Collecting Signs

Chapter 5

Emily's P.O.V:

Walking inside the house again was as hard as I thought it would be. He had built that shelter for us. He made sure it would suit the both of us and the little family we were supposed to have. How would anyone think he could commit suicide? Even thinking about it seemed crazy. Jared was a loving husband who had everything he wanted in his life. He married his teenage love, he got his diploma and followed his dream; our financial situation was more than satisfying. We had almost everything figured out.

The simple thought of him harming himself sounded stupid and extremely foolish. But the fact that the investigator assumed that was understandable; He never got the chance to know him like we did. Every person who knew him would laugh at this absurdness. 

If it wasn't for Nick's arm holding mine, I was pretty sure my feet would have failed me. I wasn't even able to stand still. I was feeling lifeless. It was as if someone removed the contents of my chest and left a gaping void where there was nothing left but a painful, sucking black hole. 

We both walked in the living room, the same place where I had been waiting for him to come back home, a few hours ago. Our families and friends were all sitting there in an overwhelming silence. All these people genuinely cared about him, he couldn't just leave them. He couldn't just leave me. When Nick and I made our way inside, it only got worse. 

As soon as my mother-in-law registered my presence, she burst into tears. I think seeing me in front of her only brought back memories of her missing son. My father stood up instantly but looked like he didn't know what to do. His gaze held nothing but sorrow. I wanted to scream at them and tell them that Jared would be alright but I stopped myself from doing it and decided to go to our bedroom instead.

Before I could excuse myself, someone came out of nowhere and held me in their arms like there was no tomorrow. The unrealistic part of me held a little hope that somehow, Jared would be the one doing that, but reality didn't waste time to kick in and stop me from daydreaming. Blake was trying to whisper reassuring words in my ear, words I wasn't able to comprehend. All I wanted to do was go to sleep and wake up from that nightmare. While he was holding me, I couldn't help but stare down at the ring wrapped around my finger. 

"Emily?" From the tone of his voice, I knew my father had been calling my name without me realizing it."Honey, why don't you sit down for a little?" Alan Henderson, the man who I only had seen cry once, was fighting hard not to break down too.

As if to execute, Blake let go of me and put his hand on my back, waiting for me to sit down. "No, I-" My voice cracked in the middle of the sentence so I had to clear my throat to form a correct one. "I would like to go to my room if you'll excuse me." 

With a saddened expression, he was about to nod in agreement when Christopher, my father-in-law interrupted him. "Emily, the officers are coming here to ask you more questions so it's better off if you stay here for a little..." By his expression, I knew he felt bad for making me stay under these circumstances. 

"I thought they already asked me what they wanted?" Chewing on my lower lip, I was trying hard to remain as calm as possible. 

"I asked them to give you a little time to calm down and come here to ask you what they wanted. They're gonna interrogate Beatrice as well." The fact that he was able to convince the authorities to give us some time wasn't surprising. Christopher Crawford was a known man in the city, he was capable of persuading everyone. However, as soon as his wife heard her name, she looked up at him in pain as if her son was dead. And I couldn't tolerate it anymore. 

I ran my fingers through my hair in a stressful manner and finally spoke up. "You all need to stop crying, okay?" I was aware I was yelling at everyone but honestly, I couldn't give any damn. "Stop crying for fuck's suck, Jared isn't dead! They will find him! You don't want him to see you like that when he comes back, okay?" My mother-in-law's eyes showed distress as she closed her eyes, drops quickly running down her face.