Chapter 2: Six Incidents
Turning her body around to lay on her back against the cold floor, she blankly looked at the ceiling with mixed feelings. She had missed a chance again, as always. She didn't know if she was lucky or if God of Death was simply not willing to accept her soul. The store was no longer silent as she heard the police sirens outside. Mavis didn't feel like moving and remained in her position with her eyes on the ceiling above. The cashier walked up to Mavis and asked about her condition.
Mavis didn't look at him and merely replied, "I am in pain."
Not expecting her reaction, the cashier awkwardly asked, "... Hospital?"
"Yes, please."
When the cashier walked away, Mavis almost teared up from the pain she received for being shoved down by the robber. The policemen entered the store and two of them were talking with the cashier regarding what had happened, meanwhile, the others inspected the place. The robber had stolen a huge amount of money so it took a great blow to the store and if they didn't get the money back from him, they would most likely shut the place down for a long period.
A policeman stood beside Mavis and crouched down. "Mavis girl, you again?"
Hearing the familiar voice, she finally moved her eyes away from the ceiling to look at the policeman. "Oh. Hello, Officer Walter."
The policeman, Officer Walter, looked at her from above. "Greetings to you too. Are you alright?"
Mavis shook her head. "The robber pushed me away and I landed on the floor. It hurts."
"Are you bleeding anywhere?"
"No, it doesn't feel like it."
Officer Walter stood up and said, "The ambulance is on the way." Then, he asked her, "Can you stand up?"
Mavis looked at the policeman and tried to sit up but gave up halfway, feeling the aching pain from her chest and shoulder. Officer Walter saw her face showing signs of being hurt and told her to lay down until the ambulance would arrive.
"Officer Walter, isn't an ambulance a bit too much? I can get there on my own... Or someone can drive me there."
Officer Walter gave her a strange look. "With such injuries, can you really? Girl, you are quite misfortunate. Do you know how many times we have met at a crime scene within a year?"
Rubbing her nose, Mavis wasn't sure about the certain number so she guessed. "Four times?"
The corner of his eyebrow twitched, he was not happy with her answer and couldn't help but reprimand her, "Close. Not four but six times! Even if it was four, it's still too many. I prefer not to have to see you at all. You have probably been involved with more cases than I know of. How is it possible for a female student like you? I am baffled."
Six times within a year was a lot and not anytime common, taking to an account that Mavis was only an ordinary female student. Six times; Officer Walter had seen her in six different crime scenes within a year. He didn't know what kind of bad luck the female student had attracted, but he felt sorry for her. She had been in four robbery incidents, a murder incident, and a fire incident within a year—to make it sound more ridiculous, she had no relation to those cases except for being an unfortunate passerby witness. Seeing Mavis in the store that someone just robbed, Officer Walter wasn't surprised but rather felt hopeless.
"If I didn't know that you aren't personally related to all the incidents you have been involved in, I would have thought you were the mastermind."
Mavis slightly pouted. "And yet here I am, still alive. Cool."
Officer Walter looked around his surroundings as he said, "Yeah, you should be happy you came out alive every time... Don't know if it's a blessing in disguise." Seeing someone on his team calling for him, he turned to look at her. "Seems like I'm needed. You stay there, the ambulance should come anytime now."
Mavis merely nodded, and then she watched the policeman talking to his colleague whom she recognized. She didn't know the name of the policewoman as she never really talked to her before, but she secretly gave her a nickname which was Officer Juice. Every time Mavis saw her drink something, it would always be juice. Not coffee or tea, but juice. Officer Juice was a pretty lady who seemed to be in her late twenties; she was polite and diligent with her work but because of her stern face, Mavis thought she looked slightly scary. There was a time when Mavis wanted to ask for the policewoman's name but she never asked and settled down with the nickname.
The paramedics had arrived and they helped Mavis into the ambulance after checking her injuries to see if it was serious. Fortunately, she had just broken a rib bone and nothing more serious. Her shoulder would only leave a bruise but it would heal after a few days. After being taken to the hospital for treatment, the police came to visit to question her about the robbery incident.
Mavis was in the hospital bed, resting, as she listened to music when the two policemen knocked before entering the room. One was Officer Walker and the other was Officer Juice. Mavis wasn't startled, it wasn't her first time getting questioned after all. Admittedly, it was quite bothersome for Mavis, both the police and she knew she had nothing to do with the case but sometimes things must be done. They had to ask her questions to help them solve the case.
Officer Walker pulled a chair to sit on. "Hello, Mavis. You already know how we do it so we will just ask you the questions."
Mavis nodded towards Officer Walker and looked at the policewoman next to him. Officer Walter saw it and smiled.
"Right, this is Police Officer Snow," he introduced. "She is part of my team."
With that, the policewoman greeted Mavis, "Hello, Mavis. We haven't had a proper introduction, have we?"
Mavis smiled at her and getting to know the policewoman's name, she had to be careful to not slip out the nickname when she greeted her back.
"Yes, hello, Officer Snow."
Officer Walter looked at Mavis and began to question her regarding the robbery incident. Mavis was calm and honest when she answered the questions as she was used to it.
"Let's see what I remember... The robber seemed to be a man and a bit old, no offence. With that kind of voice, he is definitely not young. He obviously wore a black ski mask to cover his face... But strangely enough, he didn't wear gloves and held the gun with his bare hand. He only shot twice. The first time was when he entered the store and the last one was when he demanded the worker to put the money in the bag."
While Mavis talked about the robber, Officer Snow was writing down everything on her police notepad as Officer Walter continued to ask questions.
"Can you tell us how you got injured?"
Mavis wanted to sigh but she couldn't as her rib was broken, and breathing heavily would cause her more pain—something she certainly didn't want to feel. She didn't like to be injured, it was either being injured-free or dead; no in-between. She remembered that the robber had used great strength and pushed her into a display rack, which she fell to the floor afterwards, hurting her shoulder along the way. Mavis told the police officers about it, only leaving behind her own act she did back in the store. She didn't want to end up in a mental hospital or something along the line; she had to play smart to save herself.
"That's it? Why did he push you?"
Shrugging, Mavis replied, "I might have gone up to him, trying to stop him from shooting the worker. I also tried to stop him from leaving the store so you officers could catch him but too bad, you didn't arrive earlier."
Hearing her explanation, the two police officers glanced at each other awkwardly before they looked back. They didn't get the signal until the worker called them and as for the gunshots—since it was in the morning—somehow, no one reported about it. Nonetheless, they didn't forget what Mavis had said and scolded her for being reckless.
"Never do it again! It is too dangerous. What were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt, which we all don't want you to. You are young, you still have a long life to live. Do you understand?"
Mavis lowered her head and apologized, "Yes, I understand. I won't do it again, Officers. I am sorry."
Officer Walter sighed. "As long as you understand and reflect your mistakes..."
"Mhm, do you have any more questions?"
As if Mavis reminded them of something, Officer Walter immediately nodded. "Yes, we have one last question. Are you certain you don't know why you get involved with cases that have nothing to do with you personally?"
Officer Snow stared at Mavis, she had seen the female student at a few crime scenes so she was naturally also interested in it.
Mavis frowned. "I really don't know, Officers. I just get caught into them and somehow, I always survive in the end. Maybe I'm favoured by God."
The police officers didn't know what to say any further and decided to end it there by bidding goodbye. Mavis was cooperative and had already answered all their questions, the information was useful to solve the robbery case. Presumably, it wouldn't take long for them to be able to identify the robber and arrest him. But before they left, Officer Walter turned around to face Mavis who was still lying on the hospital bed.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Don't worry about school, we contacted your principal about what happened. You are excused and don't have to attend the classes for the rest of the week."
Mavis almost cried out in joy, it seemed like she wasn't caught up with the robbery incident for nothing. Then again, it would have been better for her to die instead of getting injured. If only the robber had more guts in him and just shot her then she would have thanked him but unfortunately, it didn't turn out like that and she could only give him bad reviews. Nonetheless, she didn't have to go to school for the week—although, she would miss out a lot which was a downside for not attending classes. It was why she would rather die than being injured; an easy way to end everything while not having to worry about anything.
The police officer shook his head, he had suspected the female student was deliberately caught up with incidents so she could skip school but then he threw away the ridiculous idea. If she wanted to skip, she could just call in sick. For a student like her to endanger herself to skip school was completely absurd. It was unnecessary to do so. He had interacted with the female student named Mavis a lot on the cases she was involved with; he knew she was a well-behaved person and could be quite shy, not talking much unless it was necessary. Either way, it was unthinkable for such a person to do so. For that reason, he dismissed the foolish suspicion he had on the female student.
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