I Turned Myself Over To The Police

“Where on earth have you been? Do you know Chloe is missing?!”

My mother, Emily Davis, was grinding her teeth in anger as she yelled at me on the phone. It felt like she might spit at me through the screen.

I frowned and said coldly, “If she’s missing, then go look for her. What’s the point of calling me?”

There was a brief silence on the other end. Perhaps she was stunned by my response.

But the yelling resumed almost immediately.

“It’s all your fault, you jinx! How else could Chloe go missing?!

“She said she was coming to visit you yesterday. You didn’t even bring her back! Did something happen to her?!

“If anything happens to her, I swear I won’t forgive you!”

My mom kept shouting, but I felt nothing.

I had always cared about Chloe. But I no longer tried to look for her. Instead, I hit the mute button on my phone and turned to look at the landlord, Sophie Walker. She was standing next to me. Her face was red with anger.

“Are you going to pay or not? Is this really something that needs the police involved?”

Sophie rolled her eyes in frustration. Even with her stern face, I could see the exhaustion in her eyes.

Yesterday morning, I accidentally blew up Sophie’s kitchen while cooking. Ever since, I was stuck at the police station with her.

Sophie’s solution was simple. She wanted 30,000 dollars in compensation, but I refused to pay.

“Everyone, listen. She had a perfectly fine house, but she gave it away as a wedding gift to her brother. Now, she’s renting my place and blew up my kitchen. She won’t pay for it! She’s been here for two days and still hasn’t shown any remorse.”

Since yesterday, Sophie has been going on and on about how stupid and unreasonable I was. She thought it was ridiculous for me to give the house I owned to my brother and sister-in-law, David and Margaret Carter. She also accused me of being even more unreasonable and rude by refusing to pay for the damage.

Because she kept yelling, a crowd gathered outside the police station. Some elderly people pointed at me, and young people filmed me with their phones and posted videos online.

I was not angry as I watched the crowd turn me into a joke. Instead, I nodded with satisfaction.

Just as the crowd was getting bored and about to leave, I took out the settlement agreement I had prepared earlier and handed it to Sophie.

“I’ll pay you 50,000 dollars. I know I’ve caused you a lot of trouble these past couple of days.”