The Sheriff's Daughter

Chapter One: The Day My Life Changed Forever

Chapter One: The Day My Life Changed Forever

On Fridays, I got out of school early. With my free period at the end of the day, I had been given permission to leave early every single Friday – and I always took it. Just like any other Friday, I left my own school and began the walk to my younger brother's school: King County Middle School.

It wasn't too far of a walk from King County High School, so I didn't mind it. It was roughly fifteen minutes and it allowed me to think through things or just enjoy my music. Today, however, I realized I wouldn't be able to just listen to music as my brain tugged at a memory. My thoughts trailed back to this morning, when I had caught Carl eves dropping on our parents in the middle of an argument.

I walked down the steps, taking them two at a time. I was running a bit behind schedule and was having a pretty bad morning, all in all. Still, I had to be on time for school and I wasn't going to let a few bad things (having only one sock clean, misplacing my shoes, forgetting to finish my homework the night before, breaking my hairdryer and having to deal with my still wet hair, etc.) stop me from having a hopefully good day. I didn't know at the time just how terrible my day was going to get.

As I made it to the bottom of the stairs, I noticed that Carl was standing right at the entryway to the kitchen, his body pressed against the wall as he peeked around the corner. Before I could ask what he was doing, I heard my parents.

"What are you saying, Lori?" Dad demanded.

I leaned around Carl, peering into the kitchen. Neither of my parents noticed, so I stayed silent as I listened to their heated debate and watched their body language. They had obviously been at this for a few minutes. Mom's arms were crossed, Dad was running a hand through his hair, and the two were sharing a broken look that I hadn't ever seen on their features before.

"I just . . . Dammit, Rick. Sometimes I feel like you don't care about this family at all. Carl needs his father to actually teach him things – not to come home, eat and then go straight to bed. And Anna . . . Rick, I don't want her to be a police officer! She could be killed. And you're encouraging her to –"

"To do what she wants," he interrupts, his voice hard. "Lori, I'm trying here. Our daughter wants to help people. She wants to stop the bad guys in this world. I'm helping her with that. As for Carl, I'm always exhausted when I get home. But how about tomorrow, I take him out and me and him have a father-son day?"

Mom wiped at one of her eyes with her hand, trying to keep from crying. Her voice shook lightly as she spoke.

"Rick, you're not getting it. These are our children. But you're not putting them in first place. You're putting them in second. You're putting me in third, if I'm lucky."

There was silence. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye and looked down to see it was Carl. His blue eyes were sad and full of grief. Trying my best to comfort him and ignore the ache in my heart, I reached out and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder as I ducked back out of view of the kitchen. I didn't want them to see me or Carl right now – they'd be even more upset with themselves and each other if they found out their children had heard every single word.

After a tense moment, Dad said:

"That'll change. I love you and our kids. You know that."

The way he said it broke my heart. I hugged Carl, who looked like he could cry. Truthfully, I felt like I could cry. Our parents loved each other, but I couldn't deny that the two of them had been more distant with each other lately. I hoped Carl hadn't noticed it, but I'm sure it didn't matter now.