Since You've Been Gone

Chapter 11

I was awoke at about one in the morning by the sounds of police sirens. I looked out the window of my twelfth story apartment. They were at the house across from our complex. I sat on the swivel chair in front of the window. It was the big comfy kind. They came out of the house five minutes later. One cop was pulling a person on a stretcher in a body bag, and one was leading someone in handcuffs to a police car. There was probably a murder. I went back to bed. The trial was today.

When I woke up for real at seven, I gathered some breakfast a gobbled it down. I took a quick shower, got dressed, did my hair, and did my makeup. I clicked on my phone. 7:49. I completely forgot to call Carlos back. I sat in my swivel chair and we talked for about twenty minutes there and we were still talking when I got to the courthouse. I told him I had to go and that I'd call back later. Right before I hung up he said, "Wait! Do you wanna, um, date me maybe?" I was silent for a moment and explained my current dating situation. He understood and I promised to get back to him when I was ready.

As I entered the courtroom, I felt eyes burning into my back. I sat down where I was supposed to. Karen was at the same table as I was assigned to.  The alleged killer was across the aisle. I looked over and he shot me a dirty look almost as if to say, "I'll kill you next." I was so nervous. The judge finally got to his stand. His name was Judge Dorensh. He called me up to the stand after addressing what happened to the people of the jury.  "What evidence do you have to prove that Mr. Fleckbort killed your fiance?" he asked. I took a deep breath. "Josh got a text from this man. We tracked his phone number and found not only that he lived in the area, but had quite a few run ins with the law. The police found the crime scene and both his and Josh's blood were discovered on scene." He thought about this for a moment and then said, "You may head back to your seat.  Ms. Jackson, please head up to the stand." Karen looked at me and went up. I could tell she was nervous, judging by the way she held her posture.

"Ms. Jackson, what do you know about all this?" he said turning over toward Karen. " Well, to be honest, Alexis is my best friend. Whenever we had to go to the police station, we went together. We both know the same information. I honestly have nothing else to add to this." If you were there, you could totally he was upset. He sighed and said, "Okay. Head back to your seat." Then Karen and I were asked to take a twenty minute recess while they decided the verdict. We headed over to Coffee Central for a break. "What do you think the verdict will be?" Karen asked nervously taking a sip of her scorching coffee. I sighed. I had no idea what it would be. "I hope it's guilty, but I don't know," I said taking a sip of my lemonade. I've always preferred lemonade over coffee. Our twenty minute recess was nearly up.

As we entered the courtroom, we noticed that the murderer was just taking his seat. The judge shuffled his papers and said, "Well, we've come to a decision. We find Mr. Aaron Fleckbort guilty of third degree murder. Sentence of sixty-five years in prison." He did the thing judges do with his gabble. Karen and I stepped out of the courtroom acting normal. But once we got to the car, we jumped up and down and screamed as loud as possible, "WE WON! WE WON! WE WON!" We definitely made quite a scene. Once we got in the car. We started crying happy tears. The day I have been waiting for for a month had came. I wrote another note to Josh:

Dear Josh,

We finally got the justice we've been waiting for. We were a little hesitant that we would win this, but baby we did. The terrible man who thought you weren't good enough to live went away for 65 years. He'll be in his early 100s. He'll be dead so he can't get anyone else. Karen and I are so excited. We are having a celebratory dinner tonight. Josh, we did. You got your justice. I miss you, babe.

-Alexis Rae-Lynn

And the justice was served