Daddy Issues

45| Interrogation

"Do you have to tell my family?" I ask and the two officers look between each other. "Depends on what you tell us." One of them says and I nod.

"Tell us everything that happened from Monday." They say and I nod.

"Um... well Monday has nothing really to do with it. I had a but of argument with Alex, we made up and he slept over." I say and they nod whilst making notes.

"Tuesday?" They ask and I suck in a breath.

"Um... I got a phone call. A bad phone call." I say and they look at me concerned. "From. From my dad." I let out and they nod.

"What did he say?" They ask.

"I um... he said he was in the hospital and he wanted to see me one more time." I say and dig my nails into my hands, I don't want to cry.

"I forgot to leave a note. It slipped my mind and I lost my phone ages ago. I had no numbers memorised to use a pay phone. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause all this." I say and they nod.

"That's okay. How is your father?" One of them asks and I immediately start crying. They offer me tissues which I take and wipe my eyes with.

"He died on Wednesday night. 20:17." I say and they nod. "I'm sorry for your loss." One of them says and I thank them.

"Can you not tell my family. I should tell them." I say and they nod. "Sure. We'll lead you out Miss Johnson." They say and do exactly that.

"I'm sorry again." I say as we see Alex. "No problem." They say and I give them a polite smile before rushing into Alex's arms.

"Everything okay?" He asks glancing at the cops. "Yeah. Let's just go." I say and he nods and leads me to his car.

****
When I get home I stare at the house for ages. I feel sick.

"They're not trying to upset you." Alex says and I nod. "I know." I sigh.

"Whenever you've had enough, tell me and I'll stop them. You can go upstairs and no one will hurt you, I promise." He says and I smile and turn to him.

"You're so different now." I say and he rolls his eyes. "No one will ever hurt you. That's a promise. Physically or mentally, I'm here for you." He says ans I smile. "Thank you." I say and he opens his car door. I take a deep breath before getting out of the car and connecting hands with Alex as we walk up to my house.

"Everything okay?" Mom asks as we walk in and I just nod. I look around, no sight of Josh or Phoebe.

"Mom I'm so sorry." I say and she nods. "I know. That's okay honey. Im sure you have a good reason and when you're ready to talk, I'm here." She says and I smile. "Thanks." I say and before anything else could be said, Josh and Phoebe walk in with groceries.

Josh is angry and Phoebe can't look at me. It hurts more than you think.

"India. Maybe we should all talk." Josh says and I nod. "Probably." I say sighing.

Maybe if I just spill everything today, I won't have to bring it up again.

I sit down at the island and everyone starts looking around and each other.

"What happened?" Josh asks. I gulp and start playing with my hands.

Just say it!

Its not that hard.

"Okay, maybe just let her come to you." Alex says which brings on an argument with Josh.

I tune them out whilst I try and find the words.

"He's dead." I say and they all look at me. "Who's dead?" Alex asks.

I look up at Josh and he immediately sighs. "Who?" Alex asks and I look down at my lap.

"How do you know?" Josh asks. "I went there. He called Tuesday morning told me what happened and asked to see me one last time." I say and he tightens his grip on his cup.

"Who? Your dad?" Mom asks and I suck in a breath. "Yeah." Josh says and I sigh.

"You knew?" I ask my mom and she nods. "I knew he was on his last legs." She says and I stand up.

"Well now we all know why I left, I'm going upstairs." I say walking up to my room.

I lie down and sigh. My mom knew? I was stressing this whole time and they both knew.

My bedroom door creaks open and before I can check who it is, Josh yells "bedroom door stays open!" So it's clearly Alex.

"I got your blanket for you." He says and sits on the bed beside me. I put my head on his lap and then cover myself in my blanket.

"You could've told me." He says and I sigh. "I know." I say tugging on my blanket.

"Why didn't you?" He asks and I groan. "Alex please." I sigh and he sighs also. "You told me about your dad. We talk all the time, I would've went with you. I get if you wanted to do it alone but I could've waited in the waiting room or the car. Instead you didn't tell me and I was stuck in a completely different state worrying about you." He says and I sit up.

"I didn't think about it in the moment. The only thing I could think about the second he called me was that I needed to be there. That's why I didn't call anyone, leave a note. The only thing on my mind was getting to him. I'm sorry I made you worry, I am but can we drop it now?" I ask and he nods slowly.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Alex whispers and I put my head on his shoulder. "Thank you." I whispet back.