Mind Fires

Chapter 19

He had lost his life all because of two children. I was absolutely heartbroken, distraught and I desperately wanted our old life back. As I mourned his death, the court date crept up on me. I had to attend it alone.

The court room was filled with about fifty people, all watching me intently. Some looked sympathetic towards me as they realised Kyle wasn't there. I noticed one person was there, one I'd never, ever expected to be there.

Elizabeth James. My sister. Sat in her own glass box with two guards, watching the whole thing. What was she doing here? I caught her glance and she smiled at me. Not like a devilish smile, but a compassionate smile. I mirrored her action.

I gave my evidence and statement at the witness stand. Someone read out Kyle's statement from a couple of months before at the police station. I cried when they said his name.

"Order!" the Judge boomed, "Because Nathaniel and Micah James-Bronwyn are only four and six years old, they can't possibly be placed in a prison or a young offender's institute," the Judge announced, after three hours of deliberation, "however, they can be placed in a children's mental home. And that is where they are going to stay for the next ten years, until they have an assessment from a psychiatrist. If their mental health has not improved by then, they will be sent to prison," the Judge tapped the gavel three times and the court room roared with chatter.

I sighed with relief, knowing justice would be served. Those two young children had ruined my life. I stood up, ready to exit the court room.

Before I left through the towering doors of the building, I heard someone call my name. A familiar voice.

"Tess," she called. I turned around, greeted by my sister's warm face. She hugged me. "I'm so sorry. I knew this would happen. No one believed me, but I was right,"

"You should have never been placed in that mental home," I answered, "they should have,"

"They tried to blame everything on the fact I took drugs to cope with the stress," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "they killed a woman, Tess. How is that my fault? I told them, they're demons,"

"We don't have to worry now, Liz," I said, calmly, "they're gone now,"

Suddenly a large man, supposedly a guard grabbed Liz's arm, "Time to go back now, James," he rumbled. She looked at me startled.

"What? You have to go back?" I asked, pleading with the guard not to take my sister away from me.

"She was never freed from the Asylum in the first place. It was obligatory for her to come here today," he answered. Another guard appeared and took her other arm.

"No," I whispered, "please, I've lost everyone, I have no one,"

"That's not our problem," the guards chorused, leading Liz out of the door. I watched as she was handcuffed and shoved into the back of a car.

"No," I whispered again, as I watched them drive off into the distance.