Watched

Chapter 25: The Truth

I woke up, feeling cold and empty.

I couldn't believe that I had trusted you so intimately. I believed everything you said about falling for me when I was visiting Leigh-on-Sea. I believed that you always wanted to find a way to meet me, but you could never quite gather up the courage to introduce yourself. I believed that you felt remorse soon after we arrived at the cabin, knowing you shouldn't have taken me.

I believed that you really, truly loved me.

I couldn't believe how stupid I'd been or how foolish I was going to look now that I had told everyone a bunch of lies to cover your ass!

What was I going to do? I wondered whether I should go along with the lies and hope they never came back to haunt me, or if I should change my story to the absolute truth and let you rot in a prison cell.

I didn't want to open my eyes and face reality.

At that moment, I wanted to go back to sleep and never wake up.

I was so, so cold. I patted around me to find the blanket and when I felt my own downy soft comforter, my eyes flew open.

It was just a dream! I had dreamed everything about the chief telling me about your criminal records of stalking and harassing other women.

Oh, thank heavens!

But when Nolan came into my room a few minutes later, he had some eerily familiar news. “The chief of police wants to talk to you down at the station.”

“No!” I cried and tugged my comforter over my head. What if the the dream had been an omen? A creepy foretelling of who and what you really were? I couldn't handle finding out the truth if you really had been stalking several women over the years, slowly gaining their trust. I loved you, Zayn and I couldn't bear it if I had to hear that awful news all over again.

“River, I think it will be fine. It sounded like he was very eager to talk to you,” Nolan said, comforting me.

Sure, I thought bitterly. He's just excited that he's going to prove himself right, make himself look good.

But I got up and got dressed anyway. I took a long time fixing my hair and putting on make-up, not that I cared what the chief thought of me, but I wanted to stall for time. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of coming at his beck and call.

When I was finally ready, Nolan looked at me incredulously. “What took you so long? Don't you want to find out what the chief has to say?”

It seemed that Nolan knew more than he was letting on. But I just scoffed and said, “He was fairly rude to me the first time we met, and all I can imagine is that he has some condemning piece of evidence against Zayn.”

“River,” Nolan said gently. “I don't think it's that. Now, let's go!”

I rode quietly in Nolan's truck and pondered the previous night's dream. It was so real, so detailed. I tried hard to shake it out of my head. Nolan noticed my apprehension as we drove toward the police station.

He reached over and grabbed my hand, whispering gently, “It's going to be okay, sweetie.”

When we got to the station, I felt sick to my stomach. We were greeted by the chief himself as soon as we entered the building.

“Hello again, River,” he smiled. “Well, I'm not going to waste your time, little lady. I just wanted to tell you that Mr. Malik is free to go.”

I looked at him, waiting for the punchline. I expected him to be playing some cruel joke, but he just smiled sincerely waiting for the information to sink into my brain.