After Before and After

Phase 4: Chapter 46

Ralph, Jeffery, and Laurie entered the lobby of their government hotel around 1845 hours, after stopping for dinner at a restaurant up the street.

Like they did every weekday since the trial started.

Ralph and Laurie chatted in the lobby as they slowly made their way toward the elevator while Jeffery grabbed a newspaper from the stand by the reception desk.

Like they did every weekday since the trial started.

Up in room 513, Ralph changed out of his suit and dress shoes, trading them in for sweats and a t-shirt. Laurie took over the bathroom to shower off the smell of the courtroom, and Jeffery got himself ready to go to the fitness center down on the main floor.

Like they did every weekday since the trial started.

Jeffery tossed the newspaper on the little kitchen table and waved to Ralph as he headed out the door for his workout. Ralph weakly waved back as he opened his English book to resume the homework he started over the eleven-day break.

Ralph's eyes darted from the pages of Macbeth, to the hotel room door, to the TV playing a vacuum commerical soundlessly in the background, to the fridge that held the soda inside, to the newspaper, back to the fridge, back to Macbeth, back to the fridge. Soda. Thirsty. Soda.

Ralph stood up to grab a can of Coca-Cola from the fridge. He popped it open as he walked around the table. He set the can down next to Macbeth when his eyes landed on the newspaper again. He nearly turned away before something caught his attention.

It wasn't the main headline on the front page of the January 4, 1993 issue of the Savannah Evening Press. It was a smaller headline nearer the bottom of the page that caught Ralph's attention. He grabbed the paper, held it up, and read the little headline that made his heart start to slip into his stomach.

'Family of former military cadet set to testify in island murder trial later this week' it read.

Ralph's heart dropped again. He held the newspaper close to his face so he could read the tiny print that told their story.

"The trial against the 22 former military cadets of Bainbridge Military Academy began right here in Savannah back in early December. All 22 defendants entered pleas of not guilty in October of 1992 after receiving their subpoenas to appear in state court between August and September.

Sources revealed that the parents of one of the 22 boys who survived five months on an uninhabited island in the heart of the North Atlantic Ocean is set to testify for the prosecution as early as Wednesday.

The defendant in question, who cannot be named for privacy reasons, is facing charges in relation to two separate deaths, one of which is an involuntary manslaughter charge for the death of the plane's captain, Johnathan Benson, 51.

Georgia State prosecutor, Dana Barnes, is said to be building a strong case against the former cadet in an effort to prove that the late captain and Navy veteran's death was not an accident.

The court will hear from the family of the boy who allegedly ended the man's life by fatally stabbing him in an isolated cave on the island only a month before the boys were rescued by U.S. Marine Corps.

More to come as the trial and the story develop.

You heard it here first,
Meg Hamilton
Savannah Evening Press."

Ralph could feel his heart beating in the pit of his stomach as he read the article not once but three times over. Even the media seemed to be taking the prosecution's side. They failed to mention the part about Larry being scared for his life; a ten-year-old kid under the impression that his life was in the hands of a dangerous monster.