Fragile // 5sos [under MAJOR reconstruction!]

Fifteen.

Dru should have regretted doing that, only she didn't. One of the two brothers had a very short temper, so when he saw that little pathetic girl disrespect him in that way, he lunged towards her and almost took a hold of her little neck, if only the two security guards weren't there to grab him in time.

Other than that little moment of terror that the crowd and jury felt, it was smooth sailing the whole way through. Dru was the second one to testify, so when she was called up to the stand, she looked at her mum in confusion.

"You have to go up and sit there, just like the other girl did." She explained, and Dru looked up at the female security guard waiting for her to stand so she could escort her up there. She acted as a human shield from the convicted for her, so she didn't have to look at them. But there was a gap between the two screens, and she caught a glimpse of the short tempered one. That image would forever stay in her mind.

She sat down, the female guard standing next to her, as she recited her oath and the questions started.

"Please, tell us what happened to you when you were under the custody of these two men." Her lawyer asked, as she stood in a confident pose and waited patiently for Dru to win her case. She hated the way that the lady held herself, and she seriously thought about jeopardising the case just so she could see the lawyer lose, but even she knew that it wasn't the best idea that she had.

And so, just like every other girl, she told her own story, which was basically the same as all of the other ones. As Dru looked through the crowd when she talked, she spotted Luke sitting at the back with the rest of the boys. She immediately stopped talking and waved, her dark eyes brightening. Luke and the boys shuffled in embarrassment as every pair of eyes turned on them, and they waved back.

"Dru, please. Back to your story." Mrs. Halloway instructed, but Dru didn't like being bossed around by her. She turned to her with the biggest frown she could muster and stuck her middle finger up at her too, knowing that it was used to show her disgruntlement towards another person.

"Dru! You do not do that to people!" Dru's mum had hissed at her from the bench and she immediately put her finger away and looked down in shame. The lawyer was speechless; she had no idea how to respond to that other than give the kid a piece of her mind, but then she quickly thought up an excuse.

"As you can see Your Honour, she has been so isolated from the world by these two men and their horrible business that she cannot function like a normal person in society! Do you see what they have done to these women?" She asked, sending a glare towards Dru. The jury whispered amongst each other, to which Halloway dismissed Dru, not even letting her finish her story. 

She quickly slid off the hot spot and briskly walked back to her parents, the girls giggling as she sat down. She smiled back at them, knowing that she must have done something right to act like that, but was quickly scolded by her mums.

It went like that over the course of four days. During every lunch break, Dru would spend 15 minutes with her parents, another 15 minutes with Luke and his friends, and the last half an hour with her girls. She loved it; seeing those men everyday was worth seeing her girls and Luke. She didn't mind sitting in the courtroom for hours at a time, because she was in the company of her girls. Occasionally, they would all itch at their skin and hair because of the way they had it tied back and the long and baggy clothes they wore. They weren't used to it, just like Dru, which was what she loved; they were all like her.

On the last day, Dru was once again called up onto the stage to be questioned one last time.

"Dru, you were the one who escaped first and rescued these girls. How did you escape?"

She looked at all of the girls in guilt. She didn't think she saved them at all; she left them there by themselves. She could have saved them a week's worth of pain by bringing them with her. But she didn't; she left with only herself on her mind, and that will always burden her until she died.

"The client I had, wanted something from me but I wouldn't give it to him. I was annoyed and tired; he was my sixth client for the day and I was getting sleepy. When I was lying on the bed, I was so tired that I almost fell asleep. He yelled at me for not giving him what he paid for, and in an anger I took the bond rope and wrapped it around his neck. he went purple in the face and fell down. There was no guard at the door, maybe because he paid him to leave us alone. So I left through the back door and I ran."

She hadn't told anyone that before; not her mum, not the police, not even her old nurse. She wanted to tell her sisters the story when she finally got to meet them again so she could explain herself.

"I'm sorry. I could have stopped and I could have helped you. But I didn't. I left you there. I'm sorry." She added, looking directly at the tear ridden girls sitting in the front row. She couldn't tell if they were crying out of disappointment or gratitude, but she didn't want to know. She explained herself, and that was all she wanted to do.