The Dangers of Pomegranate Salad

Chapter 18

Chapter 18 Oh Mother.

I feel more tears in my eyes. I try to keep them back because I’m tired of crying. She walks in and hugs me tightly. She keeps me in a hug for several minutes and then let’s go, she looks me in the eye and I see they’re red and puffy from crying.  “Where have you been?” she asks me quietly. Her voice is rough and broken sounding, like she’s been gargling gravel.  I don’t say anything, but I can feel fresh tears sliding down my cheeks. “Ma’am if you’ll come with me,” says Detective Tradin. Mom nods, “I’m taking you home after this, and we will discuss” she says as she walks out. They leave, and a few seconds later Detective Tradin returns. “I’m going to ask you some questions now.” He says to me placing a recorder on the table. He sits in one of the chairs, gesturing for me to do the same. I do, with my arms crossed. “Now, miss, how long have you known Mr. Underlan?” he asks me. I figure this question is safe, so I answer. “He moved here a couple of years ago, I saw him at school. But we didn’t become friends until, maybe, a month ago?” I say. “And, how did you become friends?” he ask. “Well, I had a job at his house and he would hang out with me while I worked” I explain. I’m not giving anything away am I? It’s a good idea to answer some questions truthfully right? “Now, what happened the day Mr. Underlan’s house burned down?” he asks me. I suck in my cheeks. This one will be harder to explain. I stay silent, for a moment, but then decide I need to give an explanation for my mother. So I tell him the truth “Ok, fine I’ll tell you. Haden’s parents had him tied up in their basement, I found him and untied him, but his parents found us, and they kidnapped us and, we escaped and took their car but we didn’t know where to go, so we ran away.” I say in a jumble. Well, it’s sort of the truth. Detective Tradin looks at me. “That’s your story?” he asks I nod. “Miss, if you’re trying to protect him, lying isn’t the way to go about it,” he says calmly. I stand up abruptly, “I’m not lying! Why don’t you people ever listen?!” I yell. He stands up to, but he’s a lot taller than me, making him almost menacing. “Miss, I’m trying to help you, now I can ask you a different question if you want,” he says, I sink back into the chair, and look away from him. I nod. “Now, Miss, did Mr. Underlan hurt you in anyway?” I look at him, “No, he didn’t.” I say angrily. “Did Mr. Underlan do anything to you?” I’m a little nervous about what he’s getting at “no, he didn’t do anything to me” I say. He sighs, “did you and Mr. Underlan, do anything together?” And that’s what I was afraid of.  My eyes widen “NO! We DID NOT do that” I exclaim. “Honesty, can’t two teens of the opposite gender do anything together without people thinking there up to something?!” I say. “We are trying to figure out why you ran away with him miss” he says “We got kidnapped by crazy people, and escaped and where trying to get away! Why don’t you believe me?!” I yell, I get up and start pacing “Can’t you just believe me!?” I keep pacing, and I feel more tears, I start crying. “Why did you go with him?” he asks calmly. “Because I love him!”  I scream.  I’m crying really hard now and my breathing is weird. All the fear and anger just pours out of me. Is this what a mental breakdown feels like? If so, I can understand why people don’t like them. Detective Tradin looks at me. “Miss, D’Artiste, we’re going to be done with questions for now.” He says. He leaves the room, leaving me all alone again.

I feel helpless waiting here. I hate it. I pace, waiting for someone to come for me. I feel like crying again, but I have no tears left. I feel so freaked out. I’m afraid that the Underlan’s are coming for us. I’m sure they are. I know they’re going to come here and take me and Haden, and I am so scared they are going to kill someone. I couldn’t take it if someone died. I start pacing faster, walking in circles around the table and chair. I am breathing fast. I think I’m having a panic attack. It’s not pleasant. First a nervous breakdown and now I’m having a panic attack. I need to calm down. I try to slow my breathing, which results in making me dizzy. I eventually calm myself. I sit in the chair with my eyes closed trying to control myself, when someone suddenly opens the door. My eyes flash open, and behind me something rumbles. I keep myself from looking back. I see that the person who opened the door is my mom. “Hi sweetie” she says. “Hey mom” I say, feeling terrified and Relived at seeing her again. What the hell am I supposed to say to her? How am I going to explain? She comes up and hugs me tightly. “Why did they take you away from me?” she asks me while we hug. I don’t say anything; my throat hurts from crying so much. I feel like I’ll start crying again if I try to say anything. But I need to give her an answer. I take a shaky breath “I don’t know” I say, my voice cracking. She nods, holding me closer. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.” She says into my hair. I feel tears pooling in my eyes again. “I’m going to take you home” she says. She pulls away and leads me to the door. I wipe my nose on my sleeve. “What’s happening to Haden?” I ask her. She sighs sadly. “I don’t know.” We walk past all the police officers “can I see him?” I ask. She hesitates. “I don’t know. Let’s ask” she looks around and spots detective Tradin. We walk over to him. “Excuse me, Detective, is there any way that my daughter can see Haden?” she asks him. He looks confused. “Who?” I roll my eyes. “Underlan” I say. His eyebrows go up in recognition “Oh, right. I don’t know if we can do that” he says. “Why not?” I ask. He is taken aback. “Well, because it’s not protocol, and….” My mom is staring him down. He stands up, “actually, I think perhaps I can allow a short visit. Come with me” he says. I look at my mom, who has a smile on her face. We follow Detective Tradin to a different interrogation room. I look through the window, seeing Haden who looks, freaked out and bored at the same time, and yes, he is the only person who can pull that off. Detective Tradin opens the door, and me and my mom step in. Haden looks up at us. He stands up. I walk over to him and hug him. He hugs me back while my mom watches us. We let go of each other, and Haden looks me in the eye. I know he’s worried that his parents are coming for us. But he says something else. “Do you think they’ll give me back my note book?” he asks me, trying to make this not as bad as it really is. I laugh, a tired sad laugh, “I don’t know” I say. I hug him again, this time using as an excuse to say something to him. “Do you know what’s going to happen to you?” I whisper in his hair. “I don’t know” he says. I’m afraid for him. “Do you think they are still after us?”  I whisper again. “Yes” he says. We let go again. I look him in the eye. His body says he is bored, but his eyes are sad and tired and scared. I am sure my eyes tell the same story. I was hoping it would be over. But I guess not. I look at my mom. “I think I have to go” I say. He nods. “Be careful” he tells me quietly. I nod. “I will.” I say. A loud crash comes from the main lobby of the police station. We all jump. My mom looks worried, Haden looks angry. “They are here” he whispers. My eyes widen, and my heart speeds up. Mom reaches for the door. Her fingers touch the handle. “No! Don’t!” I yell, but she opens the door. Right out side of the door are Haden’s parents. Both of them look angry and smug. I am terrified. My mom yells for Detective Tradin. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Haden and I are trapped. “Ah, So, thought the police could protect you did you?” asks Mr. Underlan. “Waste of time, we can still get you” says Mrs. Underlan.  They start coming towards us, but Mom steps in front of us, blocking us with her arms. “You will not touch her” My mom says in a steely calm voice. Mrs. Underlan laughs. “Oh please, you idiot human. You think you can stop us?” She waves her hand and mom flies to the side. “No!” I scream. I start towards mom, but Haden grabs my hand and pulls me towards the door. I look back at mom and see she’s getting up, luckily the Underlan’s are after us, so they won’t hurt her. I hope. I turn so that we can see where we are going. We run through the lobby. Detective Tradin is sitting at his desk, looks startled. “Hey!” he yells at us. We keep running. I spot a note book that looks like Haden’s. I reach out and grab it as we run, hoping perhaps it’s his. The Underlan’s run after us, throwing things at us as we run. Whether they throw them with hands or powers I don’t know and don’t really care. We keep running. “Help!” I scream, hoping someone will get that they are not playing tag with us and do something. A gun shot goes off. I scream again, ducking as I run. Haden looks pale, and I am afraid he was shot, but I see no blood. I look back and see Mr. Underlan is lying on the ground in a pool of blood. I feel sick. Mrs. Underlan is crying over his body, while the police surround her. I look away still feeling sick. We burst out the doors. Behind us I hear screams and more gun shots. Then I hear an explosion. The blast nocks us both to the ground. I feel heat on the back of my neck, and look over to see that part of the police station is on fire. “Mom” I say weakly.  My only thought is, oh god, she’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead, over and over. I’m shaking, so scared that she might be dead. Haden gets up and grabs my hand. “Come on, she’s not dead” I don’t know if he’s talking about mom or Mrs. Underlan. I assume it’s the latter and follow him. Behind the police station is a forest which we run too. I see fire trucks coming.  I look back and see my mom, dashing out of the back door to the police station. She doesn’t see me, but I see her. Her expression is raw terror. I know she thinks I’m still in there. She doesn’t know I’m out. I stop running about to run over to her, when Haden drags me into the forest. I start to scream but he puts his hand over my mouth. “Shhh!” he whispers harshly in my ear. I try to tell him to let me go. With his hand over my mouth, that doesn’t work. I try to break free, but he’s a lot bigger than me. “Stop, I’m trying to help you” he says. I keep struggling, mumbling curses under his hand, and he keeps dragging me. Finally he lets me go and I flip out on him. “Why didn’t you let me go to her!?” I scream in his face. “She thought I was dead! You could see it on her face!” I scream, crying again. “She thinks I’m dead!” I scream, as I collapse onto the forest floor. I am sobbing, sobbing really hard. I notice I still have his note book. I throw it at him as hard as I can. “Why can’t you just let me be with her!?” I scream. The note book hits him, and falls to the ground. He picks it up and looks through it. “Look at me!” I scream at him. He flinches. I don’t care. “I hate you!” I scream at him. I let the words sink in, even though I regret it as soon as I say it. I feel so angry though. I just want my mom. I keep crying. “You are not worthy of her” he says calmly. “She deserves everything” I look at him from where I sit on the ground. He is looking at his note book. “But not you” he mumbles the last part. “What are you talking about?” I ask him. He looks at me sadly. “I’m not worthy of you” he says. “What do you mean?” I ask. “You don’t deserve me” he says. “Why would you say that? Are you saying you’re too good for me? Then why the hell did you drag me into this?!” I’m confused. I don’t know what he is talking about. “You hate me.” he says. I sigh angrily. “No. I don’t. I’m just…. I’m just angry” “at me” he looks at the ground angrily. Yes I’m mad at him. I’m mad at him for not letting me go to my mother. I’m mad at him for taking me from her, twice. I’m mad about this whole crazy messed up world that doesn’t make any sense even if I’ve lived in it my whole life. But I don’t hate him. “Yes, I’m angry at you, but I don’t mean what I said. I’m sorry I said it” I say, slightly annoyed that I’m apologizing to him. He should be apologizing to me. He got me into this mess. That’s why I’m angry. “I’m sorry too” he says. “I’m sorry my fake parents what to give you to some stupid sorcerer and I’m sorry that they want to kill me, and I’m sorry I had to kidnap you, and I’m sorry life in general sucks. So, yeah. I’m sorry” he sighs. “And I’m sorry for being rude while I apologize” he says. I snort. “It’s ok.” I say. “I just wish I could go home” I lie down on my back. I look at the sky. It’s getting dark; I can see a few stars through the trees. I’m exhausted from crying so much, among other things. Haden lies down next to me. I turn my head to look at him. He looks at me. “I don’t hate you.” I say to him. “I love you” I look back up at the sky. I can see more stars. They are so beautiful. I give a ragged sigh. I’ve never told anyone, but honestly. I am afraid of outer space. Looking at it, its hugeness, its emptiness, scares me, because it reminds me of how I feel sometimes. But it is so beautiful. I can’t help but be amazed looking at it. All the stars, the planets, the galaxy’s far, far away. It’s amazing. I am starting to fall asleep, I feel Haden come closer to me, his lips near my ear. “I love you” he whispers. I smile. We lie there, looking at the stars until we fall asleep.