Take Me Back To Paddington (SERIES)

Chapter 12 - The Death

I had to see if it was really her, my Chae Richards.

Nick looked away, keeping his lips tight for few seconds. He was probably thinking about my request.

"I'll ask the coroner for you"

"Thank you so much, Nick"

Baxter lowered his head, taking few breath in before he let go of my arms and finally walking into a door that had a restriction warning on it.

I shook my head, still thinking if Chae was really here in the mortuary and where else she could be right now. I tried calling her since yesterday but I was directed to her voicemail every single time.

Having those kind of questions in my head gave me the urge and the strength to find the one true answer, which was in that room.

The door was opened later, getting my attention to the sound it made and that was when I saw a man who I well recognised, walking out before Baxter.

"Mr. Richards" I greeted him and he did the same with his embrace, keeping me in his arms for some time.

My heart started to race when I saw Chae's dad. He was also here and worse, he was welled in tears. The last time I saw him was when my girlfriend made a BBQ lunch at her place about 5 months ago, and he looked nothing like this.

He was a happy man, bearing almost the same personality as Chae.

But the man I was hugging at the moment looked so different; wrinkled top, swollen eyes and shivering body with no smile on his face, let alone laughter.

He was just different.

"Detective Isaac?" One of the police officers spoke by the door. "You can come in"

The matured man let me go, holding my face for a few seconds while he was trying to form a smile, but failed.

So he walked to the bench and sat on it, followed by Baxter.

"I'll stay here with Mr. Richards" Nick said, earning a nod from me.

I refused to waste any time, knowing that I didn't have much left after wasting 9 hours just to get here. The last train to London from Glasgow was at 10p.m. last night, which I considered as a luck when I was able to get a seat. Or else, I might have to waste more hours.

Walking inside the isolated space, I was assisted by the coroner and two police officers to enter another small room.

I glanced at a white body bag by surprise when I stepped in, stopping my steps abruptly as I closed my eyes. To be honest, I wasn't expecting to see someone in there straight away without a moment for me to get emotionally ready. Even though it was just a body bag that I had already seen for years in my career, that bag could contain someone I wished I didn't know in person.

My legs that were strong and steady before began to shake. I could even feel my entire body to have that chill fever effect, running in each of my bones.

"Are you alright, detective?"

I nodded to a man's voice that wasn't in my concern anymore.

"I just,-" I paused when I felt like there was a lump in my throat, weighing down the entire chest of mine. "I need a moment"

I supported myself using my forearm against the wall next to me, eyes looking down at the white floor as I continued to breathe as normal as I managed to.

After seconds of punishing myself with the 'sooner or later' reality that I had to face, I pushed one heavy breath out and straightened my body before I could walk towards the see-through glass.

My eyes started to see the white body bag again, not in a glance, not in an instant. I was really staring at it this time, recognising someone that was kept safe in there with only her face was opened to be viewed.

Right at that moment, the reality that I wished I wasn't mine, hit me in the hardest way it possibly could; remorseless.

Baby?

Someone who I saw yesterday, looking at her sad eyes when I was about to leave, was now couldn't even look at me anymore.

Baby, I'm back.

Someone who I had yesterday, holding her hand by the door grill when I was about to go, was now couldn't even touch me.

Hug me? Please?

Someone who was with me yesterday, living in the same physical world, was now separated not just by a glass screen between us, but somewhere she might have not recognised anymore.

Her face, a beautiful one even though there were bruises and blood at the left side of her forehead, still looked so relaxed that could pass as she was just sleeping if that red thing wasn't there.

She looked so calm and in peace, almost like she was smiling as she lied there in the opposite room.

Chae?

I asked for someone who always had lovely names by her lips, begging for her to say them to me again.

But she was no longer moving. She was no longer alive.

Her time was up.

I exited the room, greeted by Baxter who immediately ran to get me.

"Lisa?" He stopped right in front of me, grabbing my fingers with his.

I just looked at him when I couldn't smile like I did earlier. My eyelids were sweeping away the tears that had begun to form, disturbing my vision second by second.

"N-Nick," I stuttered, feeling how heavy my tongue had been ever since I walked into that room. "It's her" I told him and he sighed, looking at me with apologetic look in his eyes.

"Lisa-"

"It's Chae" I spoke again no matter how hard it was to let my sobs out.

And I collapsed when I could no longer stand on my two feet, having Baxter to catch me in his hands.

I didn't hear anything else around me, only my own cries in between heavy breath that felt so painful. It was so painful until I squeezed my teary eyes shut, feeling how my heart broke in unspoken misery nobody could comprehend.

"N-no" I sobbed out, gripping his chest and clenching the fabric in my fists. "Nick!" I opened my eyes while they pushed my tears out. "You need to help me"

"Lisa," He called, tightening his arms around my back as he cried his sympathy free. "I'm so sorry"

"H-help me, Nick"

"I'm here, alright?" He whispered.

"Have they-" My breath hitched. "...checked her pulse?"

"Lisa-"

"Have they tried intubate her?"

"Listen to me, Lisa"

"Have they-"

Grasping my face, Baxter said calmly. "They did everything they could"

"But, Chae-"

"She's already gone when M.E reached there," Nick sobbed.

"No," I sniffled. "Please..."

I lowered my head only to be lifted up again by a hand, looking at another reddish, watery eyes in front of me.

"She's gone" His lips trembled. "I'm so sorry"

"Please help me, Nick"

Shaking his head, he said it one last time. "Chae is gone, Lisa"