After Max helped me out of bed and down the stairs, he sat me on the couch and left the room. After a few silent moments, I could hear the laughter of the twins coming from the kitchen. I leaned back as far as I could and peeked into the kitchen. I could only see a bit of Angle bouncing up and down in her chair. She was sitting on her knees, leaning forward onto the table. I sighed in relief. The twins were ok. Maybe that wasn't blood on Max yesterday. Jayden and I just witnessed...something horrifying yesterday and it may have gotten to our heads. A sudden knock at the door called for my attention.
"I'll get that real quick. Coming!" Max rushed from the kitchen towards the door and opened it. It was the police. One of them held a notepad and a pen while the other grabbed his belt buckle and kept a hand loose next to his gun. Their badges were visible enough for me to see that their names were David and James, not that it was going to matter. They both seemed a bit on edge. Max welcomed them in and lead them to me. There were two policemen, but behind them was a woman. She had a very familiar face. It was like I'd met her before, but I don't remember when. She had long honey-blonde hair, hazel-green eyes, and the roundest face I've ever seen. She smiled at me and followed closely behind the policemen. The three of them sat down on the couch across from me. The women started:
"Hi there, sweetie. My name is Maria. I work with child protective services. We met briefly after the fire incident at your home. After our first meeting, you and your adoptive mother went M.I.A and we were unable to locate you. We never received legal documents of your adoption, so I'm sorry to say that in a few days I'll be taking you into custody." she gave a warm smile, but I could tell she didn't care. She could smile all she wanted, but her eyes said it all. I crossed my arms and leaned back on the couch.
"I want Max to legally adopt me. I'm not leaving." the police officers look over at her, basically asking with their eyes what I'm asking in my mind: Is that even an option considering what happened?
"If...if Max is willing to adopt you- legally- then I will bring the necessary paperwork and you can stay. Although, I can only do that once Max is in the clear. I didn't just come for you. I came for all three of you. I'm taking the twins as well." my eyes grew wide and my heart skipped a beat. They can't do that. The system is too unfair for the two of them to go into. They'll be torn away from each other.
"What do you need to know?" she turned to the officers and gave them a nod. before standing up.
"This is David and James. These two gentlemen will ask you a few questions, while I go talk to the twins about some things. When they're done I'm going to help you and the twins pack your bags. I informed Max of this already and per his request, I will be taking the three of you into my care, until further notice. You guys will come live with me for a while. Once this is all cleared up I'm going to either bring you home or adopt you myself." I knew she could see the shock on my face, but I didn't care. I could feel my insides twist and my heart race. I couldn't say anything so I just nodded. She gave me a worried smile and then walked off. I felt like I was going to die and I'd only just woken up. What a great way to start my day.
"We're very sorry to bring so much bad news in just one sitting, but your mother was able to escape police custody early this morning and she has yet to be found. Also, I'm...sorry to say that your friend Chloe died last night in the E.R from blood loss. Your mother is now wanted on a count of kidnapping and murder. After you and your siblings vacate the premises we will begin a full search of the house to find anything she left behind that could help us find her." at this point I couldn't keep the tears in. Chloe was gone and I never got to say goodbye. The worst part is that I knew something bad was going to happen and I did nothing about it. Alice didn't deserve to have it this easy. She needs to pay for everything she's done.
"That's not all. Alice started this way before she killed Chloe. Before she took me she killed my mother. She told me herself, last night before it all happened." officer James began to write in his notepad and muttered to himself.
"Do you know whether Max was involved in your Biological mothers' death and or your Friend Chloe's death?" I shook my head.
"I honestly don't know if he had anything to do with my mothers' death. All I know is that he and Alice were friends with my mother before she was murdered. As for...as for Chloe I know for a fact that he had nothing to do with it. He would always ask me when I was going to make her a part of the family or brag to his friends about how his son had a beautiful girlfriend. He loved her. As for Alice, she hated Chloe. She always said that she wasn't good enough for me. No one was ever good enough. Not Chloe, not Jayden, not anyone. She's crazy." the officer vigorously wrote down everything while officer David gave me a look of pure pity. Who wouldn't give me that look right about now? My family is falling apart, my adoptive parents are murderers, I'm fairly sure I have split personality disorder, my best friend was murdered right in front of me and my only friend left is my ex bully. My life is a shit show and they know it, I know it, we all know it.
"That's very helpful, thank you. I'm sorry to say that we still have to take Max in for questioning and we have to open an investigation for your mother. Both Max and Alice are suspects until they can be proven innocent, which we can both agree will most likely only happen for one of them. I only have one question for you: where did Alice spend most of her time? She would most likely go somewhere she knew she could hideaway. Do you know of any such place?" my eyes grew wide as I remembered my conversation with my other half while in the hospital. He kept saying that we should be with Alice because she was the only one who loved us. She never went anywhere other than work. The only place I could think of is in the house. Where else would she be able to hide away in just a few hours on the run from the police? They would never expect her to come back home to hide.
"The only place she could ever hide in is the house. She never goes anywhere, yet she always had places in the house that she could disappear into. We could never find where she was hiding away. Maybe she came home this morning while everyone was asleep." they both paused and looked at me. The officer with the notepad dropped his pen and then peeked over at the kitchen. I followed his gaze and was shocked to see Max leaning against the wall. I listened closely for any voices coming from the kitchen, but I didn't hear any. "Dad where are the twins and Maria?" he just stood there. He slightly moved his arm enough for me to see a knife tucked into his sleeve. A knife that already had blood on it.
"Alex, it's time to pack your bags. You and the twins. Angle! Tyler! Get out here and leave her." the twin slowly poked their heads around the corner. I could see the fear in their faces like they'd seen something horrible. "I wanted you kids to go with Maria, but she came here trying to convince the twins that I'm a horrible father and that makes me sad, ya' know? I was sad...but your mother was enraged and she may have done something bad to miss Maria. I was going to try and cover it up but she let the kids see her do it. Miss Maria's a bit hurt." he opened his mouth to continue but was interrupted by Alice walking out of the kitchen, dragging Maria by her hair.
"Hi boys. Hope you don't mind that I crashed the party!" she threw Maria in front of her. The officers jumped up and grabbed their guns. Alice quickly stepped over towards the twins and held each of them by the shoulder. "You wouldn't shoot a mother and her children, would you? You don't have to worry, ya' know? That bitch is still alive, so you can calm down. You're scaring the twins." she wore such a smug smile. How could she make that face while using her own flesh and blood as human shields? This woman is pure evil.
"Give it a rest, mom. We both know that you wouldn't let anything happen to the twins. Honestly, I didn't think you would be stupid enough to come back here after what you did." she rolled her eyes and then looked over at Max. He just stared into an empty on the floor. One of the police officers lowered their gun and slowly made his way over to Maria who was still lying down on the ground. Alice paid him no mind and made sure she was safely behind the twins. She kept her eyes on the policeman who still had his gun pointed at her. Just when everything was getting tense the doorbell rang and everyone's eyes shot to the door.