Atazrial Stories

Story 1, chapter 6

"Cosette was announced deceased about thirty minutes ago. I'm sorry for your loss, Miss Calanthe." the doctor spoke, lowering his head in a way of respect.

Everything seemed to slowly fade to black in Atazrial's mind. All of her questions, all of her thoughts, all of everything she had ever felt seemed to blur slowly into nothing as if none of it mattered. She felt trapped. She was trapped in a cage of guilt and the iron bars seemed to be melting, dripping onto her face and burning her flesh until there was nothing left but bone.

There was nothing she could say to the doctor. Apologizing would be stupid, asking for confirmation would make no sense. It wasn't like the movies, this was real. This hurt her more real than any actor could be hurt by hearing this information and forcing false emotions for the sake of entertainment and a paycheck.

"I...I see.." Atazrial managed to choke out, the situation still not truly settling into her brain.

"I'm truly sorry, Atazrial", the doctor repeated. "I'll let you rest for the time being, there's an IV drip set up and you should be comfortable. However, if that changes, let one of the nurses know." As the doctor spoke, he stood up from his stool, tucking his left hand into his coat pocket and using his right hand to hold his clipboard. "Goodnight." he said humbly before walking to the door, looking one last time at Taz with a soft, concerned gaze, and momentarily closing the door behind him with a quiet 'click'.

Agony. Torment, suffering, however you'd want to say it, that's what Atazrial felt. Pain like she had never felt in her life-- pain that could never be relieved no matter how hard someone tried to get through the sinking feeling she felt in her stomach. This wasn't psychical pain, though. That was the worst part.

It was all her fault. She was anything but sober and she knew it-- she knew that she should've just said 'no' and walked up to her room to immediately pass out on her bed. She knew...that there was nothing she could do. There was absolutely no way to go back in time and change what she had done and what she hadn't done. The only thing left to do was lay back, close her eyes, and pray to God that all of this was nothing but a dream.

If only it were that easy. Only a few minutes after the doctor left, another knock was heard at the door. This time without warning, a police officer walked in. It was a woman with black hair pulled up in a bun, nobody who would end up being particularly important in the future, but for right now, it was startling.

"Miss Calanthe." the officer said calmly, a sweet but grave smile sweeping across her face as she saw the state of the teen in front of her. "I'm officer Grales. I just came here to ask you some questions about the accident. I understand that it's a fresh wound, but with your concussion, it would be nice for us to know how far back your memory goes." the officer explained all of this to Atazrial, along with some procedure that the author writing this doesn't entirely understand, so she's just going to skip over it so as to not get any information wrong.

Atazrial seemed stunned and exhausted. This was the last thing she wanted to be doing right now, it was much too early in the morning for all of this to happen right now, and she was much too vulnerable. It was around 5am currently and Taz had been out for a few hours in a coma, even though silently she wished she had never woken up at all.

"So, Miss Calanthe--"

"Atazrial is fine." she bud in, struggling to form a sentence with the right words.

Officer Grails nodded. "Atazrial." she began again. "You were at a party before you went driving, weren't you?"

The teen nodded.

"At that party, did you happen to do anything that might be considered illegal? Substance abuse, underage drinking?"

Atazrial's world suddenly stopped again.

Tell her. Jesus, tell her. You were drinking. You were drunk. You're the reason your sister is dead.

Oh god, am I going to jail? If I tell her, will I ever see my parents again? I don't want to go to jail.

A million thoughts flooded through her head at once and she couldn't control a single one of them. The officer took notice of the girl's silence and believed she had already gotten an answer just from that. However, just to say she had confirmation, she legally had to have Atazrial verbally respond; assumptions weren't something she could make under these circumstances.

"...Atazrial, did you have a few drinks at that party?... You won't be in trouble, but I need you to be honest with me, okay, sweetie?"

Tears rushed to Taz's eyes and threatened to spill over with any next word or any crack she heard in her own voice when she tried to respond honestly, something she figured she would never have to worry about.

After a prolonged silence, Atazrial finally spat out an answer.

"Y...Yes, ma'am..I...I had a few drinks. B-But I can assure you, it was nothing heavy!" Panic began to grow in her voice as she tried to defend herself. She realized too late that it may make her seem like she drank something way worse than she should have, but she didn't care. "I swear, it was only a few fizzy drinks..I didn't even touch a beer all night, I di--"

"Okay, Atazrial, thank you." the officer interrupted, taking a mental note of everything the teen said. "I understand you've been told the..news..about your sister?"

Another nod, the silence only being interrupted by the girl's sniffles and weak attempts at holding back tears.

"I'm sorry for your loss, I know how that feels. It's difficult. I'm sorry someone as young as you has to endure that pain. Just one last question as a sort of welfare check, since you are still a minor."

The mentally torn girl finally looked up at the officer, agony screaming in her eyes. She was prepared for the natural 'are you okay' question, to which her answer was obvious, but as the officer had said, it was a 'sort of welfare check'.

"How do you feel knowing you murdered your sister?"