Iflinched as the cop pushed me against his car, the cold handcuffs digging into my wrists, which made my fingers twitch uncontrollably. I could still smell the scent of burned wood on my hoodie, making me shiver when I thought about the reason I found myself in this situation.
“We contacted your father. He should be here any minute. I would advise you not to say anything,” he murmured from behind me. I shook my head, not planning to tell them any details about this night anyway.
Today I had sealed my fate. I knew that I would most likely end up in juvenile prison. Did you still go to juvenile prison when you were twenty? No, I don’t think so. Even my father couldn’t get me out of this.
As I opened my eyes, I saw our neighbor lying in the ambulance, her skin all burned. I didn’t think she was conscious—at least her eyes were closed. Or was she dead? Had I killed her?
No, her chest was moving irregularly, but still up and down. Her little daughter was sitting next to her. She seemed calm, almost at peace. Good.
With a dull thud, the ambulance door closed, and I was finally able to avert my gaze. Just when everything around me went quiet, two bright lights came towards us—my father, I realized. The engine went off and he hurried in my direction.
“What the hell is going on?” He tried to push to my side, but the second cop stopped him at the last second.
“The list is long—arson, aggravated battery, burglary, resisting and obstructing officers in the performance of their duties and endangering minors.” My father fixed me with his piercing eyes, searching for injuries that were not there.
“Avery would never. Let go of her,” he said, almost baring his teeth. All furious, he wanted to push the bulky officer next to me away—in vain.
But his colleague was right, though. It was me, all of it. And I didn’t regret it. It was so much fun to see that building crumble, to see how that monster almost burned alive. I savored every second.
Nervously, I walked up and down in front of the prosecutor’s office, waiting for my lawyer and my father. Of course, I didn’t expect to get off lightly. I had destroyed that house and now had to live with the consequences. I just hoped that my cellmate wouldn’t kill me in my sleep.
I jerked as they yanked the door open, and my escorts stepped out of the room with a tense expression.
My father passed me without notice. He refused to talk to me since that night. I understood that. I wouldn’t want to talk to me either.
“I have good news and I have bad news,” my lawyer said. I kept step with the bald man, eyeing him out of the corner of my eye. ‘The good news is you don’t have to go to juvenile prison.”
I didn’t dare to feel relieved, not when his voice sounded like he was about to give me the death sentence. “The bad news is you have to participate in a special program for troubled teens. A boarding school, if you will.”
A boarding school? I already finished high school, even went to college for a year before dropping out. What the hell should I be doing at a boarding school full of kids who did who knows what?
“So, doing math to combat crime, I guess?” I joked. My lawyer chuckled barely audibly.
“Yeah, something like that. If you behave, you’ll get out in one year. It cost your father a fortune to keep you out of prison. Never forget that.”
Guilt spread through my heart thinking about how he must have felt. If only he knew the real reason for what I had done…
I sighed. “A boarding school it is, then.” Just one year, what could possibly happen?
