25. WRH XIV: The aftermath of the fall

"Maxwell!!!!" Miriam shouted his name. Her heart lept into her mouth. The erratic beating of her heart could be heard miles away. Oh God!! What just happened? She ran to the edge of the pool, and what she saw caused her world to come to a standstill. Blood! Cold red blood!! And it was...it was...Maxwell's blood?? Maxwell!! Yes, Maxwell! She looked into the pool and she almost had a heart attack.

"Maxwell!!!" She cried in a shrill voice. Maxwell was in the pool!! And the water surrounding him was... red!! Oh, God! What should she do now? She turned to look over her shoulders if she could see someone. Anyone. But there was no one. Not even the kids. They were all gone!

"Maxwell?! Maxwell, can you hear me!!??" Her tears came running down like a waterfall. And she was trembling in fear. She had a bad feeling earlier. She should have stopped him from going to the pool. With that thought, she even cried more.

Maxwell was motionless inside the pool. And the red colour seemed to be spreading far and wide. He was losing so much blood and that too inside cold water! Panic, fear, anxiety, shock. All these emotions were crowding Miriam's consciousness. Miriam stood up and turned to run to the mansion and call for help, but after some few steps she came back and knelt down at the edge and cried again.

"Maxwell, please give me your hand!!!" She shouted as she stretched her hand out towards him. "I'll pull you out!!! Please take my hand!! Please...Max, please take...my hand." Her voice attenuated and met silence. She trembled as she cried more. Her voice broke due to her hiccups. She didn't know what to do. After some few seconds, she stood up and ran as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, to call for help from the mansion.

.....

Back in the mansion, Gerry was happily serving the guests when she felt a sudden chill down her spine. Her immediately reaction was to turn to where Miriam was sitting with Maxwell. When she didn't see them, her heart began rumbling in her chest.

"Where are these kids?" She mumbled nervously as she looked around. She turned to the other workers and whispered something to them and quickly removed her gloves and apron and hair net. She stroked her sweaty and stained palms on her dress as she took hurried steps outside the mansion. She didn't have time to wash her hands. She needed to find them! That feeling...that feeling was not a good one. She could only pray and hope that they were safe.

She dashed out of the grand hall and looked left and right. She kept turning and looking around, but she didn't see them. 'Or are they somewhere inside?' Gerry thought. She turned and went back inside. She climbed the stairs hurriedly, skipping a few of them as she did so, all the while calling out either Miriam or Maxwell.

She went all the way to the third floor, which was the last floor. But there was no response and no sign of them. Her nervousness began skyrocketing. Her eyes brimmed with hot tears. But she knew there was no time and no need for crying now. She just wasn't able to locate them now. Maybe they were somewhere playing. She gave herself some assurance. But deep down she was dying from fear that something bad was about to happen, or worse, had already happened. She trusted her intuition very much, so to her, this feeling called for alarm.

She hurried back downstairs, and when she got to the grand hall, she felt like something was not in order. The music had stopped and most people were out of the hall now. The rest of them that were there were just looking gloomy and talking undertone. Gerry stood still for some time. She had a very bad feeling about this. She felt like this had something to do with either Miriam or Maxwell. She regained herself quickly and ran outside. She saw people making their way to the backyard and she followed, pushing her way through.

As she neared the pool side she could hear voices. Angry voices to be precise. And... And wailing?? Was someone...crying? Her heart skipped a thousand beats and her breathing picked up a fast pace. Her hurried steps began to falter. "Oh God!" She whispered to herself, blinking back rapidly the tears that had began stinging her eyes. She felt some hard lump in her throat. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them. Letting out a heavy sigh, she entered the area of the pool side.

The scene that met her eyes caused her heart to stop beating for some split seconds. Her world came to a halt. Miriam was crying incessantly. And...was that... Blood on her dress?? Her heart was now leaping instead of beating. She couldn't move. At least, she was safe, but where was Maxwell then? The blood... was that Maxwell's? Her eyes scanned the place till it landed on a devastated Edith, wailing while holding unto a frail figure. Her eyes zoomed on the frail figure and her heart lept into her mouth.

"Maxwell?!" Gerry muttered a little too loud, her whole body trembling and shaking with the effect of her breakdown. The tears she tried so much to keep at bay were now rushing down her cheeks, as if they were in competition. She took hurried steps towards Edith to check on Maxwell, but someone clung unto her legs tightly which caused her to come to an abrupt stop almost causing them both to fall down.

Miriam cried incessantly and shook in fear as she clung unto her mother's legs.

"I swear, mom... I swear I didn't do it! I didn't push him!! I didn't push him, mom! Please believe me!! Please... please, mom!!" She cried, her lips trembling and her body shaking.

Gerry's heart broke into a thousand pieces seeing her daughter, her strong little girl, break down like this. She patted her back and stroked her gently while she too cried. But she needed to check on Maxwell. She needed to know what actually happened and how he was doing right now.

"The ambulance will be here shortly, ma'am. They gave us five minutes." One guy was heard saying as Gerry approached Edith. This was the 18th time he had called the ambulance service in 2 minutes. Edith kept ordering him to keep calling, and he had nothing to do than to obey.

Gerry took hold of Miriam's hand and made her way to Edith.

Edith was rocking the frail and pale Maxwell in her arms, weeping uncontrollably and uttering inaudible words to him. She had a napkin pressed tightly on the left side of his head, and the napkin was slightly soaked with blood. Gerry knelt close to Edith, with Miriam standing right behind her. And that was when she caught some of the inaudible words Edith was saying.

"Please come back to me, baby. You can't leave mommy now. I'd die if you leave me. I beg you my baby please... hold on. For mummy. For me... please..."

Gerry cried even more, and so did Miriam. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know how to ask. She kept crying and praying inwardly for Maxwell to be okay.

After a short while, Gerry seemed to have found her tongue.

"Wha..what ha..happened, ma'am?" She stammered. She held her breath when Edith shot her a deadly glare and Gerry flinched and moved back a bit. A typical example of the expression, 'If looks could kill.' She knew she would have been a dead meat by now.

"Why don't you ask that demon of a daughter you have??!!" She barked. She turned away and looked at her baby boy in her arms and she couldn't help but break down some more, if that was even possible. "You just had to bring this demon here to turn my son's birthday into his death day??" She continued in a bitter tone.

Gerry looked down. She could only swallow and listen. She felt like, or more like, she was certain, that Miriam knew what happened, and she was being blamed for it.

"I'm sorry for what happened, ma'am." Gerry said in a barely audible tone, still looking down. That was the right words that came to her mind at that time. She didn't know what to say. She felt Miriam whispering a word of prayer behind her, and she couldn't help but cry more. Her daughter was innocent. That was for sure. Else she would never be in this state of panic right now.

Soon enough, the ambulance came, and they hurried their steps to Maxwell and tied his head in a bandage and carried his weak body onto a stretcher and into the ambulance.That was when Gerry saw Robert for the first time since she came there. He was dripping wet from head to toe. And from the look of things, it looked like Maxwell fell into the pool and Robert got him out. She cringed at the thought of Maxwell falling in the pool. What really happened? She turned to ask Miriam when she heard an anguish and loud voice.

"You better get your things out of this mansion before I come back. And I swear... I swear on my life, that if anything happens to my son..." She was heaving heavy breaths now. She seemed to be having difficulty in constructing words due to pain and anger. "...even if a single strand of my son's hair is affected...you will never know peace. For the rest of your life, Gerry. I promise you that."

She quickly entered the ambulance and it zoomed off at top speed.

-------------Flashback ends-------------