Clouds Cover the Sun Because they like the warmth

The Trial Has Begun

Quick Author's note I went back and edited some of the chapters for consistency. 

Also Trigger warning for mentions of sexual harassment  

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The courthouse felt intimidating as Manon walked up the steps to the building. It was painted pure white with pillars lining the walls. Four sets of glass double doors lead to the inside before stepping inside. Her footsteps echoed on the tile floor as she walked down the halls to the room. When stepping inside it was already a buzz. The jury members all sat in their seats, and almost everyone sat on the right. A small crowd of women were on the left, but the fear on their faces told Manon everything. Hey eyes scanned over the benches before landing on Norman waving her over. Manon walked over and sat next to him. "Is everyone here a witness?" He asked. Manon shrugged, she recognized all the women from the office, but she knew she didn't convince all of these women to press charges. "I don't know." She whispered back as Norman nodded. Holding her hand as she noticed Bryce and Peter sitting next to him. 

Unfortunately out of all the people she convinced to testify against Wilbur, Peter wasn't one of them. Though Manon understood why. It would bring more harm than good. There were already several lawyers sitting at the table in front of them, and other officers. Though at the table on the left she noticed him. "Why isn't he in a prison uniform?" Daniella asked as she sat next to Manon alongside Cassie. "They may have given him clothes to wear, or they didn't detain him." Cassie said, which caused Norman to squeeze her hand for a second. Manon looked at him and gave him a small smile. Eventually an officer near the front cleared his voice. "All rise for the honorable judge Tompson." Everyone stood up as the judge walked in before sitting at their seat. His eyes looked over the room before landing on Wilbur a small scowl appeared on their face before looking down at his papers. Manon raised a brow and looked over at Wilbur. Nothing was too out of the ordinary. Outside of the fact that he was actually dressed for the trial in a black suit. Though when looking over at the other lawyers all of the other colors were lighter, or navy blue. It struck Manon as odd but she didn't say anything. 

"Today we have New York pressing charges against Wilbur Denis for five counts of rape thirty five cases of sexual assault, and forty cases of sexual harassment, and six counts of aggravated assault." Judge Tompson seemed rather surprised as he read it aloud. "And Wilbur Denis is suing Stryker Financial for unfair treatment and emotional and physical damages." He put the paper down. "Usually I would just be dealing with the lawsuit but since this case deals with criminal charges those will proceed your lawsuit." Judge Tompson said Wilbur almost immediately stood up before one of his lawyers beckoned him to sit down. "Begin with the opening arguments." The judge said as a lawyer on the prosecution's side stood up. "Your honor, members of the jury. We the prosecution believe Wilbur Denis is guilty of all of the crimes he is being charged with, and we will prove it with our witnesses." He said before beckoning to the gallery. Letting everyone see the large amount of women sitting there. The prosecutor sat down before the defense stood up. 

"Members of the jury, my client is not guilty of any of these charges. All these women are lying to prevent my client from suing the company that caused him so much pain." The defense sat down before a prosecutor stood up. "Call in your first witness." "Daniella Craft." Daniella stood up before walking over to the whiteness stand. Taking a seat as an officer held a bible up to her. She placed her right hand on it and held up her left. "Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth?" "Yes." With that the officer stood down before the prosecutor walked up. "Mrs.Craft how long have you been working for Stryker Financial?" "Seven years." Daniella replied. "Have you ever interacted with Wilbur beforehand?" "No, I had seen him around." "Do you remember the day he harassed you?" Daniella thought about it for a few minutes. "I believe it was in March of 1972 and I know it was a Monday because of how crappy I felt." "Can you walk us through what happened?" "I had just walked off the elevator and was walking over to my desk when I heard a whistle. I turned around and there was," Daniella made a face of disgust. "Him. He then walked up to me and said. "Excuse me miss but your wings look rather nice today." I just took the compliment with a thank you before walking away. Yet he continued to follow me and started asking me questions about them. Usually I don't mind answering questions about my wings, yet he was just so condescending about it. Then the questions started getting inappropriate. Things like "when you wash them in the back does it turn you on?" And "when you touch yourself do you touch your vagina or your wings?" I would have smacked him at that point but my supervisor Mr.Ethetians had loudly yelled out his name." A few jurors seemed confused. 

"Could you please explain why the subject of your wings is considered inappropriate?" Daniella let out a long sigh. "When it comes to birds petting their wings, or back over time will cause them to see that person as a sexual mate. Therefore asking things like touching wings gets inappropriate." Manon thought back to that day when Daniella got injured. Bryce asked her if it was okay for them to touch her wings to bandage her. Now it made sense as to why. "Did Mr.Ethetians see or overhear what had happened.?" Daniella shook her head. "No, he was assisting another person who was carrying a heavy box of supplies. The reason he had shouted Wilbur's name was because he left his mop bucket in the middle of the floor when he decided to harass me. Mr.Ethetians was walking backwards and tripped over it. He broke his arm because the box fell on it." "How many people do you know faced some sort of harassment from Wilbur?" Daniella scoffed "If we're talking know of, then almost everyone. But from those I personally know, Violet, Fiona, Kattie, Marianne, Daisy, Margie, Melanie, and Lily." "I am done with my questions." The prosecutor said before sitting down. Next was the defense. "So Mrs.Craft are you sure it was a Monday when this incident occurred?" "Yes I am sure." "How can you be so sure? One can feel bad almost any day." "I always feel bad on Mondays because I have to go to work." That seemed to shut the defense up rather quickly as they sat back down. "No more questions." They muttered before they moved onto several other women. 

"Next witness Mathew Ethetians." Manon looked back to see Mr.Ethetians walking up. He had changed out of his usual black suit and into a gray suit. He had a calm and composed form to him. Back perfectly straight and not a hair out of place. He sat at the table and placed his hand on the bible. "Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth." "I swear." Mr.Ethetians said as the prosecutor stood up. "So Mr.Ethetians what was your opinion on Wilbur?" "I don't like him." Everyone went silent. "Not from the day he was hired. Down to the day he was fired. I never liked him." His voice was gruff and blunt to the point that the prosecution was even surprised. "I see. May I ask why?" "My family and I tend to have very good intuition. Whenever we get an off feeling from someone it is always right, and the moment he set foot in front of me I knew something was wrong. I just never knew what he could do." Manon could feel his eyes staring right at Wilbur. Boring into his soul with anger. "Were you aware of the assaults that were happening?" 

"No. At least not with confirmation. Eventually I noticed some of the women appearing frightened around him. I started staying late in an attempt to catch him. They proved fruitless. I did inform Manuel about my suspicion. Though barely anything was done about it." Mr.Ethetians explained. "Why not?" "There was no proof. We had no photos, no security cameras, and no witness. We couldn't do anything about it, and we couldn't get anyone to talk." Mr.Ethetians explained as Manon could feel the sadness and regret pooling in her stomach. Not only that but the tension in the room. "Do you remember the day you broke your arm?" "Yes it was March sixteenth. I was helping Josh Huddson with grabbing a heavy box from the supply closet. I noticed Wilbur mopping. I didn't think anything of it. Until when I was helping with the big box. Because I was walking backwards I didn't notice the mop bucket, and then I tripped. Both of us dropped the box and landed on my arm and injured it." When he finished explaining, the prosecutor nodded before sitting down. No more explanation was needed. Now it was the defense's turn. 

"Mr.Ethetians, have you ever considered that your gut instincts could be wrong?" The defense asked. "No, and considering the amount of charges there are, I have doubts that all of them are false." Mr.Ethetians seemed to get rather angry. His voice became distorted. His face didn't help with the threatening look. The defense attorney became rather nervous. "Why didn't you sue Wilbur for the injury?" MrEthetians let out a sigh. "Because for the most part it could be considered an accident. Not to mention I was talked out of it by several of the other ceo's and supervisors." "How could you get injured, you are made out of ink aren't you?" Mr.Ethetians tilted his head before holding up his hands. "Parts of my body are made of ink. The rest are flesh. Do I need to cut myself open and pull a bone out?" The question was rhetorical yet terrifying. The defense shut up before sitting back down. "No more questions." They whispered before Mr.Ethetians left the stand.