Lost on the Road of Life
By toddmanningfreak1112
Chapter 1
Why is life exactly like climbing a mountain? You get so far up until you think you could touch the sky only to come tumbling back down by a strong gust of wind. While most people would, like in life, simply get back up, brush themselves off, and try again, one certain fifteen-year-old thought she had tried again one too many times.
It was a dreary June night at the Llanview Police Station, and so far, things were quiet. There were no murder trials, rape charges, or any people coming in yelling that they have been assaulted by that crazy woman who has a crush on her husband. All of the officers were hanging around the station drinking coffee and doing some last minute paper work. The only sound was the rain pelting down on the windows…until Officer Talia Sahid stormed in dragging a struggling (and quite loud) teenage girl of about fifteen years old.
The girl had dirty blonde hair, soft hazel eyes, deadly pale skin, and a figure made up of skin and bones. Over her tiny frame she wore all black: a halter shirt that fell down to her midriff, a mini skirt, and worn leather boots covered with mud and stray leaves from the storm.
"All right, young lady, come with me," Talia groaned leading the besieged teenager over to a spare guest, but the girl would not move easily.
"I'm telling you, I haven't done anything wrong!" she cried trying to wriggle out of Talia's grasp. She planted her boots, whose heels were cracking under pressure, on the blue carpeted floor and played "Tug of War" over her wrist. "Let…me…GO!"
Talia grabbed the girl's wrist with both hands. She knew it was not the most sensitive thing to do, but she could not let the girl get away. How could she when she found the anorexic-looking teenage in an abandoned alley at the bad side of town after Llanview's neighborhood curfew? Now she would not tell Talia her name, where she lives, or who her parents were.
"You know, Miss, if you just told me where you lived, I wouldn't have had to bring you all the way down here," Talia sighed.
"Was it even legal for you to bring me down her without arresting me? Like I've told you over and over again, I haven't done anything wrong."
"Umm excuse me," Talia shot back sharply, "I found you by yourself after neighborhood curfews. You're not allowed to be roaming the streets without an adult eighteen years or older after nine thirty." Her voice was monotonous as if she had recited that last sentence from a police officer's handbook. Knowing that she had been talking Talia looked around quickly. The passing police officers kept staring at them, so she decided to keep her voice down. "Look," she said softly, "wherever your parents are, if you have any, they would want you to be safe. And that is either at your house or here. So, what's it gonna be?"
The girl stopped; she had met her match. This cop was smart, and she was not going to be easily manipulated. Knowing that she had been beaten, she threw her hands in the air and sat in the chair in front of Talia's desk.
"Smart choice," Talia praised sarcastically. "Now, are you up to answering some questions?"
"Don't press your luck." The teenager kicked her boots off under the desk and stretched out her legs. "So, I don't know you, you don't know me, I think we should become better acquainted, don't you?"
"Yeah. Why don't we start with 'what is your name'?"
"Officer Sahid? Is there a problem here?" A Latino man wearing a white T-shirt, black jeans, and a badge around his neck appeared at Talia's elbow. He looked from Talia, the unnamed girl in front of him, and back at Talia again.
"Oh, hello, Detective Vega." She turned to the teenager, who was filing her toe nails. "Young lady, this is Detective Antonio Vega. Detective Vega, this is…" Talia trailed off, obviously embarrassed that she had not gotten to the bottom of the mysterious girl's identity.
Antonio tilted his head. "Well, aren't you going to tell me her name, Officer Sahid?" he asked gently tapping his coworker on the shoulder.
Talia turned back to Antonio. "Well, I'll get back to you on that one when she finally tells me her name herself. This young lady won't tell me who her parents are or where she lives, so I had to bring her here for further questioning."
"Well, has she done anything wrong?" Antonio asked looked down at the teenager curiously.
"Okay, I hate being talked about as I'm not in the room!" the girl exclaimed standing up defiantly. "Why don't I answer a question for a change? No, I did not do anything wrong, so can you please back off and let me go?"
"I found her in an empty alley with nobody else after neighborhood curfew, but since she won't tell me where she lives, I had to bring her in so I can run a background check on her."
"Look, lady, I didn't do anything wrong!" Antonio and Talia looked down on the girl, who had started to sweat because of frustration. Why couldn't they just let her go? She felt as if the world, one country, one geographic feature at a time, was crashing down on her. She wanted to cry so badly. "Don't cry," she told herself. "Crying never helped you out in the past, and it certainly won't help you out now."
"Well, you won't get into any trouble if you just let us take you home, and furthermore, young lady, you treat the officers here with respect unless you want to spend the night down in holding," Antonio sighed. He turned to Talia with tired eyes. "Talia, it's late, why don't you go home? I'm working late anyway."
"Thank you, Detective Vega." Talia reached behind her desk and pulled out her coat, purse, and keys. She was about to leave when she turned around and tapped the girl on her shoulder. "Hey," she whispered. "Don't you even think about giving Detective Vega a hard time because I will hear about it." She quickly strode out of the room.
The teenager sighed and stepped back into her boots. What was she going to do? If she could not convince Officer Sahid to let her go and forget about the whole thing, what made her think that she could try to trick Detective Vega into doing the same thing.
Antonio ran his hand through his hair and gestured to his desk outside of Commissioner Buchanan's office. "Well, have a seat," he said in a tired voice. "I can tell that this is going to be a long night."
"You and Officer Sahid already admitted that I didn't do anything wrong, so why don't you just let me go!" the girl complained.
"Well, why don't you sit down before I turn you over to the Commissioner? I can assure you that he is much more strict than I am." When the teenager did not move, he pointed to the chair and commanded, "Sit. Now!" The teenager sighed and slumped over to the chair. Antonio took a seat behind the guest across from her.
"Do your worst," the girl exhaled heavily leaning back in her chair. "God, will you please just kill me now?"
Antonio raised an eyebrow. "Are you willing to cooperate now?" His voice was much softer, and the teenager swore that she could sense a father's concern in his voice; but she could not get a soft spot for him now.
"Are you kidding me? I just want to see how long your patience can last before you start flipping out. For me, it's like going to a football game."
"Then let's start with this. Where exactly did Officer Sahid find you?"
"You know, you should've kept Miss Pissed Off Cop her to play drill sergeant."
"Why were you there in the first place?"
"What does it matter? I always seem to end up in trouble."
"Why, do you to drugs?"
"I don't screw myself up like that."
"Sex?"
"I'm no slut!"
"Have you ever been arrested before?"
"No, but I bet life in jail is a breeze compared to the rest of my life in Hell."
Antonio half-grinned. "Aha!" he thought, "She's starting to crack under pressure!" "Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Miss I Won't Answer Any Questions just answered one, has she not? So, why is your life hell?"
The girl, who hand been staring at her fingernails throughout the interrogation, looked up as if she were a rubber band snapping in half and covered her mouth in horror. "N-n-n-n-no, forget I just said that!"
"Look, haven't your parents told you that one of the top people you can trust is a cop?"
"Dammit, will you just lay off?" Tears started to form in the girl's eyes, but she would not let herself cry. "I don't care what you do; put me in jail if you want, but please stop driving me to my breaking point!" She slammed her arms on the desk and buried her head in them.
For a moment, Antonio just awkwardly stared at her, not knowing if he should be sensitive or stern. She was a child, after all; an innocent child who was lost and did not know where to go…but what did she have to hide? She broke the neighborhood curfews. Most kids would be on their knees pleading for forgiveness, not being a wise ass towards the people who are supposed to be helping her.
Antonio leaned forward and patted the girl's hand gently. "You know, the easiest way would be to just tell me who your parents are and let me drive you home. I'll explain the situation to your parents and try not to get you in trouble." He eyed the girl carefully, but she continued to shift uncomfortably in her chair. Antonio leaned back and cleared his throat. "This is your last chance or else I take you down to holding and let the Commissioner deal with you while I track down your parents, and believe me, it won't be hard. So, are you going to tell me?"
The girl swallowed. What harm would it do if she told him who her parents were? He could not do anything anyway; he could not track them down and return her to them like a lost puppy. "No, you can't tell him," a voice inside of her head chanted over and over. "You'll only get hurt if that happens. She shook her head miserably and said to her feet, "I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you."
Antonio nodded gravely and stood up. "The only person you should be apologizing to is yourself. He beckoned towards the dejected teenager. "Come on." She stood up slowly and followed Antonio to the door that said in bold, white letters "Commissioner Bo Buchanan." Antonio rapped his knuckles on the glass door and poked his head in. "Bo, you got a sec?" he asked.
"Sure, Antonio, come on in," a deep voice replied. Antonio turned toward the girl and led her inside.
The office, like the rest of the station, was painted blue and had pictures of a young brown-haired boy and a blonde haired woman around everywhere. At the desk in the center of the room sat the Commissioner who was engulfed in his paperwork. He looked up at Antonio and the unnamed teenager. "What do we have here, Antonio?" he inquired.
Antonio put his hands on the girl's shoulders. "Bo, this is Miss…umm…well, to be honest of you, she hasn't told me her name, but she was found by Officer Sahid in an alleyway after neighborhood curfew. She wouldn't talk to me, she wouldn't talk to Talia, so I thought that we'd let her talk to the most powerful cop on the force."
Bo nodded. "All right, I'm free." He got up from his desk and gestured to the arm chair in front of it. "Have a seat then." The unsure girl sat down slowly as if the chair was going to give out at any given moment. Antonio sat down on the black couch off to the side of the room. Bo used this time to observe the girl in front of him. He had never seen a teenager so frail, white, and thin. She was glancing around the room looking at anything except for the two men in the room with her. Bo sat down on the edge of his desk and started to ask questions. "All right, I bet Detective Vega and Officer Sahid already asked the most basic questions, so I'll skip to the most important one: why don't you want us to know who your parents are?"
The girl's vow of silence that she has taken was broken. "Look, with all do respect, Commissioner, are you crazy? If you were in jail, would you be in such a big hurry to call your parents?"
Bo raised his eyebrows. "I'd rather be in a huge mess of trouble with me parents than sitting in a jail cell. What's the worst that could happen to you?" He turned to Antonio, who was watching from the side of the room. "Antonio, if your little girl was caught in an alleyway after neighborhood curfews and was brought into the station, how would you handle it?"
Antonio pondered this for a moment. "Honestly, Bo, I would yell at her for about an hour and made sure that she never left her room."
The teenager looked at him with disbelief. "And this is supposed to make me answer your dumb question how?"
Antonio raised his palm. "Wait, I'm going somewhere with this," he explained. "I'd then remind my daughter that no matter what she does, no matter how much trouble she is in, I'm always going to forgive her. And I'll bet that your parents would do the same."
"Exactly," Bo agreed. "Okay, say you get grounded for a few months. Is it that bad? Is it worse than going to jail?"
"I'm not going to answer that."
Antonio walked over to the girl and his boss. "Look, what the Commissioner is trying to say is some kids get hurt by their parents; physically, emotionally, even sexually. Sometimes they're punished for something they didn't even do. Whose shoes would you rather be in?"
The two men stared down at the girl as if their stares for forcing her to give a reply. The girl swallowed and finally looked up at both of them. "Okay, I appreciate what you two are trying to do, but I honestly think that I should be down in the holding cell than being in an interrogation that's not going to get us anywhere."
"You know, we're going to find out who your parents are whether you stay here overnight or not," Bo reminded her.
"Good luck with that."
"We're only allowed to hold you for twenty four hours," Antonio added. "And if we still can't find your parents by then, you go into foster care while we continue to look for them."
"You do that."
"And once we fingerprint you, it will be very easy to find your parents," Bo concluded, "through birth certificates and other records."
"You're wasting your time."
Bo sighed and turned wearily to Antonio. "Antonio, I'll take her down to get her fingerprinting and then escort her down to holding."
"Okay, send the fingerprints up to me as soon as possible," Antonio agreed. He looked down at he scared girl who was staring at her shaking knees. "Don't give the Commissioner a hard time." He left the office quickly.
"Well," Bo said checking his watch, "it's only a matter of time before we know your name."
Bo opened the door leading to a line of cells. The girl next to him shivered, wishing that she had brought her jacket with her when she had gone out. She laced her fingers together and banged them against her lap nervously. The cops who had fingerprinted her and washed her hands after the process, but they still felt dirty. Bo turned to the guard who was standing at the entrance.
"Wally, this young lady is going to be spending the night here," he explained leading the teenager forward. The girl glanced up at the guard and back down at her feet. She did not know going into a jail cell would feel like this.
The guard opened the door of the cell and escorted the girl inside. After he closed the door, Bo stepped up to the cell and stared at her through the bars. "Get some sleep because chances are we'll be waking you up bright and early." He followed the guard and left the room.
The girl looked around her nervously. Her pulse was rushing, and beads of sweat were forming across her hair line. What if Bo and Antonio found her parents? "No, don't think about that," she told herself. "There is no trace of your parents anywhere." She sat down on the bed and buried her face in her hands.
"Hey! Hey you!" a voice whispered loudly. The girl looked up to see a figure stepping out of the shadows in the cell next to her.
