Innocent People

Chapter 2 - Adrian

They found the letter on Katelyn's desk.

It was in the most obvious place and Adrian hadn't seen it. But who can blame him. Finding your best friend dead does distract from most other things.

At first Mia didn't care about the fact that they'd found the letter, what it said or what they were going to do with it but once she'd slowly calmed down about the lifeless body that had been one of her best friends only a few hours ago, she started screaming again with flood-streams running down her cheeks.

"You have no right to look at that! Put it back! Put it back!"

Adrian held onto her tightly as Mia attempted to tear the paper out of the officer called Harold's hands. She was stronger that Adrian had expected but he could still make sure she didn't come loose whilst he once again tried to calm her down. Another officer by the name of Sipton came over to assist Adrian but he insisted she needn't help being as he thought that Miss Sipton's help would aggravate Mia even more.

"He just wants to look at it and make sure that it really is Katelyn's letter, ok?"

Holding the tears back with a lot of effort he then added, "Mr. Harold is going to check the handwriting and try and work out when it was written and if it really was Katie. It's all going to be alright."

He looked up and saw officer Harold nod in agreement and he could sense his appreciation for keeping Mia at bay.

As Adrian hugged Mia tightly, trying to keep her from running at the officers and calm her down at the same time, he watched as officer Meyers' tried to explain what had happened to Katelyn and where they need to go now to her parents, who had hurried back from their visit to the club-hotel on the other side of town as soon as they had gotten the call. Only then did he turned his head towards the window on the far side of the room. The paramedics who had lifted Katelyn's body out of the room and then immediately taken her outside to the ambulance had left a while ago.

Mia and Adrian had insisted on going with them and had tried their best to get the paramedics and the policemen to let them go but they wouldn't let Mia go in her state and Adrian couldn't leave his girlfriend on her own like this. He didn't know if Katie was dead or not, but he told himself that he had to take care of the person he knew for sure was alive.

It made him feel even worse that he could even think of that in a time like this. His best friend was alone in an ambulance or in a hospital without anyone there for her that she knew, not even her parents, while he was standing here with his girlfriend saying that everything was going to be alright, even though he knew, and it didn't matter how much he tried to deny it, that it wasn't.

He knew that nothing was going to be alright. At least not for a long time.

He'd found his best friend hung by her neck in her own room with a suicide note that he hadn't even had the chance to read, on what was supposed to be her birthday.

There were two main questions that Adrian needed answers to.

One of these questions that was floating around in his head, was if Katelyn had even made it to the age of six-teen. He kept telling himself that he should have more hope or think of more important things like if she was alright or what had made her do it, but no. He just couldn't help it. Katelyn had always told him ever since they were little that she thought her life would finally start when she turned six-teen. She would learn how to drive, chose her graduate-subjects at school, maybe get a better job and just start getting her life together.

As it turned out, she had changed her mind.

Adrian looked back at Harold, swallowed the weight in the back of his throat, and asked, so quietly that Harold barely even heard him over Mia's sobs, "Can we read it?"

Harold shifted slightly and looked at Adrian for a moment with sympathy in his eyes before he calmly answered, "Eventually, yes. But we're going to have to take you and your friend down to the station to get your statements, get the letter analyzed and get the parents' permission before we can give it to you being as both you two are all still minors and so was your friend Katelyn."

Harold shook his head rapidly as of to clear something out of his head and quickly tried to correct himself, "I'm sorry. I mean your friend Katelyn still is a minor."

Adrian nodded in agreement and understanding but with clear disappointment on his face, overlooking the officer's small mistake. He was glad that Mia hadn't been paying attention to that short conversation in fear of what her reaction may have been but no, her tears were still staining Adrian's shirt and her cries and sobs still filled the room and reminded everyone that this was not going to be an easy day.

Only shortly after Rodger and Mary, Katelyn's parents, had left to rush to the hospital, Mia and Adrian watched as Mr. Meyers took his ringing phone out of his pocket to get the deciding news to answer the question that would show what to do next. The room silenced with anticipation. There was so much fear in the room but a small sign of hope was still in the air. Even Mia had ceased her crying for that moment urging to know what was happening.

No one could hear anything apart from "yes", "alright", "of course" and "I'll inform them immediately".

The next minute seemed to go on for ever.

All he'd wanted ever since they'd stepped into the room was to know if Katelyn was alright but now that the moment had come Adrian wasn't sure anymore. He didn't know what he'd do if he were to be told, that his best friend had died before his eyes and that he would never be able see her walking around in town again or doing her shifts at the cafe in town. On the other hand he hadn't a clue what would happen if she were alive and he would only have seen her trying to die and failing. Of course he still wished for her welfare and the glimmer of hope in the room seemed to be coming from him, but it would still be complicated. Would she even still be his best friend? Would it still be the Katelyn he had known for such a long time? He wasn't sure about anything anymore. Including what words he wanted to come out of officer Meyers' mouth. Adrian cursed himself for thinking this. The second Meyers spoke though, his thoughts stopped.

Mr. Meyers walked over to where Adrian was holding Mia and spoke without interruptions, as if the words tasted like vinigar in his mouth.

"Miss Katelyn Stone passed away at about 6 o'clock this morning. I'm so very sorry." The hope vanished.

Adrian'd heart dropped. This was it. This was his answer. She was gone. He would never see her walking around town or working her shifts again. He would never be able to watch her and Mia walking around school with their books pulled against their chests as they laughed with each-other on their way to their next class. He would never meet her at the bus stop and catch up on what they had missed out of each other's lives over the few hours they spent apart. He would never wait in anticipation to know what original clothes she had chosen to wear this time and he would never see those beautiful brown eyes full of hope and life again.

He was torn out of his thoughts by his girlfriends pleads.

"It isn't true! It just can't be true! She isn't dead Adrian, is she?! She isn't! Please tell me she isn't! She can't be! Not Katie!" She started to quiet down and her shouting and crying turned into almost silent pleads and sobs.

"It can't be...Tell me it isn't true." Adrian's grip around her tightened as he whispered softly into her ear, "It'll be ok babe, alright? We'll get through this. Together. Trust me."

Mia nodded slightly and then dug her face further into his chest as he held onto her reassuringly. "Thank you", Mia whispered and then added, "I love you."

"I love you too."

That was the third time he'd lied to Mia that day.