Boxing Partners

You're Not Alive Until You Start Kicking

"Is it done?" the man spoke with a gruff, scratchy voice from the shadows, "I- I- I shot her. Who am I to know if she's dead? I've never shot a gun before" the girl trembled,

"At least tell me that you've still got the gun"

The girl shook her head, "Well then Minerva, your stupidity amazes me every time"

"Why did you make me shoot her?"

"as your punishment, you think your sister and brother was is for you, it isn't"

"she's always been nice to me, after everything that I had done to her, she was always nice"

"Well, there's going to be no more of that eh?"

"Go finish the job"

~~~~~

"As I had said, she lost a lot of blood and we can only see what is going to happen, the bullet was close to her spine and we have managed to remove it and administered steroids to try and reduce the swelling, but she will need intense physiotherapy after six weeks of bed rest," the doctor spoke

"Can-" the girl choked, "Can I go see her?"

"Miss Aldon is currently being taken to the ICU after an X-Ray but yes, you can go see her, please wait here for now and a nurse will come to get you"

"And here, for your face" the doctor added,

"Thank you," Clementine spoke as she took the wet wipe and delicately wiped watered-down eye makeup from her cheeks, sitting down next to Louis in the waiting area"

"What did they say?"

"That she's lost a lot of blood, they've removed the bullet from next to her spine, but we can only wait and hope for the best."

"Hope for the best and prepare for the worst" Louis spoke, rubbing his hand up and down the brunette's back. Her hands held her heavy head eyes trained to the floor. She noticed a pair of black work boots and the ends of a pair of tailored dark blue trousers.

"Miss Everett?" A deep voice bellowed softly, the girl looked up and saw a man with long hair tied back into a high bun with the sides short he had a bushy yet trimmed beard and was dressed in a police uniform.

"I'm Officer Monroe; Can we have a moment to speak to you about the events of tonight?"

"I err, I can't I just don't feel ready to speak about it."

"Officer Monroe, I'm Louis Sulieman, I was there with them, I can talk to you instead, I don't think Clementine is ready to talk about what happened tonight, please allow me"

"Thank you, Lou"

The muffled sounds of the hospital around them, the faint PA system calling doctors and nurses all over the hospital. The quiet racket of hushed conversations from the people around them, all having loved ones in similar positions, hoping to see them again in one piece, hoping to see them alive and well. the continuous threat and worry that the girl she loved would die. After all Violet would love Clementine to her dying breath.

Clementine sat in the scratchy plastic seat shifting her weight periodically to keep sensation her legs, but that was with all hospitals, underfunded, overworked, but it was so incredibly evident in the halls and the waiting rooms, the multitude of families and friends brought together by tragedy, some standing to let the more vulnerable and damaged sit.

The brunette looked up, the ceiling was made from a puzzle of white squares on a grid frame, the material was tinted grey and the corners slightly darker from the years of use and the years of dust. The light was dull but also harsh, it sting her eyes but maybe that was just the tears that flowed from them, looking back down she saw the murals and decals on the walls, some with commercial posters others having "uplifting" quotes from patients and staff, almost comforting in a way, knowing that the best doctors they had worked on Violet.