Little Sister

Chapter 9

After that whole scenario, the following days were absolutely grim. I would normally make some sort of quip but all this is still kind of new to me. More of like a fresh wound that I can't really joke about.

I spent the whole of the next day verbally retelling a couple of officers what I had experienced during the past few days I spent with the little girl.
Everything that I've written so far is what they already know. Perhaps with them, my information was in shaky stammered sentence rather than well constructed ones.

I was filled in with some of the details about those freaks and the freak-show house they lived in. However, that information came with the cost of me having to carry out an "interrogation" on the little girl because she refused to talk to anyone else.

So without further ado, here is an info dump on what I was told;

The family in the picture frame that the girl solemnly held at the house were the McNeil's.

Harold McNeil, the "loving" father.
Tabitha McNeil, the "caring" mother.
Jaselynne McNeil, the harmless child.

And finally, the oldest child who looked eerily similar to me.
His name was Rhody McNeil.
He had gone "missing" months prior.

I wished that was the case. I wished that that was all we knew. Unfortunately, these little bits of information weren't what utterly crushed my soul.

I had a mic placed in my t-shirt. I was given firm instructions on the main questions that needed to be asked. I was led through a hollow cemented path and into a quite room with one large mirror as a wall.

There the girl sat. At the sight of me, she jubilantly shouted "big brother!"
I however, failed to reciprocate that excitement.

Through the window of the mirror, two officers watched us and waited expectantly for our conversation to commence so that they could garner a bit of information from the little girl.

In the middle of the room were two chairs that faced each other and an empty desk in between.
We ignored those and sat in the corner, with the little girl nestled in my arms like that fateful day of the arrest.

And thus, I painfully carried out my small duty.

"Can you tell me about your older brother, please?" I requested.

The girl's beady eyes looked up at me.
"You're my big brother."

"No. I'm not."

"Oh..."

The room went quiet as I resisted the urge to tear up.

"I'm talking about Rhody." I started once again. "Your actual older brother."

The little girl's body relaxed, as if she had suddenly fallen asleep. Instead, all she did was let of her impossible belief.

"Mommy and daddy were so happy. We travelled a lot and they'd take me and big brother to school. Then one day, daddy stopped working. He became angrier. Then him and Mommy became monsters."

I swallowed hard. "They aren't mosnters. They are just..." I had no words.

"Big brother told me so. He told me that they aren't mommy and daddy anymore. They are monsters" said the little girl.

"Why'd he say that?" I curiously asked, partly intrigued.

"All mommy and daddy did was drink bitter juice and smell flour. Me and big brother couldn't go to school anymore. Then the TV and light bulbs stopped working. Then they stopped making us food."

"Oh man..." I begun to feel sick to my stomach.

"Big brother didn't like it very much. He tried to make them stop but they beat him. Then... Fluffy came and they beat Fluffy too."

I didn't want to hear more. This was heartbreaking enough for me. This story was made worse by how I literally told her that I wasn't her brother. I still hate myself for saying that. I really do.
However, I still let her continue.

"I asked mommy for bread one day and she hit me. Now I don't ask. But big brother always did. And the monsters would beat him until they felt bad and gave him food or coins to buy snacks."

I heard a sniff from her.

"We slept outside a lot. Big brother would always keep me in his arms so I didn't feel cold. And Fluffy would always be next to us incase the monsters came to take us back inside."

"Jaselynne..." - Is all I said. I didn't know what else to say.

She continued.

"The monsters would always call me and big brother to clean for them. Big brother would sometimes refuse and they'd beat him until they got tired."

"Jaselynne, stop... It's fine." I tried to mutter

"Big brother became very sad and one day... I found that the monsters had put a rope on his head..."

Sobs left the little girl. Sobs left me too as I hugged her tight.

What a messed up reality to live in.

"I cried a lot. But the monsters said he'd come back soon."

I hugged her tighter as the tears rained down uncontrollably from my eyes.

"Jaselynne... Your big brother is gone... But I'm here... I always am..."
We sobbed for many minutes more.

Unfortunately, our cathartic moment was ruined by a loud *beep* and a red light that flashed over the huge mirror

"I have to go." I said as I loosened my grip on the girl and stumbled out of the room.

Outside waited the two officers who listened in on the entire conversation.
One was tearing up just as much as I was, and the other did his best to restrain any strong emotion he had locked up inside his cell wall of a heart.

"Suicide huh? Nasty way to go. Left the kid all on her own with those monsters. He probably couldn't take it anymore."

I decided to ignore that comment and look at the officer straight in his eyes.
"After all this is done. She's staying with me."

"I'm afraid that's not your choice, kid." Responded the officer.

I simply puffed my cheeks and headed back into the interrogation room, where I spent the next few hours with the little girl nestled in my arms once again.

"Big brother?"
"Yes little sister?"
"Where do ponies come from?"
"From rainbows ofcouse."

"Big brother?"
"Yes little sister?"
"I want sweets."
"We'll get some when we go home."

The little girl shot up like a rocket!

"Big brother, does it mean I'm staying with you!?"

I hesitated. "Yes."

"Big brother?"
"Yes little sister?"
"Promise me we'll be together forever."

"I promise."