"You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice."-Bob Marley
'Gosh my head is pounding' I thought rubbing my hand across my forehead, hoping to ease the ache. Opening my eyes, I take in my surroundings. I'm in the back seat of Ian's car, the keys in the ignition, radio blaring loud. A light snow fall was just beginning in the early January air. The car was parked on a cliff overlooking downtown. This was Ian and I's spot. The spot where we met, where we fell in love.
"Ian" I called out, pulling myself up to look out the window. My breath hung in my throat with a gasp. The car was hanging off the edge of the cliff, the lower body caught on a branch sticking from the ground. I looked around the car, Ian is seating in the drivers seat. Dark blood trailed down his face, a gun shot wound to the back of the head. A big blue, purple bruise is starting to form on his jaw. A big stick stuck in windshield protruding into his chest. I could tell, he was dead. Trailing my eyes around the car, a gun was seated in the back seat in the floorboard. Near where I was sitting. That definitely doesn't look good for me.
I don't know how we got to this point. Ian and I were drinking on the hood of the car and that's the last thing I remember. Everything is fuzzy when I try and remember.
I crawled up onto my knees, being careful not to shift my weight too hard. We were hanging off the cliff with only a branch keeping us in place so I have to be careful. I looked on the floor board for my cellphone.
Squinting, I found the cell phone wedged under the passenger seat. I maneuvered very carefully onto my stomach and slowly started crawling toward it.
'Whoosh' I heard the wind move, feeling the car sway beneath my petite body. I stopped just shy of reaching the cellphone. Looking to my left, I see one of Ian's wrenches within my reach. Grabbing the wrench, I thrust it forward to pull the cellphone to me. I maneuvered my body into a sitting position.
"YES" I screamed out in triumph as I gripped the phone into a fist. Powering the phone on, the time read four thirty am. Everyone in small quite hocks village is asleep, oblivious to the dangerous situation Ian and I found ourselves in.
"Nine one one, what is the location of your emergency" The female operator on the other line sounded after the third ring.
"I'm on cliff Cane, I've been involved in an accident. I think my boyfriend is dead" emotion took me by surprise. Now that I'm on the phone with the operator, the severity on the situation is finally kicking in. I could possibly die up here before I'm rescued.
"Okay, I have dispatched officers to your location. Do you need medical assistance?"
I paused, looking at my body for any obvious injuries. The adrenaline kept me from feeling the full extent of my injuries. My shin was broken, the bone peeking out through the skin of my leg. At this point, I'm starting to feel the severity of my injury.
"Ma'am are you injured? Do you need medical attention?" The operator questioned again.
"Yes we do. My leg is broken. I'm stuck in my car hanging off the cliff" I said, desperately. "Please hurry, I don't feel well"
"They are on the way, stay on the line with me. What's your name darlin?"
"Violet but everyone calls me Vi"
"Okay Vi, my name is Kya. The officers are having a little trouble finding you, is there any distinct landmarks or anything around you?" Kya asked.
"I'm a half mile from the walking trail, past the river going into the city, I'm on Cliff Cane. The Cliff that drops down fifty feet."
I heard keyboard clicks and a soft mumbled voice. "Okay Violet that's very good. Are you able to see the officer's flashlights?" Kya asked.
I leaned forward, peering out of the window. It's too dark to make out anything clearly. I can't see anything but trees and a fifty foot dead drop. One wrong movement and the car might tip the rest of the way.
"I can't look out. If I move to much the car might tip down the cliff." I'm desperate to get out alive at this point.
"Okay Violet, the officers have located you but it's going to take some time to get you out safely. You're in quite a predicament I'm afraid. The officers have it from here. Good luck"
"Thank you for your help" I appreciated her efforts.
SLAP. My cheek radiated from the pain of my slap. Trying to keep myself awake from the pain and blood loss proved difficult.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE'' I screamed, banging my hand against the cool, leather seat. The car swayed gentle from my sudden movements.
"We're trying our best to reach you ma'am, please refrain from any sudden movements." A voice sounding in the distance, with a little help from a bullhorn.
Minutes turned into hours, I'm utterly exhausted and in pain. I've stopped crying from the pain and now just want to be rescued. I've stopped wishing for death and wanting to make it out of here alive and finish the seeds I started planting of my life. I'm too young to die out here like this. Only eighteen and could possibly die in a car off a cliff. Just graduated and leaving for UCLA on a scholarship Sunday night. Not a very subtle way of dying.
Being a foster kid, I've endured and overcame a lot of things. This has got to top everything. If I make it out of here alive, my life will change. In foster care, they teach you to fend for yourself. No speaking about what happens behind closed doors, look after the smaller foster kids, and don't even ask for any of the welfare money. I worked hard to get that scholarship and I'll be damned if I can't go cause of this mess.
I looked back at the phone, checking the time again. Eight fifty nine. Four and half hours and I'm not any closer to getting out of here. It's taking longer than I imagined to stabilize the car.
I open the messaging app, trying to type a message to Bridget. Upon further inspection, I realized this is Ian phones. And his texts was open to the chat between him and Amari.
'You don't know what you're talking about Ian. You need to drop it.' Amari's text caught my eye, as I was about to close out the app. Scrolling down a little, I read Ian's response
'I KNOW WHAT HAP—The phone died before I could finish reading Ian's last text message. Whatever those two were talking about didn't sound good. It sounded like they were fighting. Those two never fight. They were raised like brothers. Amari's father sponsored Ian's father in his chief of police campaign nineteen years ago. Both families are very close to each other. What ever Ian knows about Amari, must be serious.
"Okay Violet, we are slowly going to repel down to you and get you out safely" Thank the heaven, I thought. This isn't going to take me out yet.
Fifteen minuets later, and I'm finally on my way to the hospital. Then I can finally go home.
❧
"How do you not remember anything Ms. Stokes? You were with the victim all night." The detective questioned.
"I don't know sir. When I try and remember everything is just fuzzy. Something happened but I don't know what." I proclaimed desperately.
He gave me a long hard look, "I gotta tell you Violet, it doesn't look good. You in the back seat, murder weapon at your feet along with your boyfriend shot in the head, dead. Do you know the chances of the jury convicting you?" He pressured.
"Remember something, got damn it. Tell me, did you murder Ian Hooks? I know you did." The detective spat in my face with such venom, I might as well have confessed. The son of the police chief was just murdered with his girlfriend in the car. Of course tensions are high.
"And I told you already—gritting my teeth together—I don't remember. I was talking to a friend, we were having some drinks and the next thing I remember, I'm waking up in a car with my boyfriend dead in the front seat." I laid my head in my hands muttering, "sir, I don't know." I'm exhausted and my ankle although in a cast is still throbbing, I've been here for ten hours already. I just want to go home.
"You know something happened but you aren't telling it. Prison is hard on women like you. Don't be stupid, tell me what you know." He leaned forward, forward placing both plans down on the table and shifting his weight, looking down on me.
"Try to remember Violet because if not, you're going to prison for murder and you're too pretty for that." The detective smirked before he walked out the door.
I don't understand how I ended up in the predicament. That last thing I remember was partying with our friends Amari and Bridget at Samson's house. It was the end of the school year bash before we go off to college.
Ian and Amari ran off to play beer pong. I walked around the kitchen, looking for some food to ease the growling from my stomach and something to drink for my parched throat. Tequila always did the trick. I remember speaking with Bridget about a special date I had planned for us four.
The next thing I remember I'm waking up in the car, dangling off the edge of the cliff. A gun beside me in the floor board, along with my finger print on the trigger. Definitely sounds damning.
A soft knock sounded at the door before opening again. Police chief Cade Hooks, Ian's father.
"Violet, I don't understand. What happened? Why did you shoot my boy?" Cade gave me a pleading look, taking a seat across from me.
"Sir I don't understand either. I didn't shoot Ian, you know I feel about him sir." I pleaded to him, a single tear falling down my cheek.
"I see" Cade paused, "how do you explain the gun and your finger print on it?" He questioned.
I shook my head, "sir I do not know. I've told you all I know. I think at this point, I've been here ten hours and you won't release me. I think I'll request a lawyer now."
Cade scoffed, "Figures you'd lawyer up. Listen to me know Violet, I know you killed my boy. You killed him before he could get rid of you, and I'm going to prove it." I was left speechless as Cade exited the room. Another officer entered right after, coming towards me with handcuff out.
"Violet Stokes, you are being placed under arrest for the murder of Ian Hooks" the officer gripped my arms, placing the handcuffs on my wrists and escorting me into a holding cell.
Never could I have imagined this was going to go this way. I love Ian to my very core. He is my best friend. He makes all the bad stuff in my life go away. He keeps me on track to do better. And with him gone, I don't know how I'm going to manage. With Ian dead, everything changes. For the worse.