Chasing Cars

Chapter Thirty Four

      When I arrived at the station, a large group of people met me at the door. "Hello, Miss Grey. So sorry to take the time out of your day, but we're glad you could make it," a young officer said, introducing himself as Brandon Paisley. "Oh, it's no problem," I answered quietly, feeling flustered by the amount of people crowding me. Brandon Paisley did a good job of keeping everyone at a comfortable distance from me as we walked into a large conference room. "Here, take seat," he said, pulling a chair out for me to sit in. After thanking him, I took a seat and watched as everyone filtered into the room and took a seat of my own.

The table we sat at was large and circular; there was a perfect view of everyone that was there. "Alright, everyone settle down!" Brandon Paisley spoke loudly. The conversation in the room died immediately and the group of people turned to face him. "Today we are here to discuss the abuse of Miss Karev Grey. She was abused to the point of paralysis by her school principal, who passed away in the Rosewood High School fire."

Gasps filled the room, and sympathetic glances were coming from all over the room. Whispers of disbelief were so loud in my ears it made me anxious. "Yes, I know it's horrible, but before we continue speaking, I think we should do the young lady the favor of introducing everyone, just to make her a little more comfortable sharing her experiences with us," Brandon Paisley quieted the people once more. After a brief apology to me, he sat down and told me the names of the officers in the room.

"This is Araceli. She was the woman who inspected your case file and was told of the abuse you suffered." Araceli gave me a smile and a wave, but she was too far away to give me a handshake. "Shayna and Casper-Carson are right over here. They'll be the ones that help you decide what you'd like to do about the information we received." The two officers shook my hand and complimented my name. After doing the same for them, Brandon Paisley moved on. "And lastly, we have Paul. He really has no real purpose; he's a little bit of everything." Paul greeted me before looking down at a paper on the table, ignoring the rest of us.

"Alright then!" Brandon Paisley said with a clap of his hands. "Karev, would you be willing to tell us exactly what happened back in January with your principal?" The events of the past few months flashed through my mind like a miniature film. I didn't really feel comfortable sharing everything with people I'd only just met, as a lot of it was personal for me. "Um... what all would you like to know?" I asked.

This time, it was Shayna who spoke up. "Everything. From the day of the incident up until now. We want to have a full understanding of everything that went on in these past few months. Your safety is very important to us, and we are incredibly sorry about having no knowledge of what you've been through." I thought her words over for a minute or two, trying to put the right words in my mind. "It's too long of a story, I have somewhere to be," is what I ended up saying.

The officers looked from to each other and back to me again. "Well," Brandon Paisley said, standing up again. "Would you be interested in writing it? It doesn't have to be high quality or anything, just how everything went from your point of view. We had your friend, I think his name was Andrew, write about his time in the office as well, along with your friend Krystine. Would you be willing to do the same?"

I hadn't known that Andrew and Krystine wrote about their experiences in the office, but when I heard of it, the idea sounded perfect. "Yeah, I can do that," I nodded. Brandon Paisley got up and left the room to get some paper, and I tried to think about where I would start it. They wanted to know everything that happened since January, and that would be a long letter for them, but it was a great idea. When the officer returned with a stack of paper and a pencil, I had no idea where to begin.

"Just write everything like you're telling the story," Araceli smiled encouragingly. I nodded and lifted my pencil to the paper. As soon as the lead touched the paper's surface, the words flowed onto the page. I started it with the day of my algebra test, and how the clock was ticking to the end of the hour, but I had nothing done on the test. I wrote about Lexi and Chuck, all the way to when I summoned to the office. Everything that happened, it was coming to life on the paper. It wasn't a shared secret between Krystine, Andrew, and I anymore. It was becoming a real-life incident that people would read, understand, and just have general knowledge about.

My phone buzzed twice during my writing, but I couldn't stop. The memories of meeting Andrew, the retreat, my second time in the office with Charleston, all of it. I left nothing out. My best friend, Andrew, died because of this story. It needed to be told, it was my way of remembering him. The officers watched with wide eyes as I filled page after page. Eventually, it was finished. I don't know how long I was sitting there, but when it was all there on the pages, the light outside had grown a little darker.

"May I read what you've written?" Brandon Paisley asks. With a nod, I shove the papers towards him. "Enjoy," I say as he begins to read the first page.

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Omg the printed copy of this arrived in the mail today!! 316 crisp white pages of tears and Adriana's wrath >:)