Is She Okay?

"Would you be needing me to get you anything else?" Maddie asked the customer who had ordered coffee as she placed the cup of coffee in front of him.

"No, that would be all for now," the customer said to her.

"Enjoy your coffee," Maddie said to him with a smile, before leaving for the kitchen.

"Maddie where is Ava?" Brad asked her as she entered the kitchen.

"She had to sort out a few things, I will be filling in for her," Maddie said. She could tell from the look on Brad's face that he wasn't happy with that, but he said nothing about it.

"Come take this order to table 4," Brad said to Maddie.

When Maddie was done serving the order, she decided to give Ava a call and find out how things were going at her end, she dialed Ava's number twice, but there was no response. It's been over an hour since they both spoke on the phone surely she should be done at the bank by now. But why wasn't she picking up?

"Maddie are you going to be on your phone all day or you are here to work?" Brad asked in a pissed tone.

"I'm sorry Brad," Maddie went and collected the next order and took them to the customers.

Two hours later, Maddie still hasn't heard back from Ava. She decided to send her a text,

"Ava, what's up with you? Have you been able to sort things out with Robinson? Call me."

Maddie waited for ten minutes, and when Ava didn't respond, she became worried and decided to call her again but she still wasn't answering her phone.

"Maddie, I have enough on my plate already, don't get me pissed. So put that phone away and get to work."

"I'm sorry Brad, I was only trying to reach Ava, she hasn't been answering her phone for the past two hours, and that's so unlike her," Maddie said in a worried tone.

"Where did she tell you she was going?" Brad asked her.

"She went to see Robinson."

"Robinson? As in the Robinson?" Brad asked her.

"Yes, the loan shark."

"What in God's name took her there?"

"Her mother owed Robinson before she disappeared, and he has been harassing Ava to pay him back, so she went to pay him back his money, so he could leave her be," Maddie said.

"Oh boy, didn't no one inform her that such a place isn't where you alone as a lady? An unarmed one for that matter. What was she thinking?" Brad asked.

Maddie became even more worried and started dialing Ava's number again, but she still wasn't answering.

"Let me try it one more time," she said to Brad, and this time she answered.

"Ava, where have you been? You got me worried," Maddie said all at once, but there was no response from Ava.

"Ava, are you there?"

"This isn't Ava," a lady said into the phone.

Maddie's heart almost skipped a bit, "Who, who is this?" She asked. Why was she the one answering Ava's phone and not Ava herself? Had something happened to her? All these questions raced through Maddie's head in one second.

"This is the police, the owner of this phone is currently indisposed to talk."

Maddie's heart rate increased, "The police? What happened? Is Ava okay?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"I'm afraid not, she was attacked, she is currently at the hospital," the officer said.

"Attacked? Is she okay....?" Maddie asked in a fearful tone.

"What is your name?" The police officer asked.

"My name is Maddie, and I'm her friend."

"Maddie, your friend is fine, she is currently being attended to."

"Which hospital is that?" Maddie asked.

Maddie quickly wrote out the address of the hospital on her notepad, as the police officer called it out.

"What is the problem, is Ava okay?" Brad asked Maddie when she was done with the phone call.

"I don't think so, it was a police officer who answered Ava's phone, and she said Ava was attacked and is currently at the hospital."

"Attacked? By whom?" Brad asked.

"I have no idea," Maddie took off her apron as she spoke, "Brad, please I would have to go and see her."

"Yeah sure, call me once you've gotten to her," Brad said.

"I will," Maddie tore out the sheet where she wrote the name of the hospital Ava had been taken to, and she hurried out of the diner.

While in the taxi, on her way to Ava, Maddie kept praying that Ava was okay.

"She was robbed. We were patrolling the area at that time, and heard when she was screaming for help," the police officer explained to Maddie when she got to the hospital.

"Oh my God!" Maddie covered her mouth with her both palms, "is she okay?"

"Yes, according to the doctor she sustained no internal injury."

"But she suffered physical injuries?"

"Yes, she did."

"Were you able to apprehend those who robbed her?"

"No, they ran off when they heard us approaching, but we are currently making investigations to have them caught."

Maddie slowly nodded, she knew what that meant, the money was gone. Or has Ava paid Robinson back his money before she got robbed? Maddie badly hoped that was the case.

"Please where is she?"

The police officer took Maddie to the room that Ava was in, and the moment she saw her friend, Maddie's heart broke.