Curiosity Killed the Cat

Chapter Seven

"Ms. Winters, please tell the court exactly what happened these past three months?"

"My brother, Jackson Winters, kidnapped, tortured and killed countless girls, including me." I said, a lump stuck in my throat as I choke out the last words. I was sitting in front of a full court room. Twelve jurors. One judge. Five officers. One prosecution lawyer. One defense lawyer. Forty people in the back. And one, Jackson Winters. My flesh and blood, who tortured me endlessly and still laughs about it.

His pale black hair was starting to grey, his beard also. He looked like a mountain man, wearing a plaid shirt and worn out jeans with work boots. His emerald eyes stared a hole into my head. He was trying to intimidate me.

"Where did the defendant hold you?" The prosecutor asks me, making me let out a shaky breath. I was about to answer when a eerie noise of finger nails on wood sounds.

"Your honor, I ask for contempt of court. The defense is trying to use intimidation on the victim." The prosecutor tells the judge.

"One more wrong move, Mr. Winters and Mrs. Stalenburg and I'll hold you in contempt." The judge says, her voice so powerful. She turns to me and says, "Continue."

"He held us in the basement. Then he put me in my old room. And lastly, h-h-he kept me in his bedroom."

"What did he do to you during those three months specifically?" The prosecution asks.

"He tortured me, left me to starve, become dehydrated, he raped me countless times. Every night after night, he would r-rape me. He killed girls infringement of me, being ruthless and violent. He abused me, hit me, punched me, slapped me, kicked me, smashed my head against things. He took the one thing I thought purest of myself away from me. My virginity and made a mockery of it." I start, looking at my hands. When I looked up, I saw Jackson snickering. The bastard was finding this hilarious.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, Mr. Winters." The judge orders, making Jackson laugh even more.

"As if I would take orders from a woman." He smirks again. "She liked it. Every bit of it. She's in love with me! We're in love. And what we've made is more powerful than a court and jury."

"Officer, please escort Mr. Winters out of this court." The judge commands, the big officer taking Jackson out of the room.

"I killed it, you bastard! I wouldn't bare to ever have your demonic spawn! Burn in hell, asshole!" I scream, standing up and pointing at him. It felt so good to get that out.

"We'll have a bread recess." The judge decides, standing up and going into her chambers. I get off the stand to the prosecutor.

"You did good, kid." He says, patting my shoulder. I squirm at the touch and he gives me a weird look. I wasn't ready for any kind of physical contact yet.

_______________

"Kit Cat." Jackson' vile voice sounds, eerily making it's way to my ear. I hide behind the tree, trying to slow my breathing down so he wouldn't hear the heavy huffs of air.

"Kitty Cat." His shrill call to me sent shivers down my spine. I covered my mouth with my dirt covered hand to murmur the deep breaths I was taking due to the shear fear of him.

I had escaped the house and ran into the woods, following the dirt trail that leads to a road five miles up. I had made it about to miles when Jackson came close to finding me. I had to run a lot off path and into some bushes surrounding a tree. I thought it was a perfectly good hiding spot when his flashlight hit my face. The panic I felt in me told my fight or flight senses to flee. Running to the left, I dodge his grasp and start my trek for the next three miles when the headlights of his truck illuminate my pathway. He was gaining on me but I thought I could escape.

"You can run but you can't leave!" He yells out of the window, I sprint full speed and see the nearest road. Just as I reached it, his truck turned and stopped in front of me. He hops out and shakes his head at me, wagging his finger at me as if I was a dog. Tears stream down my face as I wail out for God to spare me to just kill me. For him to ed the torture here.

Jackson picked me up and duct taped my hands and feet together, yet again throwing me in the bed of the truck. The ride back to the house was filled with the chill of night and the sounds of the woods. Cooing of owls and howls of the wolves. Crickets strumming away and lighting bugs floating past my head. It was peaceful for a moment. I was living in the moment, just for a second. That all stopped when the truck pulled into the garage and he took me out of the truck and threw me in the bad girls room.

"Someone deserves a punishment." He laughs, taking off his belt and folding it in two. My screams are muffled by the duct tape around my mouth. he rips it off, loving the sound of my struggle and pain. Lash by lash, the belt hits my back and sides. I feel the icy sting from the cool air of night and the whip of the leather belt. Welts would soon form where the belt hit me. After he was done hurting me, he ripped my skirt off and pulled down his jeans and he r-

"That will be all, Ms. Winters." The prosecutor says, sparing me the details of one of my many rapes by my brother. The jury looks at me with sympathetic eyes and some are even crying. I guess the thought of a young girl being held captive, raped and tortured by her brother was tear jerking. All it was to me was another reason for me to want to be dead. I step down from the witness stand and take a seat in the benches behind the prosecution. I had done my part. Now, it was time for them to do theirs.

"After hearing a last word from our only victim left," The first juror stands up, with a paper in his hand. "We, the jury, find the defendant, Jackson Lee Winters, guilty of first degree murder in over fifty accounts; guilty of rape; and guilty of kidnapping. We seek the death penalty."

Tears start to form in my eyes at what they've just said. Jackson just stands up and laughs. Turning to me as the officer starts to escort him out of the court room, he smirks."I'll see you in your dreams Kitty Cat."

With that eerie ending, chills race down my spine as justice was finally served for all those girls who had been down there before me and to the girls I had gotten to know and didn't make it out alive. Justice was finally served.

Until that night, when I got a phone call from a payphone outside of Missouri. "Hello?" I ask, barely able to see the screen, waking from my deep slumber.

The same vile voice that haunted my dreams came through the phone. "Guess who escaped jail, Kitty Cat?"