56

You could clearly see on this video that Chloe was behind the wheel. What frightened me was watching the woman with the stroller fly meters through the air. It was just awful and I had to collect myself for a moment before I picked up a pen.

I quickly wrote down on a small piece of paper the minute at which the accident was seen and then took out the CD again.

A look at the other three showed me that they were probably still telling everything to Mandy, who had calmed down a bit in the meantime.

"You have to listen to me for a moment," I stood up, drawing her attention to me. "I'm going to take this video to the police and I hope they believe the rest of my story. Micah, would you please accompany me to testify that the situation with Thomas was self-defense?"

I looked at him pleadingly and he immediately nodded in agreement. "Of course," he said, taking my hand, which made me feel good. Finally I had hope again that we could at least get Kiyan out.

"And Zayn, I don't know what's going to happen. After all, I'm underage and escaped from a shack. If Kiyan gets out sooner than I thought, then take care of him," I pleaded tearfully and he came over to me to take by the arm.

"I always took care of him," he smiled and then looked at Mandy, who took his hand in this difficult situation.

"Do you really think you're going to be locked up?" Mandy asked and I just shrugged unknowingly.

"I have no idea what's going to happen, I only know that I want to prove Kiyan's innocence. What happens then... I have no idea."

There was a brief silence in which we all looked at each other sympathetically.

"We'll accompany you to the station," Mandy said, but I didn't want to burden Zayn. It was hard to recognize him on the video, but I didn't want to take any chances. Cling together, swing together. I didn't have a precise idea of the laws, but I'm sure he'd also committed a crime.

"No, we can do it, right?" I turned to Micah, who still held my hand tightly in his.

"As always," he smiled, and then Zayn and Mandy brought us to the front door, through which we then disappeared into the gathering darkness.

We were silent most of the time, but then it was Micah who suddenly took a deep breath. "Why do you love him? Well I mean..."

He glanced at me briefly, then averted his gaze to look ahead.

"I can't explain it," I shrugged. "But it's like I wouldn't be complete without him, and somehow I haven't been from the beginning. Plus the feeling that I care more about his well-being than mine," I then breathed, fighting back tears at the thought of that he was sitting alone in a small, cold cell and that he was even innocent.

"I know that feeling," Micah said curtly, which I felt so sorry for. He probably meant me and when I thought about the fact that Kiyan wouldn't feel the same as I did, everything in me contracted uncomfortably. I wished for Micah that he would just be happy. He deserved so much good because he was just too good a person for this world.

We continued on our way in silence and then we were already standing in front of the police station.

In the meantime it was so dark that only the many street lamps brought us light in the darkness.

"Mia?" Micah turned to me, panting, and squeezed my hand. As I looked at him, his gaze softened. "I'm not going to let them spank you again. You're anything but crazy and if they try, I'm going to go to my dad and make this whole thing public."

A quick smile, a big hug and a fleeting thought of his father, who worked at a newspaper, stopped the time briefly, but far too quickly we broke apart again, looked at the illuminated area and then walked hand in hand into the unknown .

"Good evening, how can we help you?" a policeman sat behind a pane at his desk and eyed us curiously. At Micah's still battle-scarred face, the red-haired, pale guy paused before turning back to me.

"We'd like to speak to someone familiar with the Kiyan Rivers case," I explained, and he typed something into his pc, then looked up again.

"What exactly is it about?"

I was kind of afraid to explain everything to him right now. He certainly wouldn't believe me, nobody would believe me and at that thought I started shaking and holding my breath in panic.

"Mia," Micah came in front of my face and gently cupped it in his hands when he realized I was panicking. "I'm here, everything will be fine," he whispered and then took the CD. "I'll do it, sit down."

He took my arm to the other side of the room, where several dark green chairs were lined up against the wall. I sat down on one and tried to breathe calmly and evenly. It was all too much for me at the moment, now that we seemed to have made it soon. But now my actions suddenly hit me like a slap in the face.

The tears started to run down my cheeks and I let my face fall into my hands, completely overwhelmed, in order to fully surrender to my emotional chaos.

"So," Micah came back after a while and crouched in front of me to take my hands. "They watched the video and asked us to wait here."

I nodded and then threw myself into his arms to feel the comfort of his closeness. His smell, which had already gotten me through the nuthouse, calmed me down and finally allowed my breathing to return to normal and the tears to stop.

what would i do without him...

6 MONTHS LATER

I sat on the warm grass and looked up at the sky to thank God for everything that happened after the conversation with the police officers.

Micah and I explained the whole story to an officer who was the first person who undoubtedly believed everything we said.

He had Mr Johnson give him the original video and shortly thereafter Chloe was sentenced to ten years in prison, which she really deserved. The only bitter thing about this judgment was that Kiyan also had to serve some time because he had also received a punishment as an accomplice.

After we told the officer about Thomas, he drove the two of us over to my house, where my mother was crying on the couch. She was freaked out and hadn't even called anyone.

Thomas' body was still lying there exactly as it was when Micah and I left the house and the officer quickly called all sorts of people and the house was full of investigators, psychologists and the press was also spreading out in front of our house.

My mother wanted to repent, but I never spoke to her and I would never do it again. She ended up in a psychiatric ward, where she would probably stay for a few more years. That's where she belonged, in my opinion.

Every few weeks a letter would come from her to my own apartment, but I wouldn't even open any of them because it didn't matter what she wrote, I could never forgive her.

And yes, I had my own apartment, exactly one floor above Zayn, who was now happily dating Mandy, which made me incredibly happy too, because she became a really good friend, as did Adam, who after a short but intense Drug withdrawal was finally in control of his senses again.

I financed my apartment with the money that Mr. Johnson paid me. Despite dropping out of school, he hired me as a draftsman and he also became a person I trusted who had helped me in one of my most difficult times, and I would be grateful to him for that for the rest of my life.

"I miss you," I then whispered, smiling, feeling a tear run down my cheek as I looked at my father's gravestone, then got up from the grass and laid a red rose on the grave.

I was here every other day and then also spent several hours mentally communicating with my father. I was hoping inside that he would hear me and just that hope made it easier for me to deal with it.

"See you the day after tomorrow," I said into the sky, then walked along the cemetery and then got into the car with Zayn, who sympathetically put his hand on mine. He'd finally gotten his driver's license and quit drinking too, which made him an even better person than he already was.

"Ready?" he asked smiling and I closed my eyes and nodded at him in anticipation.

He started the engine and rolled down the windows to let the wind blow through the car.

I felt the sun on my skin and listened to the sound of the tires on the asphalt until after a while we stopped in a large parking lot and got out together.

I nervously walked around the car and clutched Zayn's arm as we both stared at the entrance of the gated building, my heart stopping with excitement.

"I'll give three crosses if he gets out of there. All that letter writing isn't for me," Zayn said quietly and I just nodded in agreement. Of course, Kiyan and I also kept in touch through letters, but the feeling of not having seen him for so long made my throat tight.

When finally, after almost 7 months, this shitty gate opened and I saw Kiyan, a thousand feelings shot through my body, a thousand thoughts through my head and without paying attention to anything else than his brown eyes, I broke away from Zayn and ran off to jump crying into the arms of the love of my life.

"Kiyan," I sobbed and clung to him so tightly that he could hardly breathe. But I didn't care, I would never let him go again, never again would anyone take him away from me! I wouldn't go through that a second time.

"Mia," he breathed, laying his face in the crook of my neck to take a deep breath. His arms wrapped tightly around my body, he pulled me even closer to him and then, feeling his chest trembling, I broke away, crying with joy, to take his face in my hands.

"I love you," he breathed, wiping away my tears.

"Me too," I returned his feelings and was about to pull him tight again when Zayn came over.

"Yeah yeah, I love you both too, but please get out of here," he smiled and then Kiyan hugged him tightly.

"I've missed you bro," Kiyan said, and I looked at Zayn that it was definitely too much emotion for him,

"Me too," he said softly, and when they parted again, Kiyan grabbed his dark travel bag and ran a hand through his slightly longer black hair, relieved.

I immediately grabbed his arm again and together we ran to Zayn's blue polo to get in the back together.

"Remember what I promised you?" Kiyan asked, blowing a kiss on my hand that was shaking with excitement as Zayn started the car and drove off.

"What do you think?"

"That we'll run away together," he explained, looking deep into my eyes, which gave me the well-known palpitations. I would have liked to attack him, but I pulled myself together.

"Yes, why?" I replied curiously and he suddenly beamed all over his face.

"I got the money from my parents' inheritance," he began, kissing my forehead gently before continuing. "Mia, design a farm for us and I'll have it built. It doesn't matter where you want. I just want to get away from here and be with you," he said and immediately tears began to gather in my eyes again.

"This must be a big farm," Zayn looked into the mirror and grinned stupidly at us. "If Mandy, Adam and I are coming, we need enough space."

I smiled at him and then turned back to Kiyan.

"I want to go to Ireland," I whispered and he smiled showing me those beautiful dimples that I thought about every night before bed.

"Ireland then," he repeated my words, then let his head fall on my shoulder to silently enjoy the next few minutes in the car.

"Adam, let's build a hammock so he can lie in it all day and stare at the sky," Zayn suddenly laughed and then parked in front of the prefabricated building.

"He'd like that," I grinned and then got out with the two of them to walk hand in hand with Kiyan behind Zayn into the house.

Arriving at Zayn's apartment, we entered and were immediately greeted happily by the others.

Adam immediately fell into Kiyan's arms and Mandy turned to Zayn while Micah, who also had a girlfriend by now, came to my side.

"Are you alright?" he asked me and I just nodded happily.

"Now everything is fine again," I breathed, beaming, looking at Kiyan and then ran to him to take his hand in mine.

He looked down at me and when our eyes met I didn't see the others at all.

Without saying anything, he took my chin in his hand and gently placed his lips on mine, making my heart dance and leap with love as the rush of desire surged through my entire body.

We didn't need words, we just needed ourselves and that forever.

****

There are no wrong decisions in life, there are only different consequences!