Beautifully Insane

Chapter Two

     It felt like the world was lifted off of my shoulders and it was all thanks to Charlie and Shelly. Opening a door to get into the school, I spotted police in the office. A couple of secretaries had tears in their eyes. Why are they crying? I wondered while walking down the hallway.
Maybe Jeremy's parents finally came home, Shelly guessed.
And if they did, you must deny everything to keep yourself safe, Charlie added as I walked to the my locker on the ither side of the school.
I turned the lock on my locker to its three digit code before hearing a pop. I heard rapid footsteps approaching me. I glanced over to see Libby before reaching my hand in my locker to grab my binder. "Morning Libby, are you ready for—"
"Jeremy's dead!" Libby cut me off as her face was beat red from crying.
My face softened as my eyes started to tear up. "W—how?"
"The cops say it was murder."
My binder fell to my feet as I put my hand up to my face. Libby gently pulled me closer by my elbow and squeezed me tightly. I pulled myself backwards and wipes my eyes. "Lizzie," I heard someone call her name.
My eyes widened as I looked over. Libby held my hand firmly, "She's not worth it right now."
I picked up my binder up from the ground. "I'm going to go to the bathroom to call my mom," I whispered.
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No it's alright. I'll only be a moment. I'll text you."
I wiped my tears away while walking down the hall and smirked to myself. Three years of theater has really paid off, Charlie complimented.
     I saw a police officer and the principal walking toward me when they stopped in front if me as the morning bell rang. "Paige, this is Officer Daly," the principal introduced us. "By the redness of your face you must know why he is here."
"I know this must be hard for you, but I have to ask you a few questions."
I nodded while taking a weak breath with a small smile.
Daly had me sit down in the principal's office with him. The chair I sat on was cold to my thighs for only a moment. Daly shut the door and sat down on the edge of the desk. "I understand you and Jeremy were dating, correct?" Daly asked.
"Yes sir."
"Where were you on Friday night around three o'clock in the morning?"
"Sleeping over my friend Libby's house."
"When was the last time you saw Jeremy?"
I could tell Daly was studying me to see if there were any red flags. I dried my eyes and places my hands underneath my thighs. "I saw Jeremy after school. Then again when I was at the mall with Libby. He didn't have a clue I was there."
"Was he with any of his friends?"
I shook my head. "He was meeting a girl, Lizzie Rushlow," I answered.
"Jeremy was cheating in you?"
I nodded as I made tears pour out of my eyes. "I had suspicions for a few months now," I explained in a controlled voice.
     By the look on Daly's face, he wanted to ask more questions. He dug into his pocket on the inside if his jacket and pulled out a small card. "I'll be in touch. If you think of anything, call."
I retrieved the card from Daly as I slowly nodded.
"I'm very sorry for your loss," Daly added.
"Thank you," I kindly spoke as I purposely made my bottom lip quiver. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, I told Charlie and Shelly after Daly left the room.
Don't be silly. You are doing marvelous, Charlie reassured me.
At lunch, I pretended to be too depressed to eat. I looked up from my tray of school food to see Libby. She gave me a look of concerns "Your Mom didn't pick you up?"
"No. Dad couldn't get me either."
Libby apologized for my misfortune. "Did you hear about Lizzie?" Libby asked.
"No," I slowly answered puzzled. "What happened?"
"She's the last one to see Jeremy alive."
My eyes widened while catching a glimpse of the cafeteria being opened. Speak of the devil, Shelly muttered.
      After I got from my seat to throw away my lunch in the garbage, I marched up to Lizzie. I grabbed a handful of Lizzie's brunette hair and dragged her out of her seat. I smashed her back against the red brick wall. "What did you do to him?"
"I-I didn't do anything to him," Lizzie stuttered.
"Bullshit, I know you were seeing him and I know you were the last to see him alive!" I shouted as Mr. Rogers pulled me away from Lizzie.
"I didn't kill him!" Lizzie cried as Mr. Rogers guided me out into the hall.
I ran my fingers through my hair as I turned my body around to face Mr. Rogers. "I'm sorry," I apologized to Mr. Rogers in a half whisper.
"I understand how tough it must be for you. Especially since Jeremy and Lizzie," Mr. Rogers paused to change the subject, "my room is unlocked. You can gather yourself and wait until lunch is over."
I thanked Mr. Rogers before heading to his classroom. Aren't you a clever one, now everyone won't keep their attention on you. They will think Lizzie killed Jeremy, Charlie shared his thoughts.
"Exactly," I giggled with a smile while turning the corner.
     My face bounced someone's chest. I recognized the perfume the person in front of me was wearing. I placed my arms around her as I started to forcibly cry. "It's alright. Go get your things and meet me in the car," Mom kindly ordered me.
I felt Mom's eyes watching me as I hurried to my locker. Was she concerned or was she observing me?
The ride home was awkward. Mom kept asking me how I was doing every ten minutes. I told her a thousand times that I was alright. The only thing that bothered me was that my boyfriend for a year and a half cheated on me. It made me wonder if all of my three boyfriends from the past cheated on me. Am I ever going to find a faithful, loyal guy like the ones in books?
"How are you sleeping?" Mom asked me.
"Alright, I guess."
"Have you been getting any nightmares?"
I shook my head instead of nodding. Since I was five years old, I suffered from nightmares. It would be the same scenario every time. I would be in a small, pink room with toys scattered across the floor laying on a bed made for a child. A man with a blurry face would come over my body and hold me down. My eyes would be filled with tears as I could feel the man violating me. The doctors think that Mom is keeping something from me and that the nightmares is a suppressed memory trying to make itself known. I would ask Mom about it, but she would play it off as if the nightmares are just that.
      Laying down in my bed with a book in my hands drooling over the main character with my flip-flops in the air, I heard Mom calling my name downstairs. I rolled my eyes and put my bookmark in between the pages before closing the book to go downstairs to see what mom wanted. Mom sat on the couch with a photo album open on her lap. I sat down next to her to see pictures of Dad, Mom and I. Mom flipped the page to a set of pictures, "My mother made me this for my birthday last year," Mom explained to me.
My eyes fixated themselves on a young man with short, black hair and dirty brown eyes sitting next to Mom on a couch. "Who is this man?" I asked while pointing.
"A friend," Mom answered hesitantly.
I looked at her curiously as I knew that she was lying while loud pounding came from the other side of the door. Mom stood up and I placed the photo album on my lap to analyze the picture of the man. Where have I seen this man before? I wondered.
"How can a seventeen-year-old do something like that?" Mom asked with her voice breaking.
I heard heavy, steel-toed boots enter the house at the same time I took the book. "Paige Bailey, you are under arrest for the murder of—"
"Who is this?" I cut Daly off.
"Paige this is not the—"
"Who?" I repeated myself as I knew there was a connection between my nightmares and the man in the photo.
"My brother," Mom answered.
She has a brother? I questioned as Daly came up behind me and put me in handcuffs tightly around my wrists. "What did he do to me?" I asked Mom as Daly told me the rights I have.
Mom covered her mouth while tears poured uncontrollably out of her eyes. Daly guided me out of the house and Mom followed. I gave Mom the look of death with a grim smile, "Tell me, how long did it take you to realize your brother was keeping an extra close eyes on me?"
Daly sat me in the backseat before shutting the door. I watched Mom shake her head while covering her face. What else has she been keeping from me? I wondered as Daly got into the driver's seat.
No one can't lie or hurt you now, Charlie told me.
I bit my lip while exhaling slowly to fight the tears.
The only person you can rely on is yourself, Shelly reminded me.
I nodded as I looked at my dark blue painted toe nails. "Alright," I whispered.
      My eyes flung open when the engine of the car stopped. I sat up straight to see the police station doors ten feet away from me. Daly opened the door and helped me up onto my feet. I saw a police officer sitting at a desk through the glass doors as we approached the double door. Daly pulled me inside and guided me through a hallway. He stopped me in front of a black door with the word 'interrogation' on it. The door opened and I say down at the table facing the double-sided mirror that I know had other people watching closely. "I'll be back," Daly told me before leaving me alone in the medium sized room. I overlooked the room about fifty times under the span of fifteen minutes. What's taking them so long? I wondered.
Probably eating donuts or debating on who makes better coffee, Shelly guessed.
"You're so stereotypical," I say with a giggle.
    The door opened and I saw Daly walk in with an elderly woman with silver hair up in a high bun and dark blue eyes behind a pair of glasses. "This is Dr. Rosario," Daly introduced me as she sat in a chair in the corner of the room while Daly sat across the table from me. "Paige, you are a bright, clever young woman, why did you will Jeremy?"
I bit my lip and rolled my eyes to the right of me as I saw Dr. Rosario writing down notes. I put my cuffs wrists on the table. "You want to make a deal?" I asked.
"What kind of deal?"
"The kind that brings justice," I answered with a smile. "You put my mother's pedophile of a brother behind bars from what he has done to me and I will tell you everything that led up to Jeremy being murdered. Do we have a deal?" I asked while holding my hand out to him.
Daly extended out his hand, "Deal."
      Dr. Rosario took Daly's seat when Daly left to go hold his end of the bargain. "I'm going to ask you a few questions if you don't mind," Dr. Rosario told me, "Ms. Bailey, do you have any friends?"
"I have a few close friends, yes."
"How is your relationship with your parents?"
"I would say average. We have good days and bad days just like any normal family."
"Do you hear or see things that aren't there?"
What do I say? I asked Charlie.
Depends on where you want to go. Do you want to go to jail or the loony bin?
You told me never to tell anybody about you guys.
They can't separate us, Shelly told me, no matter what they do.
I didn't want to give them up. I sighed and nodded slowly.
"What do they say?" Dr. Rosario asked.
"They help me whenever I need and they always have my back."
"Did they tell you to kill Jeremy?"
"No. I made that decision for myself. I'm not saying another word until Officer Daly comes back with my mother's brother."
      It's been close to an hour since Daly left to search for my long-lost, pervert of an uncle. I heard the doorknob turn from the other side of the door. I smiled once I saw Daly's handsome face. "Your mother's brother is here just as you asked."
"Can I see him?"
Daly widened the door signalling for me to follow him. Daly led me to a jail cell. The uncle I've never met before had long, oily, black hair, a scruffy face and heavy, drunken bags underneath his red eyes. "It seemed that Travis had warrants related to what he had done to you," Daly informed me, "he will be put away for a long time."
"Are you sure that's him?" I asked as I felt sick to my stomach just by looking at this man to what he has done to children, to me.
"Hundred percent sure."
I believed what Daly was telling me. This man Travis is the same person from the pictures in the photo album, just a few years older. I looked away from Travis and onto Daly, then back again to Travis. I took a deep breath and confessed to Daly about everything, step by step, that conduced to me killing Jeremy.