Misc.

boy stuck 5

"If we could have you in for questioning, that would be great. It's just that you're a witness and we need a statement for the investigation." the officer told me. I nodded numbly. 

"Fine, whatever." I said, spacey. My voice doesn't sound like my own. I don't remember driving to the police station, just the words "aspect is dead" running over and over in my mind like a broken record. The image of him dead on the floor is branded into my vision, like when you stare into a light for too long, and then look away, and there's just a bright blue and yellow haze covering your field of view. Does that make sense? I dont realize I'm still wearing the blanket they gave me in the ambulance until the door of the room clicks shut. I cycle through the events over and over in my head. They won't stop. I can't make them stop. It hurts. I freak myself out sometimes. I do.

Eventually though, a woman comes into the room. She's tall with straight brown hair down to her shoulders, and keen green eyes. She's wearing a suit that fits her well and I can't help but notice how put together she looks. I expect her to sound sharp and articulated, but I'm surprised when her voice comes out rather warm and gentle.

"Hey Owen, I'm Detective Cleo Morgan, I'm going to be talking to you for a bit today," she says, and I shake her hand before she takes the empty chair. "First of all, I want to say, I'm so sorry for your loss. I need to ask you some questions, but I want you to understand that there's no rush and you can take as much time as we need. Before we start, I need to go through a couple things with you. You're not in trouble, but we need to make sure you understand what's going on so everything goes smoothly and we can figure out what happened as soon as possible ok?"

"Mhm." I offer, I just want to go home.

She goes over the form with me. I don't have to say anything I don't want to, I can go whenever, blah blah blah. 

"So we're here to talk about the incident that occurred a little earlier today, and we will get to that, but I wanted to gather some information about his environment, I understand his name was Aspect, and police are searching through the system right now, but I'll just ask you. What was his last name?"

"I..don't actually know." I realize it when I say it, and it hurts me to know that I now never will.

"That's okay, we'll worry about that later. How did you know him?"

I shrug, almost caught off guard by the did.

"Uh- we're just friends. He moved here a few years ago, he was training in Social Work, and um, my brother, he's still in school, and he kind of struggles with classes, so they enrolled him in this program and he met Aspect and then I met him when I was picking Alan up one day. We just kind of clicked, I guess. Comes over for dinner all the time. Came, over..." I correct myself. 

"So he worked at the school, how long did he work there?" she asks, trying to segue into the conversation. I shift in my chair and sigh, thinking.

"Two years, maybe?

"Do you know where he's from originally? Where was he born?"

I have to think about that one. Looking back, I realize, how goddamn quiet he was about his past. I frown.

"Colorado..." I say, feeling like he mentioned it once.

"You say he's from Colorado, does he have any family there? They'd need to be contacted."

I shake my head. "Not that I know of." I feel numb and there's a giant hole in my chest.

"None at all?"