Life:
Altered 03.34 ~ Take Me Away

Bette sat in the waiting room of the ER with Candace at her side; Bette had doubled back and had found Rosita.  Bloodied and beaten, but still alive, one of
her fellow gang members was laying to the left, lifeless. 

Bette had never dealt with anything like this,
she’d grabbed Rosita, holding her close as she bled all over her, but Bette didn’t care.  This was what life held for the young artist,
death.  All around her death had always
thrived, and yet she’d found a way to make her art come alive.  To push passed everything that had died
around her, and bring life to life.  What
courage it must have taken to be so brave and forthright.  A courage that she didn’t possess.

It was difficult to judge if Rosita had been the one to have killed the young
man, but the police seemed to think so.  Bette had refused to believe it to be true,
arguing with the responding officer until he’d put his hands up in surrender.  He’d told her that someone would be by to
interview her and had pushed passed her to secure the crime scene.

Detective Alexandria Pezzini asked the ER nurse where Bette Porter was, and she pointed to the good-looking
woman in chairs.  Alex nodded her thanks and headed over to Bette, and to the other woman at her left,
just as ***** as Bette.  If not more
so in the overalls and the sweet smell of freshly cut wood.  Alex reigned in her raging hormones and said in a deep
voice.

“Elizabeth Porter?” 
Alex asked and Bette stood up, offering her hand to Bette.

“Yes, that would be me.”  Bette said, taking the hand being offered,
feeling the strength behind it instantly. 
A deep awareness of the environment around her emanated from the
detective’s eyes. 

“Detective Alex Pezzini.  Please
sit down.”  Alex said, she did, Candace stuck out her hand, and Alex took it. 
Smiling a bit, but the seriousness quickly masked back over her smile.

“Candace Jewell.” 
Candace said nodding to the officer and Alex quickly went into what she called ‘cop
mode’.

“Were you also at the scene Ms. Jewell?” 
Alex asked and Candace shook her head and Alex opened her watch-book to a blank page.  She scribbled a quick note, logging the time
and the place of the interview and Candace Jewell‘s name. 
She wrote down Bette‘s name also, wondering idly if Bette‘s nickname was a family nick.