His Words (bxb)

chapter sixteen

Sunday, September 27, 2020

✧noah✧

When the two officers finish setting up their cameras and voice recording equipment, they sit back down and begin.

"Can you please state your full name, date of birth and today's date?" The first officer starts off with the easy questions.

"Noah Cohen. 12th of February, 2003. Today is Sunday, September 27, 2020." The officer notes this down on his clipboard without looking up at Elijah and I.

"Okay, Noah, and can you recount what happened on the night of Friday, September 25, 2020?"

And so it begins. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, even though I know it won't keep me calm for long. I open my eyes again to find the two officers looking straight at me. I turn to Elijah and he gives me a small smile as encouragement.

"I, um... I went over to Elijah's house since we were going to a party together-"

"Were you intoxicated on the night of the assault?"

"Yeah, but I had two drinks that barely had alcohol in them at, like, 8pm and the incident happened around 11 o'clock. I can assure you I was fully sober by then." The officer gives me a weird look before noting something else on his clipboard.

"So was there no way that you were intoxicated at the time that the assault took place?" I shook my head. "Are you absolutely positive, Noah? Because we need to make sure that the information you're giving us is true-"

At this point, I'm fed up and it hasn't even been three minutes. "I remember that night more vividly than I remember anything that has ever happened to me in my life. I can assure you that I was fully sober by the time it happened." The officers send me a slightly apologetic look before asking me to continue.

"We got to the party and I got a little drunk and Elijah and I got into an argument." I refuse to look at him as I retell this part of the story. "He was supposed to be my ride back home, but one of my friends, Mason, found me and offered to take me home, which he did."

"Do you know Mason's full name?" the second officer asks. I shake my head and he gives me an annoyed look.

This is where the difficult part of the story begins.

"I got home and tried to be as quiet as I can coming in so as to not wake John up-"

"Who's John?" Did they not read their damn files before getting here.

"John Cohen," I reply, hating the bitter taste that his name leaves in my mouth.

"Is that your father, kid?"

"I don't call that man my father anymore," I barely whisper with so much anger in my voice. The officer nods.

"But he was awake and sitting in the living room. He told me that someone I know, Leala Jones, told him that I was gay and he didn't like the sound of that... He said-" My throat closes up and it hurts to speak. "He said that-"

"What did John say, Noah?" one officer insists callously.

"He said that if he knew earlier we could have had so much fun together." I refuse to look up at any of the people in the room as I say this. It makes me feel disgusting to even speak these words.

"What happened after that?"

My hands shake violently and my heart beats loudly in my chest as I continue. "He, umm... He took his belt off and at first, I thought I was just going to get beaten-"

"Is that something that happens often?"

"Almost everyday," I explain with a pitiful chuckle. The officer nods and looks back down at his clipboard.