Prologue

A crowd had gathered, as it always did when death occurred, especially when the victim was murdered. They all stood in silence, looking down, some shocked, but all keeping their thoughts to themselves. As the wail of the approaching siren grew louder, they began to be shepherded away.
Jody wasn't aware of any of it. Her whole world at that moment was occupied with Robert's limp body, cradled in her arms.

"Hold on Robert. Not long now. They're nearly here. Just hold on."
There was no reply to her plea, and secretly, her mind knew it was already too late. The slow seep of blood from the corner of Robert's mouth and the horribly laboured, rattling breaths, pronounced his death sentence more loudly than the blood-stained knife lying a few feet away. Suddenly, Jody became aware of a hand on her shoulder, a heavy hand; Lui. She realized something was missing. The siren. She looked up, blinking away the tears in her eyes to see the paramedics standing over her.

"Come on Jo. Leave it to the medics. We should get you outta here."
Reluctantly, Jody relinquished her hold, letting a paramedic move in to take her place as Lui helped her stand. His firm hand on her shoulder tried to turn her away from the scene, but she stood fast, watching the futile efforts of the paramedics to revive Robert. His breathing had now stopped completely, his small body giving up its fight for life. Lui stepped in front of her, blocking the scene from view.

"Don't look honey. You did all you could. There's nothing you can do for him now. The medics will take care of him. Come on, let's get you outta here."
Jody hadn't been conscious of much around her up to that point, but Lui's gentle voice began to bring her back to reality, feeling the chilling rain running down her neck. She raised her head to look Lui in the eye, taking in the wet clothes, the sad but caring eyes.

"I guess you're right."

A tight lipped grimace was her only reply, his eyes telling her this wasn't his first experience of this.

It felt like a massive weight lifting from her shoulders as she let Lui guide her back towards the building. As they reached the doors, there was a sudden rattle of metal. They turned around and saw the paramedics wheeling out the metal gurney, but the lack of speed told its own tale. This was no urgent rush to get a survivor to hospital; it was simply collecting another victim. Another life snuffed out too early, all because of a stupid school yard fight.

"I can't keep doing this Lui," Jody whispered as she was helped up the stairs and into the building, "I just can't keep doing this."

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Author guidance for This story

Strawberry Villas is a novel that I'd planned out years ago.

I started to add it last year with the intention of finishing. That didn't happen for a variety of reasons.

I'm going back to the drawing board with this whole novel as my entry in this years NaNoWriMo. This version shall remain until I get the new one finished. Just in case any agent out there likes the premise ;-)

updated Oct 27 '11 by sdhayes