BROKEN HOME :: OT4

dire la vérité est toujours difficile

Chapter Eighteen; dire la vérité est toujours difficile

(perhaps read last chap again to refresh memory idk)

The students are filled up with evidence and papers about Karen's life, trying to contribute towards the case as much as they can.  Officer Hemmings is on the search while Calum finds himself comforting Michael who seem to be good at pretending he is sad about the tragedy.

"Something is wrong here." Alex says and everyone looks up at him with weary eyes, tired of restlessly searching through thousands of papers and failing their mission. 

"Of course it is wrong; we deserve a break and I am going on a strike if Tyler doesn't let us." Josh grunts as he gets up and comes back with two bottles of water for him and Ashley. As they satisfy their taste buds, Alex shakes his head and focuses on the paper he has.

"She wasn't a virgin..." he mumbles to himself and all of his fellow companions take a look at him, only to have Ashley burst out the water she has in her mouth. They seem to somehow find amusement in his theories, and he finally understands what Ashton felt like when they made fun of him.

"So? It is not the 19th century, nobody cares."

"But she grew up in a church, with her whole family dedicate to their religion, surely something must have happened." Ashton defends Alex and gives him a small nod in assurance to show him that he's got his back. The boy smiles in return.

"So what if Ms Clifford wasn't a virgin when she married this psychopath? What does this have to do with anything?" Josh asks and now Ashley is the one to rest her hands on his arm, calming him down as she stares at the floor and thinks through the evidence thoroughly.

"It means that there was a chance she didn't use contraception; oh my god, Alex you are a genius."

"So wait now you are saying she has another child, besides Michael?" Josh questions once more, perplexed more than he was before, not believing any word of this theory.

"She could be staying over at this kid's house." Ashton proposes, rushing around, to find some type of clue as to whether there is another child born in the broken home.

"Hold on, am I the only who thinks this is a maniac theory? Even if she had a kid she hid from everyone, which we have no evidence of, how are we going to find this guy?"

"What guy?" Tyler interrupts, walking down the stairs and pulling a chair to sit down by their side. All of them start to look at their shoes, almost as if counting the tiles would make what they're saying less ridiculous than it sounds. "Hello?"

He looks in Ashton's direction, to which he gets a huff as a response before the hazel eyed boy starts talking; " We had this theory, that perhaps Karen might have another child, for Mr Clifford has been telling his friends how she wasn't clean and surely Catholics wouldn't use contraception right?"

Tyler doesn't speak for a very while, making them a bit more nervous - if that is even possible- than they already are. He smiles and gets up to make a phone call, arranging somehow to find this long lost child when Michael and Calum joins them.

The explanation from Tyler is just a repetition of what he is told, and Michael feels like he needs to sit down and take a deep breathe. He believes that they are not taking the fact that they are telling him that he has a sibling in a serious matter. The boy has been alone all his life, wanting no more than someone to share his sorrows with, and now it is coming like an avalanche. 

He doesn't speak, for he can not form the response to these faulty theories they have; finally, Calum speaks up for him, and Michael's heart rests at peace once again. "Slave to our instincts.." he says.

"What?"

"This, this whole idea of Michael having a sibling; it is not right. If this woman is as religious as you make her out to be for not using contraception, surely she wouldn't have sex before marriage. We shall not be slave to our instincts; we shall combat the grace God has given us."

The words seem almost foreign to the rest of the boys besides Michael; he has heard it a couple of time, perhaps hundred or more times with all honesty, specially when he went to his grand parents' house. Either way, he feels as if he is no longer disconnected from his best friend.

Tyler puts the phone down and actually thinks it twice; he is so involved in the case that he is starting to act unprofessional and trying to come up with any way- even if it is faulty- to get the boy out. He feels responsible, for some reason, as if he owes Michael justice.

And although the first thing he learned at law school is to not have an emotional attachement to your case, he can not help it; because in Michael, he sees the moon, who comes at night time to shine everyone's life and make it brighter, specially those who spend it outside in the cold; because he sees a shooting star in Michael, who comes once in a life time but still manages to be memorable.

Because in Michael, he sees the boy he always wanted to be.

+

dun dun dun Michael has a sibling

I am sorry for the hiatus I zoned out for a bit haha