To say I was anxious was an understatement. I was sitting in the Tulsa Police Station and every time I heard a noise, I jumped, and considering the amount of crime that goes on in this city, I was basically hovering over my chair. The police temporarily had Dally in custody until I could tell them my statement. They said it was just a precautionary measure, since he had so many strikes against him already. Initially, when we walked into the station, all eyes were on him and I could feel the tension in the room. Every officer in the room knew him and what he was capable of, and they were all on high alert. I went up to the front office and I'm sure I looked like a crazy person with my limp and the panic in my eyes. I explained our story as best I could in the condition I was currently in while a burly man went to Dally cautiously. Dally went with him willingly and left me standing there on the brink of a mental breakdown. It's all part of the plan, I thought to myself, They need to know that it was all in self defense, and by going willingly, they're more likely to believe it. The woman at the desk told me to take a seat and they would be with me shortly. I took a deep breath before nodding and finding an empty seat in the waiting area.
I sat with my leg bouncing up and down as quickly as I could manage before I thought of calling someone to tell them what had happened. I stood and limped my way back over to the desk where I politely asked to use the phone. The woman gave me a stern look before pushing the phone closer to me and looking away.
I picked up the receiver and heard the dial tone. My fingers numbly punched in the number that I had memorized. "Hello?"
I started to sniffle, hearing Darry's voice and knowing that I had to tell him what was going on made me start to cry. "Hey, Dar, it's me."
I could almost see him tense up and his knuckles go white from holding the phone to tight, "What's wrong? Where are you?"
"I'm at the police station. It's Dally and Buck. I probably shouldn't tell you more than that because I haven't talked to anyone yet, but I just wanted you to know that I'm safe and I'm here."
He sighed on the other end, "You and Dally are going to give me a heart attack. I'll be down as soon as I can."
"No! You don't need to come over here." The last thing I needed was for him to find out what happened before we got Dal out.
I could hear Darry grind his teeth. "Just call me before you leave, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. I'll see you soon."
I hung up and before I could get back to my seat, my name was called by a large, balding man who seemed to be sweating though his dress shirt. I followed him back to what I figured out what his office. He introduced himself as Special Agent Schmidt and asked me to explain my story. I went into vivid detail about what I saw at the park and what happened at the party before. He took down notes without looking up and when I finished, he put down his pen and said, "I think this sounds like a normal case of self-defense, but seeing that it's Winston in there, we may have to go through the motions of having a trial with the chance that he could be locked away."
My mouth fell open, "What? Please, no! Just let him go. If it were anyone else, they would be able to walk free! Why pick on him?"
He huffed and said, "Because his file is a mile long full of stuff he's done wrong in his life."
"But he's changed since all that happened!" I begged him.
"He's changed? How so?" He asked skeptically.
"Well, for starters, he has his first steady girlfriend in his entire life and he promised a lot of people that he wouldn't mess this up." By the end I was shouting in hopes that Dally could hear what I was saying from where ever he was.
"Calm down, Miss...?" He inquired for my name.
"Curtis." I answered.
"Miss Curtis, I really don't want to lock him up, because frankly it's a lot of extra paper work for me, but this is a serious thing he's done and he needs to be properly punished."
I huffed and tears started to prick at my eyes. "Okay, I guess I understand. But can I, uh, talk to him before you take him away? And can I use your phone to call my brother to pick me up?"
"Yeah, you can go back and talk to him. I'll call your brother for you, what's his name?" He asked kindly, very aware of the tears that started to fall down my cheeks.
"Uh, his name is Darry. Thanks." I sniffled before turning out of the office and down the hallway I saw the officer take Dally. I walked past another office and saw the metal bars of the holding cell that I'm sure Dally was in. As I got closer, I slowed down because the tears started coming faster and faster and I didn't want Dally to see. It was no use though, because I couldn't stop crying and I'm sure he could hear my gross sobs.
He was sitting on the bench against the wall which was the only thing in the tiny cell. He watched me come into view and stood to meet me on the other side of the barrier between us.
"Hey" he mumbled.
I sniffled again and tried to muster up a smile, "hey."
"Do you know if they're letttin' me outta this dump?"
I shook my head and sniffled again, "They said you had to have a trial because of your track record."
He slammed his hand against the bars and took an angry step back. "Shit. This is just great."
I started to cry harder and squeaked out, "I'm sorry. I really tried."
His face softened and he reached out and wiped a tear from my cheek, "No, babe. It's not your fault. I got myself into this mess, but it'll all be okay. I'll be out soon and we can go back to what it used to be."
"Dallas! You told me you were going to try your damnedest to make this work and it's not going to work with you behind bars! I can't do it."
"I'm trying to make it work! I was protecting you when this happened and you can't do it? No! I can't do it!" He spat out and sat on the farthest edge of the bench, seething.
I was about to slap him with a comeback when I heard Darry's voice in the waiting room. I looked at him, and hoped he would look back at me but he didn't. "I have to go." I mumbled before walking away.
I emerged in the waiting area and saw Darry's relieved face. I ran up to him and hurled myself in his arms with a sob. "Darry, how did this happen?"
I looked up at his face which was pinched up in an odd way. In my peripherals I saw a familiar black jacket and shoved Darry away from me to get a better look.
"Dally!" I called after him. "What are you doing?"
Without looking back at me, "Big brother came to the rescue."
I looked back at Darry who was looking towards Dally with a confused expression. "Did you get him out of there?"
He shrugged, "I guess. That officer you were talking to was one of Dad's pals and he recognized me and when I told him why I was there he said he could go. Where is he going?"
I held back another round of tears, "I don't know. I think we just broke up."
