Fix Me

Chapter 20.

*****

I bit my lip as I sat alone in the waiting room surrounded by couples or groups of concerned families or friends. It was almost 4 AM.

My mom and Gerald had been drunk and in his car, they had hit a wall. From what I heard, their injuries weren't that bad, my mom was mostly shaken, they would be released in an hour or so. Gerald's car, however, wasn't that lucky.

I felt guilty for not calling Lyle. Maybe I should have told him about it, or told my mom about him. Maybe I was just selfishly keeping them apart because I didn't want to get thrown aside... Well, more than I already was... He had said not to tell her though...

I sighed pulling out my phone and scrolling down to his name. I stared at it for a few seconds, my thumb hovering over the call button before I decided against tapping it. He was probably asleep and it wasn't a serious accident anyway.

I put my phone down and waited until two police officers walked up to me, with my mom and Gerald in tow glaring from behind them.

"Hannah?" One policeman said smiling at me.

I nodded and stood up. "Uhm - Good morning," I greeted.

"Good morning, I'm Officer Smith and this is Officer Heinz. Mind stepping outside with us?" He smiled. I was beginning to think his smile was an attempt to get me to tell him something. Something about what, I didn't know. I shook my head and followed them outside, my parents still behind us. "Well, Hannah, the correct procedure here would be to arrest these two," he motioned to my mom and Gerald, "But your father here says they're your only guardians and you're still in school so they have to be there to take care of you," was he a policeman or a child welfare officer? He seemed a little soft... "Your mother says the only reason they were out driving was because you snuck out. They weren't supposed to be going anywhere, they were having a gathering at your home and had a little too much to drink but then they found out that you had snuck out and had to drive out to pick you up, is that true?"

I glanced at Gerald and my mother, their eye glared back daring me to disagree which caused my mind to go blank for a second. I blinked shifting my eyes back to Officer Smith and nodded a response giving him a guilty, crooked smile.

"Right," The other policeman, Heinz, seemed somewhat harder and more annoyed. "Where were you?"

"The park." I lied, "With some friends."

"You shouldn't be out at the park at this time, it's dangerous," Smith said. I nodded again keeping up my guilt act.

"Let's go, they'll probably do something else we can arrest them for." Heinz sent a disgusted glare at my parents before giving me the same look, like he assumed that I was exactly like them.

"Do you need a ride home?" Smith asked.

"No, Hannah's got one." I tensed a little as Gerald's hand landed on my shoulder. I nodded at Officer Smith as he looked at me.