Officer Scott

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

April 19th, 2017. Only two months before my seventeenth birthday. That was the worst day of my life, but it was also the day that I finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel. My grandmother, Irene, had been sick for a while, so it was no surprise that she passed that morning. I had been there with her, holding her hand, and telling her that I loved her.

She was the only person that I've ever loved.

And she was the only person that has ever loved me.

In fact, she was the one who had started calling me 'little Red', and the name stuck. After elementary school, I was only ever referred to as 'Red'. Unless you wanted me to kick your butt, of course.

I told her not to leave me. I had told her that I wouldn't be able to survive without her. But she had interrupted me, in typical Irene fashion.

"I've left everything to you. You'll be able to get it on your eighteenth birthday. Do me a favor and get out. As soon as you get the money, leave." That had been one of the last things she had said to me.

At the funeral, I sat next to my mother as my father gave a eulogy about his mother. I was surprised that he could show any emotion. The man I had grown up with was cold and detached. But he managed to convince most people sitting in the church that he actually loved his mother, and didn't just take care of her in her old age for the inheritance.

At that point, he didn't know who she left it all to.

At that point, he had thought he was the sole heir.

I didn't cry at all during the funeral. I learned to never cry in front of my parents. I knew better than that. So I sat there, next to my mother who was picking at her fingernails the whole time, and just thought of how Irene would no longer be around.

Irene had moved in with us around when I turned fourteen. She had been diagnosed with cancer, and my father saw dollar signs, so he brought her close. Before that, I'd go spend the winters with her. Those four months got me through the rest of the year.

And after school, I used to spend time with Irene as well. While other kids had sports and clubs, I went to my grandmother's house.

She was my best friend.

I think she always had a feeling of what really went on behind closed doors at my house- I had heard her yelling at my father a lot for it. But it wasn't until she moved in that she truly realized how bad it got.

I didn't blame her though.

It wasn't like she could protect me.

She had tried though.

It was with the money she had left me that I was able to buy a one-way plane ticket and escape the horrible home life I had grown accustomed to. She saved me in the end.

I stood for a moment longer in front of the bakery window and then turned to leave. They had just placed a large chocolate layer cake in the window as I was passing. And that was the kind Irene used to make me.

London was rainy. But... that wasn't a big surprise. I was safe from the weather under my black umbrella, hidden in bright yellow rain boots and a navy blue jacket. My red hair was tied back in a loose braid. I heard my cell phone ringtone go off, so I ducked under an awning of a shop to safely check who was calling.

My mother.

I rejected the call and slipped it back in my pocket.

I wanted to change my cell phone number, but I was too afraid that I'd lose all of the pictures I had saved to it.