Isaac shifted uncomfortably in the chair at the police station. He looked around and tried not to think about why he was there. His dad died. That should've made him sad. But it didn't. Honestly, Isaac didn't even know what sad felt like anymore. He knew what fear was, though. And at that moment, he felt scared. Ending up with some distant relative he had never of or going into the foster care system. Away from the only places he knew, even with the ghosts still around.
Fear was natural for him. He had feared his dad for so long. Even after he was gone, ghosts were still showing up. Moments where he was looking over his shoulder and then started. From someone's else point of view, he was too jumpy to be innocent. He knew they were going to search his house. But what they were going to find... worse than the ghosts that Isaac almost saw.
A door opened next to him; Jackson's father stepped out, gave a nod to Isaac, and left. The Sheriff was behind him, standing in the doorway. The Sheriff was the one who had come to the school and told him, taken him out of lacrosse practice and brought him here.
The Sheriff sighed and looked at Isaac. There was an expression on his face that Isaac couldn't quite read, but it was tired. So tired. Isaac wondered how long he had been working. The Sheriff nodded and signaled for Isaac to step into his office. Isaac hesitantly stepped in and sat down as the Sheriff made his way around to sit on the edge of his desk.
"Isaac..." he said. Isaac grew rigid as his fears started to grab him by the ankles. "I'm so sorry... I wish that... I'm sorry about your father... and your mother... and your older brother..."
Isaac nodded and looked down. Yeah. He had gone through this before. Mom dead-brother dead- now dad dead. The condolences always were the same. Isaac wouldn't want to hear those about his dad. Almost wanted to scream when someone said they were sorry that he was gone. He wasn't going to miss him.
A shift on the desk and a deep breath later.
"Isaac, I don't quite know what to do with you."
Isaac looked up at the Sheriff.
"You don't have any family or friends of the family that can take you in... And I really don't want to put you in the foster care system, you're almost old enough to be out of it anyways. And even though I don't want to say it, you may be considered a suspect."
The Sheriff studied Isaac's face, looking for signs of guilt, of surprise, of anything. Isaac just swallowed, not guiltily, just casually. He had expected that, especially if they had or were going to search his house. There was enough evidence there to easily make him a suspect.
"But again, I really don't want to put you in a bad situation. If you have nothing to do with this and you just lost your father, I don't want to be cruel and have to arrest you."
Isaac shrugged, he knew the situation as well, maybe better, than the Sheriff. The predicament was inescapable, whether he was guilty or not. Going to jail however, was not on his bucket list.
"Sheriff..." Isaac started, but he didn't know what to say. "I..."
"I know, Isaac. I know what happened... Jackson and his father told me."
oh.
So he knew. Yeah. Not good.
"Isaac...I..."
"It's okay," he said compulsively, even though it wasn't. He knew what the Sheriff was going to say, and he didn't want to hear it.
The Sheriff looked down and sighed. He shook his head and pushed off from the desk, walking around it slowly and sitting in his chair.
"Isaac. I have a proposition."
