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Dear Mr. Police Officer

A Letter From One of Many

By Sara Splendore Published 4 years ago 3 min read
4

Dear Mr. Police Officer,

You probably do not remember me. In fact, you probably forgot my face the moment I walked out your office door. That’s okay, I don’t need you to know who I am, but I will never forget you. Your scrawny frame, the same mustache typically seen in cartoons, the look on your face when you were finished listening to my story. I did not want to go to the station, but the guy I went to tell you about had started spreading rumors about me. He told people I wanted what he did, that I enjoyed it. I could have lived my whole life without talking to you and I might as well have. But he took things too far and now your face lives in the darkest parts of my brain. Right next to his. I walked into the station and a lady told me to write down everything about what had happened. I tried so hard, but my mind was still fighting to deny the things that had happened to me. So, I wrote down the easy parts, the parts I told my mom when I finally couldn't stand her frustration at my decision to ignore his "kind gestures" any longer. I cried while I watched those words fall from my pen and a female police officer looked at me like she knew. If only I could have spoken to her instead of you. When I walked into your office did you see me? I mean really see me, or was it like I wasn’t there at all? As I sat there and tried to tell you about something I had been trying so hard to forget could you see the words that refused to come out of my mouth? When you looked at me and told me that you didn’t believe me did you see the hope die out? I have had so many struggles in my life and what that boy did to me was among the lesser. When I first walked in, I thought that was my chance. My chance for someone to see me, for someone to take away at least some of the pain that weighed so heavily on my sixteen-year-old shoulders. Even just that small amount would have been enough to make my life feel worth something. To make me believe that my pain and the healing that comes after, could be a priority. Did you know that because of what you said I would have to spend the rest of my life carrying that burden silently? I am only twenty-three now, but oh what a burdened twenty-three that is. My mother hardly said anything when I told her what you said. What was there for her to say anyways? What happened to me happens to so many. She put me in counseling but somehow that ended up being for her instead. I wonder how different that would have been if I had been able to speak. No matter how hard I have tried to make the words come out it is like I am trapped in my silence. And no one can let me out. To be honest I think about you more often than I think about him now. People do terrible things all the time and I have seen more than my fair share. But you… You were my hope when I had spent my life being silenced and all you did was dismiss the violence. Maybe I could be someone better today, more bubbly and less broken. Like the people I so admire. If you had not shattered my hope perhaps I could have been that same hope for others. Instead I ended up more beat down and broken because I spent so much of my life trying desperately to prove to myself that I was worth being loved and listened to… maybe even understood. Mr. Police Officer, I do not want you to feel bad about yourself. If you are still working just please do better for somebody else.

Sincerely,

One of Many

fact or fiction
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About the Creator

Sara Splendore

-Fairytales, fiction, poetry… I have been telling stories since before I knew how to write them on paper.

-Just a fairy, pursuing her dreams until the end.

-I hope you love reading my stories as much as I enjoy writing them!

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