The October Malice ༄ (gxg)

seventeen, jump

"Miss Indick, we need you to talk to us."

Opal would have rather done anything than talk to the two police who sat on the adjacent side of her dining table in the kitchen, her parents both sitting on the other side of her with their heads in their hands. She didn't want to be there. Her eyes were almost too puffy to even open from all the crying she had done. Her insides were broken, her soul shattered glass on the floor of her existence which she was so fiercely resenting.

"A couple neighbors said they saw you go to Claire's house last night," spoke the police officer who had been doing most of the talking. The both of them wore black uniforms, the main talker being more hefty than the quiet one. "We need to know why you were there, and if Mrs. Wilkes was acting unusual or if she mentioned any enemies she might have had."

"Why were you even at a goddamn professor's house?!" her mother exclaimed loudly, making both of the officer's head turn towards her. "Why, Opal?!"

Opal said nothing, only closed her eyes and let more hot tears fall down her sticky and reddened cheeks. All she could think of was the fact that Claire was dead—the fact that their romance had been so fulfilling even though it was cut so short. Claire represented hope for her—hope for a bigger and better life. Now she was gone.

"Ma'am, please don't get excited," the officer told Amanda, his hand gesturing downwards in signal for her to calm down.

But Amanda was insufferable. "Don't you tell me not to get excited! You're in my house! How can I not get excited, anyways? My daughter's been whoring around with a professor, a female one at that!"

"Amanda," Jeremy sighed, placing his hand gently on her shoulder.

But Amanda slapped his hand away and continued, "Go ahead, Opal. Why don't you tell the officers why you were at this professor's house, hmm?" She leaned towards her daughter whose head was hanging downwards, arms crossed over her body that was visibly shaking.

"I..." Opal's croaky voice began but stopped as more tears came down her cheeks. "It was just a meeting," she choked the lie through her swollen lips. But it was not just a meeting, and she was not just a professor. She had been in love with Claire from the very second she met her.

"Miss Indick," the officer spoke before Amanda would start going off again, which he could tell she was about to by the way a vein bulged from her neck as she glared at her daughter beside her. "Neighbors also said they didn't ever see you leaving Mrs. Wilkes' house. Can you tell us what time you left?" He pressed the point of his pen against the pocket notebook in his hand, prepared to record her answer.

Opal sighed and pressed her eyes closed almost in defeat. She couldn't lie to the officers, meaning there was no way around her mom's assumption of her and Claire's relations being confirmed. Wiping her cheek, she sniffled and hesitantly grumbled, "3 in the morning."

"Oh my God!" Amanda exclaimed, raising her hand in the air before slapping it down on the table in an "I knew it" sort of manner. Jeremy only lowered his head and rubbed his buzzing forehead with his hand, that overwhelming sense of dread returning again in him. He already was a man half-broken; now this was just another crack in the family.

The officer looked over at Amanda who was covering her mouth and staring down at the table in a look of disappointment and disgust, hoping she would continue to keep her mouth shut. "Now, Miss Indick, I know this is an awkward situation, but can you please describe the nature of the relationship between you and Mrs. Wilkes?"

Opal pinched the space between her eyes, lips pursing as she repressed more tears. There was nothing she wanted more than to just go to sleep, to not answer the officer's questions, to not hear her mother's insults, to not see the stress and depression on her dad's face. She shrugged, not knowing how to really describe what was between them, herself. Claire was everything to her and more, even though she hadn't even known her for very long.