Tough Pill

@ Ian.Eastwood

“What’s wrong Tao?” Kris asked as he drove.

@ yue.yue
‘I’m scared...what if they don’t believe me?’

@ Ian.Eastwood

“You have marks, I don’t see why they wouldn’t believe you.” Kris said.

@ yue.yue
He nodded. When Kris pulled into the police station parking lot, it took Kris having to coax Tao out of the car, for him to get out of the vehicle and go inside.

@ Ian.Eastwood

Kris took his hand whenever they got out. He gave him a light squeeze before opening the door and walking inside with the younger.

@ yue.yue
Tao stayed next to Kris as they walked inside. Before he knew it, he was pulled away from Kris.

@ Ian.Eastwood

Kris watched as the officers took Tao into another room for questioning. All he could do was sit and wait, since they wouldn’t allow him back.

@ yue.yue
Tao looked down as the officer got him to sit on the chair in the interrogation room, ‘It was self defense, I swear.’

@ Ian.Eastwood

“Tell us what happened.” The officer said as he sat down across from him.

@ yue.yue
‘He’s been beating me for awhile now. I never said anything because I thought it would get better, because I thought he loved me, because he told me he did and he apologized each and every time. I told him I would be home early that night which I thought I was going to be and I wasn’t. My manager piled more things onto my schedule and I came home late. He thought I was cheating on him and he started to beat me again. He tried to kill me with a knife. I got it away from him and tried to run but he cornered me. I had no choice. It was self defense.’

@ Ian.Eastwood

The officer nodded, “that’s a very traumatic situation, but we definitely understand. Do you have any marks to accompany your word?”

@ yue.yue
Tao nodded as he played with a loose string on the end of one of his sleeves, ‘I do.’

@ Ian.Eastwood

“We’ll need to take pictures to document it.” The officer said as another left the room to get the camera.

@ yue.yue
‘The marks are everywhere,’ Tao told him as he stared at his lap, still playing with the loose thread.

@ Ian.Eastwood

“We need to take pictures.” The officer said as he grabbed the camera from the other officer.

@ yue.yue
Tao bit his bottom lip as he stood and took off his shirt to show all the bruises, knife marks and one gun shot scar on his shoulder from months ago. There were more on his legs but he thought his chest, back, arm, neck and face should be enough.

@ Ian.Eastwood

The officer took the pictures and nodded. “Thank you.” He said. He wrote down some stuff on his notepad.

@ yue.yue
‘Can I go now? Please.’

@ Ian.Eastwood

“Yes. We’ll call you if we have anymore questions.” The officer said.

@ yue.yue
Tao didn’t hesitate to leave the room and go back to Kris. He forgot he wasn’t wearing his shirt but quickly pulled it on when he heard gasps and murmurs of people all around him.