asylum [rafe cameron]

thirty-five

I walk back to the bar, wiping any tears that dared to fall from my eyes. I see JJ looking at me with a concerned face but I turn away, not wanting him to worry.

"What happened?" he asks, gently pulling my hand away from covering my face.

"Nothing, I just-" I say, finally looking at JJ.

And from the corner of my eye I see Rafe coming out from the hallway, staring at us both from a distance.

"I really can't do this right now." I whisper, looking to Rafe then back to JJ.

I saw Rafe's hands form a fist just from the split-second I looked at him. I knew he wouldn't do anything, it would get him more restitutions to pay and more of a reason for me not to speak with him.

"What'd he do this time?" JJ sighs.

I look down to the floor, not wanting to talk about it, it's all I've been thinking about. I needed a rest.

"There's only an hour left, they probably won't realise you left." JJ says.

"Where are you gonna go?" he asks, concerned.

"I think my dad's out of town." I say, wiping my nose.

"You sure?" JJ asks again.

"I'm sure, if he's not I'll be able to tell."

"Alright, you need a lift or anything?"

"Nah, I'm good." I smile.

I unhesitantly walk out of the venue, trying not to attract attention towards me. I had another idea of where to go.

As the fresh air hits me, I see a bench near the building, and I quickly sit down, taking out paper from my pocket. The ones testifying against Rafe.

I don't read anything, I just scribble my signature, and start walking to the police station. I kept telling myself this was the right thing to do.

When I enter the station, I walk towards the reception and a worker is sitting there on the phone.

"Shoupe, I don't know what to tell you." she says.

She notices I'm standing there, so she quickly puts the phone to the side and turns to face me. 

"How can I help?" she asks.

"Um, this is the witness paper to-" I gulp.

"To testify against Rafe Cameron." I say.

She looks down to my hand, waiting for me to give her it. I didn't know what was stopping me.

"Okay, can I see it?" she asks.

"Yeah- yeah." I nod.

I look down to my hands and back up to her. She raises her eyebrows at me. Maybe I shouldn't have come.

"Ma'am?" she questions.

"This was wrong." I shake my head.

"If you were a witness to a crime, it's your moral duty to report it." she says politely.

I look up to the cieling, knowing there wasn't a way out of this. If I didn't report this, I would be doing the wrong thing, for myself, Barry and the police.