Thin Blue Lines

Thin Blue Lines Pt 1

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Almost home! Long and frustrating days at work only made her more thankful for the serenity of her apartment. A slow, sad ballad whined its way through her car's speakers. 

A grunt. "Yeah, no we are not doing this." Olive eyes rolling, she glanced to the dial briefly and skimmed to the next station. 

Then she looked up and her eyes grew. The ice chill  that settled over her suddenly numb body held her captive. 

Some one screamed. Was that her? She didn't hear much at first, only saw. Tractor trailer headlights in her windshield. The car gnarled under the metallic assault. Finally, she heard. It was her screaming. Glass fragmented, sliced and bounced. What was once right side up went upside down, and sideways. How many times, she didn't know. 

A thud, crumpling then a wallop against her head sent darkness across her eyes.

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Sirens broke the calm of night, radios crackling with rushed disembodied voices. Police cars whizzed through the rain soaked roads followed by ambulances.

"Disbatch, all units are on scene." The young cops bright blue eyes scanned the crumpled vehicles in-front of him and gave a knowing look to his partner.

Firemen had begun to extract the victim trapped inside the pickup before their arrival. The driver of the tractor trailer was already being looked over by the medics and seemed coherent from original observation.

"Sandsky, go get a statement. I want to go check on the progress." Officer Marsh called as he strolled over  to the ravaged truck. He didn't hold out much hope for the occupant inside. He had seen his fair share of accidents. Tractor trailers versus anything else has few positive outcomes. As he looked over the undiscernable vehicle, and the impossibly bent metal, his eyes landed on the twenty five year old female victim. If she got out of this alive, he would bet his pay she would have permanent damage. 

EMTs strapped a neck brace on her, and secured her blood soiled blond hair away from her face. Suddenly, the only thing he wanted to have was hope; Officer Marsh knew her.

"Holy shit." The blood drained from his face in the matter a second. It was just last night that he had seen her. "Jayna.."

A few months had passed since they first met. With her quick wit, easy smile, and contagious enthusiasm, she was intoxicating. The two spent as much time together as their packed schedules would allow. Kris had come to realize how enamored he was with her. Everything about her was what he always hoped to find some day. She fit perfectly in his arms when he held her. Last night he hadn't wanted to let her go, and at this moment in time he wished he never had. Now he could barely recognize the beautiful girl he'd fallen so deeply in love with.

Her hair was a mess, there was blood actively oozing from the gashes across her face. From what he could tell, her body shouldn't have been able to be bent the way it was. There was a peacefulness about her face that deceived her critical condition. That was when he felt something inside of him break. 

Officer Ryan Sandsky joined his partner.

"Driver of the rig said he dozed off. Not sure how long, but probably only a few seconds. The next thing he knew he was being jarred awake by the screeching, shattering and crumpling of the vehicles." The younger officer's voice sounded bored. When he looked up he saw only a shell of his partner. Snapping his fingers in front of Marsh's face, his partners focus came back; slightly.

"That's her.." If Sandsky hadn't been listening so close, he would have missed it. Quickly, he connected the dots. His partner had been telling him about the girl he had been seeing. Things sounded like they were getting serious. Kris wasn't known as much of a softy so to see him become so smitten seemed too good to be true. Apparently, it was.

There weren't any words. As the last of the constricting metal was removed from around the girl's body, medics rushed in. Quickly, she was boarded, strapped and shuttled to the ambulance where they began hooking her to monitors and shouting back and forth. Kris Marsh's legs numbly pulled him toward the beckoning lights of the ambulance.

 "Too much blood loss." IVs were inserted in her arms.

"Stabilize the breaks." Hands fluttered above and around her small frame.

" She's coding!"

The ominous sound of compressions  beginning 

"Trauma Center, now! Call ahead we need a team!"

The words rushed through his head, and scrambled themselves around until he couldn't take it. Kris's knees gave out, the cool rain on the asphalt soaking to his skin as he kneeled. The only question: Why?  

The ambulance doors slammed shut as the medics and their patient sped off in to the rain. Kris Marsh stayed knelt, impossibly frozen in the middle of summer. Another pair of arms intertwined with his own, pulling and forcing him to his numb feet.

"Come on, we'll follow. I've got you, brother."  Ryan called their supervisor to request more officers to finish processing the scene. He saw the lights from the cars dancing off his partner's eyes and his heart strangled for the man beside him, stumbling along to the squad car.

It felt like eternity before the tires turned in to the parking lot of the Trauma Center. During the ride, Kris had composed himself as best he could. Her family had already been informed but it would be a bit before they could get there which meant he had to pull it together for everyone.

It was normal for Kris to walk through the sliding doors of the Hospital to speak with patients regarding ongoing investigations. Tonight would be different, and much harder. 

"Im here for Jayna Lince." He looked to the bustling nurses behind the desk.

"Family?" It was one of the older women who spoke up.

"Officer and boyfriend." As if the first part wasn't obvious, he just hoped they would let him back.

Thankfully, the nurse just rolled her shoulders and began typing away at the computer. After skimming through the screen, she responded, "She just came out of catscan. You may have a moment." Her cartoon scrubs ruffled as she squeezed by to show him the way. 

"Thanks, Ryan." 

Ryan knew he was being dismissed and nodded. "Keep me updated." It was clear Kris was barely holding on to his stone-faced facade. Heavy shouldered, Officer Sandsky made his way back to the squad car. The scene would be far harder to process with such a personal connection.