Phobia

31. Case Number 126

It was a new world. Ray walked into the court, his hands handcuffed behind his back, his head down. He was innocent, and he knew that the final day of his trial would prove that he didn't murder Trisha. They were bringing in the last witness, the most important one. The one no one wanted to disturb unless it was indispensable. The one whose words would be accepted as the complete truth.

As Ray stood in front of the crowd, he relived Trisha and his memories together. They had been the best of friends since they could crawl, and they were such polar opposites that people wondered how they got along so well. In Trisha's words, 'It began when Ray liked to eat the leftover crusts of her pizza.'  The reason they were so close was because they rarely had to fight over the same things. They rarely had to compete. She went on to become a teacher, and he became a dentist. She taught his kids; he checked up on her teeth. She had no kids or anyone other than Ray and her parents; she preferred to fly solo. The entire reason Ray could still meet her was because she and his wife were friends. Used to be, anyway. His eyes moistened at the thought that she was no more. Their friendship had been full of warmth. Full of jokes that would have offended him if it was anyone else, but they were okay because it was her. Apparently a boy and a girl can never just be friends, but Ray and Trisha were the exception to that rule. There was only one day that the clouds had descended on their friendship, and that day, everything had almost been ruined. Their connection, their lives, everything. But they still got through it. Or at least he had thought that they did. Obviously, though, they hadn't, because Trisha jumped off a secluded cliff right in front of his eyes on their last trip together. To be honest, he had been thinking about that day for months recently. He almost broke under the pressure of keeping that secret. And now he was on trial for her death.

It was time. His wife stared at him, her eyes filled with relief that it would soon be over. The last witness was called upon, and everyone looked at her with a questioning gaze. She would determine everything. The last witness.... was Trisha herself.

Ten years back, Dr Merdy had accidentally invented a contact lens that could see the dead before they moved on from the world instead of a lens that would eradicate any defects in the human eye. The discovery was a turning point in history, and now, everyone had a pair of these lenses handy. In particularly difficult court cases, the victim was called upon to reveal what truly happened. Cases like Ray's. Trisha entered and stood opposite Ray. The victim and the suspect. He smiled at her with trust and relief. Her too-short bangs hadn't grown, while his hair had turned shaggy and long. She was timeless now, but time wore him down. She didn't acknowledge Ray, choosing to turn to the judge instead. "Ray did push me off the cliff. Because he was afraid that I would tell the police about the fact that he was responsible for killing Shreya Das and her friend on his illegal foreign racing trip to India twenty years ago."

Ray's eyes widened in shock and his mind was transported back to that one cloudy day. That fateful day, Trisha had persuaded Ray to accompany her in her illegal car race in India. As she speeded carefree, they both heard a thud and the sickening sound of bones crunching. They were terrified, and Ray told Trisha to pull over and take the person to the hospital. Trisha never stopped. She had even threatened Ray to keep quiet about the incident when it showed up on the television. Ray had thought that Trisha had killed herself over her guilt about the death, but here she was, denying the truth, shifting the blame. And Ray's life was ruined.

As the officers nearby dragged him away, he screamed to plead his innocence. He begged. The judge looked at him coldly, and his wife looked horrified. Throughout the chaos, Trisha stood upright; calm and collected. She had known. She had known that he was going to tell the authorities. That his silence had been eating him from within, so she'd prepared. She had prepared everything, and it had worked. He was going to jail for two crimes he didn't commit, and she would leave the world at peace. They were polar opposites, even in the end.