Locked up

Ferdinand returned to the dorm and everywhere was silent since it was dark outside. When he opened the door to his dorm room, he saw his three roommates, Tom, Frank and Josh, watching a viral video on Frank’s phone. When they noticed Ferdinand, they started shouting and hailing at him like he was a hero.

“Bro, you totally messed up that Damien of a guy today. His ego was totally shattered.” Frank commented.

However, Ferdinand could barely smile. His friends quickly realized that now was not the right time for jokes. “I am sorry for what happened.” Josh said with concern.

“Where have you been, are you okay?” Tom asked.

“Yeah, am fine.” Ferdinand replied as he fell on his bed. His friends decided to let him be.

Ferdinand was glad that he had such understanding roommates.

though he was financially down, his friends had never for once treated him like trash.

They had always been ready to extend a helping hand. Due to exhaustion, Ferdinand quickly fell asleep and before he knew, it was morning.

He woke up and noticed that his friends had already gone to their various classes. When he looked at the time, it was already above nine o’clock.

He was happy that his friends decided not to wake him up as he never intended to attend classes today.

He wasn’t ready to face the attention from his classmates.

He just clasped back on the bed, but he was woken up by a knock on the door of the dorm room.

He got down from the bed and headed to the door, trying to figure out who it could be. When he opened the door, his eyes grew wide when they fell on two cops, one a man and the other a woman.

“Are you Mr. Ferdinand?” the male cop asked.

“Yes, I am.” Ferdinand replied, shock still evident in his eyes. The two cops looked at each other, then they looked at Ferdinand from head to toe.

“What happened, am... am I in trouble?” Ferdinand stuttered.

“Big trouble, sir. You are under arrest for brutally assaulting Mr. Damien Byrd. I need you to keep silent for anything you say May or can be used against you in court.” The female cop said, as she tuned Ferdinand around and cuffed him.

Ferdinand had been trying to avoid attention, but with the whole school seeing him in cuffs, the attention grew wings. Ferdinand could only shake his head. What had he gotten himself into? How was he to win a case against a rich man’s son?

….

Ferdinand had arrived at the police station and it wasn’t looking good for him as he was placed in tight room with a glass at the wall.

He couldn’t hear anything outside the room, neither could he see through the glass, but he knew that those outside could probably see him inside.

He sat on a chair on one side of a table and an empty seat could be seen on the other side, across from him. He looked up and saw a red light beeping on a camera placed above on the wall, indicating that he was being watched.

After what felt like an eternity of silence, the door of the terrifying room finally opened and a man wearing a suit came in and sat on the chair opposite Ferdinand.

“Hello, there.” The man greeted. “I am detective Charles, and I am here to help you.” The man smiled.

Ferdinand looked at the man, confused. “How?” He asked.

“You see, you got into some serious trouble the moment you laid your hands on a reputable billionaire’s son. This kind of people can make you go to jail for a long time. However, the crime committed can keep you in jail for a month….

I have checked into your records, and I know that you were admitted into a prestigious university such as Berkeley though a scholarship.

And students with criminal records are not allowed in Berkeley University, so going to jail might make you lose your scholarship. So Mr. Ferdinand, what I am saying is; to avoid going to jail, and to avoid the consequences of having a criminal record, you need to pay a sum of $5000.”

Ferdinand blinked several times as the figure detective Charles just called was shocking. Just yesterday, he spent all his $75 savings on a necklace which got missing during his fight with Damien, and now the police is requesting for a sum of money he had never touched, all his life?

Detective Charles noticed Ferdinand’s sudden change of mood and sighed.” From your records, I know that you might not have that amount of money, but maybe you have someone you can call to help you, yeah?” he asked, bringing out a cell phone and placing it on the table.

It was Ferdinand’s phone which the police had collected earlier.

Ferdinand sent his two hands forward, looking into the detectives eyes.

“Sorry, my bad.” Detective Charles said as he took out the cuffs from Ferdinand’s hands.

Ferdinand picked up his phone and dialed a number in it. It rang for a while, but no one picked up. He tried two more numbers, but no one picked up.

Ferdinand shook his head as he had tried all the numbers of the only three people he knew that could help him, and those were his roommates. Probably they were still in class.

Detective Charles shook his head. “Well, I am sorry Mr. Ferdinand, we will have to….” He didn’t finish his sentence when Ferdinand’s phone rang.

Ferdinand looked at the phone and he saw that it was an unknown caller, calling. He never thought much of it as it could be one of his friends using another number to call him.

When he picked, his expectations were unsettled when he heard an authoritative voice speak up. “Hello, is this Mr. Ferdinand Hawthorne?” The voice asked.

The sound of the voice and the mention of his full names caught Ferdinand by surprise. He hadn’t disclosed his second name to anyone, except a few close people, and all of a sudden, a stranger just called his full names.

Ferdinand was skeptical, but he decided to reply. “Yes I am.”

“Where are you now, sir?” The voice asked.

“Well, if you must know, I am at the police station.” Ferdinand replied, already feeling impatient.

“What? Which police station is that?” the voice asked to which Ferdinand gave him the reply. He never knew why he was giving such information to a total stranger, but he decided to give it out.

The caller asked Ferdinand to hand over the phone to police and Ferdinand did. Detective Charles had a private conversation with the caller before heading out of the room. All of a sudden, a police man came in and retuned Ferdinand’s phone to him. “Sir you are free to go, we are sorry for all the inconveniences we have caused.” The police man humbly apologized.

“What?” Ferdinand asked, totally confused about what was going on. Then he looked at the phone, and he saw that the call was still going on. He placed the phone back to his ear. “Who are you?” He asked.

I will explain everything to you when I get there, sir. Please wait for me at the station. I will be there in five minutes.” The voice said, before dropping. Ferdinand was escorted outside of the police station, where he sat, patiently waiting for the mysterious caller.