whisper | rilaya

twenty

MAYA POV

"Hi.. uh, can I visit Riley Matthews?" I asked the lady sitting at the front desk.

The lady didn't bother answering. She clicked her mouse a few times and the frowned. "Sorry. She's in questioning right now."

"That's fine." I replied quickly. "I can wait."

She furrowed her eyebrows together curiously. "Are you sure? These things can take hours sometimes."

"I'm sure."

I sat in silence in the waiting room for nearly two hours. My foot tapped the hard ground anxiously, slightly out of rhythm with the ticking of the analog clock.

A family of three frantically ran into the station. It only took a matter of seconds for me to match their voices with the ones I heard when Riley and I visited her house. "We came as soon as we heard she was allowed to see us." Her father declared, out of breath.

"Please." Riley's mother begged the receptionist. "We haven't seen her in months."

From the corner of my eyes, a door burst open. It revealed a slim man in a fancy black suit and the girl I had fallen in love with.

"Riley..." I whispered even though she probably couldn't hear me from across the room. I got up and took a step towards her. She made eye contact with me for a millisecond before she was crowded by her family.

The smile that rose on her face as she hugged her family and messed up her little brother's curly brown hair warmed my heart.

"Hey kiddo." Her dad greeted warmly, pulling her in for a hug. 

Riley cried tears of joy and held onto her dad's shirt tightly as she hugged him back.

From the chair in the corner of the waiting room, I watched quietly. "You must be Maya." Riley's mom stood before me with a smile and held her hand out.

"Uh... yeah I am. Did Riley tell you about me already, Mrs. Matthews?" I asked, confused.

She shook her head politely. "Call me Topanaga."

"Okay."

"You're all over the news sweetie, haven't you seen it? The police told us about you first, of course. We can never thank you enough for what you did for Riley." The women thanked me politely. She was dressed like a business women, in a blazer and skirt.

I blushed, a red tint creeping up my cheeks. "It's not a big deal. Really." I argued.

Topanga looked at me fondly. "Well, once again. Thank you. Looks like Riley and Cory are done with their moment." She chuckled. "We'll wait outside if you want to talk with her privately."

I smiled and offered her a grateful nod. "That'd be great. Thanks."

"Come on Auggie." Topanga said, reaching her hand out to grab that of the little boy's. Riley's father followed suit and within seconds it was just the two of us again. (With the exception of the receptionist, of course)

"Hey." I said, trying to relieve some of the tension in the air.

Riley's demise didn't falter. She kept her head down, staring at the boring tile pattern on the floor.

"Riles. What's wrong?" I asked worriedly. I reached out to grab my hand- only to have her pull it back roughly as soon as our skin touched. I never knew what it felt like to have my heart shatter into a million pieces but I'm sure that the feeling I just got was pretty damn close to that.

"Baby..." I pleaded with her.

"You lied to me, Maya." She said, still refusing to look me in the eye.

"What?" Something must have happened inside the questioning room. "I don't lie, Riley. Especially to the people I love."

"Well you did to me." She spat and stormed out of the police station, leaving me awe struck.

From the corner of my eye, I saw a tall, skinny man standing in the corner with his arms crossed. It seemed like he was watching our entire interaction- as if it was some form of entertainment for him or something. A smirk grew on his face when I made eye contact with him.

"What did you do." I asked angrily, quickly approaching him. It sounded more like a demand then a question.

He shrugged innocently, his box like shoulders rose ever so slightly. "Oh I didn't do anything, sweetheart. It's what you did that's the problem."

My eyes dropped down to the name on his badge. It read "Detective Larson."

"Tell me what kind of lies you forced into her brain right now because I may be small but I will not hesitate to punch your throat in." I growled.

"Why do you care what she thinks about you, huh? You're Maya Hart. You don't care what anybody thinks about you."

He was playing games with me. The same way he did with Riley.

"W-what makes you think that?" I stuttered.

The detective studied his nails absentmindedly. "I've done my research. Did Riley make you soft?"

"Shut up!" I yelled, throwing a punch directed at his face. Only, my fist was stopped by his own hand when he caught it.

"Alright, that's enough." He cleared his throat. "Security! This young lady needs a ride back to her house."

~

Green peas rolled around on my plate as I pushed them sadly with my fork. My free hand sat underneath my chin, propping me up.

"Maya." Shawn warned. "Sit up."

He opened his mouth again, probably to push for more information about Riley, again.

"I'm not ready to talk about it." I interrupted him before he could even bring her up. My mom and Shawn obviously knew that Riley was living in our basement for the past month, but they're completely clueless in every other aspect. They know just as much as the press do and I can tell that it's tearing them apart inside that they can't talk to me.

The press has been depicting me as some sort of criminal that has been smuggling Riley since she's been wanted. Which isn't completely a lie, but the news has a special way of twisting things around to make me look even more guilty then I am. And gosh, don't even get me started on the picture they used of me. Of all the possible options they could've displayed on television, they chose my 8th grade school picture.

I haven't seen Farkle or Lucas since the night Riley was taken away. To be honest, I not sure if I want to either. During a hard time like this, I needed somebody to support me, and Riley wasn't there when I needed her most.

From what I've heard on the news, Riley's memory isn't even sufficient enough to provide an accurate testimony for trial since they don't have enough evidence for her case. Which means that for now, Riley is back at home with her family, safe and adjusting back to her regular lifestyle, if it's possible that it could ever be the same again.

The dinner table fell silent while I ruminated on what happened at the police station this morning. Suddenly, I didn't want to eat anymore. "Excuse me." I said politely before running up to my room, trying to hide the tears that were threatening to flow.

I was all alone again. Just like I was the day I moved here.