Over Him ✔

|Chapter Nine|

Copyright ©2022_Over Him ✔ written by OluchiHelen
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So far Evelyn seemed to be recovering well despite the amount of blood she had lost. The night after Ben had made it crystal clear that he wanted nothing to do with his family or anyone close to him, Dave had taken it upon himself to call the cops, that was after he'd gotten permission from his family to do so.

Strolling into the hospital building, with two brown lunch bags in her hand and two leading women magazines under her armpit, April inhales the familiar scent of drugs and antiseptic, something that reminded her of work.

Giving a small nod to the nurse at the reception office, she heads down the hallway and into the elevator. Within three minutes she was headed down another hallway, straight for her mother's room where she knew Cherry would be waiting for her. Cherry had slept the night there despite Evelyn stating that she was just fine on her own, leading her to spend the night without something to eat. It was a small price she had to pay.

On entering, Evelyn and Cherry snap their heads in her direction. "Hey, you're here. Thank goodness, I didn't think my stomach would stop growling," Cherry states, her attention solely pinned on the brown paper bags. Tossing one at her, April settles into a seat and hands her mother the new magazines she'd requested.

"So how're you feeling? Has the doctor been here today?" April asks, getting out one of the turkey sandwiches from the paper bag. "Yeah, he was here a couple of minutes ago. Over all I'm doing just fine."

There's a bit of tension in the air as April silently waits for the one question she knew her mother had always had at the tip of her tongue.

"Has your father said anything to any of you since then?" she gulps, staring painfully at them and they both shake their heads. The pain on Evelyn's face was evident and it tore both her kids apart knowing that there was nothing either of them could do.

"Do you want me to check in on him later on today? I mean I can if you'd like," April suggests and Evelyn shakes her head.

"Your father needs space and time more than any thing else. Everything must have been too much for him to bear," she sighs and Cherry moves in for a hug, pressing a kiss to her mother's temple before pulling away.

"We'll get through this... We always do," Cherry states, trying to encourage her but Evelyn shakes her head, her eyes distant.

"What if we don't get through this one. I don't think I'll be able to live with the guilt, " she replies.

"Don't say that. Remember to stay positive. Don't let the devil put in nasty ideas into your head," April chides, a small frown on her face. Evelyn stares up at her kids, a small grateful smile etched on her lips.

"Thank you girls so much. Really, I'm glad you guys still stood by me," she says .

"We're family. No matter what happens, we've gotta stick together," Cherry replies, her lips pressed into a thin smile. "That's something dad needs to learn," April adds, rolling her eyes.

•••

Ben lay on the thin bed they'd created for him in his cell. He surely didn't like being here. Every now and then, there were people yelling at each from across the cell rooms and it sickened him. The newspaper he'd been given was dated back to weeks ago.

Above his cell, the light bulb flickers for the tenth time that hour and regains it power. He sighs and sits up, his mind drifting off to his family and what he'd done on the night of Christmas. There was no denying that what he did was wrong but just like he'd explained to the cops, he wasn't in his right state of mind. He was pissed and clearly under the influence of alcohol, a point he'd left out while narrating to the cops as they dragged him out of the house and pushed him into the backseat of their car.

It had been two days since they'd kept him here and from what he had been told, his court hearing would be the following week on a Tuesday. He had already contacted his lawyer who promised to be down at the station by the following morning. After giving a bit of information on what his problem was, the sigh received had completely dampened his mood. The fear and realization of how long they might put him away, under the count of attempted murder was beginning to creep in.

He blinked back the thoughts and reopened another old newspaper, desperate to get the thought out of his mind but it almost felt like everywhere he looked, reminded him of his situation. Hopeless.

Later that evening, a guard, a tall young man with a very stoic and expressionless face pulls out a key from his breast pocket and unlocks the door before dragging his black baton against the metal bars in order to wake a sleeping Ben. Muttering a string of profanities, something he had never really been used to, he sits up and eyes the cop, a scowl on his face.

"Dinner time, your highness," the man mocked, pulling the door open. Heading towards the cop, a pair of handcuffs are placed around both wrists before he's being lead down a hallway.

The lunch room was just like the one back in high school, back in the days, dreaded but this time around it was even scarier. The men there looked like they were very familiar with the four walls of the building and were here for even more serious offenses. Ignoring their taunts and laughters, he follows the guard into the room and almost immediately the guard takes a step back and plate of food comes hurling towards his direction and splatters at his feet, missing his overall by just a few centimetres.

The guard doesn't bother doing anything, instead a small smirk tugs at the corner of his lips. He was happy. Ben certainly didn't know what the guard had against him but he knew that as long as he was here, it would be hell for him.

He picks his tray of food and heads to a nearly empty table where a large man with a pair of glasses was settled, silently chewing on his stale bread. The man doesn't bother sparing Ben a glance, instead he says audibly, "Leave."

Ben stares up at him, a quizzical look on his face. "Look, I just want to eat dinner and I'll leave," he tries to bargain but the man's face hardens. He looks up at Ben, locking eye contact with him and fear washes over Ben. A part of the man's face was severely burnt and his left eye didn't seem to be working anymore.

Suddenly the hunger had vanished. Pushing aside his tray, he hurries away from the table and towards the exit where the guard was busy chatting with another cop. I'm seeing an alarmed Ben, he frowns, turning his attention to him.

"And what's the problem again?" he groans.

"I wanna go back to my room," Ben replies, glancing over his shoulder at the man who was still watching him with piercing green eyes, the brightest Ben had ever seen!

"If I were you, I'd get really comfortable with these guys. You may be here longer than you think," he scoffs and returns his attention to a pretty female cop officer. At the sound of those words, it all registered in his head. He could be sent away for close to life imprisonment and for the first time since he'd gotten there, tears brimmed at his eyes.

A/N:
Thank you so much for reading you guys. Please leave a vote and let me know what you think in the comment section. I'm doing the best I can to update... #lifeofastudent. I already have drafts saved, so don't worry, it's all ready. The only thing left, is a bit of editing and it'll be on your screen again. Lol.

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