Fragile Steps: Chapters 33 & 34
Previous Chapters
Fragile Steps Chapters 15 & 16
TRIGGER WARNING: This story includes scenes of cruelty, bullying, and ableism. If these themes are difficult for you, please prioritize your well-being and read with caution.
Chapter 33: Brianna
Brianna waved at the one-way mirror, banging her hand off the coffee-ring-stained table. “Hello?” Her throat stung, voice hoarse from being choked half to death.
Much like the rest of the police station, the room was a shithole. Dull and dingy, with dark mold spores accumulating in the corners of the ceiling. A pesky moth had been keeping her entertained, flying relentlessly into the light, casting creepy shadows on the table, but that got boring quickly.
She stifled another yawn. It was late, and the air was barely breathable — thick, stuffy, caught in the back of her throat. They couldn’t really have windows in interrogation rooms.
Mom would be going crazy by now. She hadn’t held back when they took her in for further questioning, shouting and screaming at the cops as they bundled her into the back of the truck, all in front of Brad’s mom, and the rest of the shocked onlookers at the front of the hospital.
The officer who’d taken her statement had seemed happy with her account of what had happened, but then Lieutenant O’Connell appeared, and she had known she was in for a long night.
It must have been hours since he’d stuck her in this glorified broom closet. He was clearly trying to isolate her, soften her up a little, so by the time he showed his face, she’d ready to sing like a canary.
Well, it had worked — she was ready to tell him everything. Not just about what happened to Keara tonight, but about who started the fire at her apartment, who killed Principal Munroe, and even who attacked Ryan. Whatever it took to get her out of here.
She flinched as the door behind her burst open. Lieutenant O’Connell swaggered in, closely followed by the baby-faced officer who’d questioned her at school a few weeks ago. What was his name again — McAdam, Macallan?
O’Connell sat on the chair opposite her, leaving the other officer standing awkwardly to the side. “I believe you’ve met Officer McCormack.”
McCormack, that was it. He gave her a polite wave from the shadows. “Nice to see you again, Brianna.”
O’Connell shot her a glare, hit record, and rattled off the usual boilerplate. Then it began.
“Alright, Brianna, you know why you’re here. One of your classmates, Keara McKenzie, was killed tonight, and you were there when it happened. Now, I understand you’ve already given a statement, but for the benefit of the recording, I’d like you to talk myself and Officer McCormack through exactly what happened.”
Here we go. She’d had hours to prepare, to get the story clear in her mind, but that didn’t make it any easier. O’Connell was watching, waiting for her to slip up. He’d have read her statement, so if anything she said didn’t sound exactly like it had earlier, he’d be all over her.
Her mouth felt like sawdust as she spoke. “Well, I was outside the hospital, waiting for my mom to come pick me up, when—”
“Why were you at the hospital?” O’Connell clicked his pen, poised to take notes.
“I was visiting a friend.”
“Which friend?”
“Brad. Brad Ames.”
“Ah, Brad Ames.” O’Connell sat back, smiling and chewing on his pen. “He’s your ex-boyfriend, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“And, if my memory serves me, he’s Keara McKenzie’s boyfriend now?”
Brianna sighed. This was going to take all night. “Ex-boyfriend.”
“Ooh, ex-boyfriend.” O’Connell’s face lit up, like he was enjoying every second of this. “The plot thickens. Oh to be young and in love again, eh McCormack?”
“Sir.” McCormack muttered.
O’Connell turned back to her. “Why’s Brad in hospital?”
“He was… jumped.”
“Jumped? Wow, violence just seems to follow you everywhere, doesn’t it, Brianna? Do we know anything about this, McCormack?”
“I’ll look into it, Sir.”
“Nah, don’t bother. Anyway, you were outside the hospital, waiting for Mom to come get you. Then what happened?”
“Keara appeared,” she said. “She came out of nowhere, screaming, then she—”
O’Connell raised a hand. “Hold on. What did she say when she was screaming at you?”
Brianna hesitated, remembering what Keara had said:
Take a good fucking look at what you did to me!
Her face burned as O’Connell stared, waiting for an answer.
She couldn’t say it. Not to him — not when he already thought she had something to do with the fire at Keara’s apartment. “I… I don’t remember.”
O’Connell snorted. “If you say so. Go on.”
“Then she — she lunged. Knocked me right out of my chair. Before I knew it, she was on top of me, strangling me… I thought I was gonna die.”
O’Connell turned to Officer McCormack, looking giddy with excitement. “This is the good part,” he said, gesturing at her.
“Could I have some water, please?” Brianna asked.
“In a minute,” O’Connell said flatly. “Continue.”
Brianna licked her cracked lips — there wasn’t a drop of moisture in this room. “Then Noah appeared.”
“And who is that exactly?”
“He’s… just a friend.”
O’Connell clicked his pen again, scribbling in his little pad. “A friend from school?”
“No. He works with my dad.”
“Where does your dad work?”
“The big lab near the city. Whitlock.”
“Uh-huh, and what’s Noah’s last name?”
“It’s...” She racked her brains, but had nothing. Surely Noah mentioned his last name at some point? How could she not know something that basic?
Finally, she gave up. “I don’t know his last name.”
O’Connell raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know his last name? Some friend you are. Can you at least tell me what he looks like?”
“Tall, slim build, dark hair, kinda wavy.”
O’Connell stopped writing, but didn’t look up from his pad. “Then what happened?”
“Noah managed to get Keara off of me. Then, I guess they had a scuffle.”
“It was a hell of a lot more than a scuffle. People don’t get their brains bashed in from a scuffle.”
She shuddered, remembering Keara’s body lying on the ground, with that lifeless stare. Better her than me.
O’Connell leaned on the table, tapping his pen against his head. “And you said he ‘appeared’ — you mean he wasn’t with you at the hospital?”
“No.”
“So he really appeared out of thin air — just when you needed him most?”
“Yes,” she said, cringing at her answer. She knew how it sounded — like a ghost story —but that’s what had happened. One second she was dying, the next, he was just... there.
“See, that’s the part I’m having trouble buying, Brianna. How about you, McCormack?”
McCormack’s face twitched, nervous and confused. He looked unsure of what his boss wanted him to say, so opted for a timid nod of his head.
“My thoughts exactly,” said O’Connell. “Now, let’s back up for a moment. Remind me of how you ended up with that haircut of yours.”
Brianna’s scalped itched as O’Connell eyeballed it. “Keara did it.”
“You claim that she held you down and cut all your hair off with a knife, isn’t that right?”
“Yes.”
“And then a few days later, there was a fire at Keara’s apartment and, by a seemingly strange coincidence, her hair gets burned off. But a person was spotted fleeing the scene moments after the fire began. Brianna, was that person Noah?”
O’Connell and McCormack held their breath, even the moth stopped flying for a moment. A smile began to form on O’Connell’s lips. He looked rather pleased with himself; he was the genius detective who’d cracked the case. All he needed now was for Brianna to start talking.
But just as she opened her mouth, she stopped herself.
After a few hours cooked up in this stuffy little closet, she’d been ready to tell him everything, convinced that, if she did, then he’d leave her alone, that she’d no longer be a suspect for the fire, that she could go home. But now she saw that talking would only keep her here longer. Much longer.
O’Connell stood. The table screeched half an inch towards her, her stomach muscles tensing as the edge pushed into her. “You wanna know what I think? I think that you put your new boyfriend up to starting the fire. And, after Keara survived, you convinced him to come to the hospital tonight and finish the job.”
“No,” she said, her heart clawing at her chest.
O’Connell’s brow furrowed as he pointed his pen at her. “You lured her outside and provoked her, knowing that she’d probably attack you. And you had Noah waiting to step in and kill her, but also try to make it look like he was just defending you, didn’t mean to kill her — just a little ‘scuffle’, then she fell and hit her head.” But then Noah got scared and took off.
“No!” Her voice cracked, scratching the back of her throat. How could he think that?
“Alright, okay. Take it easy.” O’Connell returned to his seat, his palms open on the table. “For what it’s worth, I get it. What Keara did to you — holding you down like that, using a knife on you — that must have been horrific, terrifying even. And for a girl your age to lose her hair, even temporarily. Devastating. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted her dead.”
O’Connell was no longer the shrewd detective that had her heart racing just a moment ago. His face was soft, his smile full of empathy, eyes gleaming with sincerity. He really understood her. This was a man she could trust.
Or at least, that’s what he wanted her to think. He must have thought she was an idiot — maybe she’d let him believe that, just a little longer.
She covered her face, and started sniffling excessively. “You’ve no idea. I was so scared.”
Through the cracks of her fingers, she saw O’Connell give McCormack a sly wink. “Yeah. Yeah, I bet you were. McCormack, pass the tissues.”
McCormack handed her a tissue, and she blew her nose as loudly as she could into it. “And, and… the school, they never lifted a finger to help me. She was gonna get away with it!”
O’Connell nodded. “So you had to deal with Keara yourself. You had no choice.”
She rubbed her eyes to make them look red and watery, shifting her gaze from O’Connell to McCormack, then back to O’Connell. Both men were on edge; McCormack’s mouth was wide-open, in awe of this masterclass in gaslighting from his boss. O’Connell looked like he was fighting with every fiber of his being to keep the delight off his face.
“I really need some help,” she said, dialing up the excitement just a couple more notches.
“And that’s exactly why McCormack and I are here, Brianna — to help you. You know, I’ve interviewed a lot of people in this very room over the years, and I’ve developed a knack for telling the good people from the bad. Now, whatever you did, Brianna, I know one thing: you’re not a bad person.”
“I’m really not!” She shook her head frantically.
“I know, I know. But do you know what else I’ve seen a lot of in this room, Brianna? People with secrets. Big secrets. McCormack will back me up on this, the ones that come clean, the relief they feel is incredible. You can see it in their faces, right, McCormack?”
McCormack nods with eyes closed. “Yes, sir.”
“You see, Brianna, secrets, well they’re bad for the soul. It’s like having a dark cloud hovering over you, following you everywhere, blocking out all the light. Eventually, it’ll drive you insane. Now, we don’t want to see that happen to you, and I’m sure you don’t either.”
“You’re right,” she said, taking a shaky breath. “Okay, I’m ready to tell the truth.”
O’Connell raised his arms like a preacher. “That’s all we wanna hear, Brianna.”
“But, do you mind if I ask one question first?”
O’Connell’s smile tightened just a little. “Of course. What is it?”
Brianna wiped the crocodile tears from her cheeks, then sneered at O’Connell. “Where’s your dark cloud?”
O’Connell’s trustworthy façade vanished, his face darkening in a flash. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, you know exactly what I mean, Frank. Your son ran me over with his car, left me for dead, and you helped him cover it up.”
“Interview terminated.”
“Imagine the relief you’d feel if you came clean, Frank.”
O’Connell his the stop button so hard, the recording device almost bounced off the table. “Get the hell outta here, McCormack.”
McCormack scurried out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Now there was just the two of them. What was he up to, pausing the recording and sending his little lackey away? If he planned to threaten or intimidate her, then bring it on. She wasn’t afraid of him.
O’Connell claps his hands in a slow, exaggerated manner. “I have to admit, that was nicely done. Leading me on, making me think you’re gonna start talking. Bravo, Brianna.”
Brianna shrugged. “A girl can have fun.”
“That’s your idea of fun? Making slanderous accusations against my son? Honestly, Brianna, your head must have taken an even bigger hit than your spine.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my head,” she said, gritting her teeth. “I remember Ryan staring at me as I lay there, half-dead. I saw the selfish look in his eyes as he backed away. He ran back to the car and—”
“Oh, he ran back to the car alright. To grab his phone and call an ambulance.”
“He never called an ambulance.”
“You’re damn right he didn’t. Because I stopped him.”
Brianna tensed, fingernails digging into the arm of her chair. “What?”
O’Connell leaned back in this char, arms folded. “He begged me to let him as well; sobbing like a little girl, he was. The boy’s always been too soft for his own good.”
The air left the room, and Brianna felt a crushing weight on her chest. She’d always assumed Ryan had been alone when he’d hit her, then he’d raced home to his dad for help. But his dad had been there, and he’d stopped his son from calling an ambulance.
“I could have died because of you.”
“I know. But, you see, I was up for promotion at the time, and there’s no way I’d have gotten it if the chief had found out that I ran over a teenage girl. Even if it was an accident. I’m sure you understand.”
It took several moments for Brianna to realize what O’Connell had just told her, but when she did…
That fucking scumbag.
Her hands trembled, her body filling with so much anger that she didn’t know what to do with it. Lieutenant O’Connell, he was the one who’d ran her over. And, all this time, he’d let her think it’d been his son.
“You were badly hurt, looked like you were gonna die, but if truth be told, that suited me just fine. I’d get my promotion, and your death would remain a mystery. But then you had to go and survive, did you? And worse, you remembered seeing Ryan, so of course, you thought he was the one driving.”
Her jaw clenched as she spoke. “How could you let him take the blame like that? Your own son.”
“I’ll admit, that was difficult. Even more so for him, having to keep his mouth shut, listen to you drag his name through the mud, when he knew he was innocent. It put a real strain on our relationship, we used to be close. But telling the truth? No. That wasn’t an option.”
He got up again, strolling around the table and looking down on her. “You wanna know where my ‘dark cloud’ is, Brianna? I don’t have one. If I could go back, the only thing I’d do differently is make sure you were dead.”
What she’d give to leap out of her damn chair and strangle him to death.
He sniggered, laughing at her. “I can tell that you’re already trying to think of a way to expose me, let everyone know the truth. I wouldn’t waste my time, if I were you. You’re a stupid little girl with zero evidence — no one’s gonna believe you.”
He walked over and opened the door. “If you see this Noah guy, you tell him I’m looking for him. We’ll speak again soon, Brianna.”
Then, with a tilt of his head, he told her she could leave.
Chapter 34: Brianna
The drive home was a blur. Brianna sat with her head against the window, exhausted eyes struggling to focus on anything. Road signs and store fronts appeared small and fuzzy, streetlights were too bright and hazy.
She was vaguely aware of Mom’s voice — ranting about O’Connell’s treatment of her.
“… disgrace… and you’re a minor — they can’t just drag you into some room like that… What did they ask you?”
“Just what happened.”
“What did you tell them?”
“The truth. Can we talk tomorrow, Mom?”
She’d be asleep if her mind wasn’t working overtime. A whole year she’d spent hating Ryan O’Connell — that bitter taste of bile whenever she thought of him. Wishing he was fucking dead. But now, it seemed all Ryan had done was cover for his old man — and it didn’t sound like he’d had much choice.
And Noah might have ruined his future, all because of his dad’s lies. What kind of father would put their child in that position?
She wanted to tell Mom everything — just not tonight. Even thinking about it made her head throb. She’d tell her and Dad when she was rested.
“How come Dad didn’t come to the station?”
Mom shook her head. “I haven’t been able to get hold of your Father.”
“Really?”
“He never answered his phone.”
Brianna’s eyebrows furrowed into a deep frown. Dad was known for working late nights, and he’d regularly miss dinner, but this felt different. It was well past midnight — he’d never worked this late. Where was he?
“I texted him earlier to let him know we were going to the hospital,” said Mom. “He’s probably come home late, ate his cold dinner, and went to bed. Or maybe he left his phone at work.”
“Yeah, maybe,” said Brianna, but something in her gut told her otherwise.
And she was right.
When they arrived home, Dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway.
Mom gave her a concerned glance. “Don’t worry,” she said, her voice quavering. “I’ll call him again when we get inside.”
Brianna’s stomach dropped. The worst-case scenario had already started writing itself in her mind. What if he’d been in an accident?
She took a few deep breaths as they got out the car. Jumping to conclusions wouldn’t help.
Mom placed a comforting hand on her back on the way in the front door. “It’ll be fine, Sweetheart. Try not to worry.”
Brianna nodded, wondering if anyone in history had ever successfully managed to stop worrying after being told to try not to.
“Dad?” she shouted from the dark hallway. Of course, he didn’t answer.
Mom walked through to the living room, flicking on lights while holding her phone at her mouth. The distinct ring-ring, ring-ring sound pierced the silence, disturbing the eerie stillness of the house.
Brianna went through to the kitchen, checking for any signs that he’d been home at all, but there was none. No note on the counter. Nothing stuck to the fridge. The dirty dishes from earlier were still on the counter, waiting to be loaded into the dishwasher. His dinner was still in the microwave.
“His phone’s ringing out,” Mom called from the other room. “I’ll call his work, find out if he’s still there, or when he—”
She didn’t hear the end of Mom’s sentence.
All she heard was her scream.
A dull thud— like someone hitting the floor.
Footsteps. Heavy.
Brianna was completely still, save for the pounding of her heart.
Should she go to Mom?
Should she hide?
Too late.
A shadowy figure stalked into the kitchen — tall and gangly. She was cornered.
Then the light caught his face, and a silent scream left her throat — most of his nose was missing.
She scrambled to reach one of the knives on the countertop, her fingertips brushing against the handle, the blade scraping against the counter.
Before she could reach it, he grabbed her.
With one hand, he lifted her out of her chair like she was a baby. She screamed, fighting to escape, but her blows just bounced off his granite jaw.
Then a sharp scratch penetrated her neck. A cold tingle spread through her body, swimming in her head.
The faintest of gasps left her mouth, and the room went black.
Author’s Note:
Lieutenant O’Connell — what a cunt, eh? :D
Chapter 1 of the story, in some ways, feels a bit like a prologue — especially when you consider that Chapter 2 picks up a year later, with Brianna living a completely different life after the accident. I could have started the story there, and it would’ve worked just fine.
But because of the plot twist, I needed you to see Ryan running back to the car — like he was ditching her. Brianna thought that’s what he was doing (as did you), but really, he was panicking. Trying to figure out how to help. He decided to call an ambulance.
Of course, Daddy dearest never let him make that call. Worse still, he let his son suffer through Brianna’s hatred and accusations. What kind of parent does that?
Chapter 34 ends with Brianna and her mom being kidnapped by a creepy character I hope you remember from way back in Chapter 3. (How could you forget the guy with half his nose chewed off?)
The end is in sight, dear readers — ten chapters to go, and nearly all of them pack a gut punch.
Thank you, as always, for reading.
O’Connell- what a bastard!