What's Enough?

Chapter 145

As I arrive at my house, I spot my mom and dad's car in the driveway. "Shit, there here," I say into the phone.

"What do you mean there, there?" Jessica says.

"It's okay. I'll just go around the back," They would be home when it's my free period.

"We need those papers,"

"I know, I know," I look through the glass of the back door; I don't see them; maybe they are upstairs. I carefully twist the knob; thank goodness we got the door fixed a week ago; it's not as squeaky as now. 

I tiptoe through the house but then hear a conversation in the living room. My legs sprint over to her office door; I open the door slowly. "Okay, I'm in; I'll call you when I have something," I hang up the phone and then put it on silent, just in case someone decides to call.

The file cabinet should have what I am looking for; I don't even know what exactly it is I am looking for, but I guess I'll know when I see it. I open the cabinet and then look at the names on the folder; they are alphabetized, so I need to find C.

While making my way, to C I stop at A because I see Ryder's name. He has a whole folder. What the hell?

Wait, wait, wait. I need to focus; I'm here for one thing and one thing only. I continue flipping through the folders, and then I find it.

AJ Crawford, written on the tab.

I pull out the folder and place it on the desk. Opening it, I find everything I'm looking for, messages, horrible, disgusting ones, social media accounts, with conversations about him. I don't want to take the folder, so I will take pictures instead. I snap a photo of the first two pages and then flip to the next page.

On this page, I find a log of complaints AJ's mother made to the school, the school board, and the police department each time she was turned away.

The next few pages are photos of AJ, one picture, he has a bruised lip, and the next, there's a purple bruise on his chest.

Looking at these photos makes me want to cry; why would someone do this to somebody. Rosita said that Jacob treated Ryder worse; what could be worse than this?

The doorbell rings, startling me, I drop all the papers on the ground. I bend down, trying to gather them back up while also taking more pictures.

"Mellisa, Marcus," A woman greets them both, it sounds like Rachel.

"What a surprise, come in," My mother says. I hear their footsteps walk over into the living room.

"Would you like something to drink?" my father offers.

"No, no. I actually can't stay long; I'm going to go see Dale,"

I'm finally able to gather the pages and put them back into the folder. I want so badly to look at Ryder's file, but I can't not right now. This is more important. After placing AJ's file back into the drawer, I walk over to the door to hear the conversation better,

"I just came to tell you guys that it's time," Rachel says.

My parents stay quiet, and then my father speaks saying, "Not yet,"

"I have given you guys almost five months; the plan was to tell her once she started doing better, and she is doing better, better than I expected,"

"But if we tell her, she'll want to hurt herself,"

"I don't think so," Rachel defends. "She is on a mission to find herself right now; that's a good thing. You guys keeping this a secret can seriously harm her in the end when it comes out; she thinks everything is fine now, but she's missing a key piece,"