《A Completely Different Story》{Fifteen}
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👊🏻✌🏼️
She made broken look beautiful and strong look invincible. She walked with the universe on her shoulders and made it look like a pair of wings.
- Unknown.
"Yes mom, the doctor says she's doing just fine, we just have to wait until she wakes up." I ran my hand through my hair and yawned as my mom kept asking about Maggie.
"Well that's great news. Make sure to send a hello to her parents, I'll try my best to visit her, but unfortunately something came up at the bank. I feel so terrible I can't be there right now." I smiled at my mom's words. Even though she barely knew Maggie, she still treated her like if she's known her for years. "Mom, it's alright. Don't worry about it. Listen, I gotta go, but I'll see you later, okay?"
"Okay honey, love you!"
"Love you too mom, bye." She replied with a 'bye bye' before ending the call. I stared at my phone for awhile before stuffing it in my pocket, only to have it vibrate, signaling I have a message. I sighed and grabbed my phone again. The number was unknown and I furrowed my eyebrows at what was sent.
Roses are red, violets are blue.
Everyone hates Maggie, and you should too.
She's sleeping right now, who knows how long,
But maybe this time, for good she's gone.
Another message came from the same number and I widened my eyes. It was a photo of Maggie on the hospital bed, but what caught my attention was the electrical socket in the corner. The plug to one of the machines that were draining the water from Maggie's lungs was pulled. Suddenly the door to her room opened and Miranda stepped out with a panicked face. "Luke, get in here, now." She ordered. I scrambled into the room and the first thing I noticed was the heart monitor, which had a flat tone. That was the only sound that filled my ears as I stared in shock at Maggie lying on the bed. Sarah looked worried and she kept clicking the emergency button by the bed, their mom and dad were standing by Maggie's bed and crying, Miranda was holding a wailing Graham, and a doctor along with two others nurses were running in the room, yelling instructions to each other. But all I heard was the sound of the flat tone.
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Slowly, every single sound came rushing to me when someone started shaking my shoulders. "Sir, we need you to leave the room right now." I looked at the nurse and back at Maggie as the doctor placed two defibrillators on Maggie's chest. "Maggie?" I tried walking towards her but the nurse pushed me back. "Sir, you need to get out-"
"No! I'm not going to leave her. Maggie!" I tried getting past the nurse again without pushing her down until Miranda appeared. "Luke, you need to let them save her. You need to get out, let's go." She pulled on my sleeve and I stumbled behind her, walking backwards with my eyes still on Maggie. Then the message popped in my head. I pulled away from Miranda and ran to the doctor, ignoring the nurses and their protests. "The plug!" I yelled. Doctor Henceforth looked up at me and furrowed his eyebrows. "What?" One of the nurses tried taking me out of the room again but I shrugged her off. "The plug to the machine, it isn't connected!" He widened his eyes and looked at the socket, noticing the plug laying on the floor he bent down and plugged it in.
They still had the defibrillators ready just in case, but after a few seconds, the bag started getting filled with more water, and the next sound that filled the room was the heart monitor, letting out slow beeps. I sighed in relief and walked towards Maggie's bed, grabbing her hand tightly.
"Well done kid, you have a nice eye. Someone must've tripped over the plug. It's a good thing you saw it before anything bad happened." I looked up at Dr. Henceforth and shook my head, feeling my anger come back. "This was no bloody accident." He quirked an eyebrow and turned to the nurses. "Would you two give us a moment please? Lux, go get me some extra IV bags please." Both nurses nodded before leaving the room, only Dr. Henceforth, Miranda and I in the room left. "What are you insinuating?" Dr. Henceforth asked. I took out my phone and unlocked it, showing the messages to him. "Someone sent this to me right before this happened. Someone pulled that plug."
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Dun dun duuuuuuuh!
I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Miranda. "Sorry." She said, smiling sheepishly. Miranda grabbed her phone and switched it off before looking up at me. "Who would've pulled the plug though? I doubt it would've been her parents or her sister." I nodded my head in agreement before looking at Dr. Henceforth. He was frowning down at the phone and shaking his head. "This is very serious, I'm gonna have to call the police department about this, but for now I need to show this to Maggie's parents and sister to see if they recognize the number. Do you mind if I use this for a moment? I'm gonna need to show the cops as well as her parents." I nodded my head and sat down by Maggie's bed and grabbed her hand again. Right now all I needed was silence, but that's the last thing I got.
"Luke, you're angry." I scoffed and raked my hand through my hair. "Who wouldn't be? She could've-" I stopped myself from speaking, not being able to finish. Miranda eyed me carefully as if I were a time bomb set into motion.
"You aren't mad at that though, are you? You're mad at yourself." I stared at Maggie's cold hand in mine and nodded slowly. Miranda shook her head and crossed her arms. "You shouldn't torture yourself. You have no blame in this Luke, and I'll be damned if you stay angry at yourself." I cocked an eyebrow as I faced her.
"I was the one who was by her side, and I was the one who fell asleep. My job was to watch over her. I have every right to be mad at myself, Miranda." Before she could even protest I stood up and walked out of the room. Right now, what I needed was air. As I walked out of the hallway I saw Dr. Henceforth talking with Sarah and Maggie's parents. Sarah caught sight of me and walked over as her parents walked back in Maggie's room. "You don't recognize that number?" She asked. I shook my head and leaned against the wall with a sigh. "No. Sarah, if I hadn't fallen asleep I would've seen whoever did it and this wouldn't have happened. I-"
"Shut up Banfield." I widened my eyes in shock as Sarah hit my arm. "What happened wasn't your fault at all. Don't blame yourself. Sure, you fell asleep, but that was because the day before you were up all night, worrying about Maggie. Just by all the annoying messages you kept sending I can tell you care for her, and I know you wouldn't even dare thinking about letting something happen to her intentionally. Don't apologize for the things that hurt you more than it's ever hurt anyone else." I stayed rooted in my spot as Sarah walked away. An idea popped in my mind as I walked back inside Maggie's room.
"Miranda, if I give you my phone, is there any way you can track down the number?" Miranda looked up from the floor and raised her eyebrows. "Um, I think so. It depends if the person used a burner phone or not." I nodded my head and ran outside the room again, catching up with Dr. Henceforth just in time. "I need my phone." I said. He furrowed his eyebrows and gave it to me. "Alright, but make sure you don't erase the messages. We need evidence for when the cops come." I nodded my head and once again turned in the direction of Maggie's room.
After running back down the hall and made it to the room I faced Miranda and tossed her my phone, which she thankfully caught. "Here, it's all in there. Don't erase anything and let me know as soon as you find something out." Miranda smiled and nodded her head. "Got it." She bent down and grabbed her brown bag, sliding out her laptop. "This is gonna take me awhile, but I'll manage to find something. Meanwhile you guys should go eat if you haven't yet. That includes you Luke." She started typing rapidly on the keyboard as Sarah looked at me, Graham now in her arms.
"What exactly is she doing?" I sighed and pointed at the laptop. "She's finding out who sent the message and tried to harm Maggie."
***********
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