Yours Truly, August Griffin

36: One Knife

Pov: Evangeline

Police sirens wail in the distance. Mark is in the grasp of Nathan and Ben. August is hugging me. My parents are giving Mark the shouting of a lifetime.

"How dare you, you fuçking jackass?!" Mom screams. "You tried to fuçking kill someone! My daughter!"

Let me back up a bit.

After Ben told Mark to try him, Mark pulled a knife out of his pocket, sliced through the screen door, and tried to stab me with it. I don't know what happened next, but somehow the knife was wrestled away from him and he was pulled away from me.

I look down at my chest and notice a bit of blood coming through my shirt right over my left breast. It's not a lot, but I scares me.

"Asshole," I whisper to August. "I think..."

"What?" I pull out of his arms. He looks down and his eyes widen. He pulls me into him and hugs me tightly, then turns to my father.

"He got her." Dad looks at him.

"This is a joke," he mutters. "Please, God, let this be a joke."

My head starts to spin as I look down and realize the blood spot is getting bigger. A cloudy red haze is slowly spreading across the light blue cotton. No, no, no, no.

"I, I need to sit," I gasp. August looks distressed but helps me into a chair.

"Ann, that doesn't look good."

"Wow, aren't you observant." I wince as a wave of pain rolls over me.

"It's one of my amazing qualities. But seriously, you need help."

"Must be you're superpower," my voice is strained. August laughs, but I can hear the tension in his voice. He's frightening me even more.

Pov: August

How the fuçk did this happen? I was right there. I could have stopped this. My head's spinning. Ann's face is so pale. There's a bead of sweat trickling down her face. I stand up.

"Where are you going? Wait, August, don't leave me!" her voice is panicked.

"Relax. I'm getting-" there's a knock on the front door.

"Come on in," Mom calls. "It's unlocked."

A police woman enters the room, along with two other officers and what looks like a paramedic.

"Who's the one you called us about?" the woman asks.

"Him. Mark Dillons," Ben states. He has handcuffs clamped onto his wrists.

"And where's the girl?" the paramedic asks.

"Right here." I stand up and show them Ann.

"We have to bring her to the hospital immediately." The man says after taking one look at her. My chest clenches. Ann's parents exchange glances.

"Can we drive her?" Dad asks. "I don't really intend on spending a fortune on an ambulance." The officers whisper for a minute with the paramedic, the one of them speaks.

"You alone can drive her as long as one of us comes with you. Captain Michelle will alert the hospital that you are coming. The rest of you we need to question."

I shoot Nathan a pleading look. I really can't leave Ann right now.

"Could, um, could August go with her?" Nathan tries.

"We need to question all of you. The father will get questioned on the way to the hospital." The officer turns to Dad. "Let's go."

Together they help stand Ann up and start moving toward the door.

"August." Her voice cracks. "Please come."

"I can't yet," I respond, my throat closing up. "I will as soon as I can."

...

"Does the victim have any prior history with the suspect?" I almost punch the lady's in the face. I already answered this question four times, but the first time they forgot to turn on the lie detector and the other times the detector wasn't working.

"Yes."

"Will you please tell us about it."

"Look, it's really not my place to tell you. I mean, I wasn't there, and I wasn't involved." My patience is running thin.

"Mr. Griffin, you'll be able to see her much quicker if you cooperate with the investigation."

"Didn't he already admit to doing it?"

"Yes, but we would like to be aware if there are other crimes he has gotten away with." This woman is evidently not a fan of me. I hesitate.

"Well, there is one thing..."