False Modesty

4. Jacob

A faint knock woke me up the very next morning. I sat up straight and rubbed the corners of my eyes until my vision came back to normal. Henry stood in front the open cell with a sad smile on his freckled face. That day was my last day there. It was time to spend a day home and then tomorrow go to court for my trail; oh joy.

          Willingly I pushed myself off the bed, landing gracefully on my cracked feet. The red head was awake when I exited the cell. I was expecting to find the distinct face of Abby, but then I remembered she’d left me alone there. Alexis tugged her lips to the side as I made my way pass her. I returned it immediately. Somehow within a day I had already made friends with the one girl who I thought I would have hated from the moment she slapped me.

          The guard led me out onto the corridor and into a majestic room with two other officers to retrieve by things. I changed into my old jeans that remained in its tattered form just the way I left it a couple of weeks ago or so. My lilac blouse hung perfectly on me. It brought me great pleasure to finally wear another colour other than orange. I ran my fingers through my hair in an effort to straighten it down but to no avail. The not so pampered strands refused to obey me. With a sigh I gave up and allowed an officer I never saw before to finally lead me away from this hell hold.

“Right that way Miss Stacey,” he said and pointed towards the grey double doors just ahead. I felt so close to the outside. I felt as though within those few steps to open the door I would have fallen down and would not have been able to get back on my feet. My heart hammered in my chest and I laced my fingers through the metal bars. With a final breath I pulled on the door. Immediately the outside light burst indoors. I’ve been outside before, but the sun as it kissed my pale cheeks somehow felt different. I felt free without actually being free. I felt sort of like a caged bird flying in the sky but knowing that within a few moments I’d have to return to my master who would unsympathetically cage me again.

          I pushed the uneasy feeling aside and finally stepped outside. I closed my eyes for a moment to absorb the last feeling of freedom I may have ever gotten and when I finally decided it was time to face my fears I opened them back up. A silver car was parked in front of me. I smiled upon recognizing not just the car, but also the two persons standing by the door.

“Mom!” I practically screamed at her. She embraced me in the tightest of hugs ever as I buried my head into her neck. Her familiar scent of roses immediately filled my nostrils; a restful feeling past through me then. Suddenly I was just Caroline Stacey, the girl who got into college and who studied for most of her life. For a moment I wasn’t the Caroline Stacy who was accused of murdering another girl and who would be sent to court for it, and maybe even prison. I felt as though the world actually believed me and apologized to me for placing me in such a position.

          She pulled away from me too soon and the euphoric sensation vanished almost immediately. It always surprised me how much one person could impact your life and my mother was my biggest impact of all for some reason. I glanced at my father on the other side of the car. His lips curved into a sad smile as he slowly rounded the hood of the car and wrapped his massive hands around my shoulders.

“I’ve missed you so much,” he breathed into my ear, almost a whimper. He was serious. It was rather hard to be angry with someone who caressed you when you most needed it. Sure, he wasn’t there for most of my life. He treated everything like some sort of joke. But yet, under that thick miserable barrier that I hated; I still had a soft spot for my father. I allowed myself the guilty pleasure of hugging him back even after all I had said and done to him.

          I let go him and instead opened the back door of the car, unwilling to say anything further. They accepted it and within seconds of restarting the vehicle, we were out onto the freeway. We lived about an hour away, so the trip home wasn’t as long as I had expected it to be. The moment we pulled into the garage my little dog, Rusty, a golden poodle started to bark and when he caught sight of me; he lay down on his tummy and rolled around waiting for me to play with him. I crouched down to the floor and ran my hands through his familiar fur.  It never crossed my mind how much I really longed for seeing him again.