Alex awoke with blurred eyes. She blinked rapidly and moved her stiff neck from side to side.
"You're awake,well good afternoon... do you want some water?" a un-known voice chirped. Alex lifted her arm and rubbed her eyes. A sharp pain ran through her chest. Her eyes began to focus on a dull looking room, there was a sink to her left under a big window which was looking out on what seemed like a industrial estate. She turned her head slowly to find a soft faced woman beaming a bright smile at her. Her dark skin tone and bright eyes gave her a friendly aura.
The woman wore a navy blue dress with her black hair pulled back away from her face. "Do you know where you are honey?" She asked. Alex looked down at her hands, turning them over in front over her eyes.
"Hospital" she whispered. Her voice came out in a croak. The woman, assumed to be a nurse, lifted her to a sitting position and handed her a plastic cup filled with cooled water. She drunk the cup full quickly. The nurse refilled the cup and handed it back to her with a faint smile.
"I'll just go and get you a doctor" she smiled before leaving the room and shutting the door firmly behind her. Alex hurried movement in the hall way, the more she listened the more she opened her ears to hear. Somewhere distant a phone was ringing, some sort of cart was being pushed around with a squeaky wheel...
The door was pushed open by an older man with a grey beard around his chin, his eyes had wrinkles around the edge and his long white coat was dotted with coffee stains.
Alex pushed herself up as far as she could leaving against a mountain of pillows. He walked to the nearest side of the bed with a chart on a clipbored on his arms. "I'm Doctor Shelter. Do you know where you are miss?" He asked. His voice was raspy but warm. Alex nodded slowly.
"Hospital" She replied feeling her throat burn from the lack of water. The doctor nodded and ticked something on the form.
"Good good," he muttered, "do you know why you are here?" he asked. Alex began to frown and search her mind for a reason. She felt the pain from her chest and looked down at the gown she was wearing. The doctor looked apon her confusion and nodded. "It's okay love, lets move on" he scribbled down on his form and began to ask more questions. Alex listened and answered slowly.
"Okay, thank you Alex... is it ok for me to call you alex?" he asked. She nodded and looked up at his brown eyes. "Okay Alex, you have been through a very serious ordeal. You were found in your flat with a shot wound to the right of you chest. Police was called after the shot was fired and you were found in your bed. Do you remember what happened?" The doctor asked. Alex narrowed her eyes and looked at her chest. She raised her shaking hand and pulled the gown slightly revealing a bright purple bruise. "You are very lucky.The bullet hit the first and third rib bone and very narrowly missed you lungs. You went through and 7 hour operation where the bluet was removed and your ribs were cleaned. The police have been informed your awake and would like a statement from you ... when you are ready of course" He added. He left the room soon after leaving Alex alone to her thoughts.
She lay back into her pillows and began to think. She began to conjure an image in her mind. She watched her mind replay how she ended up here. She closed her eyes and lay back.
Mr black moved slowly towards her. Alex looked everywhere for an escape. Nothing. He cocked his gun and pointed it firmly to her. He began to talk but Alex heard nothing but a loud ringing through her ears. She starred at the barrel and held her sheets tightly in her hands. Memories started to flash though her mind. She watched her younger self play with boy and girls from her first school, she watched her first kiss and the way the mean boy from down the road broke her tiny heart. She watched the day she killed her first victim. She watched herself fall in love and then die a thound times over falling out of love again. She thought of the children she wont have and the places she wont see. She left her life slip from her. She was no longer in the room, instead she was in the arms of her mother, laying on their old tatty sofa with her head on her mothers lap. Her mother was whispering to her. Alex was shot. She heard the door close then nothing. All she saw was her mothers soft face looking down at her younger self. "Let go honey, i' ll catch you i promise... Its okay baby girl i'll find you. just let go" her mothers angel voice whispered to her.
Alex awoke to two women in uniform over looking her. Both of them talking between themselves. "Hi there, i'm PC Allison, and this is my consultant Rachel Harding" The one closest said. "We would like to ask you a few questions.
Barely awake Alex sat up blinked at the two woman. They began to ask her simple questions, her name, date of birth, where she lived. "Could you tell us what happened the night you were shot?"
Alex took a deep breath and tried to steady her thoughts. "I was asleep, I heard a bang on the door, i went to get out of bed when the door was thrown open ... a man walked in with a gun... He asked me to give him my purse. I went to reach for it... and that's all i remember" she lied through her teeth. Why she lied, she didn't know. She just wanted it all over. She needed to get out of this place. The police began to write things down.
"Are you sure that's what happened?" one of them asked. Alex looked up at them both with a look of annoyance. "We just need to make sure we have all the details." the other added when they saw her face.
"If you don't mind, i was shot, i dont really appreciate you not believing me... should i show you the bluet wound?" she snapped at them.
"That wot be necessary, thank you" One said before they both moved to the door and left. Alex shock her head as they walked out. She slipped back down under the sheets and began to think about what next. How she would cope and where she would go. All she knew was they here wasn't safe. And the minute she could leave, her feet would be out the door and she would be long gone.
