But yeah, I can't really think of a way to celebrate he fact that I've now reached the massive three hundred blog posts. It's truly an honour. And I never actually thought I'd make it this far. I actually thought that I'd have given it up months ago. But thus, we are reaching the end of the year. Though, I'm pretty sure that my New Years Resolution for next year will probably be the same as what it was this year. Finish all my stories, blog every day, finish my fanfiction. I think Fanfiction is the only one I haven't completed yet. I might give it a lot of attention over the Christmas holidays, because I hopefully won't be writing as much of my original stories as I am now.
So, here's the next chapter in hopes that everything works out in the end!
Chapter 32
My eyes snapped open. I was breathing heavily. My heart was pounding. That was definitely a memory. In dreams you don’t feel everything so thoroughly. I felt the slap of my skin against the cold, hard walls, the flesh of his fist connecting with my body.
I shuddered.
I don’t need to think about stuff like that now. I need to get to Hayley and Jesse. I will get to them soon.
“Danny, are you ready?” Jamie shouted from the other side of the door.
“Ready?” I asked in return.
“Your trial. It’s today.”
“Today?”
“Yes, did you forget or something?”
Forget, how could anyone stupid forget something like this? Of course, this categorises me below stupid.
“What should I wear?” I asked her.
“Are you decent?” That was the second time someone had asked me that now.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’m coming in.” Jamie came into the room, dressed in a formal, dark blue dress. It fell to the knees and loosely fit around her thin, shapeless form. She rummaged around in my wardrobe at the side of my room for a big, before grabbing something and throwing it at me.
“I’m not wearing that.” I said, staring at the clothes in front of me. She was going to make me wear a shirt, tie, and trousers. It looks so uncomfortable!
“You don’t have a choice.” Jamie replied. “What happened to your hand?”
“Uh, nothing, it’s fine.” I said looking down at my hand.
“Yeah, I bet, magician attack?” Jamie asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
“Uh… yeah, kinda, didn’t aim my punch right and smashed the mirror instead.” I attempted to smile, but I knew it fell flat.
“Oh, right, we can talk about it later.” She said and walked out of the room, leaving me to get dressed alone.
I walked down the stairs nervously; I hadn’t been too long getting ready. The shower had stung, mainly because of my cuts. But I sucked it up and got ready. It was going to be a long day. I could feel it.
“Ready?” Maggie asked. She was sitting in a formal looking blouse and skirt; Jim was similarly dressed to me
“Not really.” I replied.
“Good, you’re not supposed to be.” Maggie said and walked towards the door. I was not looking forward to this, though, from the way things are looking at the moment, I don’t think I should be looking forward to anything.
We arrived at the courtroom; I wouldn’t have thought that something seemingly as small a case as attempted theft would get such a full courtroom.
“Do they usually get this full?” I asked Jamie curiously.
“Not usually. It’s probably because of who you are.” Jamie replied, glancing around the courtroom.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“It’s because you returned even though no one else thought you would. They’ve got nothing to be harsh to you over. Answer them as honestly as possible. Don’t let anything slip about you know what.” Jamie warned and we started to make our ascent up the stairs towards our seats in the room.
“All rise!” A sheriff shouted from the bottom of the room, the room stood. I followed quickly, not wanting to stand out more than I already did. Everyone was staring at me; I’m not sure how to decipher their looks. Some are looking at me with hate, some with curiosity, some with concern. I don’t understand why they’re looking at all. I don’t even know why half of them are even here….
A man entered the room; he was obviously the leader of the room.
“Sit.” He ordered and everyone followed his order.
“Who’s he?” I asked to Jamie in a whisper.
“You’re judge. Sam Holloway.” She replied.
“Is he nice?”
“Not really. You’re going to have to be lucky to get away with community service and rehab. He’ll want to throw you into a youth offenders prison.” This didn’t exactly set faith into me. I was doomed. I now knew that.
“We are all here today on behalf of the court trial of Daniel Smith, whom is being trialled for attempted theft, drug use, and assault. Is that true?”
“Yes.” Answered one of the people in the front row. Maybe I should have looked up more on court cases and trials before coming here. I have no idea what’s going on.
“I am Jeff Richards, and I am standing on Danny’s behalf. I am fighting to protect his innocence.” Shouted Jeff. I didn’t even know there was something standing for my innocence. I’m sure he should have come to me for statements or something, shouldn’t he have? Gah, maybe I should have put at least some focus onto this trial. I might know what the hell is going on now.
“I am George McKinley and I am standing on behalf of the people. Daniel Smith is a menace that should be locked up for his deeds. He should be treated as we would treat every other person that walks through these doors.”
I am now double doomed.
“Okay, okay. Can we call Daniel Smith down to the stands please?” I stood wearily; I felt the stars of every person in the room stabbing into the back of my neck. I didn’t look back towards them. I didn’t want to know what their faces looked like just yet.
I stood where I was told to, and I was told to raise my hand into the air, and put my other on my chest. He said something about it binding me to tell the truth. I hope it isn’t some kind of magic. I can’t tell all the truth. I’m sure instead of a prison, I’ll be sent to the nearest psychopathic ward.
“Do you swear to tell the truth, the honest truth and nothing but the truth?” The sheriff asked, looking at me expectantly.
“Uh, yeah. I do.” I answered, my throat suddenly feeling very dry.
“Would you like a drink of water?” He asked my kindly.
“Yes, please.” I answered and he got me a cup and filled it with water.
“So, Danny, how much of your life do you remember now?” Jeff asked.
“Nothing, sir, the first thing I remember is waking up in that ranch house.” I don’t actually know how much they know about what happened, so I figure, that I’d better put as much detail in as I know. Just to be safe. I don’t want to go to a Youth Offenders Prison or whatever it’s called. It probably won’t be the best experience I’ll have in my recognisable memory.
“Okay, so how did you end up with the drugs?” Uh, now that’s a hard one. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to mention John…
“Uh, well, I was wandering around the streets around the ranch house and some guy, George I think his name was, picked me up and drove me to the bus station just out of town. I wandered the streets here for a bit, people in the park attacked me. I was saved by a man.”
“Who was this man?”
“Uh, um, he was the one who got me onto drugs.” The fear of telling was coming back. John is a threatening person, he’s dirty, and knowing him he’s probably got people in the room, spying on me. They’ll kill me if I said anything. I can’t say anything. He’ll come for me. I have to save my friends before he can come for me.
“That’s not the question I asked you.”
“Uh, I’m not exactly sure how to answer your question.”
“It’s not all that hard, you only need to tell me his name.” Jeff said assertively.
“He’ll come for me. My life’s hell as it is, I don’t want him in it too.”
“Just say the name you knew. It probably wasn’t his real name.”
“He knows where I live.”
“It’s fine. We’ll get someone to protect you.”
“It’s not me that I’m worried about. I don’t want Maggie, Jim or Jamie to get hurt because of what I’ve done to them.”
“Well, we’ll make sure their protected too.”
“He’ll get past your defences.” I stated bluntly, I definitely didn’t want Jamie to get hurt; she’s been there for me since the beginning.
“Do you not believe that we could protect them? That we would save them from harm.”
“You’re tactics obviously didn’t work for me.” I said, “I mean, my friends are still missing and you’re not doing anything.”
“Order!” A voice boomed. I looked up started. The judge was staring down at us, his nostrils flaring. “Tell us the name of the man.”
His voice was fearful, injecting a cold serum into your veins just purely by speaking directly to you.
I said nothing.
“Defy me, and your punishment will be worse than anything you have ever experienced.”
“Uh, um, … John,” I mumbled.
“What? I didn’t quite hear you.” The judge said in a voice that if I were talking to someone else I would have counted as a taunt.
I waited a few moment, I’d never known how much confidence it would be to say just one simple name. “John,” I said at last, but instantly a great fear was instilled into me. Why couldn’t I have just said a random name that came to mind? It much has been that binding thing I was forced to take when I got here. If that’s the case, then none of my secrets are safe! I need to think fast. I have nothing. I don’t even know how to use my powers properly.
I was questioned for what seemed like hours. And as every moment passed, a new sense of dread crept through my body. They questioned me on everything, ranging from my drug habits, to the attack in school, to the attempted theft.
It all just led up to the one thing.
There is no hope for me at all. I might as well just ship myself off now.
No one was trialled for the attempted robbery. There was no one to witness, the people that were there with me had somehow broken out of the cells that were keeping them there and haven’t been seen since. Of course, Simon came up and said how I had started the fight, how he was the victim, and how I should be put somewhere special until I got my memories back and learnt how to act like a civil person.
Unfortunately for him, Holly was nice enough to testify for me and she backed up my story. She avoided me though during the recess. Well, avoided would be the wrong word. She told me she was sorry she couldn’t stay to chat, but she had some things to do at home and needed to be there as soon as possible.
I’d forgotten that I’d made plans to find out what was wrong with her. Why she was being so secretive with me. I’ll have to find out as soon as all this mess it over with.
There’s something in the air. Something’s gone wrong. I’m not sure what it is, but I can tell. It’s sorta like a gut instinct. Recess is just about coming to a close, where they’ll tell me if I’m guilty or not. Of course, I’m expecting to be found guilty. There’s not really much I can do about it. I admitted to what I’d done.
We walked slowly back into the room. I didn’t face Jamie, Jim or Maggie as I walked back into the courtroom. I didn’t want to see their faces. I guess they’d be happy to be rid of me. They wouldn’t want me in their house much longer. I’m not mentally their son. Their Danny would never attempt to rob someone. Their Danny wouldn’t get addicted to drugs. Their Danny wouldn’t attack someone to the point that they had to be rushed to hospital.
“Court is in session.” The sheriff shouted. That’s all he seems to be good for is shouting some randomly obvious things out. I was lead towards the front of the room again, where I would be stood like something under a microscope, with people watching me squirm from all angles.
“Daniel Smith, you have been charged with assault, attempted theft and drug use. You understand this, right?” The judge began. Something was different about him. His voice was different. I was looking around the room; no one else seemed to notice the sudden change. Maybe this is what he’s like after the court session, he leads them to false beliefs before smashing them down and telling them their going to burn in the depths of hell or something for the rest of their lives.
“I do.” I answered.
“Jurors do you have your verdict?” He asked them. I looked over to the one side of the room where the jurors were sitting. I hadn’t really paid all that much attention to them, but something was off. I’m not sure how I could tell though.
“We do.” A woman sitting in the middle of the group replied.
“Bring it here.” The judge ordered, and the woman got up and scurried over to where the judge was, handed him a piece of paper and then went and sat down on her chair again.
“We, the jurors, hereby find Daniel Smith guilty of all charges. His punishment will be to…” the judge looked up. My heart stopped. “There’s no punishment.”
“We, as a jury thought that no punishment was needed as he was not, and is not, of the right mind, and had no control of what he was doing or saying. Though the conviction will always stay with him. His punishment will be the shame he feels as he grows, knowing he attacked an innocent soul, and attempted theft, and got addicted to something illegal.”
The woman finished her speech by staring at me; her eyes flashed purple for the briefest of moments by I caught it.
Something was definitely not right here.
Something told me that wasn’t the end to my problem.
Nothing is ever the end of my problem. Someone out there must love watching this. Now I have another thing to find out, what would this person gain from keeping me free? It just didn’t add up in my mind.
So, I wasn't too keen on this chapter, but oh well, anyway....
Hope to see you tomorrow,,
I'm not going to watch the film Dream Boy. I see to be into the whole Gay films at the moment.
Night!
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