Chapter 2
I entered the police station nervously, the policeman beside me holding my shoulder firmly. We walked for what seemed like hours but must have only been a few minutes. As we approached the open door of the office of the chief of police, I began to sweat. I had done nothing wrong as far as I knew, so why was I being led as if I was to be taken into custody? My heart gave a jolt as I saw that there were two others in the room with him.
I recognized them immediately of course, they were Jay and Tina, the parents of my good friend Tommy. They were almost like a second set of parents for me; I had always been treated kindly by them ever since I had gotten to know Tommy. Right now, however, they were wearing slightly confused but apprehensive looks, mirroring my feelings.
"Hi Akash," they greeted me, trying to smile. I forced a small smile back and greeted them too, desperately trying to ignore the frantic thumping of my heart. The policeman next to me released his grip and walked out of the office, closing the door as he left. I looked at the chief of police and my feelings of apprehension grew at the serious and sombre look on his face. Something had happened. Something was terribly wrong.
"Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Briggs, and to you, Mr. Sinha," he spoke at last. We all murmured a quick hello back. "Please have a seat, all of you. I have a serious matter to discuss," he continued, his eyes flitting between the three of us.
"This evening, at approximately 6:03 pm, the owners of the convenience store down the road from here, reported an incident. They had seen five people enter an alley across the street, but only four left about ten minutes later." He stated. "One of our officers decided to investigate the matter, as we knew that there is only one entrance to that alley." His face grew, if possible, even more grave. "On reaching the alley, our man found the body of a child, the fifth boy. He wore innumerable cuts and bruises, and had been unmistakably beaten to death." My body tensed, the poor kid! He obviously didn't stand a chance with four guys going at him at the same time. I still didn't understand what this had to do with me.
"We have apprehended the four boys who left the alley, due to a witness who was able to provide a detailed enough description of the clothes they were wearing and their facial characteristics," he continued. "All of them attend your school, Mr. Sinha," he turned to me, and my heart skipped a few beats. Did he think I was involved in this? Or that I knew something about it? I was about to protest, but he held up a hand to silence me.
"Our man photographed the face of the boy in the alley, and our database matched it to one person. I think you should see for yourself." He handed a sealed envelope to Jay, and Tina and I leaned in on either side of him to look at the pictures. I felt nothing except horror as Jay opened the envelope and took out the photographs with shaking hands. We all stared unbelievingly at the distorted visage of Tommy Briggs...
"NO!" I heard myself yell as I jerked awake with a start. I looked around frantically, shaking and shivering as cold sweat poured from my body. I could feel tears as well, but I hadn't calmed down enough yet to care. I looked at my phone, which told me that it was 4:30 in the morning, and today was Thursday. I turned away from the phone and closed my eyes, waiting for my breathing to return to normal.
That event had played itself over and over in my dreams for nearly seven years now, and I knew that it would haunt me till my last breath, but I had been working on trying to fight the guilt that always came with it. And since coming home I thought that maybe it was finally working, because this was the first time in six days I watched the dream. I think it was because I wasn't able to forget Kadie and Tracy's kind faces; they were the last thing that had appeared in my mind every night, always making me laugh as I remembered our conversations at Kadie's house on Sunday.
