CHAPTER SIX
Harper opened her eyes slowly, taking a deep breath as she did. A quick glance at Deryk's digital clock told her it was 0900. Deryk was gone, and his parents in all likely hood had not yet returned from their evening excursions. With a groan, Harper sat up, wishing that Deryk's room was upstairs where the sun was, instead of a windowless basement bedroom.
When she ran her hand through her hair, a crusty substance made her freeze.
Shit. She thought, panicked. Blood.
Harper leaped up, catching her foot on her blanket and falling face first onto the dirty carpeted floor.
She let loose a string of muttered curses, before pushing herself up and ripping the blanket away from her feet. She tried again, and was fortunately successful.
Harper stumbled through the house, tripping up the stairs a few times in her haste. By the time she made it to the washroom, her face was slightly red from exertion. It clashed horribly with the amount of dried blood of her principal, which was splattered all over her body and clothes. Harper grimaced, and began peeling the clothes off her body, making a disgusted face as she felt it rip dried blood off.
She dropped it onto the floor, and turned the shower head on. The water came out in short spurts for a few seconds before finally coming out in a small, yet steady, cool stream. It didn't go very hot, but that didn't matter. Cold would get the blood out more effectively.
A strange feeling went traveled through Harper's body as she saw the crimson liquid slide down the drain. What scared her, was that it wasn't a feeling of horror. She felt...accomplished.
When no more red came off, she shut off the water, stepped out, and headed towards the kitchen, grabbing her clothes as she did. Water fell off her in rivulets, leaving a water trail behind her. She thought nothing of her nudity, as she was quite comfortable with her body. She wasn't the skinniest girl out there, but she was by no means fat. Voluptuous, was how she thought of herself.
Harper turned on the garbage disposal, and shoved the clothes down, destroying any evidence of her involvement in her principal's death. Hopefully Deryk wouldn't want his sweats and wife beater back.
It was then that a loud, confident knock sounded on the door.
Harper froze, and slowly turned around. Anyone knocking on the Forresters' door was someone she did not want to meet. Especially when she was alone, and in the nude.
The knocking sounded again, this time accompanied by a deep, male voice.
"Mr. and Mrs. Forrester? It's the police."
Harper's eyes widened in surprise. She knew by no means did the Forresters abide by the law, but she never thought them dumb enough to get caught. With a shrug, Harper walked towards the front door. She wasn't going to leave the police outside waiting. If they discovered evidence showing that Mr. Forrester was the owner of an illegal pornographic distributing company, or that Mrs. Forrester helped get stars for his little films, that wasn't Harper's problem. She owed them nothing; considering they attempted to force her to be in one of their little videos.
She opened the door, and immediately looked the two officers up and down. The one who was in front couldn't have been any older than 28, and has muscles any girl would swoon over. He had dark brown hair, and a very angular face. The other man, maybe about 35, looked like he was Korean, and had an average build.
Harper gave them both a cheeky grin, amused at their taken aback expressions at her attire. She supposed they didn't often have a soaking wet seventeen year old white girl open the door to them at a residence that was owned by black people.
The Korean man got himself together first. "Ms. Carbon?" He asked, obviously trying to keep his eyes glued to hers, and not travel lower. Harper nodded.
"I'm she." She answered, looking at the man in front with a gleam in her eye. He still hadn't taken his eyes off the area between her legs.
Her voice seemed to startle him out of his reverie, and he quickly returned his eyes to her face.
"I'm Detective Burnes, and this is my partner, Detective Kim." He took over, gesturing to himself and the man behind him.
Harper nodded in greeting, and placed her hands on her hips, leaning to one side.
"And?" She asked, wondering how they knew who she was.
"We need you to come down to the station with us. We have some questions regarding your stepfather that we would like to ask you." Burnes said, watching her face closely.
Harper's blood turned to ice. Shit. They knew. They knew she killed him. Harper gave a hard swallow, and nodded.
"I'll get some clothes on." She said, her voice coming out miraculously strong.
She turned to Deryk's mother's room, hoping to find something in there that would cover at least most of her body.
When she looked in Mrs. Forrester's wardrobe, she was sorely disappointed. In the end, she chose a black dress that only just went past her crotch, and fishnet stockings with a flowered pattern on them. She tossed on a black vinyl jacket over top, and a pair of black hooker boots. There was nothing she could do about her plunging neckline, unfortunately, but she didn't fuss too much.
Her hair still dripped from the quick shower she'd had, but she wouldn't bother drying it. She was going to jail anyway.
She slumped down the stairs, feeling as if she were walking to her death. The two cops gave her a once over, before quickly averting their eyes. Harper's mood lifted a smidgen as she noted that although their faces gave nothing away, the lower part of their bodies certainly showed they liked what they saw.
They led Harper to their cruiser, and opened the back door for her. She threw a withering glance at her motorcycle, before slipping into the seat.
Half an hour later, the pit in her stomach had enlarged to about the size of a watermelon, and she felt like she couldn't breathe. She was seated in the Chief of police's office, waiting for him to enter and talk to her. When the door did open, she had to bite her lip to keep from whimpering.
"Ms. Carbon?" He asked her, and she raised her head, stopping herself from rolling her eyes. Did every single police chief has a mustache?
"I'm Chief Cox." He said, causing Harper to raise an eyebrow.
"Cox?" She asked, the corner of her mouth giving a slight twitch, despite her predicament.
He gave a slight grin. "It's with an x." He said, before reverting back to his original somber demeanor.
"Ms. Carbon...may I call you Harper?" He asked, waiting for Harper to nod before continuing. "We found some things...some...disturbing things inside your mother's boyfriend's personal things." Harper gave him a sideways glance. "And we need to ask you some questions about your life with him, and your mother." At this, Harper sat up straight, giving him a look of confusion.
"What did you find?" She asked, her voice slightly still suspicious, although lacking the frightened tone it had before.
Chief Cox looked at her carefully, before slowly saying, "We found pictures...of...you...in various...conditions."
Harper's brow crinkled. She didn't remember Glen ever taking pictures of her.
"May I see them?" She asked, running a hand through her still damp hair.
Cox shook his head. "I don't think that's a good idea Harper. They're very...disturbing in nature."
This only fueled Harper's curiosity. "I have a right to see them Chief." He sighed, before standing up, and walking out. Harper sighed loudly, and leaned back in her chair. Two minute later, there was a plastic bag hanging in front of her face. Due to the frostic design of the bag, Harper could not see details, but there were obviously pictures in it. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed the bag.
She felt her stomach turn as she laid eyes on the first one. It was one of her...naked and unconscious in her bed. There were a number of cuts and bruises on her person. Looking closely, Harper could see a large gash on her right cheek. She recalled getting that after Glen had hit her with his whiskey bottle. She was knocked out from that one. She remembered waking up in her bed later.
Looks like Glen had taken advantage of her unconscious state.
Each picture was worse than the next, showing in detail what he did to her. By the time she'd looked at only twenty of the pictures, tears were threatening to spill over.
He'd raped her.
While she'd been knocked out.
Countless amount of times.
Harper's breathing increased drastically. She'd thought she was a virgin. She hadn't met anyone she wanted to have sex with.
Her vision started going black, and she barely registered the chief's voice calling her name. She felt a pressure on her head, and was pushed forward.
The first thing she saw when she regained her sight were her knees. After a few seconds of staring at them, she slowly reached up, and gently pushed the Chief's hand away from her head. She raised herself up, and took a shaky breath.
"Sorry sir. I hadn't expected to see myself losing my virginity in that way."
Chief Cox looked shocked for a minute, before giving her a look of extreme pity. "I'm sorry Harper. I shouldn't have agreed to let you see those." He was silent for a minute before continuing. "Harper, I need to ask you some questions about Glen's treatment of you. Do you feel up to it?" Harper nodded, closing her eyes briefly.
"You have a number of wounds on you person in these photos, as well as a collections of scars on your body now. I take it he gave them to you?" Harper nodded.
Cox went on. "When did that start?"
Harper thought for a minute, before answering, "Three years, nine months. Three months after he met my mother. They started dating, and he moved in with us after two months. I was cool with him at first, he seemed like a nice guy. Then he started drinking." Harper shrugged nonchalantly, even though she was still shaken inside. "Every time Glen came home from work...he was pissed, and since my mom wasn't home yet, he would take his frustrations out on me. He was a very angry drunk."
Chief Cox nodded. "What did your mother do?"
Harper scoffed. "She thought I was doing it to myself. She wouldn't accept the fact that the man she was fucking was beating the shit out of her daughter...or sexually assaulting her, turns out..." She muttered angrily.
"How does your mother treat you?" Harper shrugged again, and ran her hand through her hair.
"She acts like I don't exist. I mean, if I said something about her beloved Glen, I'd get a smack to the face, but that was it."
Cox wrote some stuff down, and looked back up at her.
"Did you notice anything unusual prior and leading up to Glen's murder? Anyone come by the house, any arguments he had?" Harper took a deep breath, and shook her head.
The Chief looked at her carefully. "What about the night of his murder?"
Harper bit her lip, and again ran her hand through her hair. "No, I didn't hear anything. But...uh...well, I had had some stuff to drink...so it's not surprising." She gave a nervous chuckle. Cox took some more notes, and looked at her again.
"Do you know of anyone who had a grudge against Glen? Who would go to such means to kill him in such a...gruesome way?"
Harper stiffened slightly, but managed to keep her voice steady. "No. I mean, I'm sure he has enemies...if it wasn't illegal, I probably would have killed him long ago." She answered bitterly.
Cox allowed a brief smile, before continuing. "Would you please tell me your account of what happened that morning?"
Harper took him through, step by step. She worded everything carefully, watching his reaction to see what he thought.
When she finished, he stood, and she followed suit.
"Thank you for your cooperation Harper. I'll have an officer bring you back to where you were staying. Your own house is still under investigation, and you probably won't be able to go back there for a while. We'll discuss living arrangements with your mother."
Harper nodded, and walked through the door, which he held open for her.
When the officers dropped her off, and she went back to Deryk's room, she let loose a long breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
Then she cried. She crumpled to the floor and bawled like she was five years old.
She had no idea that Glen had done that to her.
She'd prided herself in keeping her virginity. She was one of the few girls her age and with her lifestyle that still had it.
She laid on Deryk's bed, soaking his pillowcase with salty tears. When she raised her head she didn't know how much later, she was on a very familiar pile of pillows and blankets. She turned her head slightly, and focused her red, puffy eyes on Freddy, who was looking at her, a blank expression on his face.
"F-Freddy...Glen...h-he..." She started, her throat rough and sore. Freddy cut her off with his hand.
"I know." He said. Harper turned back away from him, and buried her face again.
"What do I do Freddy? How do I cope with this?"
Freddy didn't speak for a few minutes. When he did, his sinful tone made her shudder.
"You get revenge."