There was silence that rang through the house that night as Madeline let herself in. She sighed heavily and pushed the hair out of her eyes before letting the front door close softly behind her. She yawned lightly, not having gotten any sleep for the past 24 hours, not that she minded of course.

Every time her eyes closed, she would see it, the accident. Re-playing in her mind like a bad infomercial. But a lot faster, it had happened so suddenly she’d almost forgotten how to breathe.

One minute they were having fun, his last night in town, a quite dinner and good conversation, the next they weren’t. They had been crossing the street to get to his car; they were so involved with each other. Each watching the other as they spoke, that they didn’t see the car coming.

He had pushed her out of the way, in order to save her I suppose, and as a consequence gotten himself in hot water. The car had hit him so hard; it had knocked the wind right out of him.

All she remembered was seeing him fly through the air and land on the other side of the street, the car bolted after that. She had somehow managed to get up, and run towards him, but she knew she was too late. Now she was unsure if he’d even wake up.

Madeline sighed heavily as she entered the dark room and pulled off her sweater, pulled her jeans over her knees and headed for the shower, not even pausing for a minute to look around her. She just wanted a quick shower then go right back to where she had been only a few minutes before, right by his side. And no one was going to stop her.

Things hadn’t improved, and those cops from earlier had come back.

Madeline sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her head back on the chair, praying they wouldn’t come in there. But it didn’t look like they would; they were too busy questioning his family, and their friends.

“Maddie?” She opened here eyes and looked up, and then she groaned. It was the vainest person on the planet.

“Hi Justin,” she grumbled and tried to focus her attention on the bed. “I thought you couldn’t get a flight out of New York.”

“I found a way to get here,” he shrugged and walked over to her. “He’s my best friend, so I had to do whatever it took right?” She shrugged in response and tried not to let her eyes wander over to him.

“Glad you found time out of your busy life to…” she began but he cut her off with a shake of his head.

“Let’s not go there right now Mads,” he sighed, “Not when...” He didn’t finished his sentence, he couldn’t. They sat in silence watching the body on the bed, each with their own thoughts.

“I’m really glad you came Justin,” she whispered after a while of silence, “He needs you here.” Justin looked at her for a moment before replying.

“And you Mads?” Justin asked with sincere eyes. “What do you need?” She looked up at him in shock, wondering when he had turned so different. In all the years that she’d known him he’d never, not once asked her what she needed.

“I…” she stuttered wondering how to answer that. “I need….” But she wasn’t able to finish her sentence as the two cops from earlier interrupted.

“Miss James, can we have a moment?”

            She sighed and nodded as the two officers walked in. She looked at Justin, and hoped he would leave before he opened up his mouth and said something that wasn’t necessary.

            “Um, I’ll just be outside,” Justin said softly before exiting as fast as he could out the door. Madeline sighed a sigh of relief before turning her attention back to the officers.

            “What is it?” she asked.

            “Miss James,” the female officer began in a soft tone, “We need to ask you a few more questions about the accident if that’s okay.” She sighed, but nodded knowing she would have to cooperate.

            “Okay, what do you want to know?” she asked closing her eyes and not looking at the officers.

            “Miss James, I know we’ve been over this, but did you see who was driving the car?” the male officer cut in getting straight to the point. She sighed and shook her head, trying to keep her cool.

            “No, he pushed me out of the way,” she whispered, and opened her eyes to glance at her fiancée’s body.

“He pushed you? So he saw the on coming vehicle?” the male officer continued with a raised eyebrow and Madeline shrugged.

“I guess you could say that,” she responded quietly, “I think he saw it at the last minute.”

“So there’s a possibility he saw the driver of the car?” the female officer inquired glancing at her partner. Madeline sighed and gave another shrug.

“I don’t know,” she replied and leaned back on the chair. “Everything happened so quick, and after…after he was….” Her voice trailed off as tears threatened to come, she would not cry, she had to be strong.

“I’m sorry,” the female officer answered in a small voice, “It must be hard for you.”

“It is,” Madeline whispered, looking down at the floor. “This wasn’t supposed to happen to him, he was meant to go to New York, then he’d come back and we’d get married.” She felt a tear stray down her cheek, and she quickly wiped it away, she’d promised herself she wouldn’t cry.

“Miss James, how did you and your fiancée meet?” the male offer asked her, she felt her whole body tense up at the question and she looked up at him.

“Through friends,” she whispered not wanting to go that further into the subject.

“And these friends would be?” he asked writing all the information down on his pad.

“What does that have to do with the case?” she wanted to know wiping away more stray tears, and the officer sighed beside her.

“Miss James, we know you may not want to discuss certain things about your past with us because it may bring up bad memories, but we need to know if we’re going to help,” he replied and she sighed. They mentioned that word again. Help.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she answered, now she was just getting edgy and she didn’t want that. “What does that have to do with the case?”

“Nothing Miss James,” the female officer replied with a sympathetic look and she glared at her partner. “We’re sorry to have pried, it was none of our business.”