Night Walkers - Halloween 2023

Chapter 12

When the people sitting at the surrounding tables left, my father grabbed me by my arm and yanked me from my seat, leaving my half-eaten sandwich behind on the table. He held me close to his side as he dragged me along the sidewalk rounding the corner towards the neighborhood.

"Where is the house?" he demanded.

I wriggled my arm trying to get free from his grip. This only caused him to hold on to me tighter. "Ow. Let go. You're hurting me."

"Shut up. Tell me where your mother is or new bruises on your arm won't be the only thing you'll have to worry about."

"Fine. Go that way across the street." I gestured forwards. "Then cross the street again to the left and continue straight until the next street where you will turn right."

He continued dragging me along, following the directions I gave, ignoring the occasional looks people passing by gave him.

Once we rounded the corner of the street at the end of my directions, my father finally caught on to where I was truly directing him.

"Damn it, you little brat, this is the police station." He hissed.

It was too late, and to my surprise, some police officers were gathered outside for some kind cookout of function they were having at the station.

"Help!" I screamed before my father could drag me in the opposite direction. "Someone please help me! This man is assaulting me!"

My father gripped my arm tighter and shook me slightly as he mumbled. "Why, you little..."

This caught the attention of several of the police officers and they sprinted in our direction. My father tried to run back the way we came while pulling me with him, but as the officers were gaining ground behind us, he let me go and sprinted away.

Three of the police officers continued in pursuit of my father while one stayed behind with me. The officer was young. He had blonde hair that shined in the sunlight; it was slicked back and styled with some hair gel. His chin and cheeks were covered with a short, neatly trimmed beard. He wore the usual blue police uniform with a badge on one hip and a gun strapped to the other.

"Are you alright, miss?"

I nodded. "Other than some new bruises on my arm and my nerves shaken up, I'm alright, officer."

"Good. I'm officer Patterson, why don't you come back to the station with me, and we'll talk about what happened."

Officer Patterson took my statement of what happened today with my father. I also explained to him the history of abuse my mom and I have with him. The other police officers that had pursued my father, managed to take him down and bring him in while I was talking to Officer Patterson. Since they had no hard evidence, they didn't have jurisdiction over what could be done with him for a long-term situation. However, they could hold him for a couple days.

After my conversation with Officer Patterson, I was allowed to leave. I was glad I had at least a couple days to talk to mom and figure out what we are going to do.

Once I returned home, I found my mom wasn't anywhere in the house. It was still the weekend so she shouldn't be at work. I decided to watch a movie to distract myself from the constant worried thoughts of my father's return, as well as the Nelemec's strange behavior.

Later on, in the early evening, mom still wasn't around. I tried calling her phone, but it went straight to voicemail as if it was turned off or was out of battery. I decided to go back to the hospital to visit Carson.

As I neared Carson's room, I heard a scream followed by loud sobbing then a woman's voice. "My baby girl!"

"Why did this happen?" A man's voice asked.