We arrived at the police station a few minutes later. I checked my reflection in the mirror to see if the tears had left a mark. "We have to be strong, for El," I say to Mike and Duncan.
Mike nods and when Duncan sees Mike nod he does too. The three of us walk in together. El is sitting on a hard metal chair at the front, her eyes are glued to the ground. She's frowning and squinting her eyes but she's not crying. El's unnatural purple hair looms over her face making her seem even more gloomy. She wears purple eyeshadow over her brown eyes, deep red blush, thick eyeliner, black mascara, and purple lipstick. She wears a black sweatshirt over a black t-shirt with a skull on it. She's also wearing a pair of black jeans and a pair of black converse sneakers.
"No, but I do need you to fill out this paper work," he said.
I sigh but take it anyway. "Duncan, we might be here a while. Why don't you and Daddy look in my purse and find the flashcards."
"Okay," he says.
I turn back to the officer and asked in a hush voice, "What exactly happened? How did they . . ."
"Do you want to see the pictures?" he asked. I didn't, not really, but when I didn't respond he pulled them out and showed me. When I saw them it was all I could do to not cry again. There was sister's car squished on both sides.
"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed. "What happened?"
"Well, according to the truck driver who drove the truck they ran into, your sister's family was in the lane right next to the truck and they were going through a green light when someone, clearly speeding, ran the red light and t-boned your sister's car. Apparently the front of their car was dented pretty bad but it still worked so they just kept going. That should help us get better clue of who did it," he told me.
"What an awful story!" I said.
"Things like that don't happen every day. In fact I bet there's still reporters at the scene even if I did happen last night around 1 o'clock."
"Last night. Why am I just finding out about this now? It's nearly 9:30 in the morning," I asked.
"It takes a while to get things processed. It took even longer to get Ella to cooperate," he said.
I look at El, and look back at the picture. "Um," I say in an even quieter voice, "How did El survive?"
"Simple," he said laughing, "The same way you did. She wasn't in the car. She was at her boyfriend's house. In fact he's the one who brought her over, he left not to long ago to get breakfast, he should be back any second now."
Right on cue some kid with a red mohawk and piercings all over his face came in eating a hot dog. He looked like he belonged in a police station. He sat down next to El and said, "Hey, babe." He then tried to kiss her, but she refused it. He forced her to kiss him anyway.
He finished his hot dog and walked over to the desk. He turned to me and said, "Move lady." Then to the police officer, "Hey, man, we've been here forever. When is my girl, El, going to get some help."
"Don't mind me, just filling out paper work," I said.
"For your information-" the police officer started.
"Oh, D," El said jumping up, "this is my aunt, Symphony. D, Symphony. Symphony, D."
What kind of name is D? "Symphony? Harmony? Yo, was your gramma on drugs when she named her kids," he said.
"We have a sister named Melody too," I said.
"Melody? That's dope," he said.
Dope? What kind of adjective is that? "Uh, right," El said. "And over here is my uncle, Mike, and my cousin, Duncan." She said referring to Mike and Duncan who were just watching.
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