R is for Regret

Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope you are ready for the next blog post in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  If you missed the last blog post, definitely go read that one.  Click here, or you will be very confused in reading today’s installment.

For this story, I am participating in the A to Z Blogging Challenge.  I felt that this was a really good opportunity for me to not only express my creativity, but challenge myself to building a very long story that could be cut up into multiple parts.  And for it all to make sense!  So if you want to follow along with other blog posts in the challenge, check the hashtag #AtoZchallenge to follow along.

This story would be categorized as Dark.  Thank you so much and I will see you tomorrow for the next installment.  Enjoy!

R is for Regret

Aspen slammed her hands on the table and stood up.  “I am not guilty!  I would never do something like this!  You can ask my family and friends!”  She felt the rage starting to boil up inside of her.  She didn’t know what this officer was implying, but she didn’t like it.  No matter what these people believed, she was not guilty.

The officer sighed.  “Aspen.  Please sit down.  Let’s talk civilly okay?”  Aspen did as she was told, falling into her respective chair.  The officer smiled.  “Thank you.  Now, let’s get to the problem at hand.  Why did you leave?  If you know you aren’t guilty, why wouldn’t you stay inside and try to prove your innocence?”

Aspen leaned on the table and ran her hand through her short hair.  She shook her head.  “I don’t know.  I just…I…I thought that maybe I could somehow prove my innocence if I had enough time outside.  But too many people were on the lookout for me and I couldn’t find enough places to hide.  So honestly, I didn’t think everything through.  I just wanted to get out.”

“Do you regret any of it?”

The question surprised Aspen, she hadn’t expected to answer that question.  “Which part?  Accidentally killing my boyfriend or running away from the prison?”

The officer paused.  “Both.  Let’s start with your boyfriend.”

Aspen let out a long breath.  “Uh…yeah…I know that I could’ve done other things to scare him.  But my first thought was a gun and I don’t know why.  I guess I was afraid that even if I left he would somehow find me and drag me back to that apartment.  And his family thought he was an angel.  But do I regret it?”  She sighed.  “Yeah.  I wish I would’ve considered my options before just straight buying a gun.  I wish I would’ve just gone home to my parents and apologized for everything I put them through.  Because I put them through a lot while I was dating that idiot.”

“And what about escaping the prison?”

“Uh…yeah.  I do regret that.  Because now that I look back on it I was dumb to run away.  I didn’t have anyone on the outside to help me so I was just kinda stuck.  I was left to my own devices and I didn’t do very well.  Obviously.”

The officer stood up and made her way to the door.  But before she opened the door she turned back around to look at Aspen.  “You know what?  Honestly, if you had someone on the outside to help you, I don’t think we would’ve caught you.  The only reason we got you was because the motel worker was a crime fan and she was infatuated with your case.  So when she saw you she had to look further into it.  But, you have to give her some credit.  She did at least let you have a good nights sleep before being hauled off again.”

The officer turned back to the door and exited the room, leaving Aspen to her own thoughts.  Aspen thought it was kind of strange that the officer was asking her all of these questions, but she wasn’t ready for what was to come.  She knew that she was heading back to jail, but she wasn’t sure what was going to happen while she was there.