The clear blue water on the harbour seems to calm my eyes, after all these problems, I’m glad I took some time off these mess. I sat on a bench, a green-painted bench. It felt like the world just paused in front of me, it felt so calm and I don't want to go back to the real life. The smell of fresh water hits my nose, I haven’t smell something like these for so long, and honestly this is probably the best moment of my life. I took a quick glance at my watch, 10.45, I have to go back home. I walked back home, it was 10 minutes by bus, but I don’t feel like it.

As soon as I step my foot on my house, my dad was waiting right there, staring at me. “Cassandra, where were you?” He said with an angry tone, “Frankly dad, I don’t think you need to know” I said, kind of upset that he still treat me like a 5-years old. “This is my house, my rule. You either follow my rule or you leave” he said getting more and more agitated, he grabbed me by my jaw. “Then I’ll leave, I swear you’ll regret it” I said, I just can’t handle it anymore, enough is enough. I left, I ran to the nearest train station and took the train to Town Hall. I’m standing right in front a white door, preparing myself on what to say and what to do. Then I knocked, a woman opened the door and I hugged her, she’s my mom. “Mom, can I come in?” I said, “Of course sweetheart, what happened?” she said with her calm voice, unlike dad. Since they got a divorce, everything is ruined, I have to be at  dad’s house 3 days out of the week, I feel like a property.

“Mom, can’t you get full custody of me?” I said. “You know I can’t do that Cassandra” she said, “Yes you can mom, you don’t understand. After you left, he needs a punching bag, and I became his” I said, tears escape from my eyes. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. I’m so sorry I left” she said. “Please mom, I don’t want to live with him, I’m scared” I said, I pull my shirt showing the bruises that I incurred because of him. “Okay, we should go to our attorney and ask him what we can do” she said, with tears on her cheek.

We took her car to our attorney’s office, she told him the problem, I was just there. “We can take this matter to family court, if you’d like” the attorney said. Mom looks at me “Anything for her” she said. A few weeks later, I attended family court, it was brutal. But we lost, dad still got custody of me, which means I have to live with him regardless of what I’ve been through. I was furious, exasperated, there is no word to describe my feelings right now, I cried, sobbed like a 5 years old when they announced the verdict. The judge looked at me, I can see through her eyes that she regretted her decision, but there is nothing she can do. I went home to my mom’s apartment, and stayed that for a day, before I have to go to my dad’s house the next day. I sat on a sofa, I tucked my legs, and wrapped my arms around my knee.

The next day, mom took me to dad’s house, I was scared, after we brought him to family court, I’m scared that his rage was going to explode. Just when we arrived, the house felt so silent, so calm, honestly for dad, it’s really weird, my suspicion arose. We walked to the living room through the front door, as we stepped our foot on the room, I saw dad, lying there, he was perhaps unconscious. I dialled the emergency number and the police soon came, a few minutes later the police confirmed that he is indeed dead. We were the only one who had grudges against him, and we were the one who lost in family court, we were their number one suspect.
They dragged us to the nearest police station, placed us both in a separate interrogation room as they called it. The room was dark, awfully dark, I could suffer from claustrophobia just by being there. A few minutes later a detective came, he sat right across me, we were separated by a piece of metal table.

“Did you murdered your father?” he asked, he was really straight forward.

“no, absolutely not” I said.
“you have all the reason to murder him, he assaulted you” he said,

“just because I have reasons to kill him, doesn’t mean I kill him. Beside he was already   dead when we arrived” I said.

He showed me a picture of dad, lying on the floor just like when I found him,
“he’s dead, and you’re still alive. Here is what I think, I think he tried to hurt you again, so  you ran to the kitchen grabbed a knife and when he hurt you, you stabbed him” he said

“that’s quite a story, but as I said, he was already dead when I arrived” I said

“We can help you, Cassandra, only if you let me” He said

“You could help me by letting me and my mother go, because as far as I’m concerned we’re  not guilty and that man ruined my life” I said

Someone knocked the door and entered, he was tall, brown hair, and has a nice posture. He called the detective and said a few things, “You’re free to go” the detective said, as I passed through the room, I saw the judge, she was there interrogated, I was confused.

“what is she doing here” I asked

“She confessed to killing your dad” he said

“she did that to protect me, don’t punish her, please. He deserved what he got” I said

“Murder is still murder, the law doesn’t support her, I’m sorry” he said

I know they didn’t convict me, I felt so guilty, It felt like I was the one who killed my dad, though I didn’t.
“I killed him, I stabbed him” I said

“No, you didn’t, your DNA was no where to be found on that knife” he said

“I wiped it off the handle, she was trying to protect me, and he was trying to hurt me” I said

“If this is a false statement, you can be convicted” he said

“I know, but he was trying to kill me, I had no choice” I lied, I didn’t kill him.

He let me go either way, he said I was acting on self defence, he also let the judge go, but she was disbarred for unethical behaviour. We kept the truth to ourselves, so no one would know, and no one would get hurt, especially from my dad.