Hidden Heartstrings

04. Locked Away

04. Locked Away

The metal door clangs shut, followed by the sound of keys jingling in the lock. The footsteps of the Sheriff grows fainter with each passing second.

Florescent lights hum and buzz overhead; one blinks every so often as if it is about to go out.

The deadly silence is occasionally broken by the faint whisperings and flipping of papers.

"Why do I have to be in the same cell as him? Can't you just let me go?" Desperate slides off every word that leaves my mouth.

"I'm sorry but I can't. Unless you don't mind spending the day with a possible molester and drunkard, I'd rather you both be in the same cell." The female Sheriff says smoothly, without a single care in the world.

Of course, it's not like she's the one who's getting her bum locked up in some dingy cell.

"Could you just overlook this small matter and let me off? I really didn't mean-"

"Of course you did," the indignation he strongly grasps onto in his voice bounces of from wall to wall in the suffocating cell and eventually lands onto my ears.

My eyes peel themselves off the police officer who's already seated on her chair, helping herself to some pistachios and onto the boy sitting in a corner, his fingers running through his disheveled hair.

My face falls and my back slides down the cell wall in defeat upon realisation that there's no way out of here.

Unless Jake convinces the Sheriff otherwise.

But after accusing him of being a fraud and landing him in a holding cell, chances of him doing anything for my sake seems pretty darn slim.

Discomfort reaches out to me with its lengthy and scrawny fingers and tighten its grip, causing me squirm instinctively.

He glowers at me with so much passion that I can almost feel the intensity of his gaze scorching my face, setting it on fire.

"If you didn't try to cheat me in the first place, I would've have reported you for fraudulence," annoyance drips from my voice.

It's true; if it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here in the first place; trapped in the same, shoebox-sized cell as him, breathing in this dusty air that reeked of dark coffee and Dunkin' donuts.

To be honest, I really wasn't going to do anything about his fraudulence, but when he accused me of vandalism, that's when I drew the line.

"Even if you were pissed, what the hell made you think vandalising my property was the way to get back at me?"

His green eyes slices through me, revealing the regret that's buried deep within me.

"There's no one to bail me out nor do I have a lawyer to get me out of here. I'm stuck here and so are you. Let's just get along for once." The words roll out of my mouth ever so easily.

All I wanted was to stay in an apartment near my college with Murphy by my side as I go on leading this mundane life that I've grown accustomed to over the past few years.

Never would I've imagined myself tangled up with such a grasshole that would eventually drag me into such dangerous waters, risking a death blow to my impeccable reputation.