𝐈'𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐞

𝒕 𝒘 𝒆 𝒏 𝒕 𝒚 𝒔 𝒊 𝒙

chapter twenty six

"And you said that he's a friend of your uncle, correct?" The police officer asks looking up from his yellow notepad. He's been jotting stuff in it since he got here and took the guy away. I don't answer him, I'm stuck in some sort of dazed trance. Momma is next to me giving me small squeezes, trying to reassure me. It's one of those 'everything's gonna be alright' hugs that's more like an comfort squeeze. I disagree with the message though. My uncle's friend tried to touch me and I feel disgusting. I feel dirty and worthless.

The beared man in the police uniform looks over to Henry for some help.

Henry nods."Yeah, that's correct."

The police officer goes back to scribbling in his notepad.

"H-how long will he be in jail?" Mom ask and the officer looks up at her.

"Um, I'm not entirely sure." He says clearing his throat.

"He will go to jail, right?" Henry asks giving him a look and the officer looks uneasy.

"He'll be booked at the station and if he posts bail-"

"Y'all gonna let him post bail? He tried to rape my sister."

I freeze at that.

My breath hitches in my throat but nobody catches it.

"But luckily he didn't. Now, the crime is just registered as a sexual assault. It's likely that he'll get less time if the judge decides to throw him into the county." The officer explains.

"What if comes back?" Momma asks.

"Then you might want to go down to the court and see if they can grant you a restraining order-" He's cut off by Henry's harsh words. "Do you seriously believe a restraining order will do something? What if comes back armed, and what if he comes back with more people? A piece of paper won't do us any good."

"It's the best option you have, Mr. Ambers."

It's silent.

I break it because I taste throw up in my mouth. "Do I need to answer anymore questions?" I ask and he shakes his head. "No, ma'am. You're all set to go." I stand up and without another word I'm headed to the stairs. I skip up a few and as soon as I get to the second floor I rush towards the washroom.

I catch my reflection in the mirror.

I look terrible.

I'm dressed in a oversized nightgown one of the nurses gave me at the hospital.

My face is a little bruised, my eyes are puffy, and my nose is red.

The tears I shed are stained on my face from all that crying I did last night.

My braids still look fly though.

"Happy Birthday," I whisper, cracking a sad smile.

My reflection looks unhappy.

She stares back at me.

I watch as the tears fall from her eyes, trickle down her face, and fall onto the night gown.

I quickly crouch down on my knees and let out everything from stomach and just let it go. The pancake from the hospital, the orange juice, the ice chips, a chocolate chip granola bar, all that alcohol I drunk, and an apple. At this point I'm dry heaving because there's nothing left.

There's nothing left.

There's nothing left to say.

To do.