Amaranth

Chapter 10: Bouvardia

It was Tuesday, the first day back at school since the lake house trip. Annie huffed as she got out of bed and grabbed her clothes for the day. She never wore anything special, so she decided on a simple hoodie and jeans.

Once she was dressed, she ran down the stairs and entered the kitchen where she saw her father drinking coffee as he scrolled through his phone. "Come home straight after school," he ordered.

"I have soccer practice after school," Annie told him as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Well that's too damn bad," he said firmly as he lifted his eyes to glare at her, "I said be here, so be here."

"Whatever," she sighed as she put two slices of bread in the toaster.

Annie knew her father was scary and intimidating, even she feared him to some degree, but she knew he had her best interests in mind. He had always told her, from a young age, that no matter what happened and no matter what she did, he'd always be on her side. It was comforting, especially given the power he held in their area.

He was the sheriff of the police in their area, and Annie knew he had worked hard to get there. She remembered him spending countless nights scouring the internet and numerous books as he studied for the position. As you can imagine, his position made him rather intimidating.

"My captain's going to be pissed," Annie mumbled as she sat down with her toast, hoping he'd maybe let her go to practice rather than coming home. She knew anything he had planned would be a hundred times harder than soccer practice.

"Captain?" he asked thoughtfully, "Who's she again? I think you mentioned her once or twice?"

"Maybe," she shrugged, "Her name's Mikasa... Jaeger."

Her father had a thoughtful look on his face before it morphed into something akin to realization, sadness, and curiosity. Rather than say anything, he seemed immersed in his phone, and she imagined he was researching her. He had done that with all of Annie's friends despite her asking him to stop multiple times.

"Dad, stop looking for files," Annie sighed tiredly, "Jaeger isn't even her real last name."

"I'm not googling her," her father assured her, "I already know who she is."

"You do?" her father asked in surprise.

"I met her a few years ago," her father nodded almost reminiscently.

"Oh," Annie nodded suspiciously, "Did she do something bad?"

"No," her father assured her, "Not really."

"'Not really' is different from 'no'," Annie told him.

"Hmm," he hummed carelessly. He seemed completely uninterested in telling Annie about her history, something uncommon for him. He always rushed into telling her about all his interactions during work, and he never failed to rant about the bad things people she knew had done. So why was he suddenly so uninterested?

"You're not going to tell me?" Annie asked, almost offended.

"Her case still haunts me," he told her solemnly, as if trying to find the courage to speak.

"That bad? What, did her parents like... neglect her to the point of near-death or something?" Annie asked sarcastically.

"No, no," Annie's father said as he shook his head, "Not at all."

Annie then remembered Mikasa had been arrested. She revealed it while they were playing the drinking game at the lake house, and she had been so adamant about not sharing her story that she drank half a bottle of alcohol. Had her father been the one to arrest her? Did he know what she did? It couldn't have been that awful if her dad was defending her. He had said she didn't do anything bad.