The Fainting

Tears could not stop falling from Rose’s face. She had her body thrown over Kingsley’s body. She was surrounded by men with guns in their hands and no way to save or protect Kingsley or herself. All she could do was plead. But would pleading work with heartless gang members?

The man standing at the door opened his mouth, but before even one word could come out, a second bang echoed through the bathroom.

“Noo!!!” cried Rose and wrapped her arms around Kingsley even tighter. The moment she heard a soft thud sound, she lifted her head. Even after two gunshots, she didn’t feel any pain, she didn’t see any wounds, she didn’t feel blood oozing out of her body, she was still alive. Something was wrong or was extremely right. She breathed heavily and glanced back. The two men who came to kill before were lying in the pool of their own blood.

“Huh… huh…” she kept gasping loudly.

“Boss!” shouted the man standing at the door. Rose turned her head to look at him with shock and pleas in her eyes. The tall man raised his hands and, while keeping the gun in Rose’s line of sight, pocketed it and again raised his hand to show that he was harmless.

“Bo…ss?” stammered Rose.

“My name is Emerson Chambers! He is Kingsley Aguilar. I work for him. And I am not going to hurt you or him,” he said.

“He… he… is losing blood. He needs a doctor, please!” cried Rose. She didn’t understand why she was feeling like that. Why did it bother her that a man was bleeding before her eyes? Why didn’t she want him to die? “Please help him! Please!”

“I am here to help him,” said Emerson and slowly lowered himself near Kingsley’s body. His eyes fell on the apron tied tightly around Kingsley’s arms.

“My phone! My phone! I could not reach my phone. I could not call 911,” sobbed Rose.

“It’s okay! It’s okay! We will take him to a hospital. He will be fine!” said Emerson and tapped on Rose’s hand to calm her down.

But she immediately pulled her hand back and stood up in fear. Her chest was rising and falling with her every forced breath. “I need to call 911. I need to call 911. She cannot die. She cannot die,” she cried.

“She??” asked Emerson, shocked.

“Lang! Get the car ready. Libra, Deep, pick up Boss. We need to take him to the Doctor Cannon,” ordered Emerson. He stood up and walked slowly towards Rose. “Miss! Look at me! Are you okay?”

Rose turned to look around herself. She could not believe she was standing on a street surrounded by trees, yet she felt like she was standing inside a small bathroom. She could see the washbasin, she could see the stalls, yet the trees and the street were prominent. She looked down and saw the two dead bodies; the blood had pooled on off-white tiles. He could see a faint figure laughing at her.

She glanced at Emerson walking towards her with his hands raised to his side. But there was another man coming towards her with a shiny object in his hands. Rose could not control her breathing and kept gulping for air. “My phone! My phone! I need my phone!” she kept mumbling.

“Miss? Miss?” asked Emerson and moved his fingers to touch her.

“Don’t! Don’t! Don’t! Don’t kill her!!!” she shouted and hid her face in her palms.

“What? What are you talking about?” asked Emerson and finally grabbed her shoulder.

Rose let out a loud shriek and stepped back to get away from Emerson, but she slipped on the blood and was about to fall on her ass when Emerson wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to himself.

“No! No! No! No! Please… don’t… killll…” her voice trailed, and her eyes started drooping. Her body went limp, and her head started falling all the way back when Emerson supported her head.

“Miss? Miss? Wake up! Wake up! Shit!” shouted Emerson and lifted Rose in his arms. “Paul! Stay here! Call Prime and Flow. Ask them to clean this crime scene and then call Sergeant Severina. She will take care of the community. Many people must have heard all the gunshots,” ordered Emerson and ran towards the car. His men had already placed Kingsley in the back seat.

Emerson secured Rose in the front seat and ordered the others to come in a separate car. He drove to the Thornspire hospital as fast as possible. He would once glance at Kingsley lying in the back seat, and next he would look at Rose, who was unconscious but sweating all over, even though the AC was on full blast.

“Who is she? What was she talking about? Why did she keep calling the boss, ‘she’? What was that about?” thought Emerson. The other bodyguards were right behind him in another car, armed with guns.

He kept his eyes on the road, looking for any men who might try to harm Kingsley further. How the local gang leader found out about his secret meeting was a mystery. Kingsley had his thoughts, but there was no definitive proof. And without proof, he could not do anything about it. He could just launch an investigation. But before all that, he had to make sure that Kingsley was out of danger.

He pressed the call button of the car and enunciated, “Call Doctor Ernesta Cannon!” Within a second, the doctor picked up the call. “Doctor! The boss has been shot. He is losing a lot of blood.”

“Where are you?” asked Ernesta.

“On my way to the hospital. Please be ready,” said Emerson.

“Tell me everything!” said Ernesta.

“Um… he has been shot in his arm. A woman tied a cloth around his wound to stop the bleeding, but I think he is losing blood. I know he ran quite a distance, and now he is unconscious but breathing,” Emerson gave his report.

“A woman? Where did he find a woman?” asked Ernesta.

“Is that important? I am bringing that woman too. She helped the boss, and then she just fainted before my eyes.”

“Did you hurt her?” asked Ernesta.

“What? Never! We never hurt innocent people! I think after hearing gunshots and seeing all that blood, she fainted.”