Coffee Shop Soundtrack (Marianas Trench)

Chapter Forty Three

"H-hi." He managed to stutter out, catching the attention of the officer at reception. He was older, with greying hair and an old faded tattoo lurking under the collar of his shirt. He looked up and smiled tightly.

"Hello, how can I help you today?"

"I... I n-need to file a report for, uh, domestic abuse?" Matt said quietly. "Is that what it's called?"

"Yes, yes, if you take a seat, one of our best officers is on her way down in a moment. I'll ask her to have a chat with you, alright?" The officer smiled and Matt nodded dumbly. "What's your name, young man?"

"Matt, uh, Matthew Webb."

"From around here?"

"Yes, I'm in Van City."

"O-o-okay." The officer said as he typed Matt's name into the computer system. "Yeah, if you take a seat and wait for Officer Rogers. She was on a call but she's due back any moment." He looked down at his desk and grabbed a clipboard quickly. "Oh! You need to fill out this statement sheet too."

Josh and Matt nodded. They both sat down in the hard plastic chairs. Josh filled out the form for Matt, just asking little questions now and again. When he was finished, he got up, handed the clipboard back, and sat down again. Matt drew his legs over Josh's, just to be as close as he could. Josh could feel him trembling so he traced patterns on his jeans, just above his knee. They were lucky the reception, or waiting area, or whatever it was called, was near enough empty. Nobody else made call-ins on a Wednesday morning, apparently. It didn't take long, maybe ten minutes of waiting - and Josh mumbling little comforting words into Matt's ear - before the officer they wanted to see called them in. She wasn't as Matt had expected her to be, she was quite young, perhaps in her late twenties. She had tanned skin and dirty blonde hair, and despite her official aura, she seemed quite friendly. The officer sat the pair of them down at a desk and she sat the other side, smiling tightly at the pair.

"Good morning, I'm Officer Rogers." She greeted them politely. "How can I help you today?"

"Um." Matt began awkwardly and shyly. "I came to report an abusive partner. I don't know how, or what to do, really."

"Okay." She began to type away on her computer. "This is a statement, so I've got to write this down for recording purposes. Who is this person?"

"His name is Tyler Shelley."

"Has he had any past criminal offences that you know of?"

Matt scoffed bitterly. "Yeah, two - maybe three - years ago, he was charged for a DUI. I paid for his lawyer with a lot of the money from my dad's will." Matt nearly choked out, but sniffed, determined not to cry, not to make himself look like a sob story.

"Okay, let me look him up on our database." She slipped on some glasses and peered at the monitor, swivelling it around to show the boys a picture of someone who was unmistakably Tyler. "Is this him?"

"Yeah." Matt nodded. "He just has more tattoos now than he did in that photo."

"Amazing what we can find with computers these days." She smiled. "So, you and him, what kind of relationship was it?"

"We were dating for nearly four years."

"And he started to get abusive..."

"Almost a year in."

"How would you describe the abuse, Mr Webb?"

"Uh, firstly it was more... like he'd force me to do... t-things I didn't want to do. Then, uh, the words and the names added on, and then I'd just get hurt physically on top of it all."

She continued to type this down on her computer, and Matt looked at Josh cautiously. Josh smiled sadly, but the grin was saying you're doing really well. Matt took a deep breath before turning back to Officer Rogers.

"Have you told any other people about this?"

"Um, Josh knows, but that's obvious because he's my boyfriend and all that..." Matt blushed as he jabbed a finger in the direction of his boyfriend. "My best friend and his sister, Josh's parents, and my mom and sister, but they don't talk to me anymore. My family, I mean."

"Matty, the hospital..." Josh reminded him softly.

"Oh, right." He nervously sat up. "I was in the hospital yesterday, officer. I told the doctor because she asked me where some of the, uh, scars were from. I explained about him, and as it happens, he was the one who beat me up which sent me to the hospital." Matt frowned. "Hold on, that doesn't make sense, I didn't explain that ri-"

"He hurt you again?"

"Yes. He and his current boyfriend cornered me on my way home from work and hit me in an alleyway. I think they were drunk, he reeked of that specific whiskey..."

"Alright, Matt. Give me a minute, I need to process this information and talk to my boss, who's an officer who specialises in cases like these. I'll be back shortly."

Matt and Josh nodded, and when she left the room, Josh turned to Matt quickly.

"Are you okay, babe?" Josh asked immediately.

"F-fine. I'm fine. How are you?"

Josh laughed and rolled his eyes. "You know I'm happy when I'm with you. I just wish I could make things better."

"You have."