Shards

John adjusted his glasses as he arrived at the apartment building. He looked up at the brick building taking a deep breath before heading through the double glass doors that led into the lobby. Looking around the clean and nicely decorated lobby he could tell that the place was a trust worthy environment for a little girl. Then again why would Will leave his only daughter in a dump?
He shook his head and went toward the elevator waiting for it to come down. When it came down he watched a couple walk out giving him a quick smile before he entered the elevator and pressed the button with the number five on it and then light up. The closer he got to the fifth floor, the more memories that flashed in his mind of his former partner, brother and best friend. He was broken up when Alexis had died, but Will being killed was the breaking point. He could feel the emotion building up slowly inside him, but yet nothing was reflected on his face or body language. Anyone who didn’t know him would think nothing was wrong with him at all. Then again with his job as a crime scene investigator, he had to be sure to not let his emotions get in the way of his work. It could affect his judgment.
*~*~*~*
When he finally reached the fifth floor, he got off the elevator and walked down the hall scanning the numbers on the doors. 501, 503, 505, 507. “507” he said lowly to himself. He had arrived at the sitters apartment. He knocked on the door and stood there patiently rocking on his heels a little, his hands in his pockets waiting for someone to come answer the door.
Only moments later a women answered the door. A Spanish woman, probably around her early 50’s. She seemed to recognize him, though he knew he had never seen her before. She smiled lightly at him pushing back some of her blackish gray hair.
“Detective John Ryder” she said with an accent taking his hand and shaking it
“Hi” he said trying to sound as friendly as he could “and you are?”
“Elena Martinez” she said and then stepped to the side allowing John to step inside the apartment.
He turned and watched her close the front door and then turned to him, before walking toward the living room.
“I’ve been praying” she finally said after a moment of silence between them, catching his attention. “I never knew if Mr. Pearson was a religious man…but he never minded. I prayed for him and Abbie all the time…He talked to me about you all the time. He told me you were his brother and he didn’t care what anyone said-“ Elena paused for a moment laughing lightly to herself and smiling lightly “you were his brother”
John let a little smile come onto his face imagining Will talking to Elena about him, but it hurt at the same time.
“Yeah…Will was the same to me too” was all he said as they entered the living room and felt his heart crumbling seeing a little girl sitting in a chair staring outside a window. Her medium dark brown hair was tied back in a ponytail, her matching eyes fixed solely out that window. She clutched a book bag with different patches on it, though he couldn’t make out what they were exactly. He could see the ear piece in her right ear, but not her other one being that was the side facing the window.
“She’s been like that for a while now” Elena said sadly “she said she had to wait for her daddy to come get her…that any minute now he would pull up…right there”
John looked down into the street seeing an empty parking space. Apparently that was the place Will would usually park to come get her. John truly felt a loss for words now. What do you tell a little girl who lost everything?
“Um” John had to pause to gather his thoughts “can you tell her I’m here to pick her up?”
Elena nodded and walked over to Abbie putting a hand on her shoulder. She smiled at Abbie softly and then pointed to John.
“Abbie mama…this is your father’s friend” she said doing hand gestures to match her words “John…do you remember him?”
Abbie looked at John and stared at him for a long moment. Almost like searching through her memory to get the image of him. She then looked back at Elena doing hand gestures which Elena translated as “Yes…my daddy told me stories about him and he has pictures.”
“Yes” Elena said, again following her words with sign language “John is here to take you home with him”
Abbie didn’t respond. She just looked back at john. Clearly seeing she really had no choice she just nodded slowly and lowered her head.
John couldn’t stand it anymore. He walked over to Elena and asked for her help in speaking with Abbie.
“I know you can’t hear me very clearly” he began, Elena translating to Abbie “but I want you to know that I promise to do my best to help you as much as I can”
Abbie looked at Elena as she translated and then turned her head to John, tilting her head to the side with a confused expression she then responded to what john said and he turned to Elena for assistance but saw she looked a little uncomfortable to translate what Abbie had said.
“What did she say?” John asked her and Elena sighed
“She said…you want to help me…but how are you going to help me if you need someone to help you talk to me?”
John nodded understanding Abbie’s point. How was he going to talk to her? He just looked at Abbie and smiled a little.
“I have to try. Just give me a chance…if I’m not good enough for you…just tell me who’d you prefer and I’ll see to it I get you to them myself” he said watching Abbie as she looked at Elena translating what he was saying. When Elena finished Abbie didn’t respond for a moment in thought. She then reached into her book bag and pulled out a small white board and a black marker.
John watched as she wrote something on the board and turned the board to him.
For a moment, despite everything, John felt a small sense of happiness. Written on the board was the word ‘okay’. She held the board out to him and gave hi an eraser from inside of her book bag.
He erased the board and took the marker, writing something on it before showing it to her. ‘Thank You’ was written on the board. Abbie too the board from him and looked at him nodding.