My Life After the Disaster

Chapter Twenty Six

The police arrive at the shelter, there was about four cop cars and eight cops. They all got out and surrounded Alexander who was standing just outside the front door. We opened the door to witness him being taken away. His hands were pulled behind his back, put into cuffs. They told him his rights and showed him their warrant. There was a fear in his eyes but a smile spread across his face as he stared at Annabelle.

Daniel wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulling her back against his chest as he watched the scene play out in front of us.

Alexia and I stood beside them watching the whole thing while Molly and Julian stayed behind Daniel and Annabelle, shielded from it.

One of the officers walks over to Annabelle and says, “I take it you’re the woman I spoke with on the phone.”

“I am,” she tells her, without saying her name. “We were on our way back here when you called me.”

“I’m grateful that you called this morning. This is a first for us. We’ve never worked with psychics before. Before you called me I didn’t even believe in them. But after what I saw, I can’t deny it,” she tells her, reaching out her hand for Annabelle’s.

She takes her hand, shaking it firmly. “Just doing my part,” she tells her honestly. Then she blanks out like she’s seeing something that no one else can see.

I turn to look at Alexia who was watching the scene play out in front of us. “How are you feeling about all this?” I ask her, seeing what she thinks.

“Well, I’m glad they caught him. It was feeling unsafe being around here knowing that he was freely roaming about,” she says, glancing at me.

“I know what you mean. All this seems rather surreal. I mean, did they really need eight cops for one guy. It seems a bit extreme,” I tell her, looking back over at the police cars.

The police all get into their cars and start driving off, leaving one there, with a male officer leaning against the door of the car. That’s the car Alexander was put into.

Annabelle comes out of her vision, I noticing this by the blinking she does with her eyes.

“Did you just get something off me?” the female officer asks her curiously.

She looks at her and clearly says, “I did. But it’s not important. It was just a conversation you’ll have with Alexander about the woman he killed. Then he lawyer’s up and your partner takes you out of the room to talk with you.”

“Alright. Thanks again. I’ll be off.” She waves goodbye and heads over to her police car where her partner was waiting for her.

Annabelle turns around and heads back inside the building. “He had her for almost three months before he killed her,” she tells us. “They said that Clarisse was killed a week ago. That means he sexually harassed her for two months and three weeks. Then when he was tired of it he killed her.” She told us in a low voice so that Julian and Molly wouldn’t hear her.

“That’s mess up in so many ways,” I say, following after her.

“I must be a bad judge of character because I had no idea,” Alexia says, walking back to the room we were in.

Daniel locks the door behind us, insuring no unexpected guests came along. Then he runs after us, going back to the room. “I don’t think that makes you a bad judge of character. That guy was just hard to read. If it wasn’t for Annabelle, no one would have been any the wiser,” he tells Alexia.

“What’s your brother like?” Julian asks, trying to change the topic.

Alexia turns around and smiles at Julian, saying, “He’s a lot of fun. Like a wild party animal but he’s also serious and a bit protective of people he cares about. He decided to become a doctor because he wanted to be able to heal the sick and broken people.”

“He sounds like a very kind man,” Annabelle tells her, sitting down at the table.

“I feel like we’re having a party now,” Molly says, jumping around the room.

“He is. He has a big heart. Our father got injured when we were kids. I was only two so I don’t really remember it. But David was six. He really wanted to do everything in his power to help our father. But he couldn’t do anything. Our father lost the use of his legs and isn’t able to walk anymore. They tried fixing them but there was nothing that could be done about it,” Alexia says, looking a little sad.

“I’m so sorry Alexia, I had no idea,” I say, grabbing hold of Alexia’s hands.

Alexia stares into Rose’s eyes and says, “How could you, I never told you anything about my family. You don’t need to be sorry. It’s in the past and my father is a very happy man. The accident made him grateful just to be alive. And he became a better father because of it. Not that he was a horrible one before. Just he was more attentive after he lost the use of his legs.”

“I want to know everything about you Alexia, you’re my everything. Tell me about your life and your family,” I tell her, throwing my arms around her.

Alexia smiles and says, “Alright my love bird, but some other time. We’re with your friends right now.”

I pull away and look around to see all of them staring at us. “Right… sorry. I got a bit carried away. Who’s ready to celebrate?!”

We all laugh and settle into a seat to finish our lunch.

Daniel moves Annabelle from her seat and sits down, pulling her onto his lap. “Much better,” he says, wrapping around her to eat his food.

“Let’s have a dance party,” Molly says, wiggling around the room.

“Sure thing, once we finish our food,” I say. “Having a dance party sounds like fun.”

“We did that for my birthday in the evening,” Annabelle tells me, smiling at Daniel. “It was Daniel’s idea. He did it to bring us into a happier place. I had just finished opening my gift from Molly and Julian. It was a painting our mother did that she didn’t get to finish. It’s breathtakingly beautiful. I’ll take a picture of it when we get back and show it to you.”

“Your mother was an artist?” Alexia asks, digging into her food.

“She was an architect but she took up painting after she gave up her job. She was really good at it too,” she tells her, smiling at the thought.

“It’s no wonder you’re perfect, you had perfect parents,” I say, smiling in a laughing way.

“Mom and dad were perfect,” Julian says, walking over to us.

“Hey guys, Molly told me something that I wanted to share with you,” I tell them, changing the topic.

We all look at Molly then over at Annabelle. “What is it?” we ask, curious.

She tells us about Alexander’s sister and what she told Molly. “It doesn’t much matter anymore but it kind of shows when it started. His sister was likely the first person he ever killed. And he felt nothing after doing it.”

“That’s messed up. I could never do that to Molly,” Julian says, thinking as if that had been him.

“You’re not that kind of person,” Annabelle tells him, smiling over at him. “You would never kill anyone.”

He nods his head and says, “I guess you’re right. I don’t like the idea of it.”

I take out my phone and start playing music. “Who’s ready for a dance party?” I ask, getting up from my seat.

Annabelle’s phone starts ringing so she gets up off Daniel’s lap and picks up her phone, answering it while walking out of the room. “Hello?”

I watch her leave the room and wonder what that’s all about but turn to look at Alexia who is now standing beside me.

“How did you get my name?” I hear her say as she disappears behind the door.

Molly comes over to us and starts dancing around wildly, smiling as she does so. “Now this is my kind of party,” she says.

Julian gets up from his seat and comes over to join us, grabbing onto Molly’s hands to dance around with her. “It’s not really a dance party till you have a partner,” he says, smiling at his little sister.

Alexia takes my hands and says, “Would you like to be my dance partner? Because I would love to dance with you.”

“But of course, I couldn’t dream of dancing with anybody else,” I tell her as I start swinging about.

Molly starts laughing as she twirls around with Julian. He is laughing too, unable to contain himself with her infectious laughter.

Both Alexia and I start laughing too at the sound of their laughter, falling over onto the floor.

We settle down and get back up off the floor, resuming our dancing.

Daniel just watches us as we dance around and makes fools out of ourselves. Then he gets up and leaves the room, going to check on Annabelle. “Hey, what’s going on?” I hear him ask before the door gets closed again.

The song changes to a slow song so I place my hands on Alexia’s waist as she puts hers around mine and with both start slow dancing together.

Julian and Molly start slow dancing beside us but with Julian’s hands on Molly’s shoulders. Molly looks so small next to her brother.

Annabelle comes back into the room to grab her purse and looks over at us all dancing together.

We all stop dancing and look over at Annabelle and Daniel as they walked back into the room.

“What’s going on?” I ask, watching as she grabs her purse off the table.

“Daniel and I are taking a cab to the police station. Do you think you could stay with Molly and Julian?” Annabelle asks me.

“We can all go to the station and I’ll drive you,” Alexia says, turning the music off on my phone.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea. It’ll be better if I go with just Daniel. I don’t want Julian and Molly around this stuff,” she tells her.

She sighs and says, “Alright, if you feel that strongly about it then you can take the van and give it back when you come back.”

“Are you sure?” Annabelle asks her, looking around at everyone.

Alexia takes the keys from her pocket and hands them to her, saying, “I’m sure. Go get him.” She smiles as she says it.

Julian and Molly run over and hug Annabelle tightly. “Be safe,” they tell her.

“We’ll see you when you get back,” I say, coming up behind her.

Molly and Julian let her go, she smiles at them then she turns and leaves with Daniel.