Chapter 2: Life is for the living

Rain. Cold and bitter. numb..... A welcome lack of feeling.

Calm..... Not long now, soon forgiveness, joy,.... peace.

Sirens..... No, Just leave me

"He's still breathing, pulse is faint but stable!" Still breathing. Death taunts me, this bullet no more than a fucking placebo!

"Alright, stabilize him and get him loaded into the wagon now!" It doesn't matter either way. I've been dead for so long, dead since the day she.....

"He's crashing! can you open your eyes Rick!?" Why would I want to. "Quick! Charge the defib and get his shirt and vest off him!". The world spins. Shock..... Pain..... Lights..... voices..... darkness.
 

*Beep* Consciousness returns behind closed eyes.

*Beep* The worlds still spinning, why couldn't I just die.

*Beep* I've been cold for so long, I'm tired. *Beep*

"Rick,.... Rick? You there old friend?"
"Who you calling old, compared to you I'm still a pup" he says as he cautiously opens his adjusting eyes.
".....You had us all scared you know. Thought you'd given up on us"
"You're getting soft Cap, can't get rid a' me that easily" he says, his voice more horse than usual.
"You wana explain this to me then?" the captain holds Ricks vest out in front of him.
"Explain what?"
"Why is this fucking vest is empty!? Not a single bullet resistant plate inside, you trying to get yourself killed? You didn't even radio the situation in, we only found you through the shots fired programme!"
"Mrhhh Fucking SFP, keep forgetting you bent-over for the techno whores. Can't take a shit without some thirty year old virgin with a headset and coke bottle spectacles watching me on a monitor! What happened to privacy?"
"Don't change the subject! What the fuck were you thinking!? I thought Doc Green helped you put all that in the past?"
"If by Doc Green, you mean a stolen prescription pad and a bottle of Jack, then yea, she helped me put it behind me" he growls.
"I can't go back to those days again Rick, I'm too old and I'm tired. It's been a long enough ride without you kicking up shit from the past again!" Says Captain Wilson, removing his spectacles and rubbing weary eyes.
"I miss her....." says Rick, though he more whimpers than growls this time, turning to face the window beside his bed.
"I miss her too you selfish son of a bitch! But she's gone! Now you let her go you hear me! you let her go before it kills you too! I won't go through the loss again Rick, not for you. So just let it go!" He bellows as he bowls from the room, slamming the door with such force the shutters rattle and a small plant pot crashes to the ground. Rick buries his face in the poor excuse for a hospital pillow, and the sounds of the room around him slowly drift into white noise and loss of conciousness. 

Sarah. Beautiful Sarah. A roaring beacon of radiance casting aside the shadows and darkness enveloping a city gone mad. My sanctuary from the horrors I subjected myself to day and night. An angel among demons. Jealousy, Rage, Betrayal, Murder, Rape. She was the vaccine administered to this old dogs tired soul, cleansing it of the corruption gnawing away at me as I trawled the cities underbelly, a battlefield red with the blood of innocents. Hmph, innocent, does such a creature even exist without her.

I bathed in her warmth. Until the wretched day that radiance was snuffed out, leaving me bitter and cold, and the world worse for the lack of her. Suddenly numb, life wasn't worth saving. The fight seemed meaningless, death seemed fitting, we deserve each other. Humans are pitiful, disgustingly cringe worthy hollow things.

One of god's creatures, a connection to the heavens, my connection to life, gone, dead..... murdered. They say life is for the living, not for an empty vessel lost in purgatory, counting the footsteps in the sands and seconds to judgement. May the heavens find me guilty of my sins, a guardian of heavens splendour, failed in his mission. I loved her with every beat of my love swollen heart.
But I still couldn't protect her.

The door creaks, and in steps a scrawny, jittery young pup clutching nervously at a brown envelope. Grimshaw opens just the one eye, and openly inspects the pup from head to toe. The young officer stands nervously through the inspection, then swallows hard as Grimshaw's eye meets his own.
"You're O'Reileys boy ain't cha'?" He growls through gritted teeth. The young officer jumps at the recognition, shuffles his feet, and nods. "Good cop your old man, a detective of a dying breed. Good friend too. You got big shoes to fill pup" The officer smiles and nods to the remark, his eyes visibly gleaming with admiration. "What's that you got in your paw there pup?" he asks as though he didn't already know. The officer snaps out of his awe, and scurries over to the bedside.
"It's the report on the New Haven case you're working sir, detective Grimshaw, Umm detective sir..." the boy stutters.
"Well give it ere' then, and close the door." The officer obediently hands the envelope over and hurriedly closes the door. "From the other side" the officers eyes widen and his face pales.
"Ah, ah,... yes sir, sorry sir, I'll leave you to it detective Grimshaw sir..." The officers stuttering trails off as the door slams shut and wobbly legs carry him down the hospital hallway. Grimshaw smiles to himself, and opens the envelope.

He pulls the crime scene report free, along with the photo's of the incident. He reads the report the same way he'd read most every other report in his prolonged career. Vaguely, at best.
C.O.D: Asphyxiation, Following administration of potent paralytic. Location: Victims known address, distinctive details of crime scene: Body found posed in bedroom, arm extended to one side

..... His breath catches in his throat! Letters carved into the forearm..... He bolts upright, pupils dilated, jaw quivering *Beep*.

A single chess piece found in victims palm..... "NO! It can't be!" *Beep*

His hands tremble uncontrollably. *Beep*,

The blood drains from his face *BEEP*

"WHY!? Why now!?" *BEEP*

" HOW!?" *BEEP*

A fit of coughing savagely racks his body *BEEP, BEEP*

"How can..... he be back..... the game was OVER!!" *BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP*

A nurse bursts through the door and tears the papers from Grimshaw's white knuckled fists. She pins him back against the bed, as he claws at his chest, blood and spittle spaying from between gritted teeth.
"He's crashing again! I need a crash cart in here STAT!" the nurse shrieks towards the open door. A deluge of doctors and nurses swarm the room, the abrupt uproar deafening. They roll him to the side as he empties his guts onto the floor, choking and spluttering on the remains.
"He was fine a minute ago!" roars one of the doctors, "What the hell happened?"

A shadow appears in the door way, a cup of coffee hits the ground. Captain Wilson stands slack jawed and useless in the doorway, like a deer in the headlights. Wilson is a hard bastard, always acting like he doesn't care. But he's always had shit poker face, and his tell was showing now. As his friend jolts and bucks under restraints and a flurry of nurses hands, his jaw tightens and he blinks free a single tear.

A nurse bolts past the chest of drawers by the door, scattering the crime scene papers to the ground at Wilsons feet. He doesn't even need to look down to know the horror he thought he'd seen in his peripheral vision was true.
He's back,..... The Rook is back.

Impressum

Texte: Kyler James
Lektorat: Kyler James
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 14.09.2012

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