.

I stumbled as I got off the floor, walked to the nearest trashcan and emptied the contents of my stomach into it. "Vi, are you okay?" Kate asked, her voice gentle but shaky. "I'm fine," I managed to reply before I puked some more. Just then Joe barged in with his baseball bat, with Alessandra tagging along behind him. "Diletto! Violetta, Katarina! Are you both okay? What happened? We heard a gun shot!" Joe inquired, worry etched onto his forehead. Alessandra rushed to my side and rubbed my back as I hurled into the trashcan. Meanwhile, I could hear police and ambulance sirens approaching us. It felt like forever, but in reality it had only been two minutes or so. Kate briefly explained to Joe and Alessandra what happened at the store while she and Joe tended to the now exhausted Paul. Kate removed her top and wrapped it tightly around Paul's knee as he screamed in pain. A minute later, the paramedics and police rushed in to help. They carried Paul away in a stretcher after asking us a few questions about his injuries.

Two policemen approached the four of us, officers Taylor and Martinez. "Does anyone want to tell me what happened?" Officer Taylor asked. "There were umm...two guys. They came in while were getting some candy. I don't think we caught the beginning of their conversation with Paul, the umm cashier. But we only realised it was a robbery and that those two were even in the store when we heard one of the guys demanding Paul to give him the money." Kate explained. "What did these guys look like?" asked officer Martinez. "Umm, they were both brunettes, pretty tall. At least six feet I would say. No?" she asked, turning towards me. "Oh, yeah. Umm..." I trailed off. Should I tell them about Ace? What if it wasn't him and I just thought it was him? If it wasn't him and if I say it was, then he could get into a lot of trouble. Dammit. What do I do?

"Vi..? Vi!" Kate exclaimed, as she shook my shoulders. "What? Oh, sorry. I'm just in a little daze after everything thats happened."

"That's okay miss. Take your time. Were you going to say something else?" Officer Martinez asked. "Oh yeah, I think one of them had a British accent, I'm not really sure. I'm pretty sure it was something like that. Either British or Welsh or one of those UK accents." I replied weirdly. "Alright. Was there anything else about them that you noticed? Any tattoos? Prominent markings, scars? Anything?"

"Sorry, I don't remember anything else," I said, feeling mildly guilty. Was I obstructing justice? Is it considered "withholding information" if I'm unsure of the said information? Ugh.

"Yeah, neither do I. I was too focused on Paul and freaking out in general to notice much else." Kate said, sounding much better than before.

"Okay, I'm going to need one of you two to explain in detail everything that happened here," said officer Taylor. After we were both done giving our statements, we walked out of the store with Joe and Alessandra. Kate and I simultaneously let out a sigh of relief once we stepped out, then looked at each other and laughed breathily, both glad that we got out of that situation unscathed.

"Come on you two, you need to eat or at least drink something after that horrifying ordeal," said Alessandra as she gently pushed us towards Joe's. We both agreed and walked back to the restaurant. Once we got there, Joe decided to close the restaurant early so that we could get some space and have some peace. We both decided to call our respective families to let them know what had happened.