Innocent

Chapter 24

I stayed out by the river for awhile, remembering the other day when James and I came down here for my birthday. Thinking about him made me feel a little bit better even if I knew I couldn’t get what I want with him right now, and that I had to wait until the trail for everything to go back to the way it was. I promise myself that this time I will make sure James doesn’t go back to jail and I don’t think he will at all.

I headed back home once it started to get dark. I didn’t want Aunt Zoe or my brother to worry about me even more if I haven’t yet returned. As soon as I walk through the door, my aunt pulls me into a hug. I apologise to her for running out like I did, and she understood why I did it.

For the next few days everything just seemed to go fast. I went back home with Daniel and Clara. I didn’t really want to go, knowing the consequences I had to face once I get home. I haven’t heard anything that was happening to James or his dad. All I know is they were back in LA as well, waiting for the trail.

I was grounded for the month for disappearing and not telling anyone where I went. I spent most of my days until the trail in my room, listening to music to make myself feel better and to keep my mind off everything. It wasn’t easy doing it, especially when everyone was moving forward with their lives and I felt like I was still in the past, trying to solve things until I could move forward. Sometimes I felt left out in my family and that they still didn’t quite understood what I was going through, even though they promised to listen to me and not give me so much of a hard time. At the moment none of them really wanted to think about the trail. All they really cared about was Clara and Daniel’s engagement. I know they still didn’t like James, even if Daniel knows he is innocent, but they act like he still is. I couldn’t imagine what my parents will say when they find out that I have been seeing James behind their backs.

The day before the trail I went down to the police station, asking if I could see James. They weren’t sure if it was a good idea for me to see him, but I beg them to allow me. I wanted to spend my last moment with him just in case they do sentence him to jail again.

James and I sat in an interview room with an officer standing the corner of the room, watching us. I really wish he would give us privacy, but I knew in a police station there was no such thing as privacy. The police have their eyes and ears everywhere, hearing everything you say and do, anything to catch you in the act of something.

“How is everything going for you?” James asks me.

I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t think my family really cares so much about how I feel even though they say they do. My dad has grounded for disappearing and never telling my parents where I went. What about you?”

“I keep replaying everything in my head and wondering about the trail. My lawyer came in earlier today, discussing to me about tomorrow.”

“Have you seen your dad?”

James looks down at the table, twitching his thumbs in front of him. He looks up at me. “Yeah, I have. He keeps giving me these death stares like he is going to kill me right here. He hasn’t talked to me, but I know he is going to do everything he can to make sure I go back to jail. I’m terrified that if I go back then I will be sentenced for life.” He starts to cry a little. “I don’t want to go back.”

I want to get up and pull him into a hug, but I wasn’t sure if the officer would allow me to. The officer gives a little more to talk before he tells us our time is over.

Before heading home, I go to our favourite park. A few children are playing on the playground. I crawled into the tunnel and sit there. Some of the children peek in there and when they saw me, they went off and disappear. I pull out my iPod switch it on. Kelly Clarkson’s song The Sun Will Rise begins to play. I sit there, closing my eyes as I listen to it.