Chapter 2 – Camilla
“Is there anyone else in here?”
I didn’t know how long it had been since I’d heard a myriad of gunshots and then silence. It might have only been ten minutes, but it felt like hours. I was waiting for the shooting to keep going, waiting for those horrid boots to come back. I was waiting to die, but instead I heard the same voice a little closer. It sounded like a police officer, and when I saw the boots underneath the door, I knew that it was a cop.
“I’m in here.”
The boots stopped, and for a split second I wondered if I’d done the right thing. What if it wasn’t a cop and I’d just given myself away? What if I’d guessed wrong?
“Miss?”
The door knob jiggled, but I still didn’t move from my perch on the small seat. I was still frozen in place, and it was only when the voice got louder that I even considered getting down.
“Are you locked in there?”
“No, I, uh, let me get the lock.”
It took me several moments to get out of there, and I could tell that the voice on the other side was getting impatient with me. I didn’t want to come out, and his gruff voice was the one thing that finally got me into gear.
Moving the lock to the left, I just waited for another minute or two until I got the courage to open the door. Relief washed over me when I saw the uniform and the concerned look on his face. I must have looked a state. I felt like I was a mess. If my outside was anything like the inside, I should have been a wreck.
“Are you okay, Miss? Were you shot?”
I looked down at my body like it was an idea that I hadn’t thought of. I would know if I’d been shot, right?
“Yes, I’m okay. I didn’t feel anything.”
I checked what I could see of my backside and confirmed that the dress was still as unmarred as when I got it from the rack. If only I could say the same for my soul. I didn’t feel like I’d been saved from that injury.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded my head that I was sure, although I still didn’t move out of the small space towards the police officer in uniform. I didn’t want to go anywhere. That changing room had kept me safe.
“Miss, we’re sweeping the place for any other gunmen. You need to get out of here. I’ll take you to get checked out.”
Looking down at the blue dress, I shook my head. “I didn’t pay for this dress. I need to change.”
The look of concern was back. “Miss, you need to come with me. I’m sure that no one is going to mind if you take the dress. There is no one to mind.”
His words were cryptic, but it was almost instantly clear what he meant. Save for a dusty man in a business suit who had his head down in his hands, no one else moved. There were police officers everywhere, but the majority of people in the small shop were on the ground with pools of blood around them. There was blood everywhere, and I covered my eyes, stopping just feet from where I’d been hiding in the changing room. I couldn’t look at the cold, dead stare of the woman lying just feet from where I’d been. That could have been me.
“Come on, Miss. We need to get you out of here. Just try not to look at them.”
I tried to listen to him, I really did, but it was impossible. It was even harder when I saw a familiar sweater that Marge had been wearing. I could see a slip in her hand. Was that the one that she was getting for me?
I had to step over the body of a young man as we made our way out of the store. Each person that I passed, I was forced to wonder what they were doing and who they were. So many lives gone in an instant. It was hard not to think of what would have happened if I’d had to wait for the dressing room. Was it all really luck?
When I got to a place that the policeman finally stopped, I looked back at the chaos and wondered how I’d made it out of there unhurt. It didn’t seem right. The more I thought about it, the more I could feel myself shaking inside. The what-ifs plagued me, and it was hard to focus on the questions that the man was asking me.
“Miss, what is your name?”
“Camilla Loring”
“Do you have an ID?”
I went to reach into my pocket and realized that it was in the slacks that I’d taken off in the changing room.
“It’s back there where I changed my clothes. Please don’t make me go back in there.”
His hard face softened, and there was a bit of something else in his dark depths. “Miss, no one is going to ask you to go in there. If you would like, I’ll bring your belongings out.”
“Thank you, Officer.”
“Officer O’Brien.”
I repeated his name and thanked him again. It was hard to focus, but in a moment he was gone and I was answering questions from an EMT that he’d directed me to in the parking lot. After checking my eyes and blood pressure, I think, he cleared me and said that I seemed to be okay. Everyone kept saying that, but I didn’t feel okay.
“Here you go, Doctor.”
The officer was back with my things, and by my new title I knew that he’d looked at the ID already. My driver’s license was in his hands when I finally looked up. “Thank you, Officer O’Brien.”
“We’re going to need you to answer a few questions before you leave. I’ll also need a way to contact you if I have anything further. You’re one of just a few witnesses so far.”
“I didn’t witness anything.”
“Is there nothing that you can tell us about what happened?”
There wasn’t a lot to tell, but I tried to describe it as best I could. While I would have wished for some time to gather myself, the officer assured me that it was better to do it while everything was fresh in my mind. He was right, and I seemed to remember more than I’d first thought. I could still hear the sounds of the gun in my ears, and the smell of the gunpowder still filled my nostrils with that acrid reek.
“Is there anything else, sir?”
O’Brien shook his head and told me that I could go home. I thanked him for the tenth time and made my way into the parking lot where my car was. There were cars and lights everywhere, police tape going up to cordon off the area. I just felt cold as I walked away. How had everything changed in the blink of an eye? One minute everything was okay and the next moment my life was forever going to be different. Nothing was ever going to be the same again.