"Hello?" she answered. It was a female voice on the end of the line. It was not Officer Leroy.
"Yes, this is Claire speaking."
Her heart stopped.
Her hands got clammy.
Time seemed to be frozen in place.
She dropped the phone and ran out to her car. She started the engine as she buckled her seat belt, and then hit the gas.
"This is it," she thought. "No more searching."
As Claire pulled up to the hospital, she jumped out of the car and ran to the back doors where they were unloading the ambulance. She watched as they pulled the stretcher from the back, Max's still body lying there. He was so, so pale. His face was badly beaten, as was the rest of his body. There were jagged, bloody holes in his shirt where a knife had penetrated through the material, his skin sliced.
She sank to her knees, a strange ringing in her ears.
"No..." she whispered. This couldn't be real. That couldn't be him, this couldn't be real.
"No..."
They carried his lifeless body into the hospital. She got one last glimpse of him before they disappeared inside the hospital, and she saw Sharlene sprinting inside behind the stretcher, her face tear-stained.
Perhaps, she thought, not all puzzles are meant to be put back together.
YOU ARE READING
Puzzle Pieces [#Wattys2016]
Short Story"I can't do this anymore," he whispered. "I have to go." When Max leaves Claire unexpectedly, she is shocked. They had grown up together, and grown to love each other. Claire knows about Max's dark times, although he refuses to talk about it to anyo...
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