Ring
Ring
Ring
I lift my head from my computer desk.
I must've fallen asleep at my desk last night.
I look at my phone.
Barry
I picked it up and answered.
"DRE YOU NEED TO GET HERE THE COPS ARE HERE TALKING TO THE PRINCIPAL! EVERYONE IS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY THEY'RE HERE!" Barry screamed over the loud voices in the background.
My heart began to race.
"Alright give me half an hour," I said in a shaking voice.
I hung up.
Oh god please help me.
I ran to the bathroom and hopped in the shower.
After 15 minutes I got out and rushed to get dressed.
I put on an oversized black T-shirt, plain jeans, and some sneakers.
I ran to my mom's room and knocked on the door gently.
No answer.
I opened the door slightly to see.
She was laying on the bed sleep with drool in her mouth.
Doesn't she have to work?
I decided not to wake her up. She needs a break.
I ran downstairs, grabbed a damned bagel, and left the house.
As I was speed walking to school I was praying that the cops weren't looking for me and Nathan.
***
When I arrived at school a lot of people were swarmed around the principal's office.
I stopped as soon as I saw Barry.
"Excuse me. Sorry. I'm sorry."
I murmured trying to make it to Barry.
I grabbed ahold of Barry's arm.
He turned around and looked down at me. He then pulled me into his arms so no one can pull me back.
"What happened? Why are the cops here? How long have they been here? What are they talking about?" I bombarded Barry with questions.
"I don't know. I still don't know. They've been here for at least an hour. I still don't know." He answered all of them eyes glued to the glass window of the principal's office.
The assistant principal looked at us and stomped out into the hallway.
"EVERY TO CLASS! YOU ARE ALL LATE. ANYONE NOT IN CLASS IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES WILL GET A TWO-WEEK SUSPENSION!" The assistant principal boomed and with that everyone ran to class including me and Barry.
When we walked into biology the first person I saw was Nathan.
We locked eyes for a second but then he looked away.
I walk over to the seat next to him without so much of a word.
"Alright, the class were about to get started in a minute" Mr. Morales stated.
***
The class was almost over and I felt major relief.
No one asked for me or Nathan.
Maybe a teacher was sleeping with a student?
Wouldn't be the first time. Our school is swarming with perverted teachers.
"We call this Mitosis. It gets—" Mr. Morales got cut off by knocking at the door.
He opened the door and the principal walked in.
Principal Ellsmore and Mr. Morales were having a small quiet conversation until principal Ellsmore looked at me.
"Nathan Price and Andrea Alston I need you to come with me." Principal Ellsmore said.
We got up and grabbed our stuff walked with the principal.
I killed that man.
I'm going to jail.
***
Breathe Dre.
Relax Dre.
You're not in trouble Dre.
Nothing was working.
We're going to jail.
I must've killed the man. I thought like me, Nathan, and Principal Ellsmore walked into the main office.
"Come into my office." principal Ellsmore said
We all walked in.
I and Nathan sat next to each other while principal Ellsmore sat across from us and one of the two cops closed the door and stood there in place.
"Now," Ellsmore said with a smack of his teeth.
"These cops" he directed to the two "are officer Mimes and officer Jones. There is something that happened at Cascade diner, Saturday night I believe" he looked confusedly at the two. The brown-haired one just nodded. Officer mimes I believe? "That you two were involved in and they will be taking you down to the station to ask a few questions. I have contacted your parents and let them know what's going on. I just wanted to make it more comfortable for you."
The two officers then walked up to us, grabbed our arms, and stood us up. Then put handcuffs on the both of us.
They walked us to the front entrance. Which luckily while we walk there were no kids in sight.
They placed us in two separate cop cars and drove us to the station.
***
Tick
Tick
Tick
Tick
Tick
I was in full panic mode as I sat in one of the interrogation rooms.
It was full-on grey with a very dim light that only shined on the table.
To the right, was a huge mirror that covers half the wall.
To top it all off the room was small.
I felt like the walls were closing in on me.
You need to breathe.
I began to tap my leg at a faster pace.
My eyes began to water and I started to rock back and forth with my hand over my heart.
"Andreeeeeeaaaaaa" a voice called.
I remember that voice...but from where?
"I'm inside of you Andreaaaaa" the voice hissed.
I looked around the room.
"Who the fuck are you?" I hissed out of my clenched teeth.
"The darkness will always be inside of you sweetheart"
Whoever that lady's voice is, she sounded like a fucking snake and it was pissing me off.
I put my head down, put my hands over my ears, and started to rock back and forth again.
"Leave me alone. Please." I said in a soft cry.
"You know you can never escape me. I will always be a part of you." She cooed
"SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UPPPPPP!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Then finally she stopped.
I lifted my head to see no one in here.
This place is making me insane.
Click
Click
I looked to the door and a dark-skinned man appeared with a large white cup in his hand and a file.
He closed the door and sat across from me.
"Hello, Andrea my name is deputy chef Mimes. You are not in trouble. I just want to ask you a couple of questions ok? Here" he said sliding the white cup to me.
"They had you in here so long I figured you might be thirsty. It's a cup of water. I want to make you as comfortable as humanly possible."
I looked down at the cup and looked back up at him.
We sat in silence for a moment until he spoke up.
"Ok, what do you recall happened on Saturday at 9:20 pm?" He asked
"I and Nathan went to the Cascade diner. There were these men who were making vulgar remarks from the time I walked in—" he cut me off.
"How many men were there?"
"Uhh, four?" I said questionably.
He looked at me "was that a question or a statement?" He asked
"Uhh, a statement," I replied
He nodded and gestured me to continue.
I took a deep breath before I started to hyperventilate again.
"It's okay you can take your time." He said reassuringly.
I nodded.
I don't know how long it took before I finally spoke out.
"We sat down and ate our food and made conversation like anyone on a date would."
"You guys were on a date?" He asked
"NO." I said the way too quickly "we were mainly there to get to know each other. We were there for hours before my mom had called me. So I walked outside to answer it. And on my way walking, they continued with the vulgar remarks. My mom was telling me how she had to work a double and that she was sorry when I had looked in the window and one of the men was arguing with Nathan and he pushed him. I hung up with my mom and went in there to defuse the argument." I stopped to take a breath.
"And they did stop but the ended up saying to Nathan 'I'll see you again—'"
"Wait so they said that to Nathan?" He interrupted again.
"Yes and then they left the diner. We tried to sit back down but the lady that works there was telling us that they don't condone violence and asked us to leave. So Nathan had paid for the meal and we ran to the car because it was pouring but then the man that pushed him into the diner had his hand around Nathan's throat and held him against Nathan's car. I tried to tell him to let go but he pushed me and I fell to the ground and one of his friends grabbed me. Then he threw Nathan away from the car and started to beat him up with three of his friends. To get the man's friend off of me I bit his bicep and he threw me against Nathan's car window and he shattered it. The man that grabbed me had told me that he was going to have fun with me or something like that."
"Okay, so I would like to know how a man got thrown into a glass window and the other two across a parking lot?" He said
"Are they dead?" I whispered.
He waited for a beat "no but one of them is badly injured and the rest just have a few broken bones."
I sighed in absolute relief.
I didn't kill him after all
"Ms. Alston, what happened afterward?"
Should I tell him?
Would he think I was crazy?
Would he send me to a psych ward?
"There was this lighting that hit the ground it the rest was a blur." I countered
"Lightning?" He asked and I nodded.
"Then Nathan had dropped me off home and I haven't seen him since."
He opened his file and took out four pictures. "We're these the men who did that to you two?"
"Yes," I assured
"Okay, these are men who have serious drug problems and were very intoxicated at the time being. I wanted to see if your story matched Nathan's and it did." He said
"Where is Nathan?" I asked him
"He is at the hospital. He had shown us the bruises he had gotten from the fight and we had rushed him to the hospital. Also, your mom is waiting out there for you."
I looked at him
"Why didn't you come here sooner?"
"I don't know, I was scared to come forward about it I guess," I told him.
He sighed "I will make sure they are behind bars. Their system was laced with drugs. They even said that you had powers of some sort"
My breathing hitched up.
"What about the people in the diner?" I had asked.
"No one saw what happened they only saw the man flying through the glass... why did something else happen?"
I shook my head no.
"Are you sure?" He continued.
I nodded
"Well, Andrea you are free to go. And if you remember anything call my number." He reached into his pocket and grabbed a card and handed it to me. I took it and walked with him out of the door.
When I went near the door my mom was pacing back and forth.
She stopped in her tracks when she saw me.
I walked up to her and she hugged me so tightly I couldn't even breathe.
She grabbed my face, then my hand, and walked me into the car without a word.