Me·And·You

chapter 9 | Questions

"How'd you get in here" I asked while reaching for Dakota's hand. She  came over to me. "I  uh Daycare was let out early and hadn't picked her up. So I took her up here and you weren't here" Matt explained. " Oh okay". He  went to leave. I felt bad. He did do something nice  for me. I turned around. "Hey, thank you" He turned around  with a little grin. " Oh yeah sure. No problem" He stated giving me another grin. "Oh, Okay. Good night".  I closed the door behind him.  "Where were you. I thought you weren't coming back". I turned around to see  Dakota tearing up.  I knelt down to hug her. "No, I'm here I'm not going anywhere". I rubbed her back. I couldn't help but cry myself. I could be going to prison.  It wasn't my fault. But he deserved it.

FLASHBACK-

Like clock work my door creaked open and my no good father came in to do what he always does. I was in a daze while he touched me. I couldn't fight him off as much as I wanted to.  If I didn't let him he said he'd touch Dakota. I couldn't let him do that. When he was finished with me He would say "Good girl" and he'd go back to the room with my oblivious mom. I'm sure that if she knew she'd stop it but my father had some kind of grip on her. He made her his little trophy wife. I'd cry and cry and then I fall back asleep.

END OF FLASHBACK

Every night for the last 2 years I've had to endure this pain. The physical and emotional pain. But to distract my self from that I'd party  and drink. My mom just thought I was a rebelling teen. If only she looked further. Then it hit me. My mom. She's alive. Does she know what happened. Should I call her. Was she hurt in the fire. These questions filled my head as I slowly fell to sleep.

Once again my alarm went off at 8:30 but followed by that alarm was a call from N.Y.P.D. My heart beat started beating erratically. After a few rings I decided to answer. "Hello is this Melanie Johnson". "Yes this is she". "We need you to come in for a few questions". "I- uh" I stuttered. "Come in around 9:30". With that they hung up. "Shit". What a way to start the morning. 

I pulled it together  put jeans and a T shirt on and got Dakota up for daycare. She'd get food from the daycare I was already running late. I guess no college today. As I dropped her off I headed into my car and the the police department. Before I entered I took a deep breath. It's Just a few questions. They haven't charged me with anything.

The lady in front directed me towards this chubby  guy. He had files all over his desk. He looked like a pretty busy man. I sat in the chair next to his desk. Took him a while for him to notice I was sitting there. I cleared my throat. "Sorry, Ms-". "Melanie Johnson" I said. "Oh right. I'm Detective Burro,  I'm the lead detective on this case and I just wanted to ask you some brief questions. Shouldn't take too long if you cooperate. Do you want a lawyer?".  My mouth began to feel dry. I cleared my throat. "Do I- uh need a lawyer"?

He looked at me with sincerity in his eyes. "Listen. I just want to apologize for those cops making you feel like a criminal. We just really want to find out what happened that made you and your sister orphans. So no you don't need a lawyer you're not being charged with anything". For some reason his words seemed to calm me down. My anxiety was easing away. "So first question. Where were you the night of fire"

"I was there at the house when I smelled smoke" I began. "And where was your sister at the time?" He questioned. "She was at a sleepover she's seven" I answered. It sounded like he was gonna make her a suspect. "Is there anyone who maybe wanted to hurt your father". He asked. I did. I thought about all the ways I could hurt him. Poison his food. Smother him. "No" was all I said. Detective Burro sighed and folded his hands on the desk. "Listen I'm just going to be straight with you. They're looking at you as a suspect. Alright? Cops talked to the neighbors and they said that night they heard a bunch of screaming from your house" he stated

I didn't respond. I did not want to think back to that night. The night I tried to tell my mom what was happening and she didn't believe me. I had to do something or he'd touch Dakota. I had to stop the cycle. " So, I argued with my parents all teens do". He sighed once more. "Okay. I'll call you if I have anymore questions. Don't leave the country in the mean time. Here's my card if you remember something". He went back to looking at a file. I got up, took his card and left.

I got a text from Noah.

Noah: Hey where were you today I missed you                                                                                                 Me: Yeah something came up                                                                                                                                        Noah: Oh ok. Well can I come over? I only had 2 classes today                                                                        Me: Uh.. Sure.

I guess I could use a distraction.