Too much love will kill you

The Shock Of My Life

Ethan's POV:

I was just finishing a late night shift at the hospital and was on my way home, I checked my phone and saw a text from Alicia it was a photo of her and the girls snuggled up in our bed. I smiled to myself as I fired a reply off, I pulled into the petrol station and switched off the engine, I climbed out of my car and started to fill my car with petrol when something in the distance caught my eye, I blinked and shook my head and it disappeared I told myself firmly I'd imagined it and that I was simply overtired.

Working 2 weeks of night shifts didn't help but nor did having a 3 year old that doesn't sleep past 6 in the morning and on top of that Skye had been waking at 11 pm, 3 am and 7 am for feeds and when I wasn't working I offered to do her feeds because Alicia was tired from looking after the kids all day whilst I was working.

Our relationship had been strained since Skye's birth and we'd been rowing alot. She accused me of deliberately taking on extra shifts to avoid her and when I told her this wasn't true we'd just argued more. In truth I was working more because there had been cuts at work and I didn't need to lose my job not now when we needed my wages more than ever. Although we had Alicia's maternity pay and the child tax credits and benefits for the girls as well as my wages, having two kids really puts a strain on money.

I finished filling up the car with petrol and took out my card to pay and that's when I saw it again. By this point I was getting spooked and I felt like I should check out whatever was going on. I payed for my petrol and was about to make my way over to where I had seen a mysterious hooded figure when a blood curdling scream rang out through the night. I stopped dead in my tracks, my blood running cold. Not long after the scream a gunshot followed, as a doctor I knew I should try and help but at the same time I felt like getting in my car and driving away as fast as I could.

Eventually my doctors instincts kicked in and I ran over in the direction where the gunshot had come from and there was a young woman lying on the blood in a pool of blood. Without even checking her pulse I knew it was too late to try and save her, I dialed 999 and asked for the police and the ambulance service. I couldn't help thinking that I could have saved her if only i had gotten there sooner.

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Alicia's POV:

I looked at the clock in the kitchen again as I heated up a bottle for Skye. Ethan was late, it was half past 6 in the morning his shift finished an hour and a half ago and he's not home. I know I shouldn't be worried but i can't help worrying that something bad has happened to him. I was just about to call him again when he walked through the door, I was so relieved to see him I dropped Skyes bottle which landed on the floor with a resounding crash as it smashed and milk splashed all over the floor as I ran over and hugged him not letting go for ages.

I finally detached myself from him and looked at him, he was whiter than white and he was shaking like crazy and it was only upon further inspection of his shirt that I noticed it was streaked with blood. I hoped and prayed it wasn't his own. "Ethan? What's happened no offence but you look dreadful, bad night at work?"

"Not Exactly, I wish but I was just on my way home from work when I realized that I was low on petrol so I pulled into the petrol station you know the one off of Holly Lane, and I filled the tank and....and then there was a man.. He had a gun..."

He didn't get any further with his words, he broke down in tears and I immediately knew something bad had happened it wasn't like Ethan to cry. I held him whilst he cried his body wracked with sobs. Eventually his tears stopped and he stood up, his face white from shock. "Alicia, if tonight has taught me anything its to value my life and live for the moment, I'm cutting down my hours at work I want to see the girls grow up before it's too late for me to be a dad to them"