An eternity seemed to have passed while I waited at the police station. Tired, I leaned my back against the wall, keeping the cell phone Jake had sent me tucked tightly in my sweatshirt pocket, and waited, watching officers come and go and phones ring.
Every second, I was rooting for the cell phone to vibrate, worrying about what Jake might be doing and wishing I could talk to him again. Or at least let my friends know my situation. I was in the same city as them and they didn't even know it. They had no idea that I was in Duskwood.
And then, as if drawn into my thoughts, a thin, desperate voice called out my name from a short distance away.
I immediately turned around, coming face to face with the one I least imagined seeing there, in the flesh, for the first time not through the small screen of a cell phone. Jessy.
She was running toward me, her eyes wide, her red hair caught in a ponytail. She looked scared and desperate and surprised. All emotions mixed together on her face.
I stood up on the chair, not knowing how to react.
"Jessy? What are you doing here?!"
"I needed to know how you were doing! Jake barely gave us any information!", she exclaimed, and then, before I could think, she clung to my neck and gave me a tight hug.
Feeling less desperate, I relaxed into her embrace, which, although it didn't let me breathe, was comfortable. Almost like her kind words that she was sending me.
When we pulled away, she seemed even more concerned.
"How are you? Why did they bring you here? This whole thing is ridiculous! You shouldn't be in a police station like a criminal! Did they let you call anyone?"
"Calm down, Jessy, I'm fine," I said finally, letting out a low chuckle as I stared at the floor. "They let me make a call, so I could let my parents know what happened. They're both working, and honestly, they didn't pay much attention to the fact that I was in a police station."
It was still complicated for me to talk about my parents. However, I felt comfortable with Jessy, especially since she was here now.
Jessy shook her head, glancing angrily around.
"Every day I like these Duskwood police less," she grumbled. "It's so ridiculous what they're doing...," then she looked at me again, looking a little sad. "Isn't there anything I can do to help?"
With a sigh, I denied it with my head.
"I believe not. Jake has already contacted me, so I can only wait and see where this goes."
"Really? He's already contacted you?" repeated Jessy, surprised. "Wow. That hacker is fast indeed."
"Anyway, I don't know how he could help. They have some pretty convincing evidence against me. I think I'm at a dead end," I confessed quietly, hugging my own body.
"What? But of course not!", Jessy looked even more desperate now. "What kind of evidence could they possibly have? We need to prove that this was rigged, MC! We can't let the guilty get away with it!"
"But what could we do?", I replied promptly, staring Jessy down hard. "This guy has already proven he's good at what he does. He's not going to let us win this fight, Jessy. And we're clearly already losing."
Discouraged and hopeless, I sat back down in my chair, and Jessy followed me, sitting next to me and remaining quiet, only placing her hands on my back as a sign of support. She was clearly sad for me and also worried, but I was glad that she realized that all I needed now was to know that I was not alone. There was no way we could fight for the time being, at least not before the indictment against me had a verdict. All we could do was wait.
And I could only hope that Jake would stay out of trouble.
Jessy: Hey, guys. Iām here to give you the news
Jessy: MC is fine. Iām with her
Jessy: We're sttil at the police station
Jessy: Not much. But I can understand her. itās all so ridiculousā¦
Jessy: And leave her here, waitingā¦ itās so inconsiderate.
Jessy: I wish I could do something ā¹ļø
Lilly: I wish I could be there tooā¦ but Iām helping Jake with the information. We hope to release her later today.
Jessy: Do the rest of the staff know what happened?
Lilly: Yes. I warned everyone. Dan and Thomas are already working on research about it, and Cleo is texting with me to see how the process is going. If all goes well, we can see each other at the end of the day, maybe. I hope it works outā¦
Jake: Lilly? Are you there?
Lilly: Did something happen?
Jake: Wellā¦ I think I found the person responsible for MC being taken.
