Freedom on a Leash
When I opened my eyes, the world was white, cold, and too bright. My wrist ached, and when I tried to move it, a sharp tug stopped me. I blinked down. A cuff. My hand was chained to the bed.
Panic shot through me. “Why am I here? Why am I cuffed?” My voice cracked, raw, desperate.
A nurse appeared at my side, her face calm, her tone rehearsed. “You had an episode, Miss Talia. Severe PTSD symptoms. We had to sedate you for hours so you could rest. You’re safe here. You cannot leave yet.”
“Then what about this?” I said, glancing at the cuff on my hand.
Two tall men in casual clothes stepped in and showed their IDs. “We’re from the police district,” one said. “We have some questions to ask you about the death of Miss Selena Moreau when you are okay so we had to put this so we can access you anytime .”
“But I don’t know anything about her death,” I said, trying so hard to prove my innocence. “All I did was fight ……,.”
“Yes, we know you’re innocent, but we’d like to ask a few questions when you’re well,” the second man said.
Just then a doctor came in and quietly escorted the policemen outside. “Now isn’t the time she isn’t herself now dont add more to her situation now ,” he told them as they walked out .
My chest tightened. “I need my phone. Can I my phone. Or the news. I want to know what’s happening on the media !”
The doctor’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Miss Talia, now is not the time for phone or news. It’s not good for you right now.”
My body heated with fury. “I said give me my phone!!!” The cuff rattled against the bedframe as I pulled, but it didn’t budge.
Then the door creaked and Coach Kofi walked in, his face heavy with sleepless nights. “Talia.” His voice was soft and breaking. He came to me and placed his rough hands on my trembling shoulders. “Please listen to them. Stay away from the media for now. Just for a few days please… everything will be fine I assure you , i will work on it .”
I bit my lip until it hurt. “I told them all. I didn’t kill her. All I did was fight normal fighting. They were all there watching. She beat me, too. But I didn’t die so why should I be blamed for her death?”
He pulled me into a hug, strong arms wrapping around my shaking frame. “Talia, I promise you, everything will be fine. They’re looking for someone to pin this on, but trust me. I’ll make sure you’re safe. I’ll get the truth out.”
Even in his embrace I didn’t believe him. A small part of me whispered that he would change, just like the rest of the world had changed toward me.
…..
Days blurred all I was seeing are pills after pills , white walls, nurses checking my pulse. I stayed in the hospital for three days until the doctors decided I was stable enough to leave. When they discharged me, Coach Kofi urged me to hide my face under a hoodie and a cap, not to attract the media again.
They didn’t take me home. They took me straight to the police station.
The interrogation was cold and sharp not in a cell because there wasn’t concrete evidence to hold me. I sat across from officers, repeating the same thing over and over. “I wrestled with her. She wrestled with me. That’s all I did. I didn’t kill her.”
But the silence in the room made me feel guilty even when I wasn’t.
Then it happened. As I waited for another round of questioning, a group of about thirty men were dragged in, shouting and arguing. Their boots pounded their voices clashed like thunder, filling the narrow hallway.
They came closer closer to me still screaming at each other.
The noise pushed me out of the station and back into the stadium. Thousands pointing. Thousands screaming. Bottles flying. “Killer! Monster!”
“Noooooo!” I screamed, clutching my head as I stood up from the chair and backed away from the approaching men. “Stop! I didn’t kill her! I swear I didn’t!”
My whole body trembled. I could hear the fans, the boos, the curses. As the crowd closed in, it felt like the entire stadium was attacking me. The world spun until I collapsed against the wall, sobbing and screaming.
After officers dragged the shouting men away, I slowly came back to the present. Only then did it dawn on me and everyone else that I’d developed demophobia the fear of crowds.
They couldn’t detain me for lack of evidence and because of my mental state. My visa was seized. I was told to go home and not return to the country until the investigation concluded, but to be available whenever they called. My freedom felt like a leash.
Simple title for this