After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 11

December 7, 1992. 8:02AM.

Ralph had never been to Savannah, Georgia before. It was a much bigger city than East Point, and just driving through it made Ralph feel small. The drive was less than an hour longer than the drive to Bainbridge, but it felt to Ralph like days longer. It didn't help that he was sweating through his suit. He worried that the judge and jury would all see the sweat stains on his blazer and go straight to the assumption of guilt. Did innocent people even sweat during their trials? If they didn't, Ralph wasn't fond of the idea of being the first.

Laurie took her son's shakey hand as they walked up the steps to the Chatham County Juvenile Court house. It was a large building, and Ralph thought it might just collapse on top of him as he got closer and closer to the doors. Or perhaps, he was just hoping the building would fall over so he wouldn't ever have to go inside.

Jeffery dropped his wife and son off at the entrance before driving off to find a parking spot. Ralph wished his father wouldn't leave them even for a minute, but his thoughts were spiraling around inside his head, making staying focused on any single thing an impossible task. His mother pushed the front doors open, and practically dragged Ralph by the hand as they walked inside. The first thing Ralph noticed was the smell. The large open-concept reception-type area smelt strongly of freshly painted wood. Ralph thought that perhaps the building had recently been painted or renovated, but it certainly didn't look like it. The ceiling was daringly high, and almost everything in the room was a shade of beige or brown.

The room was crowded with people, mostly adults, all walking around in business attire. When he thought about it, Ralph finally noticed the other children. They were dressed up, like Ralph was, following behind grownups. Most of them looked to be at least Ralph's age, but some were clearly a lot younger. Ralph wondered what a seven-year-old child could possibly do to wind up in a place like this. That's when he remembered that he wasn't the only boy here today on trial for the deaths on the island. Ralph was one of the oldest defendants of their case. As he scanned the room a second time, he noticed that none of the other kids around him were kids he recognized.

Ralph was brought back to reality when he heard his mother's voice. He turned to glance over to her, noticing that she was staring at him. He hadn't heard the words she must've just spoken to him.

"What?" Ralph said hoarsely as he fixated his eyes on her, drowning out everything else around him.

"I said this line is pretty long" Laurie answered.

Ralph glanced ahead of them, noticing the large reception desk, painted a glossy maroon brown. In the centre of the long desk was the circular 'Chatham County Juvenile Court' logo. It was one of the only non-brown-or-beige thing in the room, it seemed. There were several stations with people standing on the other side of the desk, several long lines of parents and children all dressed up in front of it. Ralph clutched his mother's hand a little tighter. She squeezed his hand back and used her other one to comb the short strands of hair atop his head with her fingers.

Ralph flinched when his father came up behind them and grasped onto his shoulders. Then he instantly let his mom go to hug his dad, and Jeffery wrapped his arms around his son in response. His father's arms were one of the safest places Ralph knew. Though it felt contradictory right now, because Ralph was feeling anything but safe here in this courthouse.

It felt like a year and a half had passed by the time they got up to the front of the line.

"Hi, my name is Jeffery Langley, and this is my wife, Laurie and son, Ralph. We're here for—"

"The Bainbridge case" the lady behind the desk who hadn't looked up at them interrupted.

"Yes" Jeffery shot his wife an odd look before turning back to the seemingly disinterested woman. How did she already know which case they were involved in?