Losing Control

Chapter Twenty Three

I had fully prepared myself to walk out of that hospital room and face the next chapter of my life. I was prepared for anything. Or so I thought. I thought I could face things head on with an ability to keep calm, but when I saw two bulky police officers standing in the hospital corridor, my knees started to shake and my palms were sweaty. I tried to swallow but my mouth was dry.

Just seeing them brought back twelve years of horrendous memories, and the thought of being locked up again was more than I could take. But somehow...I had to. I had to do this.

"Noah Woods?"

I raised an eyebrow. All of a sudden I wanted to laugh out loud. Why were they saying my name as if it were a question? They knew exactly who I was. In fact, one of the cops had stood on the side lines many times cheering as a group of inmates beat me so hard I ended up in the prison hospital. I remembered his name as Officer Sam.

"Don't act like you don't remember me."

They looked at each other uncomfortably. Good. I often wondered if any of the people that had given me shit over the years felt any remorse. I hoped I haunted their nightmares. It was the least they deserved.

The one who watched me get beat, Sam, stood back while the other one took charge.

"We need you to come down to the station."

Despite the fact I wanted to be brave about this, I had to swallow the bile rising up in my throat. I couldn't believe I had to go through this again. I couldn't believe that Cooper was capable of hating me so much he would do this to me again. I couldn't believe that I was so loyal to my family that I would put myself through it with no fight.

Just as I was about to agree to go with them, Reggie came up the corridor behind the officers looking confused. He looked at them, then me. His eyes told me he was panicking. He didn't like the look of the scene that was going on in front of him.

"Noah....Are you OK son?"

I had suddenly lost my voice. All I could do was nod and run a hand through my hair as I always did when I was anxious. Reggie must have sensed he wouldn't get any information out of me. He looked at the cops.

"What is going on exactly?"

The one in charge cleared his throat, both of them looked rather embarrassed.

"I'm afraid I can't reveal that information sir. We just need Mr Woods to come to the station so we can talk."

I rolled my eyes.

"Don't make out like this is a nice friendly chat guys. Just fucking arrest me already would you? I'm here. I'm not running. I did it. Now let's go."

The two cops looked at each other. They still looked embarrassed. Reggie took his hat off and rubbed his bald head. He looked weary.

"Noah, what have you done?"

Just as I was about to admit to the murder of Cooper, the door opened behind us. Harrison came out, holding on to the wall as he walked along. He was shaking and looking like he would pass out from the effort. I forgot myself for a minute and rushed to him, putting my arm around his waist to steady him.

"You shouldn't be out here. You need to go back to bed."

My voice for once, didn't come out in a growl. I sounded soft and comforting. Harrison noticed, and offered me the weakest of smiles.

"It's sweet of you to care. But....but I'm not leaving you alone to deal with this. I'm here, every step of the way."

Now it was my turn to smile. I gently pulled him towards me so he could lean all his weight on me. I had to get him back to bed before the police took me away.