Mine // Carl Gallagher

Chapter 31

Sophia was resting in the warm bed with one ice pack on her head and another on top of her swelling bruised eyes. Her head was pounding and her dark hair was still a tangled mess from when her mother repeatedly yanked her hair and slammed her delicate head against the old, rough mattress. Carl stayed in their shared bedroom to keep her company since she was quite nervous as well, but he really didn't want to be home when the police came. Yet, he knew that leaving wasn't an option. He was pacing back and forth in the room, trying to think up of lies to tell the police if her father's whereabouts ever came up. Plus, the police department was already very familiar with the Gallagher family, especially Carl, so without a doubt he knew that the cops would most likely come on to him at one point. Sophia groaned, "Can you please hold still and stop pacing? You're making me more anxious than I already am..." and buried her head deeper into the pillows. He was getting a little fed up with the whole situation, but it didn't matter because he was just focused on Sophia getting well, her mom being locked up for all the abuse, and their relationship going back to normal. Also not getting arrested for murder. Carl sighed and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to just relax for a single moment, but was immediately interrupted by a loud knock at the front door downstairs. Sophia sat up and removed the ice pack from over her eyes, and looked at Carl with fear. She was glad that a medic was coming to help her condition get better, but she was intimidated by cops and didn't like being near them. Sophia just wanted them to give her some meds, arrest her mom, and go.

Carl saw the look in her eyes, gave her a small smile, then kissed her on the head. "It'll all be okay, they'll take care of all this. Just lay back down and relax, I can hear them coming upstairs." Sophia nodded and slowly laid back down against the pillows, letting out a deep sigh. Then, they were startled by a sudden, yet expected, knock on the bedroom door: "Carl Gallagher? Sophia Carter? Police and medic here." Carl got up and opened the door, inviting them to come in. There was one police officer and one medic. The police woman was at least 6 foot tall, wore a tight bun, had very dark eyes, yet looked friendly and kind. The medic was a short, young man, who carried a large white case (presumably filled with bandages, medicines, tools, etc...). Carl sat back down on the edge of the bed and said, "Thanks for coming. We were hoping that this wouldn't take too long." He just said that to get them out of there as quickly as possible before the cop decided to ask questions that could reveal what Carl had done to Byron Carter.

      The woman gave him a large grin, flashing her extremely white & straight teeth, then proceeded to sit down on a chair that went with the desk in his bedroom. "Don't worry, it shouldn't take up too much of your time. However, I want to make sure that I get enough information on what happened and that my medic here is able to properly take care of Sophia before we can leave. I'm Officer Sandra Burkins and this is Dr. Gregory Hill from the Southside Chicago Police Department and Medical Unit." Carl gave her an awkward nod and Sophia sat up, while wincing in pain, in bed so she could have a proper conversation.  

        Sophia gave Officer Burkins a nod, signaling that she could begin asking her questions, as she continued to hold the ice pack on top of her head. The officer spoke, "Okay great. Now, please start from the very beginning of what caused you to leave the Gallagher household the night your birth mother, Melissa Carter, assaulted you." Sophia awkwardly made eye contact with Carter, not wanting to tell the truth of what their fight really was about, and gulped. She began, "Well, Carl and I just had an argument. I admit, I really overreacted, it wasn't even a big deal, and just wanted to leave the house for the night to get some space. We were fighting and I was just packing up a bag of random things, then just stormed out of the house at around maybe 11 o'clock at night. I was upset and didn't want to go back to the Gallagher's house since I thought that would be pretty embarrassing after having a huge hissy for. So, the only place I had left was my parent's house. It was a mess. My mom was terribly drunk, as always, and appeared really depressed. We didn't talk much, and I assumed she was letting me stay since she didn't exactly kick me back out of the house, so I just went upstairs to my old bedroom. I couldn't sleep that night, and suddenly at around 1AM, she just storms into my room and starts attacking me. She was punching, kicking, hitting, pulling my hair, and just cursing nonsense at me. I was begging her to stop, but she wouldn't. She was trying to kill me. I managed to escape and just ran for my life out of that house as she was chasing me. She eventually gave up and I got away, not even caring that I left my bag there. I was just crying on the sidewalk, then a car approached me suddenly. It was Carl, he was out looking for me, and he took me back home and took care of me."

       Officer Burkins nodded as she took notes and recorded the whole explaination with an audio device. She gave Sophia a sad smile when she finished, "I'm so sorry to hear about that night. Now, was anyone else home at your mother's house at the time? Do you know how much your mother had drank that night? Would you call her an alcoholic?" Carl and the medic were just awkwardly sitting there in silence the whole time. Sophia answered carefully, "No, no one else was home. And I have no idea how much she drank, but I'm pretty sure a lot. She's definitely an alcoholic, she drinks way too much. She's gotten multiple DUI's, and is always doing dumb stuff because of her drinking. I mean, the woman is in her late 40's and still goes out to night clubs, shoplifts from liquor stores, doesn't have a job, and has cheated on my dad multiple time. She really doesn't have her shit together, honestly. She was a horrible mother to me."

        Officer Burkins took note, "I see. She's the typical abusive mother who hit rock bottom a long time ago, it appears. Where was your father at the time? Do you know?"
"No, I don't know. All I know is that he wasn't at home. He was probably at work." She kept the answer short, simple, and untruthful. There's no way that she could even imply that Byron was dead or else a new investigation would be sparked, possibly making Carl a suspect. She didn't want justice or vengeance for her dad, Sophia was glad he was gone. She wanted to pretend that he never existed and that the murder never happened. Officer Burkins sighed, "Hon, I'm going to need a bit more detail than that. What does your father do for work? Why wouldn't he be home in the middle of the night?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen my parents in a long time. Last I knew, he did... business stuff. He works night shifts, so that's probably why. It was never unlikely for him to not be home late at night." Sophia began to grow warm and sweated out of guilt. There was a sudden voice in her head that rose out of nowhere and screamed at her that she was a liar, and that she would be caught one day. Carl put his hand on her thigh to calm her down from her obvious discomfort. Officer Burkins spoke, "Are you alright, Sophia? Do you want me to go get you some water?" Sophia shook her head, "No thanks, I'm fine. I think I'm just coming down with a slight fever, it's all fine. I'm just- I have anxiety and I'm really uncomfortable. Can Dr. Hill just help me out now? I'm getting tired and hate talking about all this. I just want my mom arrested."

      Officer Burkins closed up her notepad and stuck her red pen back into the pocket of her uniform shirt. "I'm sorry to hear that you have anxiety, I struggled with that when I was a teenager, too. I can understand why you're nervous and uncomfortable right now, most people are when speaking with cops. In fact, I've got all the information that I need, so I'm done here. Another officer and I will head to your mother's house later this evening to make an arrest. I'll be downstairs and leave you with Dr. Hill for now so that you can hopefully get better. Thank you both for your time." Then the officer stood up, collected her things, then headed downstairs.

      Carl sighed and moved to sit down on the chair that the lady was previously sitting on. Then, the doctor spoke up with an awkward, monotone voice, "Hello, as you know, I am Doctor Hill. Please tell me where it hurts and any concerns." Sophia gulped and removed the ice back since it was melting, "Everywhere, honestly. I have bruises all of my arms, legs, face.. but those will heal with time. It's just that my head is pounding, my eyes are swollen, and I'm just sore all over. Typical things a victim of assault would feel..." Dr. Hill adjusted his reading glasses as he took notes on his fancy note-taking paper with his fancy ballpoint pen. He nodded then stood up and leaned over Sophia, using his tethiscope to monitor her breathing. The doctor did normal routine and once finished, said, "I would like to prescribe you this medication for the pain and recommend that you stay on bed rest for 5 days, and keep ice packs on your head and over your eyes. Put ice packs wherever else you are swelling. Anything else you need? Questions?" Sophia shook her head and smiled awkwardly as he handed her the prescription and bottle of pain killers, "Nope, I'm good to go I think. Thank you so much." The doctor tipped his head goodbye and then left. A few minutes later, they could hear the front door shutting, signaling that both Officer Sandra Burkins and Doctor Gregory Hill had left. Now, they waited for the arrest of Melissa Carter. Once that happened, Sophia would truly be safe and at peace.

A/N: Im so sorry if this sucked ass, I'm still trying to get back into the groove of things!