Finally Falling

50: Money, money, money. Ain't it funny

My heart was thumping loud enough for my eardrums to vibrate. Police stations were something I desperately never wanted to have to visit again. I had been to police stations more times than I had been to McDonald's.

Everything from the night my parents died was crashing down on me. Every other day I was at the police station, being asked to come in and see if I could recognize anybody or if I could work with a sketch artist.

And here I was again. Waiting for them to bring Caleb out so I could speak to him.

" I did it. I tried to kill Jace." Caleb hadn't said a word when we confronted him. Brandon has looked annoyed and gone over to Caleb. I don't know what he had said, but it got Caleb talking faster than ever. He confessed.

"Why?" Brandon was right back next to me, reaching for my hand. He had already called the police. Caleb couldn't tell but Brandon had his camera out, recording everything.

The police had come right then. Right in the beginning of me finding out Caleb's reason for
betrayal and to say I was mad and anxious and undeniably agitated would have been an understatement. Inevitably, I had dragged my unwilling ass here because I needed answers.

I saw him. Being led out by a police officer. He sat on the chair and grabbed the telephone. My legs shook as I walked to the chair opposite and hesitantly, I also grabbed the phone.

I practised what I was going to say in the car. I was going to keep my fury in check and be calm.

"How could you do that?" Everything I had rehearsed in the car went to trash and my question came out hoarse.

"What? Run Jace over? That part was simple, I just had to put my car into gear and press the accelerator?"

"You have absolutely no guilt over what you did? You tried to kill Jace!" The police officer started toward us but I gave him a look signalling there was no problem here and then I quietened down a little.

He shrugged and I felt the anger coursing through me boil to the top. The surface of my skin was hot and I was imagining making Caleb regret every word that came out of his filthy mouth.

I clenched my jaw and fisted my hands. Seeing the damage that Brandon had done gave me satisfaction. Caleb's lip had been cut and his face was bruised and blood clotted.

"Why did you do it?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Easy. The money was good." This inflamed the incense and betrayal I was feeling. My teeth were grinding against each in an attempt to keep a flurry of colourful words and emotions at bay.

"You betrayed and nearly killed one of your friends because the money was good?"

He shrugs again and this time I have to bite my tongue.

"Who paid you?"

"That, dear Kate, you will find out very soon. We're done here!" he calls out to the police officer.

"No! We are not done. Caleb, who paid you!"

He smirked at me. The bastard had the audacity to smirk at me.

"Your dad left. He left back to Thailand. He left you here, all alone. You have nobody. Your friends hate you and your family left. Nobody is going to visit you. Nobody is going to bail you out so I hope you enjoy the rest of your years rotting in jail."

I hung up the telephone. His smirk dropped. His face fell.

I didn't feel evil for saying what I had just said, I felt somewhat better actually. Caleb didn't need money; he was just greedy. He tried to kill my brother and he had the misguided boldness to mock me about it. He deserved everything he was getting.

I did the necessary document filling and then I stormed out of there. I couldn't think; my mind was buzzing and my head was throbbing.

I returned to an empty house. It was a Sunday which meant Jace and Justin had gone grocery shopping. I couldn't believe that one of my very own friends whom I trusted so much could so easily betray me like that.

I couldn't forget the feeling of my heart thumping and my insides contorting painfully. I felt like the world was laughing at me, for being so stupid, for trusting so easily.

I couldn't forget the way Brandon held me. With tenderness but also this hostility that wasn't meant for me but for anyone that ever tried to hurt me again. I remember not being able to say anything that night. My mouth had zipped shut and I didn't want to talk to anybody.

Brandon had taken me home. At first, he tried making conversation. If the situation was different it would have been funny because he was being so awkward. He sucked at starting conversations.

Eventually, he realized that although I didn't want to talk to anybody, it didn't mean I didn't want somebody with me.

He stayed with me. We sat in the corner of my bedroom and he didn't force me to talk or to tell him anything, he just held me in the quiet.

I didn't feel angry at the time, I didn't feel like crying either. I just felt betrayed and in shock. When Caleb confessed it didn't make me want to punch him. I thought he had a reason, surely he had a reason for what he did. He wouldn't ever break my trust like that. He wouldn't ever want to harm Jace like that.

But he didn't. He did it for money.

And that made me feel rage like nothing ever. He broke my trust and attempted to kill my brother because he was getting measly bills for it.

Unable to contain all this pent-up frustration and hurt in me, I ran upstairs thinking that I could change into my work out gear and hit the punching bag a few times.

I kicked open the door to my room and what I saw made me wish I hadn't.

Vote

Fan

Comment

Share

Smile