Chapter 4: We didn’t even flinch.
"I heard the food here is great. Let's eat there after shopping"
The same piece of reminiscence, but a different place, different time and a different story.
Suveksha gushed," allons-y copine"
"French huh. You did learn something from that bench mate of yours when you wasted your 40$ on art class."
"Not only that, side by side I learned how to fire a gun too. That's pretty cool, for me", she replied.
With keenness she jumped into the crowd grabbing my hand. Now we were one of those people who danced in the middle of the supermarket making a fool out of themselves. She looked at me and said," When we'll be in our seventies, we'll look back to this exact moment and remember how lame we were. Kay?" Nothing felt more dumb yet so alluring at the same flow. Not everyday we get to enjoy like this either, these are the nights that never die. It was beautiful.
A splitting headache, my body went numb.
"Screeechhhh"
Those Bats were louder than Rock Concerts.
I was brought back to my senses. I didn't show any motion though. "I'm sitting on my couch, people are chattering, the situation as I'm sensing it is intense", I believed.
Zelda spoke to me," What are you even thinking about? Do you have any idea what's gonna happen to that girl now?"
"Right. Suveksha. I forgot about her. What happened few hours ago?", I thought to myself.
My memory didn't serve me well. I pressed my mind hard.
"Here's your Cottage cheese with flax seeds and cinnamon. Enjoy."
" We didn't order anything. I think you have the wrong table", Samriddhi said.
"Ma'am, it's on the house. We're conducting a survey where we get the customers to try our new recipes. Please consider it", I responded.
"Fine. Sure we will", she said in a calm tone.
"You were saying that you shot him?"
"Uh huh. I had no one to protect me so I had to do it myself. Trust me, I had to", Suveksha replied.
"Well, you did get him to the hospital, didn't you?"
"If I took him for medical help, all the blame would come to me. No one would ever believe that a girl pulled the trigger while defending herself. Eventually, I would be behind the bars for many many years. My whole life would come to an end. Don't you get it? That's how the world runs"
Samriddhi heaved a sigh, we all had our eyes on her. She wanted to scream right there. Wheezingly, she asked, "You mean the guy is dead?"
"Yes", she responded.
"I'm sorry but you killed a person, not only did you shot him but you ended his life. You had a choice. You still decided to leave him deceased. You even had enough money to hire a lawyer. You know, not every single person on this planet is sexist. You could have proved him to be guilty and made him pay for what he did by getting him jailed. Now that you have freaking blood in your hands, I don't think of you as the same person I once knew." Samriddhi started shaking involuntarily.
"Look, I know what I did is unforgivable. But I did it for myself. I couldn't think of any other possible option at that moment, I just knew that's what I had to do. I wanted to be honest with you and tell you this. I'm planning on moving to Manhattan after a couple of days. The only person in this city I think of as a friend is you, you'll always be. So, I wanted to see you one last time before I-"
"CODE 3, 129. Enter! SUVEKSHA, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST FOR A RECENT MURDER OF MR EDMUND. You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, what you say can be used against you in court of law. You have the right to consult a lawyer and have that lawyer present during any questioning."
"Zelda! Alex! Now!", I yelled.
Six total pistols pointing at each other. Three of them who think they know the truth, the other three who wanted to know the truth.
Zelda walked a few steps forward. "Listen, put down your weapons. You aren't supposed to arrest her. For all that we know, she's innocent. She was just a victim to a burglary incident."
He showed them his id.
One of the cop neglected Zelda's words and put handcuffs around her wrists. By the mirror in the parking spot, she must have saw her reflection, we saw regret all over her face. What more painful was that she looked back, to us, and we didn't even flinch.
"a-ooooooooooooooo"
The howling of the dogs on the breeze sent chills up my spine.
"The dogs are way loud here"
"What? What dogs are you talking about?" Everybody raised their eyebrows.
"Never mind. And we're visiting her tomorrow"
"Visiting, why!?"
"WHY? Alex, the girl is innocent. We put her into this. We have to get her out", I replied.
"We're driving to San bruno tomorrow. It's a long way. We'll need some rest. I'll grab the sleeping air mattress bags. Alex, Zelda, I would rather, you stay here"
"Alright", the boys replied.
The light of dawn seeped into my room.
"Good morning, lazybones"
"It's like 8:30. What are you doing?", I snapped.
"Wow aren't you the one who convinced us to go visit Suveksha? It's about time", Samriddhi responded.
" see that dust cloud disappear without a trace
I wanna take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name, oh, oh
Where the streets have no name"
"U2? I love their songs! You've got a hell of a playlist." The boys laughed.
"This is where it shows on the map. Are we on the 'approved visitors list' ?"
"It's not a must. This place isn't doing that good since the higher-ups are busy in their own fights. I did call, so that they won't kick us out. But if we show our id's, we won't have a problem. Let's go", Zelda answered me.
"219's case. Let the victim out in the visiting room"
Somebody yelled.
"Hi", I spoke through the telephone.
"Hello, you are…?", she asked me.
Her face was all pale.
"I, I'm an employee working in the Forensics lab. Sometimes I work on a case or two. So let's cut to the chase, we know what actually happened. Now what you have to do is, no matter what they say or how much they torture you, you will not open your mouth until we have a qualified lawyer. We'll visit here again in about a we-"
"Why the hell are you doing this? I don't even know you!", she spoke nastily.
"I know. I just want to prove you innocent. Had I not set up any trap when you were with Samriddhi, none of this would have even happened. Actually, the person you shot, Mr Edmund-"
"TIME'S OUT. COME HERE NEXT TIME," the lady yelled while ringing a bell in her hand.
"It was my dad."
I gave her a quick glance looking straight into her eyes and found her looking at me. Her face was approving, her eyes lit up. She now had a ray of hope, that someone, someone would protect her.
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