The Potter and His Clay.

The Buried, Unburied.

He smiled at his date as he lovingly stared into her brown eyes, he caressed her hand, reaching out for her cheek. The atmosphere around seemed to deem down into silence, he leaned in slowly, when suddenly pulled away in surprise at the sound of her ringtone. She apologized as she grabbed her bag and dug around for it, he sighed annoyedly as he leans back into his seat and signaled a waiter over with a bottle of wine at the corner. He walks over and refills his glass

"Hello?" the woman answers, "what? Are you serious?! Okay, I'm going!". Lilian Thompson got up "Scott, I'm sorry I really got to go"

"is something wrong?" he asked concerned, as he stood up also, "a family emergency" she answered "I'll call you!" she adds, as she rushes to the main exit. 

***

"Now the choice is entirely yours Ms. Thompson, whether you want to charge the perpetrator or let him walk free" the police officer instructed carefully, they all watched her as she sat still and quiet. Pastor Thompson placed his hand on her cupped hands that were kept timidly in her lap "Eliza, you need to make a decision" he says softly, she looked at the man on the other side of the room and pressed her lips together in thought. Apart of her screamed "throw him in jail" while the other begged mercy, he was drunk and probably wasn't in his right mind, she sighed and shook her head as she came to her conclusion

"I don't want to press charges officer" she says 

the officer frowned confusingly at her answer "miss, this man, got into your family car and attempted to assault you" he reminded her

she nods "yes I know" she responds boldly, "he wasn't in his right mind and therefore I will not press charges since he was intoxicated" 

"see" the officer continued "since he was intoxicated and tried to assault you is exactly the reason, why you should press charges, trash like him are-"

"I will not press charges Officer" she snaps in a loud voice. The officer froze and then nodded after a second in response, 

"can we go now?" Pastor Thompson asked, taking his Granddaughter in his arms and getting up , the officer got up also " we just need a letter implying your decision not to press charges" he adds. 

The doors swung open as Lilian stormed in wildly scanning the room for her niece and Father, she spots the pair and goes running towards them,

"Dad! Eliza!" she cried, she hugged Eliza and pulled away, cupping her cheeks "where's the bastard?!" she yelled looking around the room, Eliza looks over to the man, Lilian follows her lead and eyes the perpetrator a few meters away, she suddenly charges around the office desks to get to him. The perpetrator eyes grew wide in realization, he quickly got to his feet and runs off,

"Lilian!" Pastor Thompson cried getting to his feet as he watched his daughter run after the man, she lunges on his back and turns him over, punching him in the face several times before getting pulled off by police officers. 

"Aunt Lily!" Eliza gasped as she held her hands to her mouth in shock

"you piece of filth!" she yells as she grabbed his collar.

***

Ethan scrolled through his i********: feed, liking random photos casually and exhaustedly, he looks up and finally sees Eliza and Pastor Thompson making their way out. They approach him 

"where's aunt Lily?" he asked 

Pastor Thompson sighed annoyedly "let's go, this is what you get when you have a thug as your daughter" he groans. 

Lilian hung from the bars lamely as she got more irritated , she looks over to the officer who put her in jail and whistles

"Hey Rodney!" she cried "I have work tomorrow!" 

"well you should've thought of that, before you assaulted a man!" he cried back as he busily scrolled down his computer screen

"that man assaulted my niece!" she yelled clenching the bars, "what did you expect?! A hug?!" 

the officer waved her off in annoyance as he ignored her and continued with paper work that seemed to pile higher than ever. Lilian groaned, turning around to lean her back against the cage, she shut her eyes

"Dad, I know I messed up" she whispered "but please get me out of here" she lets out a deep sigh and looks around the room in despair.

"Lil?" 

she whirled around, she looked at the man in front of her, her eyes suddenly went wide as she stared at the dark, tall, good looking man in a suit and tie. Flashes of her memory came rushing in as she stared at the familiar face before her. A past where she had hoped would never spring up to her mind again, she felt her heart shrivel up a bit, tears began to form at the corners of her eyes. She backed up from the bars and glared at the man, 

"hey" he whispered with a small smile 

Lilian shook her head "what are you doing here?" she sneered, his smile slowly dropped, he shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his wallet to reveal a silver star "I'm a detective" , she looked at the badge then back at him. He lets out a light exhale and walks away, "whose in charge of Ms. Thompson?" 

Officer Rodney looked up and sees him, he quickly gets to his feet "I am Detective Bennett ".

*** 

"Thompson" 

Lilian looks up at Officer Rodney as he unlocks the gate and pulls it open, she gets up  "Is my Father here?" she asked 

he shook his head "no". She frowned in confusion, she walked out and was escorted to the main entrance. She walked out of the station and looked around the empty streets, she checked her watch to see that it was twenty minutes after twelve. She made her way down the stairs and stood by the street as she tried to holler a cab from a distance, 

"let me take you home",  she looks over her shoulder to see the same man from her dead past when she was sixteen.

"No" she replied sharply looking away, he came to her side "it's not easy to get a cab at a time like this" he continued 

"I'll manage" she snapped, he sighs and steps in front of her "Lil-"

"don't call me that" she sneered, "Lilian" he corrected himself, she looked away from him "it's late and you're out here looking for a cab, let me take you home" he urged, she continued to glare at him, "I won't even speak to you" he added raising his hands up in defense. 

Lilian leaned against the window as she chewed her lip in thought, she wrapped her arms around her as she subconsciously counted the seconds of complete shuddering awkwardness. He turned on the radio to drown out the silence which just made things worse as he tried so hard to keep himself from talking, she moved closer to the window to keep herself away from the reflection of the rear mirror, he drummed his fingers on the wheel uncomfortably as his eyes darted from the road ahead to her

"so-"

"shut up" she snapped, shutting her eyes tightly

he nodded "right". After five minutes of complete silence, he pulls up by the side walk and cuts the ignition, she basically kicks the door open and lunges out, "wait-" he rushes out and goes around to her, she was already making her way to the porch, "Lili" he calls, catching up to her, she whirls around and pushes him back

"what?!" she hissed "what is it you want to say!?" 

he takes a step back as he stared dumbfoundedly at her, he froze as she stared deep into his soul, "I-"

"why are you back? why did you bail me out? why did you drop me home? why?!" she yelled out in frustration

he opened his mouth to speak when she held her hand up, "don't, never mind, if you think you can casually walk into my life again and ruin everything and leave, you're wrong!" she lets out a few heavy breathes and fights the urge to sob "you are a coward!" she screamed as she slapped him across the face. She turned around and stormed off, he stood rooted to the ground as he watched her disappear into the house. He bit his lip as tears began to fill up his eyes, he didn't get a moment to explain himself, he regretted so much and wanted to fix everything he broke including Lilian. 

She lets out a muffled breathe, with her back to the door, she sinks to the floor and begins to sob uncontrollably, in that moment all her past came swarming in like bees for honey.