Princess Charming (gxg)

Part 31

I drove Hallie and I over to the police station right away after Officer Rodriguez called me.

I could tell in the car that Hallie was very nervous. I was too, but she looked like she could barely hold it together.

"It's going to be okay." I said to her, "We are going to know who did this to us, and then it will be put to a stop."

"And they'll get charges pressed against them too." Hallie said, "They're not getting off that easy."

"Absolutely not." I agreed.

When Hallie and I walked into the police station, we were led back by Officer Rodriguez, and another Officer, a younger male who introduced himself as Officer Davis.

They led Hallie and I into Officer Rodriguez's office. We took a seat across from the two of them, who were behind the desk.

"Thanks for coming in so quickly." Officer Rodriguez said.

"Right when you called we drove over." I said to her.

"As I said on the phone, it looks like we found the person behind the emails." Officer Rodriguez said.

"I'm surprised at how fast it was." Hallie said quietly.

"The suspect didn't do the best job of hiding his identity." Officer Davis said.

"His identity? So it is a man?" I said.

Who could it be?

My heart started pounding as Officer Rodriguez said, "Do either of you know a Ryan Turner?"

I felt my stomach lurch.

"That's my ex-wife's brother." I said.

I saw Hallie turn and look at me, wide eyed.

"Your ex-wife?" Officer Rodriguez asked me.

"She's...deceased." I said.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Officer Rodriguez said, "And I'm sorry that her brother has now done this. Do you know why he could possibly have done this?"

"I've been blamed for her death. Especially by her friends and family." I said, "She crashed her car while drunk."

"Did Ryan ever exhibit any strange behavior at all, did you even know him well?" Officer Davis asked me.

"Yes...actually, he was always strange." I said, "He always made me feel very uncomfortable, in fact."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hallie's expression turn into one of concern.

"Can you tell me about that?" Officer Rodriguez asked me.

"He was a year older than Jocelyn, my ex-wife. So I guess he would be...26 by now. But he always had this way of making me feel weird. He would always stare at me, to the point of making me squirm practically. If I was ever left alone in a room with him, he would always make some kind of comment about my looks. There was just something very off about him. I even told Jocelyn a few times that he creeped me out, but she would just say he was a flirt." I explained.

"Thank you for telling me that." Officer Rodriguez said, "I'm really sorry you had to go through that, Alina. And I'm very sorry that you and Hallie are going through this right now. We are going to make sure Ryan will be charged."

"What happens after that?" Hallie asked.

"We will be in touch about a court date." Officer Davis said, "If anything else happens, you contact us immediately, okay?"

"Thank you." I said, "I really appreciate everything you've done."

"Yes, thank you." Hallie said.

As we walked out together, I thought that I was going to feel more relief than I did knowing who did this to us.

But on the inside, I felt dread.

My past is coming back to haunt me. Again.

When Hallie and I got into the car, I leaned against the back of the seat and closed my eyes for a moment.

"Alina? Are you okay?" Hallie asked me.

"No, honestly. I'm not okay in the moment." I said, "I will be okay. Im relieved that we found out who did this to us. Once again though...my past is being dug up."

"I feel terrible about this." Hallie said, "I didn't know that Jocelyn's brother was like that either."

"It's one of those things that I kind of pushed out of my brain, but now that it's been brought up again, it all came flooding back to me. I felt like I was 18 again, in the same room with him, feeling like I wanted to just disappear. He never did anything outright inappropriate. But it was just a really bad vibe that I got." I said.

"It makes me upset as well that Jocelyn didn't really listen when you voiced your concerns." Hallie said.

"I once told her that I would appreciate it if she didn't leave me in a room alone with him." I said, "She didn't listen to that. She didn't believe he was weird."

"Well...it turns out he certainly is." Hallie said, "I feel like he was probably a subscriber to my page. Which creeps me out insanely."

"I'm not looking forward to having to see him in court." I said, "And I just really hope that his family won't be there."

"What was their family like...Jocelyn's family?" Hallie asked me.

"She had four siblings, actually. Two brothers and two sisters. Her other brother, Tom, was in the Army too. Her mother is a nurse and her father was an electrician. I honestly didn't interact much with her parents. They drank every night though." I said, "That's where I'm sure Jocelyn got it from."

"I'm sorry if you don't want to talk about her." Hallie said.

"It's okay." I said, "It's always so weird though. As much as we went through, and as terrible as she could be, I always wish that she didn't have to die young like she did. If she was alive we would not be together. I wouldn't even speak to her. But she deserved to get the help she needed. And to hopefully one day be happy."

I felt tears spring to my eyes, and Hallie noticed.

"Oh, Alina." she said, "You're too kind for your own good."

Hallie then wiped away a couple tears that fell from my eyes and kissed me.

"For the longest time I didn't think I deserved anything good in this life." I said to Hallie, "I didn't think I deserved good days, experiences, or people. Thank you for showing me that I do."

"I always will." Hallie said.

I drove Hallie and I back to the house. When we got back, she asked me if I minded if she played video games in her room.

"You don't have to ask me." I chuckled, "Maybe I'll come join you soon."

"I'd like that." Hallie said.

I stayed in my room for a little while while I heard the sounds of Hallie's game that she was playing. I decided to go join her.

She took off her headset when I came into the room and grinned at me.

"Hey." she said, "I'm glad you joined me."

"I can't stay away from you for long."

"You know, this kind of reminds me when you came down to the basement after the graduation party. When I got your text asking if I was up, I was elated." Hallie said.

"Best decision I made, sending you that text." I laughed.

Hallie squeezed my hand and grinned at me.

As I thought back on the day, I was relieved to know who had did this to us. Who had hurt me. Who had hurt her.

But I was absolutely terrified for what was to come.