18 Chapter 17: Something I must tell you (Joseph's POV)

"Please get out of my place..." I said queitly so that it did not wake up Mariah. I hated this woman now, she had tricked me and I had thought that her love was real, but now I had found out that none of it was. It was just a little game so that she would choose the bigger and better man.

"Why? You were admitting your feelings the other day and now you want to kick me out?" She said to me, she looked disgusted even thought I should be the one giving her that look. I sat down on my bed and just shook my head.

She sat down right beside me and started coming up to me for a hug, but I pushed her off and then got off of my bed. I looked at her shaking my head, she was pretending like nothing had happened, I wish I would have told Pop earlier about this, and Susan.

I had bigger things on my mind than this woman though. She was just another mistake in my past, and I was not going to try and fix it, becuase it was not my fault.

"Please leave my place, I already had a rough day, and now that your boyfriend, that you didn't even ever tell me existed came after me and tried fighting me." I said to her. She looked at me and then nodded to herself and then began putting her shoes on.

I was happy that she was leaving but I did not expect it to be so easy, I had a feeling that she was going to go and tell her boyfriend that I raped her or some shit like that.

"Well I'm sorry I didn't want to tell you that I was in an abusive relationship." She said to me. I almost did not want to listen to her, I knew she was going to make up some bullshit excuses, my mother told me what woman were like. I had to believe her because she was a woman in the first place.

"You didn't tell me? But you went and told your boyfriend about me? Where I worked probably where I lived and all of that?" I said to her. She looked at the ground for a few seconds sadly, but I did not feel bad for her at all.

"No... I didn't tell him, but he knew I had feelings for you, and he knows your family, you're all over town..." She said to me. I suppose it made a little bit of sense but it still was not a good enough excuse for me.

"But he does not know he works at the bar... I don't believe you, please just leave I don't want you in my place..." I said to her. She looked at me and then began crying, but I knew what sort of game that she was playing, I was not stupid. She was trying to make me out to be the jerk, when she was out here messing around with several other men.

"I have nowhere to go, once he found out I was leaving he threw me out and went straight over to the bar." She said to me. I still was not buying it, she would have gotten here before me, and I had gone straight to my room to change with all the blood on me.

I looked at her for a few moments and then just shook my head to myself, I would dig more deeply into it, but I had a feeling that she was telling the truth when she said that she was being thrown out of her place.

"Fine, stay a few nights here, but then fine your own place, you can sleep on the little chair in my room. This bed is mine..." I said to her. She looked at me as if she was about to say something else but I knew that she was smart enough not to.

She sat down on the chair and stared at me for a little while, I was staring back, she was so good looking but I would not blind that from the fact that she had lied to me this whole time, she was coming up with a bunch of excuses but I would not believe any of them.

I fell asleep, I probably should not have, her boyfriend might no where I live and she can easily just unlock my door, but I figured she was not that cruel, even if she had been lying to me this whole time.

I woke up, someone was laying on top of me and she was smiling, I was tempted to push her off but she was so warm and she looked so good, I realized who it was though, I was smiling at Julia, and all of the sudden what happened yesterday came back to me.

I got her off of me, not painfully but just as a way to tell her that I did not want her on me. She looked a bit happy about my first reaction but then she looked at me a bit sadly as she was looking at me and sitting on my bed.

"I'm sorry Joseph... I really am, I should have told you, you are right. I did not expect him to go after you like that, I am just glad that you are safe, he was really strong..." She said to me. I looked at her and then I just nodded, I still did not believe anything that she said but I was still listening.

The way that she was acting and the way she looked told me that what she was saying was true. My mother on the other hand had told me that women had a very good way with lying. I looked at her again and then shook my head at her.

"Maybe you were in an abusive relationship, but you should have told me at least. He was strong, but I was smarter and faster..." I said to her. I was tempted to tell her about how everything went in slow motion for me, but that would just get her more into me.

"I know... I hope you can forgive me, if you can at least be kind enough and let me stay here for a few days, I have no where to go." She said to me. I felt bad now all of the sudden, she was so good looking and it was like it was sucking up to me.

"Okay... Fine... I will believe you, you can live here for now, we are not together, but if you go after another man or lie to me again then you are gone." I said to her. I remembered all the good times I had spent with her, surely none of those were fake right?

"Thank you Joseph, he should not be coming after us again... Do know that I am not lying and I do care about you, you are a sweet and real human." She said to me. It was true and I knew that I was. I would never do any of those things my father would have done or a lot of other men or women have done to their husbands and wives.

All of the sudden everything that had happened yesterday came back to me. Hearing the news and all of that other stuff I sat down and I could feel tears begin to come down my eyes. Julia came up to me and gave me a hug, I knew that she did not know the news yet.

I needed someone close to me right now, I was sure that I had made the right decision on keeping Julia with me. I knew that she was real I had talked to her and we had been with each other for so long, not just in a relationship.

"Julia... I'm sorry, I need you to be sincere about all of this, I cant take it much longer anymore." I said to her. She looked at me as if she was a slight bit confused. I needed someone my age and someone I cared about to talk to.

Mariah all of the sudden walked into the room, she looked around a bit confused and then she looked at Julia and then nodded to her suddenly I could she was thinking that we must have been doing some things last night. We were not.

"Oh... Hey Julia, I heard someone talking in the room... Joseph I did not see that on you the other night, you need to clean yourself up..." She said to me. I looked at the mirror that was on the other side of the room, I saw a lot of blood on my face, I had realize I had been hurt that bad.

"Thank you Mariah, can you take some of my money that is in the 3rd kitchen cabinet on the right and go to the store? We need some meat and vegetables and potatoes, I need to talk to Julia." I said to her. She looked at the both of us, she smiled and then nodded to us.

She then left the room, and I waited til she had closed and locked the door before I began talking again to Julia. She was smiling happy to see both of us, but I knew that she could tell that something was wrong with the both of us.

"My mother, shes... Dead..." I said to Julia. She looked really surprised at first but then nodded to me, I could see her wiping tears that were starting to flow down her eyes. I knew that her family was close to Jim and my uncle as well, they were a close knit group.

"Oh my... I'm so sorry Joseph..." She said to me. I nodded and she moved closer to me and she kissed me right on my lips. I needed it, I needed to know that there was someone who loved me and that I was not alone and there was still faith in this world.

I did not know what I would do if I was just alone, I needed someone to love and care for me, I had needed it for such a long time. I just hoped that what Julia had told me was true, maybe she was not lying and maybe she did actually care about me.

"They think my father did it, I don't know... There's no way... I'm going to talk to him and see what he has to say to me, I'm usually pretty good at reading peoples thoughts." I said to her. She nodded to me and we layed down on the bed and just began to cuddle.

It was truly something that I needed so badly. I could not be alone at this matter in time. Mariah was my sister, Jim was my owner and a friend, same with Pop. This was someone much different and I could not bare to lose another person that I loved.

"I'm sorry Joseph... Do know that I care about you a lot, and I'm sorry, you are right, I did lie to you. I have to go work now." She said to me. I nodded, I wondered if Jim was going to say anything to her, he knew everything that had gone on last night.

I figured he would just give her a look but not say anything to her. I sat there smiling at her as she left the room, I noticed that she had a big bag full of stuff with her. She probably could not fit all of her stuff a lot like me.

I would not blame her if she did not go back, I figured it might be a smart thing to not go back. I remembered that I had left my set of clothes at the door, I had helped Mariah get some, I would probably go shopping for stuff for Julia and bring some more stuff of Mariahs back to the house.

I knew that the cities government would soon declare that property as their own, I would do my best to help my father if he had not done it, but I knew the system in this city was pretty messed up so I would not be surprised if they wanted it for the money.

Once I put all of my clothes on the dresser I sat down on the sofa that my sister had slept on last night, I could still smell her scent that she always put on every morning, I sat there and waited for her to come back, it had been almost an hour at this point she should be back fairly soon.

I looked at the bookshelf, there was a book I had been reading the other day, I looked through the stack of about 100 books and finally I found it and I began reading it again.

As soon as I started reading I heard the key unlock and I thought for a second that it might be Pop, but then I realized that it was just Mariah and she had 2 big bags of grocery that she was struggling to bring into the place.

I ran over to her and helped her and she nodded to me as we put it down in the kitchen. I looked around remembering that how beatiful they had really cleaned up the place. It was sort of a mess when I first looked through it.

"I got all of the neccesaries and some candy for myself if thats okay..." She said to me looking right at me. I looked through the bags and then she helped me put them in cabinets and in the bin to store all of the cold food.

I took out a few eggs and some sausage, and then began putting it on the stove. Mariah helped me and she took over the rest for me, I knew how good of a cook she was, she learned it from our mother...

I shook my head not wanting to even think about her, I loved her so much, it hurt me to even think of her being dead. She had always told me that she would die old with my father in her bed when she was really old. But apparently according to sources she did die with my father just not in her bed.

"Did you want to go with me to talk to our father?" I said to her. She looked at the ground for a few moments before looking back at the stove realized that the eggs were crackling and she needed to turn them over.

"I don't want to, you can go see if what he says is true, I dont know what I will do if I go there." She said to me. I went up to her because I could tell that she was very emotional right now, and I gave her a hug. Then I kissed her on the top of her forehead.

We were silent for a while, she continued cooking up our breakfast and I just sat there and watched fastatened at how she perfectly timed every last thing that she needed to do to make the food perfect.

Jim used to joke to my mother and her that they could go and work at the bar and get a lot more service. I knew it was a joke but I also knew that my mom would happily take up the offer if what had happened to my uncle would have never happened and he was still alive to this day.

Maybe if that would have never happened, my father might not have done what he did to my mother, or maybe it still would have happened if it was truly not him. They always went on the happy walks even before all of this had all gone down.

"Alright Mariah... I'm going to go get the rest of your clothes and go talk to our father..." I said to her. She nodded to me, giving me some food for me on the go in a little bag. I nodded back to her and smiled, she smiled back at me, I could tell she was trying to act normal but she was not normal inside.

"Stay safe... I love you." She said to me. I loved her as well, she was a true woman and she was just growing up in a miserable world, I felt bad for her every day because of that. I gave her one last hug before heading out the front door.

"I will, you stay safe as well, lock the door behind be and dont open it unless it is me or pops." I said to her. She nodded and then I closed the door behind me. I was so worried with all that was going on right now, this world was really all going straight to hell.

I began walking down the steps and heading to pop and Susan's place as I usually did, just to talk to them, I knew they worked 6 days a week, only taking of Sunday's to go to church. I needed to go to church as well, I needed to prophet the lord, maybe he would listen to me, maybe not.

I knocked on their door and Pop yelled loudly for me to come in. I was surprised he was there, normally he was busy in other peoples places taking care of their stuff and cleaning all of it up.

"Hey Joseph! You feeling better today?" He said to me as soon as he noticed it was me when I walked through the door. Susan got up from the desk and ran over to me to give me a quick little hug. "Wow... I wish someone would give me a hug from time to time."

Me and Susan laughed and she walked over to Pop and gave him a hig and then a quick little kiss on the lips. Not like the long kiss that Julia had given to me not too long ago.

"I'd rather give you kisses than hugs." She said to him. We both laughed and then we all came back to seriousness. I did need to talk to Pop and ask for some advice about the situation that I was in right now.

"So what are you up to right now?" Pop said to me. I looked down for a couple of seconds but then I looked up and nodded to him before responding to him. I was just not too sure what to say to him.

"I'm just wanted too make sure that you two were both okay, I'm going to go visit my dad right now, I have to talk to him before the trial starts." I said to Pop. He looked at me for a few seconds, I could tell he was thinking about it for a few moments not wanting to give me any bad advice.

"Make sure he is okay... Tell him we pay his wife respects and we hope that he gets through the trial in a good case." He said to me. I nodded to him, I could see Susan from the corner of my eye, she did not look happy about it and I could not blame her, she was close to my mother.

"I will... I just need to make sure he is not lying or he did not kill her and then things will be set." I said to him. He nodded and sat down on his chair. I did not want to take too long I still wanted to get back on time, I knew that Jim said I could take a couple days of and I thanked him for it.

"Are you doing okay? What's going on in your head right now?" He asked me. I thought about it for a second, it wasn't much, I really was not trying to think about my mother but I did not want to lie to Pop's at the same time, they were always truthful to me.

"To be honest... I'm just trying my best not too think bad, and not to think about my mother." I said to him. He sat there for a few seconds taking it in before he finally nodded to me.

I heard Susan begin crying, I knew she was so close to my mother and I felt bad for her as well, Pop walked over to her and held her close for a few moments until she finally stopped crying. Susan looked at me and then she nodded to me before speaking.

"I hope your father did not... Tell him I wish him best of luck. Now you go and see him." She said to me. I nodded to her and then looked at Pop and tried my best to smiled at me, he looked just as sad as her.

"Thanks you two, I will tell him that. I will check on you later tonight." I said to them. I should be back before 6, it was only around 8 right now, unless there was really something that my father wanted to tell me, or if it was a long wait.

Which I doubt it would be, I don't think that anyone was checking on my father. His parents had died before I was born. I thought sadly, if the trial ended bad, as most did then it might be the same to me if I had kids.

If I had kids, I wasn't too sure if I was ready to trust Julia so fast and I could tell that she did not blame me.

Pop and Susan both nodded to me and I walked out of their small building that they used for anyone that wanted to move in or had to pay for their rent, which sadly did not happen very much for them anymore.

Once I was out I walked up to the street, there were 3 police stations in the city, but I knew he had to be to the one about 2 miles from my old house, the other 2 were over 10 miles out in the other directions. It was a fairly big city that we lived in, but the one I had gone on vacation with my family years ago was a bit bigger.

I waved my hand in the air for a cab and as per usual it took less than a minute for me to find one. It was a lady with he 2 horses in the the front. I knew that it was rough for woman in the city on cabs, they often didn't get payed and there was nothing they could do about it.

"Where you going off too?" She said to me. I looked around the city for a few moments trying to bring my mind back to reality til I finally remembered where I was heading too.

"Can you take me to the station on broad street?" I said to her. She looked around trying to remember where it was at, I could tell that she was fairly new to all of this. "Its that way." I said to her, she nodded her thanks smiling to me and we began heading off.

I looked around at the city, I could tell that we were in dark times, prices were going up on everything, and payment for employees was not following that. It was sad to think about, but there were a lot worse things that I could have on my mind right now to be fair.

Once we were there she stopped her horses and I got out of the cab to get off and then I sat there waiting for her to tell me how much I needed to pay her.

Instead she began going of and I ran over to try and stop her. She stopped her cab a bit confused.

"Wait... I haven't payed you!" I said to her. She looked at me and then nodded to me her thanks. I could not blame her she was probably used to her not getting payed by passengers in her cab.

"Thank you... But I can tell that you are hurt and you need it." She said to me. I looked at her for a few seconds thanking her but I then shook my head at her. I could tell that she was low on funds and she needed it.

"I'm hurt but not broke, here take 8 coins." I said to her. She looked flattered, normally a trip like this was probably a coin or two but I could tell that she needed a bit more. She smiled to me and she thanked me, she then began heading off again.

Once I was ready mentally trying not to think too evil about my father I nodded and then walked into the police station. The man at the front nodded to and told me to wait a few seconds. I sat down beside a lady who I could tell had beem beaten by her husband. It would not surprise me if that was the reason she was here. Woman tended to stick with men that did that to them, I never really understood why.

"Alright sir... You can go on ahead." The guy said to me. I had been staring at the ground, my mind was in the middle of nowhere just trying not too think of anything bad. I got up from the chair and walked up to the guy.

"Who are you hear to talk to or see?" He said to me. I looked there for a few seconds still not completely sure if this was real, maybe I was in a dream but then I shook my head and looked up at the guy.

"Im here for my father..." I said to him. He looked at me for a few seconds waiting for me to keep talking. But there was nothing else I had to tell him so he just shook his head at me and then he talked.

"You're fathers name?" He said to me. I then realized why he had waited so long and thought that I was going to keep talking, I was just so used to people knowing who I was I didn't normally have to tell them.

"Oh sorry... David Black..." I said to him. He looked at me for a few seconds I could see a scared look on his eyes as if he had thought that maybe I was going to kill him. This had to be a lot worse than I had even imagined, there was no way this could have been my father.

"Oh... Tim, go take him to cell block D13..." He said to one of two guys that was in here with me. I was surprised he was asking for a guy to come with me, I had not heard of that, normally I just walked up to the cell and talked to whoever was in there.

This had to be worse than I imagined, the guy that was in here with me to take me over was really big and looked really buff, they had to be really afraid of something, I was strong but I was nothing compared to him and neither was my father... Besides I did not have a key to any of the locks...

"Don't try anything stupid kid..." The guy said to me. I looked at him as if he was the one stupid at then I just nodded to him and we continued walking over to the section that he was in... Once we went all the way through the C section we walked through into the D section. He nodded for me and I knew that I was at my fathers cell. I walked over to the one that said 13 and I saw my father laying the bed staring at the cieling.

He looked like a man that had just been completely broken, I felt bad for him and not bad at the same time. He had really brought this on himself, even if he had not killed my mom, he did beat all of us from time to time.

"Dad..." I said to him a bit quietly. He looked around at the room for a few moments before turning around towards me. He walked over and I could see tears coming from his eyes...

"No one believes me... It wasn't me... I loved your mother! No one believes me!" He said to me. I knew that he loved my mother, it was truth. But it a fit of rage I could see him doing something really stupid that he might regret.

"Tell me... What happened..." I said to him. He layed down on the ground I could see him crying, he looked completely broken, I had never seen him like this ever before.

"You wont believe me... No one does... There is something I must tell you."