Heart's Games

Heart's Games|Chapter 25: Try Giving The Man a Chance

Chapter 25: Try Giving The Man a Chance

"But how come Mr. Patrick wasn't there?" Claire asked, a concerned look on her face.

I couldn't help but laugh, because that was honestly one of the least important details in the story.

"He was starting school at the Wentzler Academy," I said. "I remember that Mr. and Mrs. Patrick were bummed he was going to miss Thanksgiving with them."

"So how old were you by then?"

"I was just nine years old," I remembered.

We were already sitting on the floor, forming a circle. My back was given to the security cameras. Bryan sat beside me, followed by Claire to the right. Fanny sat on Claire's right. Jerome was right across from me, next to Fanny. And Grace sat between me and Jerome. For some odd reason, I couldn't hep but over-analyze our sitting positions.

"Okay, let me see if I understood this. So that was the first time your aunt and Seth met and they immediately fell in love. They spent all night talking and began to make plans for the day after that. You got bummed and jealous so that is when the hate began," Fanny began to repeat everything I had just described, but she described it much more quickly. "And then for your middle school graduation you were mad at Seth because your aunt missed it, all because Seth was graduating from his little Police Academy."

"Which was stupid because he had already graduated from Forensic Science. I never understood why he decided to do that combination."

"Well now he is a police man and the head of two investigations," Jerome pointed out.

"Yeah, and he is doing a terrible job at both."

Jerome sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, so we know why you hate him but why does he hate you?"

"That's not the end of the story," I said. "You see, after that they got married. Only a year after. I never understood why my aunt was going so fast. She was never like that. It was like if he had her under some sort of spell. Seth had taken away my best friend, not just my aunt. He always tried to make me like him but I hated him for taking my aunt away. And then...that night...at summer camp..."

My breathing began to unsteady, but Bryan put a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. You don't have to talk about that. Jerome told us."

I looked up to see Jerome looking down to the floor ashamed. "I'm sorry. I-I didn't know that-"

"It's okay," I interrupted him. "Someone had to do it."

Jerome nodded his head but denied looking toward me. "Go on. You can skip that part," Gracie said.

"Actually, I can't. When Harold had told me he was hearing sounds from the office, we thought Seth was hurting Aunt Liz. After all, they were supposed to have a romantic dinner. But nothing seemed to match. The thing is that they had sent Harry and I to testify. When they began to ask the questions I...I did the stupidest thing ever."

A long silence had dawned on the room, but I am not exactly how long it was. After all, I had been carried away on my memories. I could still feel the coldness of those chairs. The cold table...The coldness in my heart. Because my best friend was gone and she was never going to come back. And now I was being forced to be here and share with Seth.

"Did you-?" Claire began, almost too afraid to ask.

"I said he was the culprit."

The silence came back. I could swear I heard the thumps of my heart. But it was all just in my imagination.

"What happened?" Bryan interrupted the silence.

"He obviously proved himself free of blame. And he was really, but I mean really mad at me," I said, letting a sad chuckle escape from me.