How did I get to this point in my life

Chapter 4 Meeting the DA

We are now back in the integration room, me sitting in between dad and Charlie, everyone seems to be trying to talk but not want to listen to what anyone else is saying. I am eating a cheeseburger, cesar salad, and fresh cut fries. The chief of police is directly across from me, the lieutenant is to the chief's left, and another man in a suit to the chief's right. I am only concerned about the food that is in front of me, I am starving. Lunch from school seems like days ago. It is now past 8 at night.

The whole conversation is about me being arrested and kept overnight to see a judge or whether I can leave under my dad's recognizance. Charlie and dad are saying he is only 13 he doesn't have a license, credit cards ..... How can he escape?

That is when another person in a suit came in for a minute and whispered something to the chief, and everyone from the otherside of the table left with him.

I just kept eating before anyone decided to take the food away from me. It really was good food, the salad was huge. The burger was ½ pounder with lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayonnaise. The fresh cut fries filled a large takeout box.

The thought of me going to jail never entered my mind. I was just content eating my food, and let the adults do whatever so dad and I could go home. It was getting late, and I was really tired.

I am not sure but probably 10 to 15 minutes later the chief and everyone else came back into the room with a new person. Before anyone could say anything Charlie says "good evening Mr. District Attorney Nathan Fields."

I just kept eating while this was going on, but I did notice Mr. Fields' eyes went to me as soon as he entered the room and never left me, even when he replied to Charlie with "good evening Counselor Charles Rhodes, we seem to have quite a conundrum here. You see I have one 17 year old minor in the hospital in surgery right now. He arrived at the hospital unconscious, and never regained consciousness. They expect the surgery to be a total of 6 hours, which is to relieve pressure from his skull on his brain, wire his jaw back together, do a repair to his left orbital socket, and internal bleeding where his ribs were fractured. The other 17 year old boy had to have a cast on his arm, MRI of his brain and neck, and is being kept overnight for observation. Now to me this would be easy if this young man." He stopped what he was saying, pointed at me, and just stared for a few minutes.

I had finally stopped eating, not because I was full but because I was getting scared again. I was not sure who this guy really was but was sure Charlie would be yelling at him in a few minutes. I turned to look at Charlie when I noticed his mouth closed and not moving. He had been writing on a pad in front of him but even stopped doing that. The room was completely silent, I mean I could only think this is how space is without air, so sound waves cant travel. Completely silent, hauntingly silent. I turned to look at dad. He had a concerned look on his face, it was hard to tell it was there, but I knew how to read my dad. I turned back to Charlie hoping he was going to start screaming and tell him he was scaring me and to stop it or something.

Mr Fields finally started talking again after IDK but maybe 4 or 5 days, or was it 4 or 5 seconds, with nobody moving, breathing, saying a word. The silence was deafening, and horrifying, but he started with "was an adult. But he is not. In fact almost the opposite. He is younger than the other two boys that he attacked. He didn't have any weapons. I was completely befuddled as the information regarding this was being given to me. I asked if there were any tapes of this from the store and was told no, it started in an area close to the dressing rooms and because of privacy cameras are not allowed in the area. I said to the people delivering the information to me about this, are you sure a 13 year old boy by himself beat up these two older and bigger boys?, they assured me he did and they have not found any witnesses yet other than a girl with this young man, who claims this young man was jumped from behind. I am not inclined to believe that because if a 13 year old boy is jumped from behind by two much bigger boys I think the 13 year old would be in the hospital. This situation would be much easier. Just charge the two older boys and go home till the morning. But you see Charlie, even the witness that claims this young man was jumped states he by himself beat the snot out of the two older boys in the hospital. So now I am at a crossroad and not sure which way to go."

He just stood there and kept looking at me, during his entire soliloquy, as if no one was there, staring at me. Every word he said he looked at me and only made eye contact with me. It was as if I was the only person in the room, or a golden snitch. I was unable to keep looking at him. I was now staring at the table, but even looking up with my head turned down I could tell he was staring at me. I was beginning to wonder, was he counting my breaths, what was it he was trying to figure out. He stated the facts except for one thing correctly. I was attacked, I didn't attack them.

Mr. Fields started talking again, but still with his eyes locked on me. Like I was some kind of prey, something not to be trusted, something that needed to be killed. "You see Charlie, the only video we have is of the one boy coming into the camera view trying to drag the other away. While this one here." He pauses for effect and to point at me again, then starts again. "Kicking the other two in the face, and ribs while they are trying to escape. If it wasn't for that I would not have believed that this one did as much damage as was done to the other two."

I looked down to the table and back up at Mr. Fields. He was silent again, I guess just trying to remember what was the next line in his speech he was delivering.

I turned to look at dad, he was just looking straight ahead with this expressionless look on his face. I had seen it before, but only once. It was when he heard that eight of the men he commanded in the US Navy were killed by enemy fire. He mumbled something about how he should have been there to help lead them through the situation. It was chilling to be there with him then. He now had the same look about me. I didn't really know I was in big trouble until I saw his face. I started to cry again, and he immediately noticed. He turned and started to hug me. He said to me "we will get through this together. I never left a man on the field and I will never leave you." He just hugged me the rest of the meeting. I was sitting in the chair next to him but the left side of my head was on his chest. I stayed like that the rest of the meeting. I Know i had been crying, and I think I then dozed off, then woke up again. I am not sure what happened after that until dad shook me and said "Joshua, did you understand what was said."

That is when I realized I was crying and had been crying again for some time. I really never paid attention to what had been said and I didn't have a clue. Nobody said a word and finally I was able to stop crying. Dad then started talking again, and just calmly said what was going to happen. "Joshua, you are going to go with the police, Charlie and his assistants will be with you as long as they can but they can not stay with you. You are going to be in juvenile detention for at least the night. Charlie and his team will be at court tomorrow. You will be brought there by the police. You will have to do what the adults tell you to do. They will tell you where your room you will be staying in. You have to do what they say. I know it is going to be really scary for you and like nothing you have ever experienced before. When you get to court tomorrow your mom and I will be there. We are going to try to get you out on bail. I love you, and your mother loves you. Do what you are told. We will have your doctors get a hold of the jail to let them know what medications and doses you are on. Do you understand me?" I just shook my head yes. Then dad said ok I want you to go with Charlie and do whatever he says. Then do what the officers he leaves you with tell you, OK?" I just shook my head yes again.

Charlie then stood up, and stated "Joshua come with me", and took my hand like he was leading a 5 year old somewhere. I just walked with him following Mr. Fields, and the lieutenant. We made our way back to the elevator, through the room that had the cell I was originally in. Past the big desk, and large glass window, into the outer corridor. We stopped while the officers collected guns from the little lockers. Then we went back out to the cage in the parking lot. There was a van waiting there. We all got into it and drove away.

If you like this story please click the star and leave a comment, I the author am always unsure if anything I do is good enough and sometimes just need to be told. Thank you, and hope everybody has a great day, Hugs.