Cops & Robbers

Chapter Three (Revised)

Pic of Adrienne (Mila Kunis) -------------------->

Seventeen Years Ago

She was screaming again, calling out some guy’s name over and over again. I knew exactly what my mom was doing, because I’d run into her room when she’d done this before. Of course it was scary, but she was screaming, and I was worried. What her and that man were doing looked even more scary not to mention painful, and it was no wonder she was screaming. She yelled at me to leave and I did as I was told because if I didn’t she wouldn’t let me go over to Grandma’s house. I liked it there because there were two boys that let me play all kinds of cool games with them.

However, this time felt different because he was yelling too. The men that came here never talked very nice and they often said things that would get me smacked if I even tried to utter the first syllable. Curiosity warred with fear, but eventually won as I crept over to her room and pressed an ear to the door.

“What do you mean you’re pregnant with my baby? You’re a whore for chrissake! How do I know it’s not someone elses?” a man yelled, his voice slightly muffled by the door.

“Because you’re the only one I’ve slept with in the last month. I was too busy helping my mother care for my dying father. You’re the only one I made time for, because… because I love you!”

“You love me? I’m a police officer Anne! I’m married, and you? You’re a crack whore that’s lucky my wife is too unadventurous to do the things you let me do to you.”

My mother was crying, but it didn’t sound like he was physically hurting her so I knew better than to go in there and comfort her. She didn’t like for her visitors to know she had a daughter so I had explicit orders to make sure I was always out of sight. Then what he said sunk in. She was pregnant. That meant I was going to have a brother or sister! What would this mean for us? She was already always complaining that we didn’t have any money and babies were expensive. At least that’s what I’d heard Ben’s mom tell her friend on the phone.

I must’ve missed the rest of the conversation, but I heard loud footsteps coming toward the door so I scrambled around the corner and behind the couch so I wouldn’t be seen.

“Aside from if and when I arrest you, you will never see me again. We’re through. Keep or abort your baby. I don’t care.”

She said his name a few more times, pleading for him to stay so they could talk it out, but he wouldn’t have a part in it. He slammed the door shut behind him and it shook with finality. My mother broke down and cried into her hands, her shoulders heaving with every sob. Unsure of how else to make it better, I crawled from my hiding place and wrapped my arms around her shoulder. For the first time in a long time, she held onto me like a mother would and I could almost imagine that she loved me.

Present Day

I awoke with a start, my alarm telling me it was time to get my butt in gear and to the studio. Groggily, I made my way out to my truck while I tried to recall the details of my dream, more specifically the name of my sister’s father. My mother never spoke of that day ever again and for the life of me, I could neither remember his name nor what he looked like. I just remembered him saying he worked for the police and after that, I had a general dislike for them. That was before I decided to take up my extracurricular activities and they decided that they didn’t like me either.

The dream continued to fade from my mind, and I shrugged it off figuring if we had survived all these years without knowing, what was the rest of our lives in comparison? My sister was 16 and the last thing she needed to know was that her daddy was some nameless, faceless crooked cop who had more than likely moved away a long time ago.