Chapter 15- Closure

‘You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do can and will be used against you in the court of law. If you do not have a lawyer one will be presented to you…’ the woman police officer droned on as she handcuffed Aaron. They had busted in and held guns up to Aaron and his cronies who immediately tried to flee the scene.
Eli untied my ropes and let the paramedics do their job. ‘Sir,’ said an elderly man right before they rolled me away on a stretcher. ‘You need to come with as well.’
Eli looked up at them, confused. ‘Why?’ He glanced down at where I lay and I stared back at him.
‘Sir, you were hit by a car. We need to check in case you have broken bones.’ Eli nodded his head and followed us out to the ambulance. They hoisted me up inside the vehicle and Eli climbed in after me. He grabbed my hand and held it tightly.
‘You’ll be okay,’ he whispered gently, removing a strand of hair from my face and kissing my forehead. He glanced at the medic and asked, ‘What about our little sister?’
‘She is currently being held by the Nolen family. Ms. Autumns said that she would be fine there and since we couldn’t contact y’alls mother, that was the only choice we had.’ Eli nodded and glanced back at me. ‘We have to transport Ms. Autumns to a hospital, she’s had a seizure, a panic attack and has multiple bruises on her body. Ms. Autumns, can you tell us what happened? Did any of those men hurt you?’
I shook my head and tried to speak but it came out husky. ‘Aaron hit me with the gun but that was about it. They broke in and I told Raven and Noah to hide in my bedroom and I went to the kitchen to call the cops. But Aaron held a gun up and told me to tell them I was lying so I did and hung up. They found Raven and Noah and made them sit on the couch and made me sit on the chair. They tied me up and were going to do bad things until you guys came in and rescued us… Thank you.’
The paramedic nodded slightly and checked my blood pressure. ‘Why were you the only one tied up? Where did all these bruises come from?’ I thought for a second. Was I really going to tell them about my mom?
I sighed and replied, ‘Eli and I were supposed to meet them somewhere but we didn’t and I guess they got mad. They said they were going to punish me… The bruises came from my mom… She left earlier today and hasn’t been home since.’
‘Did your mom use something to hit you with?’
‘Okay,’ Eli snapped clearly upset at the turn of the interrogation. ‘Do you have to ask her about that right now? What does this have to do with what happened? This is a whole different charge.’
‘I’m sorry, Mr. Autumns but any injuries has to be put on the charts and it’s better to ask questions now rather than in the hospital where it will take longer. Besides you can choose whether or not to press charges since you are above the age of 16. These questions must be asked whether anybody likes it or not.’ He was looking intently at Eli who glared back but he sighed and nodded again.
I took that as permission to tell. ‘She beat me with a baseball bat because I was talking back to her.’
The medic wrote something down on a clipboard as the other guy shone a light in my eyes. ‘Have you been taking any kind of drugs or medication that would cause a seizure and/or put you in danger?’
I spoke only for myself, ‘I was smoking pot earlier, it was the strong s**t. That’s never happened before though.’
‘Misuse of drugs mixed with an increased blood pressure sometimes can cause things to happen such as seizures. That’s where your panic attack came from. Your brain was going into the fight-or-flight mode but since you were tied up, your brain started producing hormones that are secreted in the adrenal glands. Most referred to as adrenaline. Since you could not burn it off some of it was transferred to your heart and brain,’ the man writing everything down finished, stood up and walked out of the vehicle.
The paramedic finished checking me and started on Eli who looked annoyed. He had a bad cut on the side of his face that I didn’t notice until now. His clothes were ripped and dirty. ‘What happened?’ I asked hoarsely.
He glanced over at me and smiled slightly, ‘I was running home and saw a cop driving down the road so jumped out in front of him to get his attention. He didn’t see me until the last second and hit me, but it was worth it. After he checked on me I told him about what was happening at the house so he called it in and I drove with him to the house… I’m so glad you’re okay Alice, you have no idea.’
‘Me to,’ I mumbled and squeezed his hand slightly just as Raven walked up.
She smiled slightly but dropped it when she saw me holding Eli’s hand. ‘Umm, I’m leaving. I’ll take good care of Noah. The cops said that they are taking the gang to jail so we don’t have to worry about them for now.’
‘Thank you for taking Noah, I really appreciate it. As soon as I’m discharged I’ll get her… Raven?’
She looked at me for a second with a tranquil face. ‘What?’
‘I just wanted to say I’m sorry for today. I didn’t want you to hear that… I know tha-’
She held up her still shaking hands, ‘I don’t want to hear the excuses Alice. There’s only two things I know for certain and it’s that Aaron doesn’t lie…’
I looked at her expectantly waiting for the other thing. ‘What’s the other thing?’
She looked down then shot a glare up at me a tear sliding down her cheek, ‘That you’re a backstabbing b***h,’ she growled. Before I could reply, she stormed off in a fit.
I tried to get up and go after her but the paramedic got in my way, ‘I’m sorry miss but you have to stay here.’ I laid back down and closed my eyes to wait until this whole mess was over.
 
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