The Sinner

61

"Corrine," A voice shook me awake.

My eyes pop open. I blink a few times to get rid of the blurriness. I sigh as I flip onto my other side and see Maggie dressed professionally.

"What?" I ask.

"They caught John B," She says. What? "Well they did last night, his preliminary hearing is today."

Did she really wake me up to tell me this? I rub my eyes and slowly sit up. It felt early, before nine am even.

I don't know what to say, "That's...good then." I could feel her staring down at me. I couldn't tell what the look on her face meant. "Are you going somewhere?"

"The hearing," She says. "Do you want to come?"

"Not really," I explain. I would feel way too guilty to sit through that, knowing who the real killer is. "Law isn't really my thing."

"Your father's home," She tells me. "We're going together."

"He is?" I ask, running a hand through my hair. "When did he get back?"

"Him and Ward got home late last night," She explains. "I thought maybe after, you two could spend a day together bonding." Bonding. That's when you know your life is fucked up. My father was the one who raised me and we need bonding.

"Yeah, maybe," I say with a sigh. I hear a light knock on the door, my father walks in wearing a tie and a light purple shirt.

"Hey honey," He says. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," I say shortly. I look at the glass of water on the desk next to me and reach out to grab it. But Maggie beats me to it, and hands me pills from the orange bottle sitting right next to her.

"I think you should come with us, every respected family in this town is going," He says. I tilt my head back and throw the pill into my mouth. "It'll look good."

I don't think I could possibly sit through this. I knew the full story, the full truth. And if John B goes to jail for the rest of his life for something he didn't commit, the guilt would eat me alive.

"I don't care about our image dad," I sigh as I throw the covers off of me. "I really don't, I'm sorry if that pisses you off. But it's getting so old."

"Okay, you don't have to care," he says evenly. "Either way, I still think you should come, so, get ready."

They both walk away a few seconds later. I sigh again as I move towards the restroom, my feet pressing on the floor.

I was in a lot of pain following yesterday's event with Rafe. I also felt, guilty. As if I shouldn't have done it, at least not for myself. I was getting somewhere, at least mentally before all of this.

Surprisingly, it didn't make me miss him any more. I still feel the same way about him that I did before we had sex.

Yesterday, I felt like a different person. It felt good because I've never been one to take charge during sex. I felt strong. Rafe, I think, liked it as well.

After doing my business in there, I walk out to see that Maggie was back sitting in my room. She flashes me a warm and welcoming grin.

"Are you okay?" She asks.

"I'm fine," I say, staring at her through the mirror. "Why do you ask?"

"Your mood seems to change whenever your father gets home," She explains. "Which I get, he pops in and out of your life."

"Yeah," I say shortly.

I throw on some light makeup, just to hide the bags. I run a brush through my hair, smoothing out the jumbled up parts.