More than a game [a Damian Priest story]

15 It's over

"Miss L/N? The police would like to speak with you. But if you don't feel up to it yet, I can tell the officers to come back later," said a nurse who suddenly stood in the room. I hadn't even heard her come in. I looked briefly at Damian and then wiped the traces of my tears from my face with the back of my hand.

"I'm going to talk to them now. Then I'll be done with it." I whispered to Damian and he nodded after a moment's hesitation and gave me soft kiss on the forehead.

"You can let them in," I said quietly to the nurse.

She left the room, but it wasn't long before the door opened again and she came in with two officers.

"Miss L/N, Mr. Priest, my name is Detective Jones and this is Detective Carter. We are here to take your statement about what happened today. But before we start, we would like to inform you that we have thoroughly investigated your situation and history with your attacker. We have also viewed the videos from the security cameras. Your statement is in principle only a formality.

All right, we have a witness who was struck down by Mr. Kent. It was a member of the security team. The witness bears some resemblance to Mr. Kent. He overpowered him and took his uniform and his security badge. In this way, armed, he managed to get into the stadium and behind the stage.

We also compared the fingerprints from the gun and could clearly see that your finger was nowhere near the trigger. Consequently, Mr. Kent shot himself. When the gun went off, the bullet hit Mr. Kent's thigh, right at the femoral artery. I would like to inform you that he bled to death in the ambulance on the way to the hospital," one of the police officers told us.

I could hardly believe it. He was dead. It was over and I was finally free. I had been freed forever from the fear that he might come back. But at what price? The price was that I had lost my baby, our baby.

Relief and guilt flooded through me to equal parts. Too many mixed emotions were bubbling inside me.

After I told the two detectives what had happened, they said that it was confirmed by the statements of witnesses and videos from the cameras. I was grateful that they did not ask me more questions than necessary.

The only thing I wanted now was to sleep. I was so emotionally drained, but I was also aware that sleep wouldn't help me much. Time, I supposed, was probably the only thing that would help me deal with the pain, both old and new.

In the morning I was discharged from the hospital and made my way home. Alone. I knew Damian wanted to be there for me, but I told him that I needed some time alone and that he should distract himself with his work at RAW. I knew I was hurting his feelings, but I had to listen to my inner voice at the moment. It was all too much for me and I didn't want to risk that a reaction or a thoughtless statement hurt Damian even more.

So I asked him for two days for me alone. Two days in which I could let sink in that the part, the shadow, the ghost from my past was truly over.

Damian, being the great man that he was, agreed to my request. Even if it visibly hurt him. But I was also sure that he needed time as well. And work was always his way of dealing with stressful situations.

After these two days we had the chance to work through our pain together as a couple and to talk about everything. About what could have been and about what maybe still lay ahead of us.