Chasing in the dark

CHAPTER 5

In a cold room, with stark white walls and a big metal desk, Jae-A is sitting with his hands cuffed in the front of  him. The police officers are walking up and down the room, flipping through a thick brown file. 

=Jae-A=

As I am sitting in a small, darkened room with my hands cuffed to the metal table, a fat, unkept police officer is standing across from me in the corner, staring me down with his half smoked cigarette, hanging wet out of his mouth.

I'm gonna stop smoking today, if that is what it looks like, I think to myself. The fat police officer is sizing me up. His thinning brown hair looks uncombed, with a big greasy stain forming a cluster on his washed out blue dress shirt. 

He is scanning through a thick brown folder, occasionally looking at me as he shakes his head. He lowers his thick glasses from his eyes, so that they sit uncomfortably on the bridge of his nose. 

They're blaming Mr. Han's diner burning down on me. I slowly inhale the musky smell of my shirt, which still smells of a blend of rain and smoke. I look at the clock on the far end of the wall. It's been almost 4 hours and not even once did these police officers offer me a rag to wipe myself off.

No, I don't get that kind of treatment. To them, I am a gangster. The scum of the earth. 

The fat guy standing in the corner comes walking to the table, still sucking on that wet cigarette. You can see that this case ruined his night. He slams his hands so loud on the table that the buttons on his dress shirt, is hanging on by a thread. 

"What were you doing at the diner Mister Cha?" He says with a few droplets of spit falling from his lips. He should really eat a breath mint, I think to myself as I straighten the kinks from my neck. 

"My answer is gonna be the same as it was an hour ago, two hours ago, even three hours ago. I was out for a stroll..." I flinch as he slams his hands on the table again. This time, the little bit of his coffee spilt over his coffee stained cup. 

I gawk at him as he scoffs and walks behind my chair. He catches me by surprise as he kicks the legs of the chair out from under me. I fall to the ground, with my hands still tied to the metal table.  

"Hey, you can't do that. I know my rights!" I struggle uncomfortably to get to my feet, using the table as my crutch.

His laugh was the most annoying thing I've ever heard. "Rights?! Did you hear that Detective Jin, he knows his rights." He says with a snarl as he kicks the mid of my stomach, leaving me fighting for breath.

He continues laughing, with the other police officer joining in. Struggling for air, he comes up from behind me, pulls me up by the arm and pushes me back down into the chair.

"You don't have rights you piece of crap. You killed a man. Just admit it." He says with an angry whisper. 

"I didn't kill anyone. I didn't burn down diner, okay." I struggle to speak as I am still trying to find my breath, with an extra amount of panic. The more I try to explain myself to them, the more I realize that they've already made up their minds. I'm guilty.

"Then what were you doing there?" He adds with just the right amount of sarcasm. He goes to sit down next to the scrawny Detective Jin, who is now flipping through the thick brown folder. 

"I told you before, I was out for a walk and came across the fire. I even called 911. Why would I call for help if I set the fire, huh?" I try to keep the panic from my voice. 

They look at each other and then back at me. 

"You wanted to throw suspicion away from yourself" I cannot help but scoff.