UNDER THE PIER

CHAPTER 16

"Well, Miss Cadence Zales, I know these past week hasn't been easy for you in the slightest. I hope today you will find easiness and peace in your life and hope you make the most of it. So, in your case of child neglect and abuse, we find your father, Tony Zales, guilty and at large.
I'm unfortunately sad to say during the week you were in the hospital, he has fled his home and his whereabouts are unknown. We have contacted your uncle and searched his home due to a suspicious reason for believing he could be harboring Mr. Tony. This search warrant was carried out and proved that Mr. Daniel was not harboring Mr. Tony.
"We still do not know his whereabouts and his warrant is now out as a dangerous criminal, as well as abuser of a minor. The public have been warned and to call the police immediately.
Moving on from Mr. Zales, I noticed you are 17 years old. You seem to have no High School diploma or GED. You aren't even enrolled in any local highschool or homeschooling program either. Normally in cases of child abuse and with no family left to care for them, we place them in child care system. However, considering your birthday is this summer, I don't exactly see the reason of you spending six months in the system. Cases such as your age have little to no chance of getting adopted.
I have decided to give you a choice of whether you wish to be placed in the system here in LA or wish to be emancipated. You have chosen emancipation after getting advice and counsel from your lawyer as well as your friend, Dean Thresher.
I see again you have worked unpaid community service without even being assigned to do so for your local pier. As well as being a part of finding key evidence in several missing person cases here in LA.
Well, I have thought long and hard about this. You seem like a promising young lady. You also seem well loved by the DarkFish Pier community. Pier Officer Dean Thresher has spoken highly well on your behalf as even volunteered to help investigate your case. As of today, you will be receiving food stamps, monthly allowance from the state, as well as health insurance. However, you can only keep these things if you go to classes to get your GED. Once getting your GED, we expect you to apply for a job.
Once we see you are well on your way and have some financial stability, we will no longer support you. You will be able to reapply for these benefits yourself through your local state benefits office.
Once a month, one of our social workers will visit you to check on your well being and your progress on your GED. She or he will keep track of your progress and report it to the state as well as to me.
You are here by no longer considered under any child custody of anyone. You are under the protection of the state and under no circumstances are you to be in contact with your father. Any sign or contact by your father must be reported immediately to the police."
    *
A day later, I found myself standing under the pier alone. It was a warm day today so I wore blue shorts and a black T-shirt. My face was still bruised but the swelling had gone down quite a bit. I had worn shades to the beach, not to draw attention to my black eye. I now wore them on my head since I stood under DarkFish Pier.
I looked down at my left wrist. it was declared sprained and now wrapped in a bandage.
My stomach was still slightly sore and some of its bruises now were fading. I could now bend over without it hurting me too horribly.
As I stared out into the beyond of the pier, my mind processed on everything that had happened in the past week.
Once I had settled into the hospital, Officer Dean and other officers stormed to my apartment building and searched for my father. However, my father had left.
They waited and staked out the place for days. He never did return. Since I had no idea where he would have gone besides my uncle's, that was where they decided to check next.
However, my uncle had no idea what was going on and allowed the officers to search his home. I felt as though my uncle somehow knew where my father was but wasn't revealing anything to the police. While my uncle had been presented with the idea of adopting me, my uncle flat out refused. Not that I would have went with him anyways...
Officer Dean had taken upon himself to personally ask around the town in hopes of finding my father. The last known place my father was seen was at the local grocery store, buying a large bottle of bourbon around 1pm. Checking security cameras around the parking lot, it showed he left and drove onto the interstate going more inland.
I didn't ask for any more details of where my father was or where else he had went to before he fled. A part of me didn't want to know. A terrible thought processed my mind while I was laid up in the hospital bed.
How long had I laid on the floor, bleeding away and curled up from pain before I decided to go? How long did I take me to get to the beach? Did anyone else see or hear me?
I did know one thing for certain. I didn't miss my father. I felt nothing more for him. If anything, I was happy with the fact he had left. I prayed he would never return again. And I prayed even harder I would never see his face again.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
I have to be brave now. I will no longer allow the words he spoke to me nor the pain he gave me hurt me anymore. I thought.
My mind turned to Zithan. While I was in the hospital, a terrible realization came to me.
Everything Mr. Hendricks told me was a lie.
Zithan indeed was real.
I know I had saw him save me when I fell into the water a week ago. But why? Wasn't that the perfect opportunity for him to drag me down and kill me? Even more so, wouldn't he be mad with me that I broke up with him?
These thoughts entered my mind during my first day at the hospital before I realized how wronged I was. Also how wrong it was for me to even think of that about Zithan.
I opened my eyes and looked down at the rising tide.
The water stretched out to touch my feet but would find itselves several feet short. I knew for the next few hours,l  it would.
I sighed, partly wishing I could go back in time and undo it all. Never talking back to my father, and not breaking up with Zithan.
I wonder if he misses me.... I thought, not thinking of my father.
"Cadence?"
It was Office Dean.
I turned around and saw him standing by the stairs. While I was allowed to stay at my current apartment all alone, Officer Dean came by constantly and escorted me almost every waking moment. He brought me meals from the pier and texted me on the hour, every hour that I wasn't at the pier. He was hovering and had become super protective of me but I knew it was because he did care about me. Officer Dean had been with me the entire process of my emancipation and before it.
"What did me and doctor tell you about the water?" He asked slowly.
"My bandages will get wet." I simply said turning away from him and looking out to the ocean water.
"That's right." he said. "Please come up on the pier. I'll have Al or someone give you some food."
I turned around to watch him go back up the stairs.
Things have been quite different between me and Officer Dean lately. He never did mention about me yelling at the ocean during the time that he and Tony found me.
I knew that he had heard everything I said. I knew that he had questions. I was now more awake in mind that I could see it in his eyes and I knew he felt nervous too whenever I told him I was going down under the pier. He knew something was up. A large part of me wanted to tell him everything but yet I just couldn't. Just like I couldn't tell Toni anything.
I thought about her and her poor horrified reaction to finding me. I hadn't seen her since I returned from the hospital. I also hadn't returned to the beach where I knew that she probably be burying herself in the sand.
I wonder how she was and how she took all of this in. I pray that I didn't cause her too much trauma or disturbance in her life. I felt my phone in my back pocket. If only I had her number, I could text her, letting her know that I was okay and she didn't need to worry anymore.
I also thought about my father's number saved in my phone. My father hadn't texted me or called me once. Not that he could have anyway considering the police were tailing him. His last text message was him asking me to come home a few days before he had beaten me to near death.
My uncle however had left numerous text messages to me calling me a waste of space filth and other lovely kind names. He had left me angry voicemails to ask me 'what other lies I had spread about my father'. I never answered or called him back. I eventually blocked his number and deleted his text messages. I honestly hope I would never see him again either. Now that I was a actual adult, I didn't believe I had to if I wanted to.
I turned back to the ocean one more time.
My memories turned to my nights with Zithan and Little Buddy. I fondly recalled lying in the seagrass while Zithan went and chased off a shark.
I miss you.... I wonder... If perhaps you miss me
My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice appearing from the rock boulders to my right.
"Well hello there, little lady."
I turned and I felt disappointed and a little angry when I realized it was Mr Hendricks. I hadn't seen him since the day that he made numerous lies about Zithan.
I felt silly and stupid now for falling for such an obvious lie from this old creep. Zithan wasn't a monster. Yes he done some bad things in the past but some bad things didn't make him a monster.
I know that more than ever Mr. Hendricks lied to me because I was weak minded at the time and he manipulated me due to my abused background. It was something that he could no longer manipulate me with again.
I said nothing and turned away. I walked away from the shore and towards the pier stairs.
"What's the matter? You're not going to speak to a friend?" he asked.
"We are not friends and I have no need to speak to you about anything." I said to him, without looking over my shoulder. "Leave DarkFish Pier now or I will call Officer Dean to come and arrest you."
"I heard what happened between you and your father. It was all over the news for the past few days. I just want to say I'm sorry that happened to you."
"You already knew what was happening to me and you didn't say sorry then." I said turning around suddenly, feeling anger boil in me. "What do you want, Mr. Hendricks?"
Mr Hendricks smiled to me. An evil mysterious look blended in his eyes. He indeed had came here for a purpose. I had already knew that but what did it have to do with me this time?
"Sharks have come back to the pier waters." he said. "I believe our mutual friend has perhaps left the pier territory."
I wasn't fooled by his words. It was more than likely a lie.
"I don't believe you," I said to him. "Zithan can't leave due to your fishnet. On top of that, you know very well that he eats sharks."
Mr Hendricks shook his head and then scratched at it.
"Be that as I do have that underneath the water... my cameras and movement signatures haven't picked him up in almost a week now. My net has quite the massive hole in it now. It's to my belief that he slip past my defenses and now he's gone. I've seen multiple tiger sharks swimming in the waters from my cameras. None of them swim out. I figured that this summer, these beaches will be dangerous due to this."
A part of me started to feel concerned but yet I needed to remember that Mr. Hendricks was a notorious liar. And he was very clever too.
"I still don't believe you." I said. "If you see sharks going into the pier territory then why don't you alert the authorities? You said it yourself before that you submitted photos of Zithan to the authorities and they've done nothing. I'm sure  once they see the sharks, they will absolutely do something."
I turned away again to go up the stairs. I feel hear Mr. Hendricks gritting his teeth and finally he spoke.
"I can't." He quickly said.
"And why is that?" I asked merely without looking over my shoulder.
"Because my net and cameras are illegal to have in the pier territory." He slowly admitted.
I smiled slightly as I turned around to face him again. I already knew this but hearing him admit it felt a sense of justice. Having him admit his wrongdoings was nice. Now only he could admit that everything he said about Zithan was wrong...
"I honestly want to give an anonymous tip to the manager of the pier about your net. Even if it risks Zithan to be discovered, I'm sure he would gladly take that risk of it meant having your net taken down." I said coldly to him.
"The siren is gone, you g lady. Haven't you been listening?" He asked.
"I don't believe a single thing you say anymore." I said. "What proof besides your little hunch and more sharks in the territory do you have?"
Mr. Hendricks opened than closed his mouth. A desperate look emerged in his eyes. He was realizing I was no longer easy to manipulate like I once was.
"I need to be certain that the siren is gone. And I want you to help me." He said finally.
"Huh?"
"I want us to meet here tonight at midnight. We take a small row boat out into the waters and we go diving. We search the wrecks and the sea kelp fields. We search everywhere we can. If he truly is gone, then I will report my findings of the sharks to the police and I will also take out the cameras and the net from under the water. To even sweeten the deal, you and I will never have to talk to each other again."
I looked at him baffled. Before I could even think of what to say, my response came out of me.
"You are absolutely the most delusional man of this side of the coast if you think I will ever listen to anything you ever say to me. I know you lied to me about Zithan and everything else you showed me. I have half a mind to believe those photos were edited or doctored somehow. I also know Zithan isn't the monster you make him out to be."
Mr. Hendricks glared at me. "Need I remind you, I lost a finger to him."
"I'm not forgetful. Of course I remember." I said angrily at him. "I also know you had to initiate an attack for Zithan to attack you like that. Zithan wouldn't hurt someone unless they were hurting him first."
"You certainly seem to know this siren, don't you?"
"Unlike you, whose been an obsessive stalker that you are willing to lie and hurt people in the process." I said. "Zithan doesn't hurt anyone. Only you do and he gets the blame for it. You can forget me trying to help you. I won't do it."
"I think it's your best interest to help me with this task."
I rolled my eyes at him. I was now more sick of this man more than my own father.
"Go to hell Mr. Hendricks. I'm leaving." I said turning away and beginning to go up to the stairs.
"I have pictures of you with him."
I stopped in my tracks and turned around at him. I gripped my hands into a fist for a quick second and turned back around. I made my way back down to the bottom step and looked at him dead in the eyes.
"What are talking about?" I asked him.
Mr Hendricks smiled and slowly approached me. I backed up slightly and placed a foot on the unstable bottom step. It wobbled underneath my weight but I did not go with it. I kept my balance and focused on him solely.
Mr Hendricks dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out a large printed out photo. He slowly held it up with a smile on his face. I gasped when I saw the picture.
Mr Hendricks indeed have cameras in other places. Not just at the net.
I was staring at a photo of me back when I was in my dream state. I was lying in the long tall seagrass with my white tail clear as day poking out through the sea grass. The angle was from above me. I tried to recall where I was when I was laying in the seagrass. I remembered it with this was the time where Zithan was chasing a shark away. I had laid in the seagrass to hide myself. I remember there was long stalks of kelp all around me nearby. Was his camera perhaps tied somehow to one of these stalks?
Regardless of how he did it, Mr Hendricks found a way. The evil genius that he was he had been spying on us this whole time even when I was well away from the net. While I had predicted he had photos of me and Zithan by the net, I couldn't predict he'd have photos of me in other places.
If Mr. Hendricks had this photo then I knew he most assuredly had others. He possibly had one or two cameras hidden in the shipwrecks that I did not see. I embarrassly thought about me and Zithan sharing a kiss and I wondered if Mr Hendrix had a photo of that too. I prayed that he did not.
"Too stunned to speak, are we now?" he asked with a evil smirk on his face. "If you continue to talk to me like that or try to turn me away again, I can turn this photo into the police. While nothing may come of it, they may take a visit to your apartment. I know that you're on a very delicate scale with the court considering that you are by yourself and freshly emancipated. It will be a shame if they had to take away your benefits due to suspicion of illegal diving and dangerous activity."
"I haven't done anything! That photo proves nothing!" I told him angrily. "Everyone in town knows you're a psycho!"
Mr. Hendricks smiled fainted slightly but then returned. He looked up at the stairs behind me.
"I wonder.... Does your fellow officer friend know anything about our mutual friend?"
"What?"
He glared at me. "I'm saying is that what would Dean Thresher think of he saw photos of these presented to him? He defended you wholeheartedly this past week. Wouldn't want him asking hard questions or thinking the worst of you, wouldn't you?"
I stared at him in shock. I then gritted my teeth and looked away. I knew more than ever that I would have to do as he said. There was no way I could afford to lose the benefits that I had. I couldn't be homeless and end up in the streets. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it and with my father still on the prowl it would be more dangerous than ever.
Most of all, I couldn't afford to lose Officers Dean support. Hovering and over protective but he was still my friend. The feeling of losing him didn't feel right to me at all.
I looked up at him. I clenched my hands into fist wanting more than ever to punch him in the face but I knew I would lose this fight.
"Fine.... I will come at midnight." I said through my teeth.
"I'll bring the boat and the diving gear so don't worry about bringing anything else but yourself. I expect you to be here exactly at 12:00." He said turning away and placing the photo back in his jacket pocket. As he walked away, he suddenly stopped and turned around slowly at me. "And if you're a minute late, then I turn this in to Officer Dean himself."
I watched him go with a looks could kill stare. He slipped through the rocks and disappeared from my sight.
After a long minute, I finally sighed and unclenched my hands. I couldn't believe Mr Hendricks had once again gotten a better of me. This time he had another ace up his sleeve if I had refused to listen to him.
I then thought about Zithan. Was he really gone? Had he been so upset by the sight of me that he somehow managed to leave the pier?
I remembered Zithan then saying that the net fish line cut his skin too easily and he even almost died trying to get past the net.
A wave of regret and guilt swept over me as I remembered all I said when I wandered into the ocean last week. And the terrible things I said afterwards...
I didn't mean it.... I'm sorry....
More than ever, I wish I had never broken up with him. I wish that I was still somehow with him swimming together side by side. Perhaps none of this would have happened if I just stayed by his side.
My father beating me.... me being emancipated... Mr Hendricks's scheming ways... Maybe none of this would have happened if I had just.... Believed Zithan.