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At the moment, he may not be taking away all of my anxiety but he does make me feel like I’ll get through it and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. He feeds my soul every time he looks at me.
Principal Utz opens his door and calls us in. We go over the details of the threats and show him the latest letter. We also bring up Jesse Miller and the fact that this started just after I reported his abuse. He makes arrangements with Officer Blackburn to view the videos from the few cameras that are spread out throughout the school. It’s a quick conversation and before you know it we’re leaving his office and I’m heading back to class.
Jonathan makes me promise to not go anywhere in the school without Blackburn, and to text him if I need him. Thankfully, I only have an hour and a half left in my work day. Jonathan says he’s going to take care of a couple things and will be back to pick me up.
I feel the loss of his calming force when he waves goodbye. I head back to class with Officer Blackburn and pray that I can keep it together for the next hour and a half.
Every Other Freckle
Jonathan
I can feel myself raging as I walk out of the school. I couldn’t even touch her when I left because I knew that I wouldn’t leave without her if I did. The thought of leaving her at that school knowing that somebody is messing with her is one of the hardest things I have ever done. Thank God she only has an hour and a half left and then she’ll be with me again. I may go out of my fucking mind otherwise.
Once I get in my truck I pull out my phone and pull up the info I had gathered on Saturday. While Emily was studying and Ireland was watching her movie, I was emailing back and forth with my favorite records clerk at work getting as much info on the Jesse Miller situation as possible. I program his address into my phone and point my truck in the direction of his house.
I’m sure it’s not Jesse, but it just makes sense that this is connected to Emily reporting his abuse. I know this is against the rules and I shouldn’t be using my resources at work to solve a problem in my personal life, let alone be going to his house when I am off duty, but fuck it. I have to get to the bottom of this. Emily has enough to deal with and doesn’t need this shit.
I pull up to the nondescript single story apartment complex, park in front of apartment four and turn the truck off. I get out and head up to the door and knock. It only takes a minute for the door to swing open and there stands a burly, unkept teenage boy who I can only assume is Jesse.
“Hi, I’m Officer Kelly with the Portland Police Department. Are your parents home?”
“Uh, no it’s just me.”
“Are you Jesse Miller?”
“Yes. Am I in trouble officer?”
“No, you aren’t in trouble, bud. I’m just checking in on you for a friend of mine, Emily Jacobs. She’s a Teaching Assistant at the high school and she wanted me to check on you.”
I watch to see if any emotions flash across his face at the mention of her name. All I see is relief that I’m just here to do a welfare check and not because he’s in trouble.
“Oh, Miss J is the best. Tell her thanks for checking on me. I really appreciate everything she did for me that day.”
“She’s worried that you haven’t been back to class. Is everything okay?”
“Uh, well things are okay I guess.”
“Talk to me. What’s going on? Can I help with anything?”
“Well, I don’t really think there is anything that you can do for me, sir. My dad is in jail and it doesn’t look like he will be out anytime soon. My mom took off years ago. I have a little brother and I know if we look for help they will probably separate us. I can’t let that happen, so I’m trying to find a job that I can work during the day while he’s at school and somehow not lose our apartment. My brother has already been through too much and I can’t let him be taken off to foster care.”
“So, you don’t have any family that can help out or that you can go stay with?”
“My grandma was here with us but I turned eighteen last week, so she left the day after. I have an aunt and some cousins nearby but they don’t really have room for us. I don’t know what else to do, sir. I know that Children’s Services thinks my grandma is still here, and I’m probably breaking the law, but I just can’t lose him to the system.”
Poor kid, he’s doing the best he can and trying to keep his tiny little family together. I can appreciate that, but he needs to finish school if he really wants to keep them together in the long run.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Jesse. I want you to take my card and if there is anything I can do, or if you need help please don’t hesitate to give me a call. We need to figure out a way to get you back in school. I’ll update Miss Jacobs on how you’re doing and we’ll see if we can come up with something.”
He apprehensively takes the card from me and I can tell that he’s wondering if I have ulterior motives.
“Really, Jesse, if you need anything at all. A friend of Miss Jacobs is a friend of mine, so call me if you need anything.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I turn toward my truck and hear the door to apartment four shut behind me. I really don’t know what I expected from my visit, but I just needed to come here to talk to him myself and try to get a vibe on things. I can’t help but wonder if I should have mentioned the threats to Emily, but I didn’t want to add to his worries. I saw the look on his face when he talked about her. It’s the same look most people get when they talk about her; a look of fondness and thankfulness to have her in their life. I know the feeling. I suspect that if he did know something he would have told me, but I could be wrong.
Back to the drawing board I guess. It doesn’t sound like he has any family that he’s that close with or else they would be stepping in, and clearly if they aren’t stepping in they wouldn’t be issuing threats would they? Who is doing this?
