Consequences (4)

 

 

By Emmeline Bisiikwa, Uganda

The sirens of the police sounded doubly loud in the quiet night. Peter was just entering into his car outside Diane’s house when they pulled up to the driveway. Let me see your hands, put your hands where we can see them. He raised his hands slowly, confused about what was happening.

You are under arrest. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. He felt the cuffs close round his hands and it felt surreal. It was like watching things happen to someone else. He briefly wondered what he was under arrest for. He had been with Diane all night and hadn’t had a chance to do anything.

It was different being in the interrogation room from what he saw on TV. Time moved slowly and he had no watch or clock to use to predict the hours. He couldn’t tell if it had been minutes, seconds, hours or days since they brought him in. all he knew was he had a right to an attorney and one hadn’t arrived yet.

Eventually, the door opened and two police officers came in. one sat opposite him, the other stood in the corner and he thought to himself, “Good cop, bad cop”

The officer sitting spoke, “Why did you do it? Why kill your girlfriend?”

He spoke slowly, “Who is dead officer? I was with my girlfriend the whole night.”

“We have evidence proving you were responsible for the death of Sue.” the officer said.

“But…but, I just saw her last week. She broke up with me and I never saw her again.” Peter said.

“Tell us the truth and you won’t have to face life in jail.” Good cop said.

They pulled out pictures and set them in front of him. Each looked more damning than the last. There were pictures of him fighting with her, him strangling her, him hitting her. The last picture was of him staring at her lifeless body with blank eyes.

“That’s not me”, he spoke.

“There were witnesses. Pictures. Fingerprints. Everything we need to convict you.” Said Bad Cop.

Peter was confused. He hadn’t seen Sue since their break up. Was he dreaming? Was he being pranked? What was going on?

“I need my lawyer. I won’t say another word till they get here.”

The cops stood up and slammed the door. He was left in the timeless room again, but this time the thoughts going through his mind made the time or lack of it unbearable.