TIFFIN 3

11

After all was said and done with my statement, Emma and Archie had been called as I suspected.

The younger cop had acted suspiciously, using the telephone sitting on his desk. When they arrived, they were in hysterics, enveloping me in their grasp. 

"Where the hell were you?" Emma demanded in a harsh tone that took me off guard. 

I coughed, my body feeling deprived of emotion. 

"I don't see the big deal. I'm my own person, aren't I?"

Emma's mouth hung open. She stared at me as if I'd slapped her. 

"Can you blame me for worrying? You two were missing from the company- oh no... where is Hero? Has he been found yet?" 

"It doesn't matter!" I shouted over the conversation that erupted in the small office. "Hero is gone. Besides, didn't Evelyn tell you we'd taken the day off?"

"No," Emma scoffed, "She said it was all confidential information! What do you mean he's gone?"

I turned away, trying to muffle the hiccups reverberating through me. After a minute, I swiveled back around, shaking my head. 

"It's over between us... Hero told me he wanted to leave me and he did... on that special rock of his...."

Within the next couple of seconds, I spaced out.

The thought of his special place and how Hero had looked to me when we first met swimming through my mind. I was aware of the mumbles coming from me, but I allowed myself to slip away from reality. 

I didn't want to be here. 

"What's wrong with her?" Came a deep voice I only knew as Archie's. "What's she saying?"

Emma began crying.

"Oh, I don't know. Look at her, she's so-"

When she reached for me, I recoiled, swatting at her this time. 

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!" I screamed. "FUCK YOU!"

I didn't know where this had come from. I had truly been momentarily sucked into my personal cacoon, unaware of anyone else on the outside.

Her touch was poisonous; it wasn't Hero's. 

I saw my dad begin to advance towards me, already in a scolding manner, but Emma held him back. 

"It's okay, Archie," She murmured. "She's hurting. She doesn't mean it." 

After a moment he accepted this.

"I swear on my life I will ruin that boy! He dared to look in my face-"

Emma placed a hand on his cheek.

"Enough. We don't know anything for sure."

I must have phased out again because both my parents were staring like the world was about to end. They seemed worried and desperate. 

"Did she just say..." Archie began. 

"Yes," Emma finished. "Kristina dear... did you just say that his grandmother...?" 

Not being able to take any more of this, I rushed out of the station. As I made it to the lot, I realized once again that I had no ride. 

Soon Emma and Archie caught up to me, offering a lift. 

"No!" I instantly shouted. "I'm sorry. I can't. I'll get an Uber. I might be able to catch someone at the office this late I don't know-" 

As I reached for my phone, Emma grabbed onto me. 

"Please, don't-" 

I didn't listen to her as I opened the familiar app. 

When I was dropped off at the front doors thirty minutes later, I was shocked to see it pitch black inside.

The doors were locked as I tried them. I was about to leave when Evelyn appeared on the other end of the glass.

We stood still for a second, observing one another until she greeted me inside. I went off on her immediately as I began knocking folders off desks. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Evelyn?"

She tossed her silky hair over her shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

"You lied to me!" I screamed. "You refused to tell me what he was planning and now he's gone! Forever! I lost my husband because of you!"

Evelyn flinched. 

"I don't know what you mean..."

I got up in her face. 

"Are you telling me that my mother was lying? She said that you wouldn't tell her anything!" 

For the first time I saw her shed a tear. 

"I-I'm sorry, okay? Hero threatened me not to say a thing. All he told me was that he'd be leaving on a trip and... I'm so sorry!" 

She then broke down into tears.

I backed away, letting out my own waterworks fly, landing on my behind. 
Evelyn surprised me by sinking down with me and giving me a hug like a relative would. 

"I know you loved him." She whispered. "He loved you. I know he did. Whatever you do please don't leave us hanging. we need you." 

I shook my head in denial. 

I couldn't do it.