#covtask 001

[bird-was-here]

Bird had stayed laying still, curled up in her bed for longer than was normal. She had spent a lot of time just staring off into space after the party. So accustomed to going home whenever she wanted, her detainment felt... suffocating. It had been so long since she couldn’t breathe.

Now all those feelings of helplessness, of being trapped, were flooding back to slap her in the face. Those feelings of being grounded, of needing to run, to fly away and never come back. It should not come as a surprise that she was flighty. Her name was Bird after all. And it there was one thing she knew about herself, it was that she did not do well with bubbles. No matter how much she loved her school. It wasn’t safe anymore.

@covingtonhqs, @ofantonia, @paintingpeyton, @brickyellow, @heartofgolds, @cagcdbirds, @flightsrsk​

She watched one Dad pull his glasses off of his face to pinch his brow contained neatly on the screen of her phone. The other paced in the background. Back and forth. Back and forth. The dogs followed by his heels like he was their commanding officer. Anxiously waiting for some sort of command.

What do we do now, sir?

Army Dad was accustomed to his face in the dirt, forearms pulling him through sludge. He’d seen war. He was ready to kick in the door of the police station himself.

“They can’t keep you there.���

“When will you be home?” Her more reasonable father folded his hands neatly on his desk. He had always been less... explosive than his husband. “Chirstmas is just around the --”

 “I won’t have it. Where are the keys?”

She let her eyes slip close. Listening to the shuffling and clattering that was no doubt her Pop tearing the house apart.

“Did you hide the keys?” She asked, satisfied with the short ‘I hid the keys’ she received in response. “...I gotta go in to talk to the law later today, Dad. I just want to go home. I just want to go home.”

“Bird. Look at me.” She felt like she was 12 again. She would close her eyes and pull her knees up to her face in her hoodie and baggy sweats and try to disappear. “You’re going to be fine. You can call us right after. We’ll be here, waiting for you, ok?”

She felt the pillow under her face dampen with silent tears. Her response came after a long moment of silence. “...I just want a jelly donut.”

“We’ll go get jelly donuts when you come home. First thing. I promise.”

can you tell me, to the best of your memory, what happened on the night of december 13, 2019?

Bird had seen the inside of a police station before. She did a lot of graffiti and hanging around older kids she shouldn’t have. This was back when she was angry. Always so angry.

“Well, I...” She ran the fingers of one hand through her hair, “I...” A sigh, “Honestly, mister Watson I was petty sloshed all night. It’s super embarrassing. I always do this to myself. I was having fun at the beginning. I’m, how you say, a floater, you know? It’s like I can hang out with any group of people really. I know a lot of people on campus. So’s I was, you know, bouncing around from group to group at the beginning of the affair. I even was doing good with the jello shots, you know? Pacing myself. Until, well...” She folded her hands on the table, “There’s this girl. You probably need to know her name right? Ant...onia Clarke. She’s... a dream: beautiful and super-duper smart and just...” wow, “-- We’re friends now. We were dating. But uh, sorry, you don’t need to know about my dating history.” A cough, “She’s dating Melanie now. And I, you know, maybe I thought at the party we could spend some time together and we did get one dance and, like, I was feeling over the moon about it you know because when Ant dances she dances but, yeah, after that, I saw her with Mel and I guess that... shot me out of the sky a little bit. Guess I hit the ground pretty hard because that’s about when I started really drinking. That was probably, like, 9:30?” She took a breath. She just realized she’d been rambling, watching on of detective in front of her scramble to write this or that down, “I can go slower if you want, sorry, I start talking and then I can’t stop, you know? I’m a lil’ bit of a space cadet.”

“Anything else happen that night, Ms. Jha.”

She turned her attention to the chief, “Van Rees-Jha. Ok, that’s a mouthful. I get it. What? Oh, wait, yeah, I was getting to it... Uh, so I was a little drunk and sad so I found my friend Peyton and she talked to my spirit guides ‘cause I really... I needed some guidance you know? And that was really it. I’m sure I was talking to a lot of people. Austin, Wolfie... Uh... Elle! -- Elle was super upset about something, but. I don’t think that was too unusual. Is that, wait, that sounds bad. I didn’t mean it like that.”

did you see anything unusual that night? was anyone acting out of the ordinary?

“...I went outside at one point. My bandmate was coming to pick me up because I was upset and drunk and I didn’t want to embarrass myself anymore... It was late, I can’t remember what time, I’m sorry. I could probably check with him. But I did see uh, what’s his name... Maverick Braxton, the third year, like rushing someone away and into a car. I couldn’t see who it was though and I was too,” she whistled, “-- To you know, think a lot about it at that moment. It didn’t sound... good. Like hurried and... I don’t know.”

can you tell me more about your relationship with melanie?

Bird sighed, “She was always so nice to me. Always. I didn’t really know her other than around, you know? And since she’s gotten with Ant I kind of see her around more often. Or have seen. But I don’t... Honestly, it’s hard to be around her sometimes, you know? Just because, she... She’s dating my ex! What do you want me to say? I’m not trying to be a third wheel.”

do you have any reason to believe that someone would want to hurt melanie?

She shook her head, “No. Not at all. So all of this is really shocking and confusing because I don’t understand why this would happen. How it could happen. It’s not like she.. I mean I didn’t think she had enemies! She was like the girl next door. Everyone loved her. It’s like it could happen to anyone if it could happen to Mel and I’m so tired and scared and I don’t do well when I’m trapped somewhere I get claustrophobic and I just want to go home to my dogs and my dads and...” She hadn’t noticed she was crying until the tissues were handed to her, “Sorry. This is all very stressful. I don’t do well with stress.”

do you have any questions about how the case will proceed?

“I heard there was a fire? Is everyone ok?” She paused, “And will I get to go home soon? I don’t want to miss Christmas. My Dads and I always watch A Charlie Brown Christmas and I have their gifts here and my Pop is going to have a conniption if I’m not home and I want to see my friends because we always celebrate Kwanzaa at their place and...” She sighed, “And you don’t care. Can I go now?”