Page 41 of Alik
I stare at the water stain on the ceiling and listen to the rhythmic commotion above me. It sounds like a headboard tapping.
An angry knock sounds on my door, and I shoot up, my head whipping that way. My heart races as my body flips into fight-or-flight mode. I clutch the bedspread and try to calm myself.
If it were the Irish, they wouldn’t be knocking.
“Olive, open the goddamn door.”
Dad.
I let out a sigh of relief, but it’s short-lived. I don’t want to see him either.
Maybe he’ll go away?
“Olive!” He pounds on the door so hard that I jump. I climb out of bed, toss the bullet in my bag, button my pants, and glance around in search of anything else mortifying. Which, really, I’m looking for my sketchbook. I’m so used to ensuring it’s out of reach that I do so now out of habit.
It’s gone. Hours of work,daysgone.
More banging. “I swear to God, if you don’t…”
He silences at the sound of me unlatching the chain, and I swing the door open a moment later.
His face is pinched in a cruel glare as he pushes past me and slams the door. “What thehellare you thinking?”
Disappointment is etched into the lines between his eyes, but more than that, he’s angry. Not scared. Angry.
At what point did I stop being his daughter and instead become his burden?
Was it last year? Or all the way back when I was twelve?
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” I say, my lips heavy with a frown. “It was something I had to do.”
“No.” He shakes his head like he’s in denial. “You and I are going to the station to recant your statement. You’re going to tell them you were high and out for revenge. You had no idea what you were talking about.”
I rear back as my brow furrows. “I gave them a video of the exchange I testified to.”
“I took care of that.” He waves his hand as if dismissing the concrete evidence I brought.
“What? How did you?—”
“The video is gone, Olive. You don’t need to worry about it. You just need to go in and?—”
“How is it gone?”
He looks at me impatiently, his hands sliding into his pockets and his stare pointed. He wants me to shut up. Do what he says and shut up.
He’s my father. He always means well. Always has my best intention at heart.
But this time, I trust Alik. I won’t recant my testimony unless Alik says it’s what’s best. He’s the one on the inside, not my father.
Even if I recanted, I don’t see how the video could be taken care?—
Oh my God.
“You got rid of it? Like, illegally?”
When my dad says nothing, my jaw drops, and I take a step away from him.
His glare falls as he shakes his head. “You don’t understand the people you’re messing with, honey. I know you think you need to get Creeper off the street, and that’s fine. We can talk about how to do that. But you can’t talk about the other man you saw, sweetheart. It’s a horrible mistake.”