The Convict

The Break

"Where is she?" These are the first words out of BB's mouth.

"Honestly, I have no fucking clue. She wasn't here when I got here." I lean against the wall.

"Enough of this Melony, she belongs in prison!"

"Believe me or not, I don't know where Dakota is! I even took a polygraph test to prove that, thanks to you. You called the police on me!?"

"I had to! You are not seeing reason!" she shouts.

I roll my eyes and go to the room, she follows me.

Everything has been jostled around and upturned, clear signs that the police were in here looking for Dakota. I run my hand over the dresser, the iPad I gave to Dakota is gone. Did she take it with her?

"Melony please," BB grabs my hand.

"Stop!" I shout at her. "I am done Bernida! Done! What you did today just fucked everything up! You just sent a killer out into the world and you don't even care! You keep trying to justify this but there is no justifying it."

"What are you saying?" she says softly.

"You know what I'm saying," I turn away from her.

"Mel—"

"No," I shake my head. "You can't come back from this one BB. You can't. I'm done. We're done."

She doesn't say anything, doesn't move. Just stands there, staring at me with tears in her eyes.

"I was handling Dakota, this whole time she had been here she never acted out once. Then you come in and now she's missing. You keep trying to control me, keep telling me I'm losing my mind, that I need help, that I don't know what I'm doing. And maybe you're right Bernida, maybe I'm all of those things," I turn to face her. "But that doesn't mean you get to take advantage of me, of my trust. I needed you, needed you to back me up, to support me, to stop all these walls from caving in on me. Instead, you kicked them down yourself, trying to prove your point. Well congratulations, you win, you're right. Dakota is still unhinged, I am unhinged, now what? What are you going to do when she kills someone again? What are you going to do if she kidnaps me again? Not a damn thing, and I think that's what scares you the most. You are afraid of being powerless. You don't care about me, if you did, you wouldn't have done what you did. You just care about being right and proving a point. Lesly thinks this is just as insane as you, yet she's chosen to stay by my side, to help me, what do you call what you did today? Was that helpful Bernida?"

She clenches her jaw and stares down at the floor.

"Answer me!" I shout.

She turns around, wiping her face to hide her tears.

"There were so many other things you could have done to help me. You could have called my family, called my therapist, convinced Dakota to turn herself in, convinced me. Instead, you try to kill her and call the cops on me? Now I have no clue where Dakota is or what she's thinking or what her plan is. She could come for me, come for you, and it will be all your fault."

She sniffles, her shoulders shaking silently.

"I think it's time we face facts BB. I'm not the same Melony you fell in love with. We keep trying to make this work, keep trying to ignore the giant elephant in the room called Dakota but it's not working, and it will never work. Because I love her, and maybe that makes me just as insane as she is, and maybe I don't care about that. Because there is one big difference between you and Dakota, and that's, unlike you, Dakota cares about what I think, what I want. Even when she was holding me captive, she listened to me. She risked her own safety to give me what I wanted. Today you showed me all you care about is your ego. And that's not someone I want to be with. Call the police as many times as you want Bernida, I don't care. I'll go to prison and you'll win again. That's what you want right? To be right, to win? Do it. If that will make you feel better, then do it. But I'm done with this."

"Melony please, I stooped to her level once. It was a moment of weakness. Please. I'm not like that, you know I'm not. Please, don't do this." She begs.

"I don't know what I know anymore Bernida."

"You know me, you've always known me. Please." She walks over to me and grabs my hands in her.

I pull away from her.

"Melony," she sobs.

"You should go. I'll be by tomorrow when you are at work to grab my stuff. Get Cali."

"No, please. We can work through this." She begs.

"No Bernida, we can't. We need a break from each other. I need to find Dakota before she does something stupid."

"Melony, please! I want to marry you; I bought a ring already. Please don't do this. I love you," She begs.

I feel my eyes water and my confidence waver for just a second.

A ring?

"Mel, please. I'm sorry, I'll help you find her. We can fix this."

"Please go," I say softly, my own tears threatening to spill over.

"God damn it!" She screams, kicking over a nightstand before storming out of the room.

I flinch when the door slams.

I sigh and lay down on the bed, looking up at the bullet hole in the ceiling.

After a moment I grab my phone and message the ipad.

"Where are you?"

No response.

"Don't do something stupid. Come back, Dakota. The police will shoot first and ask questions later. Please, Dakota, I don't want you to get hurt."

No response but I do get a read notification.

I sit up and look at the notification.

So she has the iPad.

"Dakota, listen to me. I know BB lied. You were right. I'm sorry I said those awful things, come back. I ended things with Bernida, for good. Please, don't do something stupid, Dakota. Come back."

Read.

No response.

I sigh and fall back on the bed.

Where are you Dakota?