When It All Comes Crashing Down (Ongoing)

Bury With A Smile

Malcolm pounded the table in frustration as his right leg shook violently, trying to calm himself down. After all that he did for Rochelle, even going as far as being cordial with her, she still managed to pry into his new life and cause a recipe for disaster. He exhaled deeply as he dragged his hands down his face, contemplating on what his next move would be. He doubted the officers believed his word against hers after telling them his whereabouts earlier this morning - at the scene, moments before she attacked herself and pinned it on Malcolm. He grunted as his thoughts continued to spiral out of control.

Suddenly, the door swung open to the interrogation room.

"Malcolm Morris, you're free to go," the officer poked his head in and stated. With that, the officer walked away without any explanation as to why they were letting him go at all.

Dumbfounded, Malcolm stood up from the chair and slowly walked out of the interrogation room, observing his surroundings until they reached the kind eyes of Timothy. Sighing heavily, Malcolm strode over to the man and hugged him, clapping his back before stepping back.

"I'm deeply sorry my daughter, Rochelle, has caused such a mess for you, but I won't allow her to falsely accuse you of such a terrible act when I know for sure you wouldn't ever go to that extreme to punish her," Timothy apologized with saddened eyes.

"Thank you for that, Timothy and I appreciate you for coming down here yourself and making things right. As many times as Rochelle has caused a mess, never did I think she would pull something like this on me," Malcolm shook his head and glanced down, hurt by how everything was turning out after their separation. Lord knows how long it'll take until he could be able to forgive Rochelle for this, let alone pushing Grace down the stairs and causing an incident as well.

Timothy patted Malcolm's shoulder. "Look, there's something else I'd like to tell you son, but not here."

Malcolm gazed at the man, astounded by how many things he was keeping away from him since the beginning of their marriage.

"I know what you're thinking," Timothy sighed. "I just couldn't let myself intrude in the vows made between you two. It wasn't my place, but it's time I make up for it before anyone else gets hurt by Rochelle. Walk with me to my car son and I'll tell you more."

Although he was agitated by the truth, Malcolm nodded and began to walk beside Timothy. As much as he needed to hear this, he was also terrified of what else he would learn about his ex-wife. He began to wonder, had he fallen in love with a woman who was full of lies? Had he really known Rochelle or another side he had no idea was there?

Malcolm snapped out of his thoughts as Timothy slammed the driver's door shut. He opened the passenger's door and bent forward, sliding into the seat quickly. As he looked towards Timothy, he seen the man gripping the steering wheel tightly, knuckles showing white.

"Hey," Malcolm stated reassuringly. "Are you alright?"

Timothy breathed in deeply as he closed his eyes and exhaled nervously, nodding his head slightly.

"Yeah," he finally uttered. "Just trying to pull myself together."

He looked down and shook his head quickly as if to rid of his thoughts then looked up with a strained smile.

"Anyway, I'm sure you know how terrible Rochelle's temper becomes once she is provoked. It's not one you can ignore or withstand for a long period of time if she doesn't calm down. I'm not sure where she gets it from, but since she first started high school, it surfaced one night when my wife and I received a call from the school stating how Rochelle had pushed a girl down the stairs with intentions of doing so. When the principal approached and asked her why, she simply shrugged, saying she deserved it. There were many cases where she would find a way to physically hurt those around her, even herself. I would sometimes see healing scars on her wrist when she reached out to remove a cup from the cupboard. My wife and I became deeply concerned, leading us to speaking with a therapist of the troubles Rochelle put herself through. Since then, she has been seeing the same therapist and been given medication to keep her temper down and controlled. With luck, Rochelle improved. Her grades went from receiving D's to graduating her senior year as valedictorian with a perfect 4.0 GPA score. She had many friends because of her charming, positive ways and our relationship with her grew stronger each day. We got our girl back and we were more than thrilled to know she could have a more than average life. She kept it at bay until lately, being notified of her terrible actions." Timothy shook his head in frustration.