I was wheeled inside, and taken straight to a room where a lovely nurse performed a few exams. She winced as she inspected the back of my neck, and immediately started to get out her things for stitches.

"Your cuts are very deep, lovely. What happened?" She asked, and I explained that I hit it on the corner of the light switch and then the floor, which Kate wrote on her clipboard as she sat in the corner observing. "Yeah, that ought to do it." The nurse smiled sympathetically, checking for my consent to start the stitches.

"And that's all done." She spoke, swiping a wet cloth over the wound. "You'll need someone to keep an eye on that for the next wee while for you to make sure it doesn't get infected. Mum or Dad, maybe?'

I stared at the floor, trying to ignore the way my eyes filled with tears and my breathing sped up.

"Or a friend is good too." She added, seeing my upset and feeling awful for specifying both of the things that I had lost. "Are there any other injuries that we should be aware of, dear? This blood around your mouth, what is that?"

"He uhm..." I started, not wanting to go into details. Kate encouraged me from the corner, and that gave me enough confidence to tell the nurse. "I was punched in the stomach multiple times. I coughed up some blood."

She nodded calmly, scheduling a few extra scans from me based on the information. "Are you thinking of pressing charges, honey?" She asked, her voice hushed and private.

"He's dead." Kate spoke from the corner, rolling her eyes at the nurses curious nature. I didn't mind it all that much, I thought it was kind of her to ask. But I also understood the frustration, it wasn't a time when I felt like going into detail about my dad'a murder.

To my relief, they didn't find any internal bleeding, just a lot of external bleeding. They sent me to a private room so that Kate could ask me a few questions, which seemed hypocrital when she had just been annoyed at the nurse for asking. She was investigating now though, not just curious, so it made more sense.

I messaged Aislynn to let her know that all of my scans were okay, and thankfully there was no internal bleeding, but she didn't respond. I messaged Thea after her, letting her know that I wouldn't be home on time to continue our classes together but not to worry as I was fine.

"Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?" Kate asked, reminded me of my rights after I nodded. I didn't know why she was treating this like I had been arrested, I hadn't done anything. That was Aislynn.

"Why were you home tonight?" She started with. I told her about it being October break, and she wrote it down on a clipboard. She asked a few more questions, but nothing too personal, apparently because I hadn't been given a lawyer yet.

"Just one last question. When did you meet Aislynn?" I couldn't give her an answer. This worried me, could they pin this on me they had no evidence that Aislynn existed? She suddenly reassured me that I didn't need to answer, before leaving the room.

A while later, a male officer who was observing Kate asked me to stand up. They had stopped the blood, and decided to discharge me, which sped up the process of the investigation. I still felt a bit lightheaded and uneven, but that was just the adreneline wearing off. "We're going to need to take you down to the station for further questioning." He continued. I stopped at that.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything. I just want to go home." I complained, my eyes darting frantically between him and Kate who was standing just outside of the door.

"You aren't under arrest, we just need you to help us so that we can understand the situation." He comforted.

"Will Officer Kate be in with me?"

"Yep. She's got your case." He nodded. This reassured me further. Kate had been with me since she got to my house. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had gone through something similar, or at least the abusive dad part. I nodded contently, feeling like I was in good hands.

"Okay, Mayson. I'm going to have to call you May in this interview for legal purposes, is that okay?" Kate asked me, an empathetic glint in her eyes. I agreed. This was more important than me being uncomfortable. As we spoke about Aislynn and our relationship, I missed her. She had killed my dad but what would he have done had she not? I couldn't just stop loving her instantly even if she had done something horrible.

"Your account of events. You say you got home and when your dad joined you, he was drunk. Is that correct?"I nodded, swallowing the lump in my throat. "Would you say that he was being aggressive?"

My throat prevented me fron speaking. Kate's hand gently landed on mine until I tucked it away, not wanting anymore of her physical comfort because it wasn't from Aislynn.

I barely managed a nod before the door burst open, and a disheveled Aislynn came in, sitting down beside me. Officer Kate and the male officer from earlier - whose name I didn't care to take note of - didn't flinch at this intrusion, maintaining their focus on the situation at hand.

"And you also say that he was trying to..." She trailed off, searching for her words. "Force himself onto you."

A single glance at Aislynn gave me the confidence to nod again. She had somehow cleaned herself up completely since earlier.

"That is all we need to know for now, thank you."

Across the desk, she slid me a card. It had the number for a counselling service on it.

"My wife. I'll speak to her about it and we can fund your counselling should you choose to get it." I started to decline her offer, thanking her profusely as I did. "Please consider it. Your case is close to my heart and a counsellor earlier on for me I think would have made a world of difference."

I nodded at her sincerity, accepting the card gratefully and slotting it into my purse.

We all stood to leave, shaking hands.

"Wait! This is Aislynn." I said, pointing out who the stranger was beside us. Kate's expression filled with tears as she nodded, acknowledging Aislynn with a smile before dismissing us. As we left, before the door had shut fully, I heard the male officer starting to laugh, shutting up instantly as Kate smacked his shoulder. When men acted like this it really was no wonder that I was a lesbian.

"I'm surprised they didn't keep you for questioning." I said to her as we left the station. We obviously couldn't go back to the house as it was now an active crime scene, which was very unhelpful as we had already dumped our things.

That night, we instead found ourselves in the same hotel as we had been after the first outburst. It brought up a lot of negative memories as I was reminded of the times my dad was cruel.

It would all be forgiven instantly if Aislynn had the power to bring him back as easily as she stole him.

We were placed in a twin room, with seperate beds, which I was incredibly grateful for as I didn't exactly feel like sharing a bed with the person who just killed my dad. To make it worse, the next morning was the 3 month anniversary of my mum passing, so a lot of old and new emotions were finding their way to the surface. Aislynn softly snored, already asleep, completely undisturbed by the days events and her literally being a coldblooded killer.

The next morning, I was woken up to a call from the police station.

"Mayson? This is Officer Kate." Her soft voice spoke into my ear. I yawned as I sat up, rubbing my eyes. The events from the day before came crashing back into memory and I had to force my words out.

"Is something wrong?"

She sighed before speaking. "Can you come back down to the station? You can bring Aislynn if you like."

"Best not beat around the bush, aye?" She asked, to which Aislynn and I both nodded. "We found a camera. A security camera inside of the house."

All air disappeared from my lungs. They'd see everything. Aislynn killing him. They'd accuse her of murder. She'd be arrested. We would lose us. I couldn't deal with losing her as well as both of my parents. I knew she was the reason that I lost my dad but at the same time I had begun to understand it. He was trying to rape me. What else was she to do?

"They have officially ruled his death a suicide."

"What?" I gasped, tears instantly pouring down my face. I was relieved in a way, but also in complete shock. "But they have footage of Aislynn doing it."

She nodded, before sighing. "Mayson, I don't want to just tell you this. It's too hard to believe. Can I show you the footage?"

I agreed to play the footage. I'd already lived the moment, it had to be easier than that.

She pressed play on her laptop and I watched closely. The voice from before that sounded like an apology from my dad was him. It wasn't Aislynn. He grabbed a knife from his pocket, and upon realising what he was doing, began to stab himself. I watched myself scream at Aislynn, but Aislynn wasn't even there.

Because I had an even bigger secret than the one I kept from my dad.

This one I kept from myself, too.

Aislynn wasn't real.