Depths of a River

Chapter 20- Unexpected Phone Call

"Brooks." I whispered to her.

She gave me an irritating look then continued going through the files, not saying anything.

"You may have a seat." She said while pointing to the chairs against the wall.

I sat on the chair second closest to the door. The lady disappeared behind the desk. I looked to my left. There was a man sitting. He was clearly homeless. He had on a big jacket and a hat with a hole on the side. He saw me looking at him then turned his back towards me, mumbling to himself. I could hear a few swear words. The lady came back, and I stood upright walking back to her. She didn't say anything, just continued typing on the computer.

"Your relation with the offender?" She asked not looking up from the computer screen.

"She is my sister." I whispered again.

"May I please see some ID?" the woman asked and held out her hand to me, not looking in my direction.

I searched for my ID in my handbag and handed it to her after I found it.

After typing on the computer for a few minutes, she said with a straight face: "We did a bust at a house party and caught your sister with illegal substances. She will go out on parole if a family member or a friend will take full responsibility for her." She said and looked at me with bored eyes.

I didn't think twice.

"Yes, I will. I'll let her stay with me. I'll take her to college every day and fetch her after I have finished at work." I said seriously.

"There is a fine that's payable before we can let her go." She said and took out a form for me to fill in.

I filled in all the blank spaces and paid the fee with my credit card because it was more than I budgeted this month. She gave me a receipt and told me to follow her. She walked into a room and then down a long dark corridor into another room with bars separating the one side to the other. It was really dirty, the walls were dirty and the floor had sticky marks on them. There were a toilet and two benches against the wall. There was a woman lying on the one bench and on the other bench sat Cleone and another woman. Cleone quickly walked towards the bars when she saw me. She grabbed two bars with each of her hands and pressed her head between them.

"Ad, Ad. You have to help me." She said; she was terrified.

She had on a short black mini skirt, a crop top showing an inch of her skin between the skirt and her top. The straps of the top hung down her arms and the straps of her bra were visible on her shoulders. She didn't have on shoes either. Black mascara marks ran down her face from her eyes, and one of her eyes was bruised as if someone had hit her. You could clearly see that she had a rough night. She started crying when the police woman opened the door for her so she could get out. She hugged me burying her face in my neck. I took off my hoodie and threw it around her shoulders then I put my arm around her body and walked her to the car. The drive home was silent and neither of us said a word. She just sat with her hands between her legs, staring at her feet. She jumped out immediately after the car came to a stop in front of my apartment. I unlocked the front door of the apartment and she walked inside. She went straight upstairs and I heard the bathroom door close. I sat down on the couch.

I was so depressed, I wanted to ask her what happened and why she had drugs on her. Was she using them or selling them?

The toilet flushed, and I heard the door open. She walked downstairs and sat next to me. I had stared out in front of me thinking hard about what I was going to say to her before I looked at her. She had wash off her makeup, so her face was clean again. The only thing you could see was the black and blue bruise around her eye. She had put on the hoodie correctly, and it was zipped up all the way to the top. Her eyes looked sad but relieved.

"What's going on, Cleone?" I asked her looking straight into her eyes.

I guess I was looking for answers in case she didn't give me any. It hurt deep inside me. I felt cold and alone all of a sudden. I missed my parents and I wondered if it affected Cleone as much as it affected me, maybe even more. She just looked at me with eyes full of pain, like she wanted to tell me everything but she couldn't. I moved closer to her and hugged her. She laid her head on my chest, and I felt her cry in my arms. I kept quiet and just sat with her for a while. After an hour of silence, she said that she was tired and didn't get any sleep the night before.

"Who did this to you?" I asked her, gently stroking her bruised eye.

"The woman in the cell. She said that I must keep quiet, and I didn't so she hit me. I lost consciousness for a few minutes. I couldn't sleep because I was too scared." She said with tears in her eyes while pulling her face away from my hand.

"Will you do me a favour and see somebody? I'm not saying that you have a drug addiction or that you are dealing drugs, but it will let my soul rest to know that you will be talking to a professional." I asked her politely.

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