Stalker

The Truth

POV: Jacob

A women in her late thirties walked in.  She was tall and might have been pretty, I couldn't really tell. For so long I only had eyes for Shayla, only her beauty existed. It was different now. There was no longer anything I could call beautiful. The  women wasn't dressed in a uniform only causal clothes. She must have noticed my confusion because she commented,

"I had to come from home, and it's my night off." She motion to the door, "It's pretty cold in here, I would like to move to my office if you don't mind." I was taken back by her offer but quickly answered,

"If it is warmer there, I don't mind at all." I stood up and followed her to her office. On the way there she pointed out a vending machine and asked me if I was thirsty. I replied yes and she brought me a can of orange soda. 

 Inside the office I sat in front of, she told me what to call her, Brenda's desk in a cushioned armed chair. The office had a homey feel, definitely not what I expected. Its had two big windows on one side of me, a closet on the other and a couch behind me. Brenda opened a file on her desk,

"So Jacob Thomas, can you tell what happened?" She asked casually. I didn't let her composer fool me. I decided to play stupid to see how much she knew.

"I don't know what happened. Two police men came to my house and arrested me."

"They didn't tell you why?"

"I can't remember why, it didn't make any sense." 

"Hmmm. Well, I'm sure you heard about the kidnapping of Shayla Finn." My heart clenched painfully at the sound of her name, she was the love of my life. Now she was gone. I'm sure the emotion showed on my face, Brenda raised an eyebrow and asked,

"Can you tell me your relation to Miss.Finn? Your parents say they don't know anything about her."

'I don't have any relation to Shayla."

"No?" I shook my head as a response. My throat was closing up. She pushed my drink closer to me, I grabbed it and gulped it down. I enjoyed the burn. 

"Jacob you don't have to lie. Do you know who Ronda Roland is?" My body started shaking but nodded my head, how much did this lady know? She continued on,

"Well she says the last call Shayla made was to her, her house keeper Ronda. Ronda says Shayla was in the car with you driving to the hospital to visit Rita Lehman. Now, I know you know who that is, but we will get to her later. I want to know what happened in the car."

I shook my head no. "How do you know that I know Rita Lehman?"

"Well, we have video footage of you going into her hospital room. I don't know what you did in there but I do know she was given Benzodiazepine, a sleeping drug stolen from the same hospital. Which happens to be the same hospital your mom works at. Do you realize how much pressure you put on your mom? That drug you gave Rita gave her memory lost."

"I know. I sorry." I whispered not quite realizing what I just admitted to. I kept my eyes down on my hands refusing to look up at her. I finally decided what I was going to do.

I was giving up.

She paused for a while, maybe not expecting me to give up so easily.  The chief shocked me by asking,

"Are you the person that attempted to kill Rita?" I didn't answer, I was rethinking my decision of giving up. I had forgotten about the attempted murder. Maybe the short cop was right. I needed jail. 

"I feel like I should warn you that your DNA is being compared to the DNA left at the crime scene as we speak. I think it's best if you tell the truth."

"Yes." I said simply.

"Yes what?" 

"I tried to kill her."

'Why?" I looked up at her wondering how she was reacting. But her face was just as causal and judge less as it was when we first started. I ignored her question and asked instead,

"Do you regret buying me that soda now? Now that you know that I'm a murder, thief and kidnapper?" This time I was aware that I had admitted to another thing but it felt good to get off my chest. She didn't take long to answer.

"No. I don't. Jacob, tell me what happened and start from the beginning because the only thing I can connect is that they are best friends." She pulled out a small tape recorder from in her desk."I need to record our conversation, but don't let that discourage you."

"Shouldn't you have been recording this already?" 

"Honestly I forgot, like I said it's my day off and I didn't expect to be here." She pressed the red dot on the recording, now every thing we said would be recorded. My heart beat a little faster at the thought. 

But I was ready. 

It took my heart to be broken to realize I had gone to far with this; it was stupid, pointless, and time consuming. I told her that and then the story, all of it.

From the beginning to the end. 

***************************************************

"Wow," Brenda said finally after I stopped talking. She hadn't interrupted me once, not that she needed to. I told everything or at least I thought so. I asked if she wanted to know anymore, she did.

"What happened to Shayla when you put her in the storage room three days ago. Is she still there? Did you come back to visit her?" Brenda trailed off. 

"When I went to visit her she told me she didn't want me." I was saying this out loud for the first time.

'I'm guessing that made you angry?" 

"Yes."

'Did you hurt her?"

I breathed out deeply ashamed I whispered "Yes."

"Is Shayla alive Jacob?" 

"I'm not sure, I was too angry to check for a pulse." I spit out my words quickly on the defense. 

"What did you do?" Chief Brenda urged on. 

"I strangled her but I let go as soon as she passed out. But then I punched her." Now it was my turn to trail off. 

"Punched her where?" She leaned forward.

"In her head." I admitted shamefully. 

"Okay Jacob, I need to make a call to send help to the storage room okay?"

"No! Not yet. Tell me what I'm going to be charged with." I demanded but she was already on the phone and had turned off the recorder. To her, getting help for a unappreciative girl was more important then the rest of my life. 

I waited until she was done her call then I asked again what I was being charged with. She told me to follow her as she explained. 

I was being was being charged with criminal stalking, attempted murder, breaking in and entering, tampering with hospital equipment, robbery, and kidnap. I would be spending my time in jail until trial unless someone paid my bail. I already knew my family didn't have enough money to pay for it. So I didn't hope for it. 

Before Brenda left to go to Shayla, she told me she hoped the best for me.

"What do you mean?" I had asked

"I hope the jury doesn't charge you as an adult but as a kid. I don't think hard time in jail is what you need. You need help Jacob, and I mean this in the best way." She told me sincerely.

I nodded fully understanding.

A/N: Wow! It's finally done, well almost. There will be one more chapter after this to wrap it up but I never thought I would finish this. Thank you to everyone who voted and commented and please continue to do so.