Save Me

14| Brandon

"Great to see you again, Mr. Wallace," Dr. Hubert greeted me as I sat on the couch and I just shook my head. This was a complete waste of my time.

"Wish I could say it was mutual..."

I positioned myself on the seat and sat back, anticipating whatever question she threw at me.

"Well, alrighty then. Let's just jump into why you're here in the first place...Erin."

"Okay, what about her?" I immediately was feeling discomfort as I always did when talking about her.

"Your partnership, tell me about it. How did you two get along?"

I smiled thinking about how we first met. "Well, I thought my partner was gonna be a dude so it was a trip when we first met. It worked though. We were always like ying and yang. In real life situations, I was chilling and she was the firecracker. On the job, the roles were reversed. She stopped me from knocking a lot of those dudes we arrested out, thankfully."

"Would you say that you two were best friends?"

"Absolutely, to the end. We had each other's back."

Dr. Hubert wrote in her pad bedore glancing back up at me. "You said that she stopped you from abusing offenders that you arrested. Why so violent?"

I chuckled angrily. "Seriously? I go out everyday and pick up douchebags who have done some of the most heinous and cruel shit out here. Excuse me if I think the victims deserve more, especially since the court system can't guarantee justice."

"Okay, that's understandable. Are you one of those officers that takes work home with you?"

"Unfortunately, but I've been doing better recently. I'm able to sleep more now for sure."

Dr. Hubert nodded in approval at the new development. "That's great and what do you credit for that change?"

"I have a friend who lives with me and she's a talker. Always asking me about my day, even if I don't feel like talking. She'll get it out of me before the end of the night. Even with the most disturbing things I tell her, she doesn't flinch. She just let me get it all out and don't look at me like I'm crazy for telling her how I feel."

"That's a good friend. Have you told your friend about Erin?"

I hesitated to speak. "No, I don't like talking about her."

"Why's that?" I shook my head irritated with where this conversation was going and deeply sighed.

"Because the last thing I wanna talk about is Erin. I fucked up and know she's dead!  Is that what you wanted to hear? I said it!"

Dr. Hubert sat back in her chair quietly taken off guard by me spazzing out. "Brandon, why do you think your partner's death was your fault?"

"I-I," I couldn't even get words out before a tear rolled down my face. I quickly wiped my cheek, not trying to show emotion at this moment.

"Take your time," she said quietly.

"I was the one that was supposed to die...that's how I wanted it. I was ready to go. She jus--"

"Alright, I'm going in. It's only 2 of them in there, so I should be good." I casually lied as I took my gun from the holster. "When back-up gets here then you move in. Got it?"

Erin looked at me like I was crazy. "Hell no! I'm going in there with you." She yelled at me with a worried expression before placing her hand on my chest.

"And you don't even have a vest on. Let's just wait, please."

Little did she know that that was the point. I was ready to go. I couldn't do this shit anymore. There were 5 armed men in there who were more then qualified to take me out like I envisioned.