After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 32

The remainder of Wednesday's court proceedings involved Dana attempting to undo the damage that Jeremy had supposedly done with the medical report. The final witness that day was a close personal friend of Captain Benson, who Dana's questions for seemed to be geared toward proving Captain Benson had been a healthy and sound-of-mind person.

The Langley family spent just under an hour in a deliberation room with Zoey, breaking down the day's testimony and what it meant for Ralph's case. There wasn't much to cover given that Ralph had no role in Benson's death. If the defense attorney sensed the unusual tension between the members of the Langley family that week, she did a good job of hiding it.

Usually, Ralph was itching to get out of the courthouse and back to the hotel room by the end of the day. But this week was different for one very debilitating reason. Ralph preferred sitting in court simply because nobody expected him to say anything. Back in his family's hotel room, Ralph felt like he should've been breaking every moment of silence with an apology. He knew that his parents were aware of how sorry he was for the events of the weekend, but he felt like he couldn't be sorry enough. But given what happened between Ralph and Laurie on Sunday morning while they were left alone in the room, Ralph felt he wasn't the only one who needed to utilize the silence to apologize.

Ralph spent most of Wednesday night sitting at the little, round kitchen table in the hotel room that somewhat resembled the one in his own home back in East Point. He wore headphones connected to his Walkman, listening to the same tape on repeat simply to avoid the painful silence. Meanwhile, Laurie spent half the night in the shower while Jeffery worked from his laptop on the bed. They seemed as distant from one another as the Merridew family were on a good day. It had only been a few days, and Ralph was already beginning to wonder how Jack survived his entire life in such an environment. Ralph already felt starved knowing he'd be going to bed without a goodnight hug and kiss from his mother for the forth night in a row.

Down the hall, Jack and Paige Merridew sat on their respective beds and tuned into another episode of Seinfeld to end the night. Once the program ended and another round of commericals began, Paige broke the silence by complaining about being stuck in Savannah. Again. She had graduated from nursing school back in April, so it wasn't like she was missing anything critical in Dalton right now. All Jack got when he pointed that out was a slap across the arm.

"I'm missing out on the opportunity to jumpstart my career" Paige whined for the billionth time since they arrived in Savannah. At least, that's the number you'd get if you asked Jack.

"Your career will be there when we get back" Jack insisted for what also felt like the billionth time.

"Yeah, but who knows when that'll be. Will it be weeks? Months? Years? People are going to forget who I am" the girl dramatically declared.

"Yeah right" her brother scoffed. "Like anyone's going to forget the fancy priss who lives in the biggest multimillion dollar mansion on Broadacre Road."

"Money doesn't necessarily make you memorable" Paige hotly responded as she hopped off the bed and began stripping her business attire off.

"The fancy priss thing does" Jack smugly countered. In response, Paige tossed her silk button-up top at him after she removed it. Jack laughed and threw it back at her, to which she just let it fall in defeat.

"You're such an ass" she rolled her eyes as she finished putting her pyjamas on. Jack watched her stalk into the little washroom beside the television.

"What do you think all that was about in court today?" Paige called out from the washroom. Jack couldn't see her, but he heard her loud and clear.

"All what?" he questioned disinterestedly.

"That stuff about your pilot's medical history" Paige clarified as she turned the tap on to wash her face.