A Song for Us

Chapter Thirty-Five

ERIC

I DIDN’T DESERVE TO be here but would gladly do it all over again. I squeezed the dark bars in front of me until my knuckles turned white and my palms threatened to bleed, layers of paint chipping and sticking to my damp palms. The minutes felt like hours and my skin began to crawl with the waiting.

I was informed that Derek had pulled through his beating, and I was partially relieved. I didn’t want to spend my life in prison, but if it kept him from hurting Sarah again, I would gladly take my last breath in this cell if it meant that she was finally free from her emotional hell.

I hadn’t received any word about her condition and it was killing me. I paced the floor endlessly, refusing to sleep or eat until I knew if she was safe. It was probably the only thing keeping me alive right now. I needed to know she was safe. That was all that mattered.

Minutes ticked by like hours. The greatest way to torture a man is to leave him alone with his own thoughts. I counted the cinder blocks that made up the walls and I sang every song we wrote, but none of it seemed to pass the time.

I was in a holding cell by myself so I didn’t even have the luxury of someone to talk to. It was maddening.

“You want to end up in jail?” My dad was on his second case of beer and he only got meaner with each can.

“Like you care. At least then I will have some peace. I could go the rest of my life without seeing the blame on your eyes.” I stalked off to my room, hating that he was killing my buzz.

“You ungrateful little shit!” he yelled after me, and I heard him put down the footrest of his recliner.

I turned around in the hall, preparing for the beating that was sure to follow. But my father just covered his face as he began to cry and shoved past me to his room. Somehow it was worse and I wished he would have hit me. I didn’t like to see everyone around me suffering because of what I had done.