Fallen, Chapter 1

“Alex, you’re a champion therapist, right?” Daniels smiled at me over the counter. I raised my eyebrows, swiping my card to get through the security door.
“Maybe. What’s the problem?”
“John Doe in room two isn’t talking. We sent for a psych eval, but you know how it is.”
I nodded, putting my purse in a drawer under the counter.
“What’d he do?”
“Eh, minor stuff. He was sleeping in the park and caused some trouble with the security there. Roughed ‘em up pretty good too.”
I looked in the direction of the interrogation room, and saw a young looking blonde in the chair. He had his head hung, almost like he was sleeping. Maybe he was.
“Alright, I’ll take it. Give me twenty minutes.”
I made my way to the room, grabbing his file out of the tray on the door before entering.
“Hey there. Do you want something to eat? I can only imagine how long you’ve been here; sometimes Daniels takes the role of badass a little too seriously.”
The man didn’t answer me. He didn’t even look at me. Maybe he really was sleeping.
“Do you want something to drink? We’re really not supposed to give you anything but water, but its midnight, and I don’t really care about the rules.” I sat down across from him, but he still hadn’t even acknowledged my presence. I could see now that his eyes were open through the thick veil of blonde hair.
“Do you want me to take those cuffs off? Daniels tends to put them on kind of tight.”
Instead of getting pissy and throwing a fit, I decided to take them off anyway. I took my keys out, and went to take the restraints. I knelt down, touching his arm. He jerked, rattling the chains.
“I’m just taking them off. Give me a minute.” I assured him, turning the key so the bracelets sprang loose. I stood back up, brushing my knees off and looking at him. He didn’t look back at me, but stared at his feet, which were bare.
“So why don’t you tell me where you live? Maybe I can get you a cab home.”
He looked at me through his hair, but it was only a fleeting glance. Was he afraid?
“Listen, the sooner you answer my questions, the sooner we’ll be able to let you go. So why don’t you just tell me your phone number, and I’ll call someone to pick you up.”
He didn’t look at me, but the tape recorder on the edge of the table. It was the only other thing in the room making noise besides me.
“If I put away the tape recorder, will you talk?” I reached across the table, hitting the stop button and putting it in my pocket.
“There, no more recording. Now why don’t you give me your phone number?”
“Home.” He said. Words! Life! He wasn’t deaf! Yay me!
“Yeah, home is okay. I can’t imagine who would need there cell phone to be called at this time on a Monday night, but home is good. What’s the number?”
“Trees.”
I sighed, my whole body collapsing in on itself. I thought I really had something.
“There are lots of trees in Tampa. Not as much as there used to be, but we still have a pretty good amount by the river. Is that part of your neighborhood name? Can you remember anything else?”
“Home.” He said again, more insistent. He looked up at me this time, and the look caught me by surprise. It was so…wild. Not crazy wild, just……primal.
“You can’t go home unless I know where it is. So why don’t you give me a phone number, and you can be out of here soon.” I moved to touch his hand, and in an instant, he had me up against the wall, one hand holding my wrist away, the other holding my throat. Not choking me, but a warning that he might. He had thrown me against a wall so fast I barely had time to react.
“Step away from Officer Harrison, sir.” Daniels was standing in the doorway, gun aimed. The man didn’t move.
“Step away from her, or I will shoot you.” He repeated.
“Daniels, it’s okay. He’s not hurting me, and I crossed his personal bubble. It’s my fault.”
“Alex, he’s going to choke you. Good cop/Bad cop is over.”
I looked at the man, and he stared right back.
“You have to let me go, or he’ll hurt you.”
He didn’t move.
“Daniels, put the gun away.” I ordered.
“Hell no.”
“Officer! That is an order.” I said through gritted teeth. We exchanged a five second war of stares, and he finally holstered the gun. I turned my head to look back at the man.
“He’s not going to hurt you. Now let me go.”
Something in his eyes changed, and he let me go, backing up against the opposite wall. I sighed, rolling my shoulders.
“Daniels, let’s talk outside.” I motioned for him to follow me in to the hallway. He shut the door behind us.
“What the hell happened in there?”
I shook my head.
“Let me take him home.”
His eyes actually popped.
“What? He just tried to kill you!”
I shook my head. “He was protecting himself. I should have known better.”
“Absolutely not. It’s obvious he has a violent streak, and he needs to be contained.”
“With who? The drunks and the thugs? Imagine how much trouble he could get into there.” I paused. “Just let me take him home for tonight. I’ll bring him back tomorrow, and psych can place him then.”
“Alex, you’re putting him and your self in danger. Not to mention the people in your neighborhood, and society in general. I’m sorry; I can’t let you take him home.”
I stamped my foot.
“God damn it! I won’t sleep. Will that make you happy? He can come home with me, sleep on my couch, and I’ll watch him like the good cop I am. No body gets hurt, and I just have a really big cup of coffee in the morning. Can you agree with me on that? You can even call me at random points during the night to check up and make sure I’m not dead.”
“Alex, you haven’t even thought about the legal issues of this.”
“Oh, to hell with being legal. He’s not a drug pusher, gang banger, or pimp. He’s a guy sleeping in a park who gave a cop a black eye. If I get fired for that, then I don’t want to be a cop anyway.”
Daniels looked at me for a long time, and then looked at the man in the room. He sighed, shaking his head.
“I’m not going to your funeral.” He muttered, walking away. I patted his shoulder as he left, re entering the room.
“Come on, you’re coming home with me.”
He looked at me blankly, with the same fierce gaze as before.
“Come on, I want to get some sleep before the Nazi starts calling me at odd hours.”
I gestured for him to walk out for the room. Slowly, he crossed the room, stopping to look me in the eye before finally leaving. I shut off the lights, and let the door slam behind me. Daniels waved from his stool behind the counter, making a gesture of a hanging. I waved him off, pulling my car keys out.
What a long night this was going to be.