Chenford Story

38

Lucy's POV

The day of the trial. As Tim liked to put it, the first day of the rest of my life. Yeah. The rest of my life in prison. I didn't even know what evidence Wesley had for my innocence, if any at all. Every time I asked they just dodged the question.

Being on the other end of tightening handcuffs felt strange, I hated every second of it. And orange was definitely not my colour. Still I stood in the courtroom, in my handcuffs, and an orange jumpsuit. I had been allowed to stay in public since I came back, the courts agreed it was best not to put a cop in a room with a bunch of criminals. Some of whom I had personally arrested.

The atmosphere was tense. No one dared to move. That was normal. This was normal.

I had been to court hundreds of not thousands of times. Just... never being the one in handcuffs.

The judge looked at me sternly. She had no idea about what had happened more than that I was a murderer. Wesley held my hand softly.

"Don't worry Lucy, I'm not letting you go to jail"
I nodded. Another lie. I knew Wesley was a great lawyer, one of the best in the city, but I just could accept any reality where I didn't go to jail. I was a murderer. I deserved to go to jail.

Juniper and Tim were behind me somewhere, along with probably half the station. They would see me the same, knowing what I had done. Even if I wasn't imprisoned, I would be exiled from friendships, ostracised from the station.
People would never trust me again.
And still no one would tell me what the evidence they had collected was.

I knew they had probably found the body, but there was no way that would get me out of 25 years of prison time. What else did they have?

"Court in session"
The judges harsh words snapped me out of my thoughts and I felt a bead of sweat roll down my forehead.
"Can the prosecution make their care please"
A man I didn't recognise came up to the stand. He looked around my age, maybe a few years younger.
"Please stare your name and repeat the vows"
The man made his vows. "My name is Dylan Foxly"
I gulped. Thomas Foxly was his father.
I had killed his father.

I knew that he had children. Even the news report had said 'loving husband and father'
I just... tried never to imagine the children or wife, the lives I had ruined.
I had killed his father, ruined his life.

"My father was taken from me when I was 10. I didn't even know what happened until now. I just want closure, for myself, for my mother, for my sister who was only an infant at the time"

Now I really deserved to go to jail. I had killed their father, ruined a family, two children's lives, for my own selfish needs.
God I was so selfish, so ungrateful.

"May the defence share their evidence"
Wesley stood up from next to me and walked to the stand,a single usb in his hand.
What was on the usb?

Wesley plugged the usb into a laptop and displayed an image on the lathe board on the courtroom wall.
I recognised the image it showed.
My kitchen.
Thomas standing over me.
I-it was recorded...

I didn't even know what to think.
I looked back at Tim, he was just looking down.
He-he knew. Tim knew that one of the worst days of my life had been recorded, that I had no idea, a-and he didn't tell me.

I was caught between angry, horrified and betrayed. Tim hadn't told me.
He had watched it, and not told me.

Wesley clicked start.

Tim's POV

I saw Lucy looking back at me out of the corner of my eye. She looked just so hurt.
I heard the quieted whispered of the officers of the station behind me. Angela, Nolan, Nyla and Grey sat next to me in the front row.
We were all silent. Most of us had already watched the video, most of it at least.
Even Nyla had to leave half way through to throw up. It was horrific.
Blood was something cops were used to.
Blood from a teenager accidentally killing a guy was rarer.
Especially when that teenager was our friend. When she was Lucy.

"It's going to be ok Tim. She won't go to jail"
Angela like always was giving me comfort.
I shook my head.
"After watching this, no one would be ok. Especially after everything Lucy has been through. Just because she doesn't go to jail doesn't mean she will be ok"
A

ngela squeezed my hand tighter.
Juniper was asleep next to me.
She wouldn't remember this, luckily.

Lucy's POV

I saw the recording whir to life.
I shut my eyes as tightly as I could as I heard my past screams.
I didn't need to watch the video to know what was happening.
Then I heard the silence.
The silence was somehow worse.
Everyone knew now what I had done.

I opened my eyes.
The blood was covering the recording.
Past me just stood.
I wasn't happy, sad, angry. I wasn't anything.
Now I barely remembered it.
I knew what happened.
Some parts in detail.
Other parts were lost to the veil of shock.

Dylan looked over at me.
He seemed angry. Not at me though.
Angry that I had taken his father from him, maybe. Angry that his father was doing that in the first place, very much so.
That's... good... I think.

Now they know the truth.
And I will never be able to get the image out of my head.
Again I look back at Tim.
He looks like he's just trying to become numb to all of it. Like he's trying to block it out.
I don't blame him.
I did the same thing for years after all.
Now I just...

"Jury please discuss"
The judge started speaking again.
Momentarily even he seemed to be stunned into a silence.
The jury walked out into a private room.
Silence again.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
No one dared to.

Ten minutes passed.
Twenty.
Half an hour.
An hour.
Two.
The jury came back in.
Silent as usual.
I hadn't moved a muscle in two hours.
My eyes fitted back and forth between the judge and jury.
"What is your verdict?"
I brades my whole body.
These few words would determine the remainder of my life. Whether I would spend it in a cell where I belonged, or with juniper, being silently judged by everyone.

"On accounts of second degree murder we find the defendant..."

*Second degree murder is intentional but unplanned*