METANOIA

Resentment

After four silent minutes, I was tracked down by Thomas, who led me by the hand into the living room and announced in a deadpan voice that Lynette was in the hospital. I could only stare down at my feet and think that I needed to get to her as fast as I could, only seconds later I heard Jensen rushing with all his might toward the exit, his feet shuffling noisily and banging loudly on the main doors. Vincent quickly followed, and it was only through the narrow opening that I could see Boyd pulling my brother away from the driver's seat and into the driver's seat, while Jensen walked around the car with his hands on the bonnet to keep his balance. Thomas gave me a single glance with his faded grey eyes, and after I nodded in response, we both headed outside, where I got into his car, and we followed Vincent down the narrow suburban road. I didn't think about how fast my deputy was accelerating to a high rate of speed, how he was turning at the intersection and keeping up with Boyd.

I didn't wake up until I was in the lobby of the hospital. There were doctors and nurses, patients and visitors walking the corridors, making the room feel alive. My lips tightened as I stood in front of the white door, gingerly looking behind it, as if it were the creepy monster I'd feared as a child, not Lynette, who'd been given first aid and moved to a regular room after the accident. Thomas stood next to me, arms crossed over his chest and brow furrowed, but he hadn't said a word since my altercation with Jensen. I hesitated to go inside; even though I'd arrived at the hospital at the same time as Vincent, I'd given my brother time to talk to his wife before my deputy and I could get the information I needed. I raced my thoughts in my head, trying to find something in common between Jensen's accident and Lynette's, but I didn't have any clues about the latter, which made the problem worse.

The white door opened and my brother and Vincent came out of the room. There was little emotion on Jensen's face, only a hard look and the corners of his lips turned downward to reveal his depressed state. I looked up at Boyd, who continued to hold the door open with one hand, inviting me inside. I moved forward silently, silently walking past the men.

"You don't look so good," Linette's big eyes were droopy from painful injections, which I knew from the empty syringe container that the nurse most likely forgot to throw away. The blue-coloured room with wooden walls smelled of medicine and the freshness of dew on the grass. The girl was covered in a thin cloth and several wires and tubes were attached to her arms, making nausea instantly creep up to her throat. There were several abrasions on her face and her forearms showed signs of bruising.

"I don't like my family being killed," although the girl tried to keep a positive attitude, my response was more serious. I moved closer and sat down at her feet, after which Lynette instinctively held out her hand to me. Having overcome my inner bewilderment I touched her delicate skin, lightly squeezing her thin fingers.

"I'm fine, but that's not what you're interested in," she said uncertainly but softly, tilting her head slightly to the side, which made me notice the cuts on her neck.

"I'm interested in a lot of things," I replied, turning the corners of my lips down, "you could have brought guards with you," I mentioned, while Lynette's eyes widened in surprise; the girl clearly hadn't expected such a reaction from me, but I hurried to continue, "I can't judge what you did, because I would have done the same thing if I were you."

"I did not want to offend you," the girl was shocked by my admission, but responded sincerely. I had no desire to continue this dramatic scene, from which I quickly put the dialogue back on track.

"Fine," I said sharply, "I need to know who did this to you, you can tell the rest later."

Lynette opened her slightly dry and bitten lips to begin her monologue, but as soon as our eyes crossed, she closed them again, looking at me with a little disbelief, "You will kill this person, right?"