The Questions That Didn’t Make Sende
1080 Words
The police station felt colder than I expected.
Not just the air—but the atmosphere.
Everything about it felt sharp, controlled, and uncomfortable. Like every word mattered. Like every silence meant something.
I sat across from the officer, my hands resting in my lap, trying to keep them from shaking.
“Take your time,” he said calmly. “We just need you to answer a few questions.”
I nodded, but my mind felt anything but calm.
---
“Can you tell me about your sister?”
“Lucy?” I said. “She was… outgoing. Confident. She had a lot of friends.”
“And enemies?”
I frowned. “No. Not that I know of.”
“Was she acting differently before her death?”
I hesitated.
“She was distracted,” I admitted. “She kept getting messages. And she didn’t want to tell me who they were from.”
“Did you suspect anyone?”
Jason.
“I thought it might be her boyfriend.”
---
“And the night she died?”
“She said she was going out with friends,” I said.
“Do you believe that?”
“No.”
The answer came easier this time.
---
The officer leaned forward slightly.
“We have reason to believe she arranged to meet Jason that night.”
My chest tightened.
“He told me he didn’t meet her,” I said.
“And do you believe him?”
I hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
---
“There were multiple calls between them,” the officer continued. “The conversation seemed… tense.”
“Tense how?”
“Arguments. Pressure.”
That didn’t sound like Lucy.
Or maybe I just didn’t know her as well as I thought.
---
“Jessica,” he said, softer now, “if there’s anything you’re not telling us, it’s important.”
“I’m not hiding anything,” I said.
But even as I said it, something didn’t feel right.
Because there *was* something.
Something I couldn’t explain yet.
---
When I stepped out into the hallway, I exhaled slowly, like I’d been holding my breath the entire time.
“Jess.”
Michael stood up immediately when he saw me.
Relief crossed his face—but it felt too strong. Too intense for just seeing me walk out of a room.
He walked over quickly, closing the distance between us.
“How did it go?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
Before I could say anything else, his hands were on my arms.
Firm.
Not painful—but not light either.
“Hey,” he said softly, leaning closer. “You’re shaking.”
I hadn’t even noticed.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“No, you’re not.”
His voice dropped lower.
Gentler.
But there was something else in it.
Something that felt more like… insistence.
---
“They think Jason met her,” I said.
Michael’s jaw tightened immediately.
“Of course they do.”
Too certain.
“He says he didn’t,” I added.
Michael let out a quiet breath, like he was holding something back.
“And you believe him?” he asked.
I hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
His grip on my arms tightened slightly.
“Jess, listen to me,” he said, his voice low. “You don’t know him like you think you do.”
Something about the way he said that made me pause.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you shouldn’t trust him,” he said.
Just like that.
No hesitation.
---
I pulled back slightly. “He was Lucy’s boyfriend.”
“And?” Michael said.
The word came out sharper than I expected.
“And that doesn’t make him a good person.”
I stared at him.
“You don’t know that.”
“I know enough.”
Again.
That same line.
That same certainty.
A small chill ran through me.
---
“How?” I asked.
For a second—just a second—he didn’t answer.
Then he looked away.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “What matters is you staying away from him.”
The way he said it didn’t feel like a suggestion.
It felt like a decision.
---
“Michael…” I started.
But before I could finish, he stepped closer again.
Too close.
His hand moved from my arm to my cheek, his fingers brushing softly against my skin.
“Babe,” he said quietly, his voice softening again, “I’m just trying to protect you.”
My breath caught slightly.
The shift in his tone.
The sudden gentleness.
It made everything feel confusing.
“I know,” I whispered.
His thumb traced slowly along my cheek.
Then down to my jaw.
The touch was soft.
Careful.
But it lingered.
Longer than usual.
---
“You don’t need to deal with this alone,” he murmured.
“I’m here. I’ve always been here.”
His forehead almost touched mine now.
The space between us gone.
For a second, everything else faded.
The noise.
The questions.
The doubt.
All of it.
And all I could feel was him.
---
His hand slid to the back of my neck, pulling me slightly closer.
Not forcefully.
But not giving me much space either.
“Just trust me,” he said quietly.
Something in my chest tightened.
I should have pulled away.
I didn’t.
---
His lips brushed against my temple.
Soft.
Comforting.
But something about it felt different.
Not wrong.
Just… not completely right.
Like there was something underneath it I couldn’t see.
---
“Okay?” he whispered.
I nodded slowly.
“Okay.”
---
He stepped back then, just enough to look at me again.
And just like that, his expression changed.
Back to normal.
Calm.
Controlled.
Like nothing had happened.
---
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go home.”
Home.
The word didn’t feel safe anymore.
But I nodded anyway.
---
As we walked out of the station, my mind kept replaying everything.
The questions.
Jason’s words.
Michael’s reactions.
None of it fit together.
Something was missing.
Something important.
---
And then it hit me.
A small detail.
Something I almost ignored.
---
Michael had never asked me what the police said.
Not really.
He just… assumed.
About Jason.
About everything.
---
A slow, cold feeling settled in my chest.
Because suddenly—
that didn’t feel normal.
- Writer
