Justice for Eliette

Scene Three

Eliette sat in a chair with a flat cushion and metal built into it for a handcuff to extend from her wrist to be linked to a chair. The nurses at the hospital had helped her pin her blonde hair up in a bun, away from her face. They had given her a pale pink dress that was made to show the purple, black, and blue blemishes that flooded her shoulders and back. The bright white lights made her skin pale, almost sickly. She watched as people scrambled by with cameras and microphones. A woman came up to her and pinned a small microphone to the front of her dress.

"You'll be fine, love. I think the world will love you," she said.

"Thank you," Eliette whispered back. The woman nodded before leaving Eliette alone.

A man in a deep blue suit walked up to Eliette and sat down in the chair next to her.

"Good morning," he said, giving her a bright and pristine grin. "I'm Cedric Bristow, host of Channel 11 News." Cedric turned to the camera in front of the two. "Today, I am interviewing Eliette Acord and will be asking her questions about her opinions on current state affairs."

"Bonjour, Mister Bristow."

"Please, Miss Acord, just Cedric is fine." Eliette gave him a shy smile.

"Only if you call me Eliette."

"Of course, Eliette. Now, what have you heard about what's going on in the outside world since your sentencing?"

"Not much of anything, Cedric. I have heard some people have been rioting, but I have not been told about what."

"Why, Miss Eliette, they're rioting for you."

"Pour moi? But why?"

"The people are upset about how your case was handled."

"Cedric, I killed my boyfriend. I would say my case was handled the right way considering I am in prison, even if I am on good behavior."

"That is where you are wrong! The people are saying that you acted in mere self-defense. Especially after the transcript from your interview with Detective Callahan came out. The people just want to know how deep the abuse went."

"Abuse?" Eliette hummed in thought. "Is that what people are calling it?"

"Domestic abuse at that, Eliette. The way you said that the way he- him being Chas Dionysus for those who haven't read -changed his method of beating you depending on his mood suggests it has happened on numerous occasions. That is what makes it abuse."

"I suppose so. That does make me feel even happier- if that's even possible. It makes me glad I did decide to pull the trigger that day." Cedric laughed.

"Well, now we know your stance has yet to change! You are just as unapologetic for killing Chas as you were the day you did it!" Eliette frowned.

"I am not unapologetic for killing someone. That someone just happened to be somebody hurting me."

"Which is why you have so many people wanting you freed!"

"They want to free a murderer?"

"They want to free a woman who was forced into murder for her own protection. The law betrayed you, and you just simply did what needed to be done."

"So, it is not the fact I killed someone, it is the fact I protected myself?"

"You've got it! Now, Eliette, please do give us more details on your inner monologue."

"I still believe that the fact I was arrested and sentenced is a good thing. While the government might have failed at one thing, at least they are proactive at keeping murderers out of the world. Even though I never got the death sentence like some of the other murderers, at least I am not on the streets."

"But would you kill again?"

"If I or someone else were in danger, possibly. I would not kill just for fun, though."

"That is what the people are seeing, my dear!" Cedric gave her and the camera a blinding grin. "What do you say, my loyal viewers? Should Eliette be freed and pardoned for her crime of killing her abusive boyfriend? Send in your votes now!"