Miserable

TWO DAYS LATER...

"She cheated on me, dad. But what makes you think I'll kill her?" A boy scolded at the top of his voice.

"The video about you and Ashley having a serious fight is everywhere. Everywhere on the internet. People are talking. They said you killed her because you were jealous and angry."

"For crying out loud, dad.  You'd really rather listen to them than your own son? You really believe them? What makes you think I'd do that?"

"Fingers are pointed at you. Now tell me, son. Did you murder her or not?" He barked.

His eyes were wide open. He became stiff for a while, but he waxed himself together and spoke. "Dad, what makes you think I'd do anything to tarnish your name? You of all people in the world knew how much I loved Ashley. I had to quit a lot of negative things just for her, and now my own father is having a second thought that I murdered her? What makes you think I'll do such?" His voice was breaking as more tears were streaking down; he was unable to hold himself back from what he was hearing.

"There's nothing impossible that this generation cannot do. Tell me now, son. I need the truth. Let me help you like I've always done." His looks dimmed into more seriousness as he stared at his half-crazed son. "I know what you can do when you're angry. So did you murder your girlfriend, Ashley?"

"B..."

"The investigators are in this matter, and the whole world is seeing you as a suspect." You messaged her that very evening to come see you at school. What happened afterwards?"

He takes his hair and clenches it tight. This whole thing is making him go crazy. "Dad, believe me. I didn't do anything." Liquid was dropping from his nose as he tried to explain to his dad. "I..."

"What happened afterwards?" He asked in a more serious tone.

More tears flowed down his face, and his grip on his hair tightened. "Yes. I was drunk that night. I sent her a message saying that we should meet. But I swear, nothing happened. She officially broke up with me that night, and the pain... The pain was too much, so I...

"You woke up in the hospital, Simon. Your clothes were covered in blood. There was no sign of any cut or injury on your body to detect if the blood stains were from you. Tell me, how did the blood come about, Simon? There was a high level of alcohol in your blood. Look at me." He grabbed his collar tightly and made him look at him. "What happened that night?"

"Stop it. Stop it.  Just stop." He yelled and shrugged his father's grip off his collar. "I didn't murder Ashley. I can't remember what happened afterwards, but I swear that I had nothing to do with her death. I didn't murder her. I loved her so much even after she cheated on me. I didn't. I didn't."

"Then why did you tell her to meet you at school?" He also yelled. "They're reporters outside, and the cops will be on their way any moment from now. So start speaking."

He staggered backwards a bit. All this was too much. "I..." He swallowed before speaking again. "I just wanted to clear things with her dad. I wanted to apologize to her for creating a scene in front of everyone that day. Even after she pushed me away that night and broke up with me, I thought... My goodness!" He palmed his face with both hands. His eyes were still dripping with more tears.  "I'm Innocent. I didn't do any of this." He cried out more. He was sick and tired of everything. His nose was dripping a liquid substance.

His father just stood there, looking down at how miserable his son looked now. Simon has anger issues. He punched the boy nearly to death after discovering he had done something with his girlfriend. Instead of Ashley trying to apologize to him, she kept pushing him away and slapped him many times in public. In school, at the mall, at the party, literally, anywhere he showed up to try and clear things up with her.  Still, he never reacted or raised his hands on her.

After the video of him and Ashley having a serious argument in school leaked out this morning, his father also had no choice but to see him as a suspect. The night of her murder, he was taken to a hospital covered in blood on his clothes. He was highly intoxicated. Thank God the doctor was a friend of his. As a father, he'll do everything to protect his son. He feared that Simon must have done something bad. That same day, he took Simon's stained clothes to the house and burned them down to ash dust so that no one would find a trace of him in case something happened. He paid the doctors a huge amount of money to keep their mouths shut and to clear his name from the hospital data that showed Simon was hospitalized that same day. Being the vice president, he cannot let his name be dragged through the mud. But never did he know that his suspicions were true and that, likely, Simon might have murdered someone. The evidence of his doing so was even more clear. And of all the people, it was his friend's daughter and Simon's girlfriend, Ashley. Never did he think that something worse than what he imagined could display itself right before his eyes. This is bad. Very bad.

Looking at his miserable son, he was left in a dilemma about whether to believe what he was saying or not. He really wanted to believe all that Simon had said, but what about the coincidence that happened that same day? The message he sent to her. In his drunken state, in which anyone could do anything at such a state and not remember it. He also could not recall anything that happened afterwards or how blood got on his clothes. Who on earth wouldn't believe all those things and not count him as a suspect? Or no.  The murderer himself. He's so confused as to what to do right now and how to get his son out of this mess. Even if he succeeds in flying him out of this country now, Ashley's father will not blink an eye till they get a hold of him. And flying him out will only complicate matters and make them worse. He, being the Vice President, can also be blamed for the death of Ashley. It's the president's daughter, not a commoner's daughter, that we're talking about here. So what to do now?

While he was swimming in his own flooded thoughts on how to come up with an idea, a knock on the door startled him. The two people at the doorpost bowed at him before speaking.

"I am Daniel. Detective Daniel and she's detective Mary. We're from the DI Agency, and we're here to take your son for questioning."

Simon slowly lifted his face from where he sat. His eyes were still flowing with tears. "Dad, I'm innocent. Don't let them take me away. I'm innocent.  Please dad..."  He held on to one of his father's legs tight and continued pleading with a broken voice and teary eyes. "No... Father... I'm innocent.  Don't let them take me away. I'm innocent."  He kept on pleading, and his grip on his father's legs tightened as they forcefully tried to get him up on his feet. "I didn't do it. Dad. Dad.."

Not minding, as though they were not hearing his cries, they cloaked his wrists with handcuffs. He was escorted into their vehicle by the police and the detectives. Just as the press spotted him from the gate, their camera lights began flashing like lightning strikes. They caught him when he came out of the door handcuffed. And how he was taken to the car. They didn't miss a second, even though they stood outside the gate. Probably, the headlines will read, "The Vice President's son, Simon, is seen as a suspect in the death of the President's daughter, Ashley Young."