"So the creature returns," Officer Scott jokes as I walks in.
"If I am the creature that must make you the phantom?"
"Ouch. Are you saying I need to wear a mask?"
My defenses weaken a little. I can't fight a smile.
"How are you today, Tyson?" Scott asks.
"Besides feeling like a prisoner sent off by my dad to a tower somewhere in the forbidden forest so he can go about his normal life?"
She raises an eyebrow as if to say yes.
"Not too bad," I respond.
"Better than prison?"
I chuckle. "Jury's still out on that one." I pause, then, "Can I ask you a personal question?"
We both know she has to say yes to build trust. She nods in a I'm-an-open-book manner.
"Why did you become a cop?"
Scott looks down at the floor. I think she is having a conversation in her head about what to say.
"Well, that is a complicated story."
"All I have is time," I say, getting comfy in my chair
"Okay. I will tell you, but you have to answer a question for me when I am done."
"Fair enough," I acknowledge.
She tells me her story. Boldly and unabridged.
When I was eight and my brother, Nash, was eleven, we had adventures all summer together. My father, Harold, worked long hours in the Police Department in Uptown Charlotte and my mom, Theresa, worked the morning shift at my aunt's diner. It was the first year Mama would let us stay home when she went to work. I was so thankful for Nash. He begged and pleaded to not have to go to Aunt Minnie's diner and wash dishes. Mama knew Nash would be starting middle school in the fall so she agreed. However, the catch was that he had to babysit me.
My brother gladly took on this task. He and I had a great relationship. We told each other everything. We seldom fought. He taught me to play basketball and I taught him how to enter the double dutch ropes without getting tangled up. We were a perfect team.
That summer, Nash and I were always left alone to do what we wanted until Mama got home from work. She would then put us to work helping her get dinner together and clean up the house. We would walk to the penny candy store. Go swimming at the public pool. Even ride our bikes to the baseball park across town to join the pick-up games of wiffleball.
The day that changed my life started like any other. My brother woke me up around eight to try to beat the heat. We discussed riding our bikes to the pool the previous night. By nine, we were standing at the fence that surrounded the pool with heavy hearts. There was a sign on the gate that said the pool was closed for the day due to maintenance. Disheartened we rode our bikes back to our neighborhood's playground and decided to make the best of our morning.
Nash was the first to notice a shady looking guy creeping around the outskirts of the sandbox area. When he made eye contact with the stranger, Nash was beckoned over. The man was holding a pair of what looked to be Air Jordans. This got Nash's attention and must have clouded his mind of good judgment. I followed him over to where the guy was standing under a tree. I would follow Nash anywhere because I have always trusted his decisions in the past.
That's when a second stranger appeared. A woman. She started talking to us about our mom and where we lived. In a split second, I was scooped up by the woman and all I could hear is my brother yelling for me to fight back: bite, scratch, scream.
YOU ARE READING
His Woods (MxM)
Romance(Previously known as Breaking the Beast) Tyson knows he isn't perfect, but he doesn't think he deserves a summer stuck at the old holiday cabin with his dad's friend, Jack. After he gets kicked out of college and assigned probation, Tyson has to lea...
