How I killed my mother

Present: The detective

Eyzah felt a shiver down her spine, her mind full of thoughts, doubts, questions, her words tripping over each other.

Errum did not write the diary?

She did confirm it through Alayna and a couple of her classmates, didn't she? How is it possible that Errum was not the one who wrote all that?

Again, her mind went back to when she interrogated Errum's classmates.

"We never really talked with Errum, she always kept aloof, she never said more than a few words. I've been studying with her for the last 5 years and I haven't heard her say a full sentence till now," the guy with braces had said.

"Errum was crazy. Straight up. Who hits someone like that? My GOD I swear to Harry Styles, her face looked like she was possessed by some demon of some sort, with the screams and all that. And when she hit Kevin with that chair, we all, like literally, JUMPED. I was Soo Soo scared. The blood, the nasty scene...God I might just puke. Poor Kevin, he is still in bed rest. I wonder why they didn't charge her, but maybe because, y'know, Kevin's dad is the waiter in the school cafeteria so I guess it makes sense. Not everyone's got a daddy like me," the girl (clearly the "popular girl" with her long nails done, over dressed, bitchy tone and 'do you know who my daddy is?' vibes) Said.

No matter how much she tried, she could not put the pieces of the puzzle together.

The court had been adjourned and the next session was about to begin in minutes. Eyzah looked over at the defense attorney Sean Brown. He had dark circles around his puffy red eyes, running around with a cup of black coffee in his hand. But he looked way more enthusiastic than people usually looked after a sleepless night. It was as if the vigour in him had found it's way.

Mr. O'Reilly also seemed to have a sleepless night, and the way he rubbed his temples gave it away. Poor guy, he was THIS close to winning the case.

The judge took his seat and preceded over the session.

"Your Honor," Sean Brown started in an enthusiastic manner, "in order to prove that Errum was not the one who wrote this diary, I would like to call a witness, the class teacher of Errum Hassan, Ms. Hannay Grey."

A woman in her early 40s, with red hair and glasses approached the podium.

"Ms. Hannah, how would you describe Errum's ability to write, read, and speak?"

The woman coughed and pushed her glasses above her nose.

"Errum was a very gifted child, she could calculate large sums in a minute, she had a very keen interest in biology and chemistry, and always scored the highest in those. With the right guidance, she could've gone a long way. But it was sad to see that even after being this good in the science subjects, she was horrible in English, geography, history and such. Dear Lord, she was barely able to pass in those. It was as if, she did not know how to put her thoughts in words. We tried counselling her, take special classes, make her do overtime to help her to write. But she was simply unable to. I think a lot of it came from the fact that she didn't utter a word with her classmates. She always was a bit of a loner, you know. Poor child, we guessed she was not mentally stable and tried to contact her mother in order to review options for her further studies, considering she was a child with special needs, and we didn't have the facilities for educating children like that. We even recommended trying out a psychiatrist, but well..her mother was indifferent."

"Now, Ms. Grey, you have read the extracts from the diary, I believe?"

"Oh yes, I have, dear. Very, very horrible. Poor, poor child."

"Ms. Grey, what is your take on this? Do you think Errum wrote the entries?"

"Oh...not in a million years. She barely could talk, or even form simple sentences, let alone describe the incidents in such beautiful grammer."

"Thank you, Ms. Grey."

Sean Brown turned to the judge and requested the permission to present a speech language pathologist, Dr. Blake Owen.

"After the court's order, a neurological assessment was conducted on Errum by speech language pathologist, Dr Blake Owen. The reports are forwarded to your honor. Now Dr Owen, please share your observations with the courtroom."

"After conducting a number of physical, psychological, and neurological tests on Errum, we have come to the conclusion that Errum suffers from Aphasia, a disorder that is caused by physical or psychological trauma. It is a speech disorder that hinders the communication skills of the patient and is unable to form complete sentences or words. The test results of the physical exams were also pitiful. There were a a number of scars, new and old, in different parts of her bodies. Clearly these had been a result of abuse since a long time. If Errum had been turned in beforehand, she could've been treated in her childhood."

"And what about the diary entries, Dr. Owen? Is it possible for Errum to write these?"

"Impossible. The reports are clear. An untreated aphasic patient can never be able to say full sentences, let alone write paragraphs with such depth. My opinion is, this wasn't Errum's writing, and I'm confident."

"Thank you, Dr. Owen. Your honor, as it has just been proved in the court that Errum was not the one who wrote that diary, and so it is my request to disregard the diary as a form of evidence."

The judge nodded and declared, "considering the evidence presented in court by the defense, the diary is disregarded as useful evidence in court."

Sean Brown straightened his coat and started again.

"Your honor, all this time, there had been a debate going on inside and outside the court, whether Errum was innocent or not. Whether she killed her mother, or not. But not once anyone ever suspected the involvement of anyone else in this case."

"And here we are. Errum did not write that diary. Yes, she may have been a victim of abuse that scarred her for the rest of her life, but someone clearly took advantage of that. They used it against her, in order to frame her. Someone wrote the diary. Someone is trying to frame her for a crime she did not commit. Someone who wanted Errum out of their way. Most probably, the real murderer."

"This opens a new horizon in the investigation, your honor. Errum being framed is core proof, that someone is trying to get away with the murder of Mrs. Hassan. All the evidence found against Errum so far was purely circumstantial. The defense requests your honor to reopen the investigation of the murder of Mrs. Hassan and to save an innocent life from damnation."

A/N: Who do you think framed Errum?

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