Page 38 of The Other Half

The ride to my house is about 3 minutes but it feels like a lifetime. When we begin to ascend the hill of my street I see my parents standing outside with another officer, the blue lights of his car illuminating their faces.

Someone opens my door and my mom practically dives into the backseat of the car to cradle me in her arms.

“Oakley!” she exclaims, her face wet with tears. I am such a terrible daughter. “Where the hell were you? What were you thinking? We were so scared that-”

“We found her with a boy, ma’am.”

“A BOY?” My dad answers in his thunderous voice.

“Yes, we brought him back to his house. They appeared to just be taking a walk, no funny business. She is safe.”

“What the fuck were you thinking, Oakley? Is this some kind of joke?” He turns back to the cop after the short interrogation, “Who was this boy? Where does he live?”

No…please no.

“We can’t release that information sir.”

“BULLSHIT you can’t. I’ll find the little fucker myself.” He replies, turning on his heel stomping up our driveway towards the house. My mother thanks the officers and apologizes for Dad’s anger.

I’m silently shaking, my mom’s arm is still hanging over my shoulder protectively. I can tell she was genuinely worried, and I feel absolutely awful. I would never want them to think I was in danger.

The cops slowly make their way back to their cars, preparing to leave. My mom and I walk up the cobblestone driveway towards our front door. I’m barely aware of my feet moving, I’m simply going through the motions.

“Oakley, are you okay? Where were you? God…I was so scared.” My mom says, wiping under her eye with her free hand.

“I-I’m sorry, Mom. I was fine, I was just hanging out with a friend.”

“Why didn’t you tell us you were leaving?” She looks thoroughly disappointed in me. I know that whatever trust she had left for me is gone now.

“I…I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry.” I say as we walk through the door. I’m terrified of what my Dad is going to do next. He’s always volatile, but he’s never been this angry with me.

“You were with Oliver, weren’t you?”

I look away, not wanting to answer. What’s the point in lying now?

She sighs. “It looks like your dad went upstairs. He has work tomorrow. We both do…” I know it must be past midnight by now. “We’re just glad you’re okay. You’re not the type of girl to do something like this. We were so scared. Please don’t scare us like this again.” She pleads, looking into my eyes.

“Let’s get some sleep. We can discuss all of this in the morning.” She says, giving me a quick squeeze before ascending the stairs.

Chapter 32

Oliver

I hear a loud rapping at the front door. I consider answering it, but I figure my mom’s already in the living room anyway. After that cop took Oakley back to her house, the other one patted me down and eventually let me go when he couldn’t find any reason to arrest me or give me a ticket. I’ve tried texting Oakley a few times since then but she hasn’t answered. I’m worried about her, to get the cops involved her parents must have been pretty upset.

“Oliver!” I hear my mom yell from the other side of our small house.

I sigh and walk out of my room towards her voice.

“Yeah, mom?” I reply as I walk through the short hallway.

“There’s someone here that wants to speak with you,” she says politely. There’s a large man standing in our front doorway, and he looks pissed.

“Oh..kay… How can I help you? Uh, sir?”

“Do you know who I am?” He asks rudely.

I’m suddenly defensive. Who does this asshole think he is? Now that I’m in front of his face, though, he does look sort of familiar. I swear he reminds me of some actor or something, or someone that’s on tv at least, maybe a reporter?

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