Repressed, Depressed and Possessed - (Ruth Harris Series)

Chapter 18

The smell of sweat, smoke and metal made my head throb. I sat up on a solid bed frame and rubbed my eyes. For once I understood how and why I was waking up in a jail cell. I may have been very drunk last night but I had most of my memories intact. Funny: I go through most days with odd glitches and gaps in my memory, and yet, when most 'normal' people lost their memory, I keep mine. This world is a crazier place than my mind!
               Anyway, the cell was white - a blinding kind of white -, with the exception of multiple stains on the walls and the cold metal bars blocking the exit. My head felt like it was splitting in half, and not in the usual way. I could smell stale alcohol with a hint of vomit on my clothes. Then, as I filtered through my recollection of last night, I hid my face in my hands and moaned in shame. I would have cried, if I'd had any water left in me.

'Rise and shine, sweetheart.' a middle aged guard said to me, rattling his baton against the cell bars. I grimaced. 'Officer Todd wants to ask you a few questions.' A younger man stepped into view. I recognised him.
'Morning Miss Harris.' I just sighed and returned my face to my hands. 'What's wrong? Not feeling well?' He spoke intentionally loudly. 'Hmm. Funny that. Want to tell me about last night then?'
'You were there, Officer Todd.' I squeaked, but my head still pounded at the volume. 'That reminds me, how's your foot?'
'Don't waste my time.'
               The officer was young. Attractive, definitely, and yet his face was more solemn than Mike's.
'I got drunk. Now get lost.'
'And leave you here all alone? No, I don't think so.' He smirked, sat on the other side of the bars and rested his notepad on his knee. 'Come on. The sooner we get through this the sooner you can leave.'
'Ugh.' I groaned. 'You sound like my mother. Who, by the way, will never have me back after this - so why bother 'getting through it'?'
               The officer adjusted his belt. I hate when people do that.
'Actually,' he said, 'she's waiting for you. At home. Mr Brookes has been here all night, waiting to take you back there.'
'What?' I lifted my head to look at him. 'You're joking.'
'I'm not!' he smiled. 'He slept here and everything. I told him those seats by reception aren't half comfortable for a night's sleep, but he insisted on staying in case anything happened.' I still didn't believe him. He cleared his throat. 'Now, let's get through these questions so you can go and see him for yourself. First, how did you get drunk?'
'None of your business.'
'Miss Harris. Help me out here. I don't like keeping mentally ill people in cells for any longer than necessary.'
'I'm not ill.'
'Right. So how did you get drunk?' His eye line was steadily set on me.
'Alcohol. That's typically how it's done right?' I sneered and looked to the other side of my cell where I couldn't see his face. He was too much of a pretty boy to act so mature and tough.
'How did you get drunk.'
'Alcohol, alright!?' I shouted suddenly. 'I drank a lot of wine, what of it!?'
'Please stop hurting my head, Ruth.' Hailey asked, her voice gentle for once. 'Some of us are hungover, thanks to you.'
'Okay, wine then. Was that all you drank?' the policeman asked. I sighed.
'I don't know. I remember drinking from a bottle of wine. Leftover from Christmas.'
'Did you drink over the holidays?'
'Why are you asking?'
'I'm just getting a picture of your addiction history.'
'I - I, that's insulting, you know that?' I stood up and turned my back to him. It made my brain swim. 'It doesn't matter if I have an 'addiction history', you can't arrest me for that.'
'I know. I just want to know how often stuff like this happens to you.'
'Nothing happens to me, Todd.'
'Did you drink over the holidays?' He was relentless and I just wanted to go home so I replied,
'No, alright? Mama would never let me.'
'So your mother's helping you kick the habit?'
'I kicked it almost a year ago. 10 months ago.' I puffed out my chest with an artificial sense of pride.
'Did you go to rehab?'
'Once at 17, once at 19.'
               Officer Todd stared up at me in shock. It made me smile. 'You haven't met my type before, have you?'
'I've met alcoholics if that's what you mean.'
'You know it's not.' We shared a glance before he took a deep breath and moved on:
'So I assume after such a long period of sobriety, you got intoxicated pretty quickly?'
'Drop the formal crap.' I narrowed my eyes at his uniform and stepped toward him. 'How old are you, Todd?' He looked at me uneasily as I clung onto the bars near his head.
'Same as you. 21.'
'Well isn't that funny.' I snickered and leaned forward as far as I could. 'You got the easy road didn't you.'
'Miss Harris -'
'Call me Ruth. What can I call you?'
'Officer Todd.' he said shortly. I glared and he eventually sighed, 'James.'
'Hm. I've got a James up here too. We call him Jim.'
'Very good. Now let's get on with these questions so you can go home. Right, well, what did you do after drinking the wine?'
'Dropped the bottle. It smashed and Mama came running. She thinks she's my babysitter.'
'I get it. She feels responsible for you.'
'Whatever. Next?' I paced away from him and then back again. It gave me somewhere else to look other than at his scribbling hand.
'Well...what happened after that?'
               I stopped pacing and squinted my eyes in thought.
'I-I think, I think I left the house. Mama kept trying to get me to drink coffee so I pushed her away and ran off.'
'What did you take with you?'
'Why does that matter?'
'Well, did you have a phone on you? A wallet? Keys? Anything that may have been stolen?'
'No. I don't remember taking a bag. Doesn't matter though, none of it's worth much.'
'Okay.' James looked up at me again from his seat. 'Then?'
'I don't remember. I know I was at the pub for a bit.'
'Obelisk's? Do you remember what time?'
'Around midnight. I...I remember kissing someone after the countdown there.' I lowered my head in shame. It should have been Mike I was kissing at midnight, and I should have been sober. James showed no judgement. 'James?'
'Yes ma'am?'
'What were you doing at midnight?' My face uncreased for the first time that morning and I just looked at him innocently.
'Receiving a call from dispatch about a worried Mrs Harris, and responding to it.'
'Why did she call you so quick?'
'I guess she was worried about you. And she told us about your...condition. So finding you became our priority.'
'Ah, thanks.' I said bitterly. James cleared his throat again and continued the interrogation.
'So we found you around 3:30 am. Do you recall anything else that happened on Obelisk street? You were there for quite a while.'
'I don't remember anything. But when you get a doctor to look me over I'm sure -'
'We already did that.'
'W-what? Without my permission?' I wasn't sure if I was angry or relieved that I didn't have to endure an inspection consciously.
'Yeah. The man you were with was carrying a large amount of heroin so we had to check you out sooner rather than later. Mr Brookes made us let him watch, to make sure you got the best treatment.' James seemed dismissive of the event.
'What did you find?'
'...Not much.' His voice cracked.
'What did you find, James?' My eyebrows furrowed again as he shifted in his seat and stalled. 'Just say it. I'm a big girl.'
'There were traces of ketamine in your blood.'
'What's that?'
               James sighed and kept his head down. 'Hey! It was in my body I deserve to know -'
'It's a sedative - of sorts. People often use it to spike drinks in pubs and bars. So, we think that the man you were with spiked your drink before he started walking you back to his flat.'
'What?'
               Shaking, I lowered myself onto the bed and closed my eyes. 'Why, why, w-would he do that?' James didn't have to answer for me to know. Acid tears started rolling down my face. I couldn't breathe. I started gasping soundlessly and James arose from his chair with a start.
'Ruth? Ruth can you hear me?' He fumbled around with a ring of keys to open the cell door, all the while shouting for help. A few officers dashed around the corner towards us with Hunter on their tail. The sight of him made me feel tranquil inside, but my body didn't get the memo.
               'Sir, stay back please.' One said to Hunter who was itching to see past the gathering of uniformed guards. By this time I was lying on the floor and gripping at the cold tiles in tremulous agony, choking out Hunter's name almost unintelligibly.
               James crouched beside me, with one hand feeling the pulse behind my ear.
'Miss - Ruth? Did you say Hunter?' He glanced around. 'Is Mr Brookes here?'
'Yeah, but Todd -'
'Let him in!'
'Officer -'
'This woman can't breathe, get Mr Brookes in here now! And where's the doctor?'
               Within seconds Hunter was crouching beside me, his fingers brushing the hair out of my eyes, then he scooped me up in his arms. He sat on the hard bed and rocked me like a baby.
'Ruth, Ruth, it's okay, I'm right here.' He cuddled me close. It was a surreal feeling, being embraced so affectionately by a long lost friend, and yet, I liked it. His body was radiating heat and he smelt like an orchard in spring. His muscular arms surrounded me like no one's ever had. Then, as if he had been waiting for the excuse to, he kissed my forehead. Twice. 'Ruth can you hear me?'
'H-H-'
'It's okay, ssh.' He stroked my hair and smiled at me until my fierce shaking stopped. It didn't last more than five minutes, but by the end of it I could have sworn I had run a marathon. 'It's going to be alright Ruth.'
               The doctor arrived, but he just stood back and let Hunter help me; clearly it was the best thing and any other interventions would only have provoked another panic attack.