| Episode: | Season 1, Episode 1 – Chaos! At The Gala |
| Location: | Stelvik Station Prison |
| Written By: | Riley Bennett Todd Bennett |
| Date: | 08/16/2026 |
| Word Count: | 1,124 |
Riley sat there in the waiting room at the station prison playing with her fingers. The ten-year-old could think of little else, her conversation with Addison was still fresh in her head. It seemed to be playing out on near repeat for the girl. She didn’t want to talk to her mother, not really, there was nothing she had to say to the woman.
It also didn’t help much that Riley Bennett had never met her mother before now, other than when she was very little. Their father had told them some of the details, but it was a bit difficult for a seven-year-old to fully understand why her mother wasn’t around in her life. She looked up and smiled weakly when she noticed her brother staring at her.
Todd had been watching his sister’s nervous antics for probably an hour, or at least it felt like it had been an hour. He noticed she’d finally looked up toward him, and he smiled before draping his arm over her shoulders and pulling her in for a hug. “Nervous?” The ten-year-old asked his sister.
Riley shrugged as she leaned over, she was still playing with her fingers, scratching at the surface of the nail. “What do you think Mom will have to say?”
Todd shrugged, “I’m sorry that I tried to kill you,” He said sarcastically. He made his voice a bit more high pitched than it normally was when he spoke too. Todd wasn’t sure if that was the best approach with his nervous sister. When Dad told them what happened, it had been Riley’s head that was underwater when their Dad walked in.
Todd was apparently horrified in the corner of the bathtub staring at what was going on. He tried thrashing, he tried making noise. It was Todd’s sounds that had alerted their father to what was actually happening, it was then that their father had pulled their mother away.
Todd wondered if that’s why this was such a bigger impact on his sister than on him. “It’s because of what Dad said three years ago?” He asked her.
Riley shrugged again, “I don’t know.” She whispered softly, “You know she was going to do us both in according to Dad?”
Todd nodded, “I know what Dad said,” He replied. It had been him that brought it up in the first place, it was him that had asked their father first. And, it had been Todd who’d encouraged Riley to come along for the conversation too. He wanted to know, was dying to know, why their mother was in jail.
And, it had been now that their mother finally reached out and tried to set up this visitation. Todd wondered what had taken her so long, or was it their father who’d prevented it from happening in the first place. He wondered if their Dad had gone and visited their Mom at all in the past ten years, or was it nine? Todd couldn’t be sure.
Riley wondered what sort of things were going on in her brother’s brain as she looked away from the back of her hand and stared straight into his eyes. “Maybe we shouldn’t be mad at her?” Riley asked him. But, was Riley mad at her mother? That was a question she really wanted answered with this visit.
She wondered if her brother was even mad at their mother, “Are you mad at her?” Riley asked him gently.
Todd didn’t answer his sister, he just held her tighter. He rested his head against the top of hers as he looked at her fingers. That was the question wasn’t it? Todd didn’t know if the answer to that was a yes or a no. He didn’t even know if he’d been angry at her in the first place, “Dad was probably pretty mad at her for a long time.”
Riley didn’t think about that, “Yeah.” She answered softly. The clock seemed to have completely slowed down. They were still waiting, remembering that they’d been told it was behind a glass window. Their mother wouldn’t be able to touch them, only talk to them. They could end the conversation at any time, Riley remembered that part too.
“What are you going to ask her?” Riley asked him.
“I don’t know,” Todd answered. He had a number of questions for their mother, but he didn’t want the answer to any of his questions either. It was because he was terrified of the answers to those questions that made it impossible for him to think of anything else. “I probably won’t ask anything,” He told her. “Are you?”
Riley thought about it, she really thought about it, then after a moment Riley had arrived at her question. “I want to know why,” Riley told him. She didn’t need to explain what she’d meant by that either. She looked into his eyes, and knew her brother understood her. “But, I don’t want the lie that’s going to come.”
Riley had asked Missus Gibson about that, when they started preparing for this visit two weeks ago. She’d asked and was simply told that their mother was a sick person. And, maybe that’s the answer to the question after all? Riley didn’t know if that was the correct answer or not. “Missus Gibson said Mom is a sick person.”
Todd nodded, “I was there.” He said, the twins always did their counseling sessions together because they’d both been through it together. The two of them had seen the therapist on and off for the past three years. After they’d been told, that was when Todd started having the nightmares, it was as if all the bottled up memories had erupted at once.
Riley looked at him then back at her hands, “I know.” She answered. Riley didn’t want to ask her mother any questions, “I don’t think I’m going to ask her anything.” There was some part of her that wondered what their mother would say if Riley and her brother remained quiet the entire visit. Would that be fair to her?
“Do we have to talk?” Riley asked him.
Todd shrugged, “I don’t know.” He answered her. And, it was the truth, he didn’t know the answer to the question. Then the door opened and one of the security officers stepped into the room with them, Todd stood up. He took a deep breath and grabbed his sister’s hand. Now was better than later he supposed.
Riley took a deep breath and allowed her brother to pull her from the waiting room toward the visitation room door. The officer was wearing a soft, gentle smile. That didn’t make it feel any more inviting. In fact, Riley felt the exact opposite in that moment.