The Dating Game

Chapter Forty-Nine

Juliet

It wasn't until a few hours after Justin had left when I got the astonishment from the police turning up at my door.

When I opened the door, the breath was instantaneously knocked out of me because I could only imagine them saying one thing.

"Are you Juliet Royal?" the female asked me. She was short but thin with flaming red hair scraped back into a tight bun. She had a scar on her cheek in a diagonal line.

"Y-Yes," I stammered. "Has something happened?"

"Can we come in?" asked the man. He was easily six foot tall with a shaved head. He was also quite lanky and he held his hat in front of his stomach.

"Sure," I breathed. "The lounge is just through there," I said, gesticulating idly.

Closing the door behind them, the female led us through to the lounge where she indicated for me to sit down on the sofa. Both her and the male officer stood opposite me and abruptly I felt rather small, feeble and petty.

"What's happened?"

The male sighed and said, "We regret to inform you that your dad was in quite a fatal car accident whilst he was on the way to work this morning. He's at the hospital in town now and although his situation is quite critical, he is stabilised and there is hope for a full recovery. He hasn't woken up yet but the hospital got in contact with us to talk to you – his only family member."

"Can't I go and see him?" I murmured, leaning forwards all the way on the sofa.

"We would prefer it if you could answer some of our questions, and then we can take you to the hospital," the woman proposed. "Is that alright?"

Leaning back on the sofa slightly and letting the sleeves of my knitted jumper fall down to my fingers, I nodded. "Yes."

"To start off, was your dad rushing this morning? Or is he quite a competitive driver?"

"He was in a rush," I answered. "He's a good driver, but this morning he was in a rush to work. He was running late."

"Does he have any enemies?"

"No!" I breathed out, louder than intended, too. "He just has friends. It was probably an accident... he was rushing... please can I go and see him now?"

Both officers looked at one another before sighing and relinquishing. They gave me time to get any necessities that I might have required at the hospital like my phone and also time to go to the toilet. After the longest five minutes had passed, I was trotting down the stairs with my phone, the money from Dad's room which was potentially going to be spent on food for Justin and I and the house keys.

"Are you ready?" the female asked.

Nodding, they exited through the door and I locked it behind them. Lots of people along the street had been gawping out of the window to see why the posh house at the end of the street required the police to visit, but they hastily perished from sight as soon as they caught me gazing back at them.

The ride was silent except from a few mutterings from the officers. The male officer had even given me the indulgence of sitting in the front to make me feel less nervous if I were to have been sitting in the back and having it look like I was being convicted by breeching the law. Candidly, the back would have been preferably because then at least I could have cowered away from observation.

That's what I wanted to do right now: Cower away. I wanted to conceal myself from the truth that was now reality. My worst nightmare had been doormat all these years, and now it was becoming true. Death could be approaching and it broke every last inch of me just to even muse about something like that. It could have happened anyway like as quickly as a gunshot, but it always came down to something.