Chapter 3, Trouble with the Law

Chapter 3: Trouble with the Law

 

3:25pm

        Leaning back in her seat, Roselyn felt her eyelids get heavy as the radio played softly in the background. The car windows were cracked enough that a warm breeze was allowed to sweep past her, as she waited for the school bell to ring. Pulling her knees in close, they pressed tightly against the warm glass, and her head fell back one last time, and she calmly slept.  

        Her peaceful slumber didn’t last long though. Three consecutive bangs on the passenger window frightened her, and she shot up to see what the noise was. Looking over, she saw Jaime was the source of the racket.

After a few more moments he knocked again, flinging his arms out wide, with a face of disapproval to match.

        Sitting up farther, Roselyn saw that Danni was standing directly behind him with her hands on her hips. Leaning over to unlock the door; they quickly piled into the car.

        “Why are you banging?! You both have keys!” She questioned, as she frustratingly gazed over her seat, hoping for an answer that would appease her anger.

        “Yeah, but why would we stand out there in the heat and dig though our bags for a key, when you could just move your little finger and make the doors magically open?” Jaime quickly countered, as he slipped his earphones in, and slumped into his seat.

        Taking a deep breath, she ignored the blatant disrespect, turned up the radio, and drove off. After a silent and awkward car ride, they were finally home. Leaning over, Roselyn swooped up the groceries she bought earlier, and began walking to the front door.

        As she turned the corner to face the front door she noticed something out of place. The front door sat ajar. “I know I locked the door this morning” She thought to herself as she observed the situation. Turning back to face the driveway, she noted that her husband’s car wasn’t there, and neither was Leighton’s. “Maybe someone broke in” she thought.

        Peeking around the corner, she saw Jamie and Danni still sluggishly spilling from the car. “Shh…wait here, I think someone’s in the house” she whispered.

        Dropping the groceries where she stood, she crept to the door and peeked her head in. “Hello?!” she shouted. No response.

        Tiptoeing into the foyer she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Taking a few steps more, she looked to her left into the kitchen, and saw no one. She then looked to her right towards the den, and saw no one. “Hello?!” she tried again.

        Just as she began to let her guard down, a crash in the family room startled her. Grabbing a bat from next to the front door, her feet slowly slid across the warm marble floors, and into the archway of the family room. Peeking her head in, she saw the cat sitting next to a broken vase. “Hudson, you scared me!” she giggled “Maybe I just forgot to shut the door this morning”, she thought, as she let off a sigh of relief.

        Just then, a six-foot tall man zipped around the corner and ran into her, nearly knocking them both down. To her relief, it was her eldest son, Noah. Yanking the ear buds from his ears he gave a half smile, not knowing if his mom was happy to see him or not.

        “Oh my goodness Noah! You scared the living daylight out of me!!” She insisted, almost sounding angry.

        Not expecting that to be her first response after not seeing him for a month, he was slightly offended. “Gee, sorry. Didn’t know I had to alert the media before I could come home. Are you at least a little happy to see me?”

        “Of course I am honey!” she assured him, as she wrapped her arms around him in a giant bear hug “…but why are you here? You weren’t supposed to come home yet” Ignoring her question, he smiled at her and walked away.

        Noah was trying to turn his life around, and do the right thing. He had been such a troubled teen, that his parent’s simply grew tired of yelling at him. It wasn’t that Roselyn wasn’t happy to see him, but she sent him to stay with his grandfather as he awaited his trial, and he wasn’t supposed to come home yet.

        Five weeks earlier, his behavior hit its climax when he was arrested for possession, assault on an officer, disorderly conduct and public intoxication. Not to mention he was already on probation for vandalism.  

        Clearly there were some holes in their parenting techniques, so Daniel and Roselyn sent him to stay with Rose’s dad, who was the toughest man she knew. She figured if her father couldn’t whip him into shape, no one could… but clearly there were some holes in that plan too. Only a week before trial, he ran away from his grandparents. Roselyn expected him home in a few days, but with plenty of warning beforehand.

        Cautiously peeking their heads in the door, Jaime and Danni peeked in to see their mother unloading the dishwasher, “Umm, Hello?! You were gonna just leave us out there?” Jaime yelled, as he stormed towards the kitchen and slammed the groceries onto the counter.

        “Oh, honey I’m so sorry! I forgot you were out there; it was just Noah” she apologized, without stopping to make eye contact.

        “Noah’s back?!” Danni giggled. She always adored her older brother. He wasn’t mean to her like Leighton was, and always went out of his way to make her and Jaime feel special. Even when he was misbehaving, he hid it from them, so it wouldn’t taint their vision of him.

         Now that Noah was legally an adult, he knew that his legal problems were much greater than before. Now, if he was found guilty, he would be sent to jail; and there was no getting around it. Despite his arrogant behavior, he cared deeply for his family, and couldn’t imagine being kept from them for so long.

        He was offended that his parents could just pawn him off, and send him to another state at a time when he needed them most. Had they stopped to think about why he was misbehaving? Was everything really as it seemed?

        Perhaps the lack of concern would make his behavior worse. Under normal circumstances it would have, but Noah was determined to stop it dead in its tracks. He was tired of being an embarrassment to his family.

        He came to the sudden realization when he overheard his mother telling a neighbor that he was going away to summer camp, rather than where he was really going, or why. Summer Camp… really? He had never even dreamed of such a thing. His parent’s never trusted him enough to send him away for a summer, which is why he was so shocked when they sent him to Ohio to await his trial.

        These thoughts racked his brain as he fumbled into his bedroom for the first time in over four weeks. It was exactly as he left it, his mother didn’t bother to collect his laundry or open his blinds like she normally did. It laid completely untouched. The sunlight struggled to peep through the cracks of his thick grey curtains. It let in just enough light that he could see his bed was pristinely made, and his muddy football shoes sat scruffily at the foot of the bed.

        The unchanged environment was oddly comforting to him. Although it seemed like everyone was completely unbothered by his absence, he didn’t mind as much as he thought he would. He preferred a calm home coming rather than a scream induced lecture.

        Freefalling backwards onto his bed, the oncoming feeling of doom haunted him once more. He didn’t want to go to prison; he missed his bed so much, while he was in Ohio, and knew those feelings would only be magnified in prison. It wasn’t a place for him.

        It was designed to torture the minds of the weak, and test the strength of the strong. He didn’t feel he deserved it, but knew if the time came, he had to man up and face the consequences of his actions.