The glass was cold and still between my fingers, the condensation slowly dripping down the inside of my sleeve. Hairs on my arms rise at the sensation, but the effort to remove the nuisance of the liquid is barely comparable to the effort it will take to remove the jacket. Slow and methodical, the dripping of the rain rings. I know the walk to the house will be cold and tedious. The ground was sheathed with ice, the roads laden with brown mud-tinted snow.
"Pennie," The Woman saids, leaning closer, the emotions on her face unreadable. "Do you understand the severity of how you could affect this?"
My chin tremors, my first crack of emotion.
"I understand."
"Then why can't you tell me what you did?" the woman asked, leaning forward on the desk, propped on her elbows.
"Why can't you stop asking?" I smirk in return, leaning just as close to her as she is to me releasing the cool glass from between my grasp. The mint on her breath tinged my air.
The woman makes a face of disgust, backing away from me. "Pennie, what you tell us could change this."
"Have you asked me if I want to change this?" I murmur, silently challenging her to break eye contact.
"You have no reason not to?" The Woman declares, folding her hands in her lap after brushing a strand of hair out of her face. Her hair is brown and stalk straight. So shiny it could pass as a mirror. Her face is angular and, at the moment, contorted in frustration. An emotion that always seems to be gracing her eyes.
"We all know what you did. You know what you did. So speak. Tell us what you did, Pennie; you have no reason to withhold this."
"You have no reason to push me to the ends of the earth for a statement!" I declare, pushing myself away from the desk, the wooden legs of the chair scraping the ground beneath me.
"Pennie, sit back down." The woman murmurs, her voice stern—a threat.
"Make me." I proclaim, turning my back to her. She has no right to act as if she had any right to force me into feeding her this information.
Despite being told the meeting was voluntary, I received numerous increasingly threatening emails. Finally, law enforcement showed up at our door, reminding me of the meeting date I had never even set.
Hell, Sure, completely voluntary. We can go with that.
"Pennie, the information that you and only you have. You can change what happens to you; all you have to do is to tell me what really happened. Just a few simple words."
The small room already felt tight, but man, the walls felt like they were closing in. The one cold window revealing the pat pat pat of the dripping rain and sleet lets in what little grey light filters through the grime-covered glass. With my back facing the women, I can now see that the door in front of me is locked, the knob taught.
"You said the information was voluntary." I groan, my fingers running through my hair.
"You said you would give us information." The woman retorts back.
"I said I would give you information if you would lighten my mother's sentence, and I don't see that happening," I respond, my pulse quickening as my nails dig into the palms of my hands.
"Your mother was not part of what you saw."
"My mother is falsely imprisoned!" I declare, spinning around on my heel, the flat of my hand slamming down on the wooden desk behind me.
The moment my voice raised, I knew I had messed up. The door to the room slams open, and two cops step in, looking like they're ready to fight a big, scary, bad guy. Instead, they find me, face red and heart racing, a 5'2 little gremlin of a human.
"Pennie."
My heart falters as I slowly turn around again to face the two cops, both ready to tackle me at a moment's notice.
"Howdy." I greet, a sheepish grin and heat racing to my cheeks. "Just a misunderstanding." I squeak out, doing my best to keep my clammy hands still, my anger contained.
"No misunderstandings here." Mrs. Patridges nods to the cops, rising from her chair. "Lost cause." She hums sweetly as she sweeps out of the room, giving me a look that could only be translated into unpleasant words.
My fist ball again, my shoulders tensing. I can tell both the officers notice, as quickly one of them places a hand on my shoulder in a sad attempt to de-escalate
"Pennie-" the man begins to comfort me, but before he can even finish, I duck myself out of his touch.
"I'll be back Tuesday." I groan, rubbing my head, knowing just as well as these two in front of me that the court was going to get this information. It was just a matter of if I was going to get what I wanted as well.
YOU ARE READING
Space Egg
AçãoWhen she would walk down the street in the dead of night Elfy would look to the sky, and stare at the stars. It would ease the boredom. She would count the stars, one by one, one by one, one by one. Until she would trip on a rock and scrape her knee...
