Blinded. (Sequel to invisible) A Fifth Harmony fanfiction.

Chapter 27

She hated courtrooms.

The room was very much all wood. She was grateful that the rather large room had windows that offered a nice view of the outside world making her feel a little less trapped and giving her a sense of security in the fact that if anything went wrong, her last resort could always be throwing herself out of one.

She looked around, in front of her was where the judge would sit, directly on the left of the judge would sit the court clerk, writing down everything that was being said and done, immediately to the judges right was the witness stand, where Charlotte was sure to be sitting at most of the time. Against the left side of the room was the bailiff, who was basically an officer that explained your rights or something along those lines, right side of the room was the jury box where 12 people were going to sit and decide on whether Damien was innocent or not, her gutt twisted a little at the thought.

Charlotte was sat at one of two small tables in the front middle of the room, she was sat at the desk furthest away from the jury with her Lawyer beside her, and the other was for Damien and his lawyer. Behind her was a wooden divider, cutting off where the audience and press would be sitting.

Her palms were sweating, she hadn't seen Damien since she was being held captive by him, the man had been held in prison since then. Shaking lightly, and aware that the spectators seats behind the dividers were beginning to fill with many people, some of which she knew to be from the certain tabloid companies.

Directly behind her though say the girls and Ivy. A row behind them was where her Uncle and Aunt would be sat after they gave their side of what happened to the judge. Charlotte has seen them briefly outside of the room, their heads were hung low and they seemed to be dealing with a great deal of stress. She felt bad, and she wondered how the girls and Charlie were, but of course, due to court law she wasn't allowed to exchange any words with them, and also time was not of the essence. Out side Chris was also sat waiting, since he found her, he was due to give his story too, as were the men she had identified at the police station a week prior. It was all a little overwhelming and Charlotte felt a little sick.

James, her Lawyer, offered her a comforting smile. He was an oldish man with a fierce face, one that gave you a false sense that he was evil, but Charlotte new he was far from evil, and was really rather sweet and had a slight obsession with water features in his office.

She smiled weakly back and jumped slightly as Damien and his Lawyer walked in through a side door, the sound of cameras clicking sent Charlotte's heart racing. Clearly prison didn't look good on him, his face covered in many old and new cuts, and his right eye sporting a green-yellowish colour. He gave no attention to her and sat down at the other desk beside his scrawny lawyer as the Jury began to fill in their seats and the court clerk sat in his seat.

"Don't worry." James said supportively, "he can't get away."

The Judge walked in and everyone stood. Charlotte never understood why they had to rise as the Judge made their way to their seat, but she hadn't dared to question it, plus, it never really seemed like it mattered in the grand scheme of everything happening, if she had to rise, she would.

Once the Judge sat down, everyone did. The Judge was a youngish woman, probably no older than Lauren's Mother. Her dark hair blended into her robes, the moon shaped glasses sat at the end of her nose and her face seemed like she had just eaten a million lemons. She made Charlotte have mixed feelings, as much as she made her nervous, Charlotte knew that this wasn't a judge that could be bribed by anything, and that she clearly found herself rather serious.

The court clerk spoke first, the small thin haired man asked Damien his full name and address and then asked if he had changed his plea. Once Damien had given the answers, the clerk began to type it down, allowing the Judge to talk.