Snow Space

Silent Canary

It was no surprise to Khamil, when he arrived back at the council estate, that there was a police car parked outside; they were pretty common around the area, although he hadn't realised they were there for him until he began to make his way up the steps. The door was already slightly ajar when he reached it at the top, with the ominous sound of a low conversation taking place in the kitchen. Khamil's suspicions were confirmed when, through the small crack in the wood, he caught a glimpse of an officer sat at the table, and his heart fluttered nervously as she turned and caught his eye. The attention was now on him as he carefully stepped into the kitchen, to see his mum sat at the table next to the officer, two cups of tea in front of them, as Rob leant against the counter with a tea-towel over his shoulder. Clearly they were waiting for him. 

"Hello," said the officer, with the patronising warmth of a person who was trying to exchange niceties. 

"What's this?" Khamil asked cautiously, hovering at the door as his mum looked at him, a stern look resting in her eyes.

"Khamil, sit down," she said, her tone sharp.

"No, that's okay," the officer interjected, her voice calm . "He doesn't need to."

Rob was staring at Khamil with raised eyebrows, his arms crossed from his position by the countertop. 

"I just have a few questions."

The policewoman flipped through her notepad carefully, before setting it down on the wood and clicking her biro pen; then she looked up at Khamil amiably.

"Last week there was a drugs-related incident at one of the old carparks by the convenience shop. Are you familiar with this?"

Although Khamil was used to conferring with police, this woman had a kinder tone, and it wasn't false like the other officers who just wanted to pry information from you. The mention of the incident with the drugs stalled him slightly though, provoking a sarky prompt from Rob.

"She's talking about the cocaine bust."

Khamil looked up at Rob, and then back at the policewoman and his mum, swallowing.

"Yeah -" his voice cracked a little, so he cleared his throat and repeated himself. "Yeah - I know of it."

"As I've informed your mum, the police are already aware you were dragged into this unwillingly, and charges against you were dropped. The remaining issue is those who managed to run away, and avoid any consequences for their actions. Now I'm not expecting a list of names," she joked with a nervous laugh, in an attempt to diffuse any tension. "Though any information you may have will help us a lot in uncovering this. I believe you knew one of the boys involved?"

There was a silence. No way. He couldn't rat. Granted, Khamil had finally come to realise that Raff was the kind of person who'd sell out his friends just for some cash, but he wasn't, and that was not about to change. He prided himself on his loyalty - his ability to keep quiet and not snitch, it'd been one of his moral priorities since year 1. For some reason, his mind darted back to one time in registration, when he was six; Pikey had just broken one of the plastic chair legs trying to do a flip off of it like Spiderman. Only Khamil had seen it, but when the teacher and other students came in, they were forced to sit there for the entirety of lunchtime until someone owned up. Had Khamil flipped off the chair and broken it, he was sure he would've owned up, but understandably as a six year old, Pikey was terrified, and so nobody said anything until the end of the day. Then the matter was dropped. Again, Khamil wasn't sure why he'd recollected that particular moment - this was a far larger scale, but he realised he'd been silent for a little longer than perhaps he should have. 

"You don't have to be a hero, Khamil," the officer said kindly - her empathy starting to come across as a little patronising. "No one is going to judge you for doing the right thing."

Khamil looked at the table, touching his tongue to his teeth. He could sense his mum watching him, waiting for some names in deep anticipation, but what was he supposed to do? Even if he wasn't so strict about not being a snitch, all of the clues would point to him if Raff were to be arrested, and he wasn't so keen to get on the bad side of a guy with all the connections in town. He'd end up with a little more than the usual black eye, that was for certain. 

"No," Khamil finally said casually, shaking his head. "I recognised a few of them from around, but I didn't know any of them. Sorry I couldn't be of more help."

The officer looked down with a wistful smile, sighing as she scribbled in her notebook, and then closed it, standing up. Everyone in that room knew the truth, but Khamil had made his decision, and it was clear there was no information coming from him. He knew both Rob and his mum had their eyes on him, in dark disappointment, and as the policewoman passed him to leave, she said something - her demeanour cool and authoritative. 

"Don't let them take you with them."

Khamil kept his eyes on the table as the door swung shut behind him, once the adults had all exchanged parting words. There wasn't much to say once she'd gone, only the stern looks and disapproving glares that silently bore through the room before his mum spoke up sharply. 

"Bed. Now."