All Chapters of The Heaviness in the Air: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

   Max took a deep breath. Whereas the last interview was simple, and he didn’t have time to process all the mother said he knew what was coming. He let it out, and then he walked into the room. This was going to bring on a headache. He knew this was going to be the complete opposite of the interview he just had.“Took you long enough.” The man said as he looked at Max. “Did you have a good time making me wait?”“I was talking to your wife,” Max said as he looked at the man. “Unfortunately, I have not learned how to be in two places at once as of yet. Though I do wish I did know how to do that. I would be able to get a lot more done.”“Was that supposed to be funny?” The man asked sarcastically.“Not really,” Max replied as he took his seat across the table from the man. “Now, could you possibly help me understand you

     That last night was then in the forefront of Max’s memory. He thought he had completely blocked it out, but now it was replaying there. It almost felt to him that he was there just watching it happen again. He couldn’t stop it from playing.“Just say you did it!” His father screamed at him in the front of the house he had called come for eighteen years.“I didn’t do anything!” Max roared back. “She tried to blackmail me into having sex with her. She was passable, so I thought, what the hell. Dad, I couldn’t even get it up. She tried as well but nothing! How could I freaking rape her?”“Don’t be crass!” his father screamed at him.“You won’t listen to me. I tried to have sex, dad. That she wanted. That she was begging for, but I cou

   After he cleaned himself up and then managed to make it look like he had not completely lost his mind. He went out into the main room. The conversations were too much as they all rattled around in his mind. He needed air. He walked outside and looked around. The sun was almost blinding. His eyes hurt. His head hurt more.The case was one thing, but this was now his life as well. He had to put all of this to bed and quickly before it ripped him apart even more than it already was. He knew that time was supposed to fix all the wrongs, but he wasn’t sure he could ever be fixed to the point that he would be able to trust people again. That was his problem, though. He was trying. He was really trying, but he doubted himself.He went back in and decided it was too much for today. He needed to stop and think for a little bit. As he went to his office, he went in and looked around and started to pack up the entire case and place

 He was blocked. There seemed to be things that were missing. He was trying to focus on things that he could see, but then they would disappear. He didn’t know what was going on. He had holes in his memories. He didn’t know if it was his own block or something he could really remember. He could have been too young or only heard a few things, and he made the memories.This was too much for him right now. He took his deep breath in, and then he looked up. The family that was there was loading up in a car. He looked as he saw the girls in the back of the car. They almost looked happy but scared at the same time. He noticed it, but there was nothing out of place that he could say anything. It was the detective in him.The happy family that was in front of him was an illusion, much like his own. He then heard his phone buzzing. He looked down at it, and he saw the number that was calling. It was the one person he had never felt really close to.

      It was three days later as he sat in the staff meeting with all of the professors for the department. He hated these more than everything else. As the dean of students and the one for the department were talking at the front of the room, he was earning a few looks as well from the other professors.He knew his appearance had changed slightly. The two cuts on his face that he had made when he tried shaving a few days before had only made it, so he couldn’t really shave for the next few days. Though he preferred to be clean-shaven right now, the look slightly rugged. He had seen the females on campus looking at him even more as well.He didn’t want the attention. He wanted them to heal so he could shave all the hair off. He was listening half-heartedly to the two men in the front of the room speak. It was when they started talking about the next year. “We do have some re