Better

Chapter 17

I sat on the floor in front of the couch, letting Lua mess with my hair. I still wore it long. So it was perfect for her to experiment with while hers grew back.

A few months ago, she'd stuck a wad of gum in her hair. The only way to get it out was to cut it. So now, she had a little blonde pixie cut.

"So pretty!" She'd giggled to herself every few minutes, then finally told me I could look at her masterpiece.

Once I was finished admiring her work, she took everything out and moved on to her next task, begging me to letting her have ice cream before lunch.

I was on my twelfth "No, Lu.", when someone knocked on the front door. I wasn't expecting anyone, so I looked through the peephole first. My heart almost stopped when I saw two police officers standing in the hall.

"Hello, sir." One said to me when I opened the door, "Is this the residence of Tanner Dunn?"

"It is." I told him, "Why? What did he do?"

For a second, I tried to think of some crimes that someone as good as Tanner could have committed. But the look in their eyes told me that that was not what this was about.

The leading officer asked what my relation to Tanner was, looking sadder when I told him.

"May we come in?" He asked me.

"I'm... I'm sorry. You'd scare my daughter. Can you just tell me what's wrong?"

There was a short pause while the officer gathered his thoughts. When he finally spoke, I thought I had to have been dreaming.

"There was a shooting at the building Tanner was working in today." He began, "I'm afraid he was one of the victims."

The officers were trying to look professional. But delivering news like that had to be hard. Receiving it though, was much worse.

For a moment, I just stood there. I was so stunned that I couldn't feel anything. My legs felt numb, my body got hot, and it became harder and harder to steady my breathing. I couldn't keep my voice from shaking as I tried to keep talking.

"What... what the hell are you talking about?" I snapped, "What do you mean victim?"

"He was killed on the scene." The second officer told me, "I'm so sorry for you loss."

It surprised me that I didn't burst into tears. I felt that I should have. But I guess I'd never felt such intense heartbreak before. I didn't know how to handle it.

"My... uh. My daughter." I managed to choke out.

I turned around quickly, rushing back to the kitchen. Lua sat quietly, focused on the carton of vanilla she'd stolen from the freezer. When she saw me, she started trying to apologize. But I just picked her up; holding her tightly as the first tears finally escaped my eyes.

"What, Dad?" She asked me.

"Listen, baby." I said, struggling not to sound like I was crying, "We're gonna go hang out with Aunt Alyssa for a while. Okay?"

"Why?"

"I need to take care of something, Lu."

It was then that she saw the police officers standing in the living room. She gasped and clung tighter to me; demanding to know why they were here.

"They're gonna give us a ride. Okay? Does that sound fun?"

She nodded hesitantly, watching them carefully as I put on her boots and coat. I was hardly able to tell them what I needed them to do. But they easily understood. So they drove us to Alyssa's apartment, and waited for me downstairs.