Through The Dark

38 -Olivia

38 - Olivia

It turns out we were trespassing private property and that was a terrible crime. Emmalyn had never been caught before because she had rid there on her bike, and that had not drawn attention, but my loud and old Volkswagen had alerted neighbors right away and they had reported us to the police.

Surprisingly enough, this was my first night at jail. I had never been caught before –and that was when I was worth catching. I had done so many bad things with the crowd I hung out before. We smoked weed and other stronger stuff; we drank, stole and even pranked people heavily. Not once had I been caught with them. This one time that I innocently got into private property with Emmalyn without knowing it was illegal and punishable by law, we had gotten into trouble.

We were not alone in the cell. A few women that had been locked up for the night for prostitution were in here as well, and they kept glancing at Emmalyn and me. We were huddled in a corner, both probably praying to whichever deity heard us. I could as easily been Jewish or Hindu at the moment if one of those Gods got me out of this mess.

Fair enough, I was making it sound worse than it actually was. They had just given us a lecture on respecting private property and what belonged to other and then had inquired for personal details. Once they knew we were underage and had made a mistake, they just took our parent's numbers and said they would be back soon.

No fee or anything would have to be paid. Our parents would only be called in so that they knew what we had done and so that it scared us into never doing it again –which was working.

'I'm so sorry,' Emmalyn told me for the millionth time. It was about one in the morning and we were both tired and apprehensive. Seeing our parents at this time was not exactly what we were hoping for. The cops knew the best punishment. I was worried for what my mother would do, but pushed the thought away immediately. I would cross that bridge when I had to.

'It wasn't your fault, Emma,' I droned with monotony. I could not even inject enthusiasm into the phrase anymore. I was tired of repeating it to Emmalyn. She needed to learn to let things go.

'They said they would not charge any bailing fee, right?' she inquired yet again. She had asked the same question about twenty times, to a different person every time, as if the answer would change or as if someone was willingly lying to her.

'No,' I replied.

'Oh gosh, good. That would only make it worse. My mom will kill me as it is and-'

'Hey, blondie, your mom is here to pick you up,' a female cop said. Her eyes were small and elongated, and her skin as white as porcelain. She looked like a beautiful Asian princess you would read about in a book.

Emmalyn snapped out of her crazy reverie. She glanced at me. 'What about my friend?' she inquired right away, not moving from her spot. I smiled internally. That was sweet of her, to worry about me. She surely worried more than my own mother did.

The Asian princess-like cop looked uncomfortable and just held my gaze for a second. I let go of a sad breath. I could infer what she was about to say. 'She...well, we called her mother but she just said that it was probably her daughter's fault and that a night in jail was exactly what she needed to get her priorities straightened out.'

Even the couple of women that had been prosecuted for prostitution were listening intently.

'Sounds like her,' was all I said, trying to lighten up the cell with humor. Not that it made me feel any better. I was tired of not mattering to her. It was exhausting. It was so hard for me to bring myself up and whenever I could do it, my mother was right there to push and break it all back down to the ground. It almost seemed as if it gave her pleasure to do it, as if she fed of my sadness.