Ghosts

The Downfall of the Williams Family

Do you know the feeling you get whenever something happens? —whether it is good or bad. It is anxiety wrenching. Your heart just seems to triple in size, throbbing in your chest and somehow swelling to your head. It races quickly like a child running to his or her mother after school. It becomes hard to breathe and you begin to wish someone would come to your rescue with some type of medical machine that they could connect to your nose to control the tightening in your chest. But rather that, you wish for someone to be there to just hold your hand and tell you, "everything is just fine."

That never happens though because wishes don't come true.

I tried to do what my mother had said to do; I loosened my tight fists from my sides and let them fall free, shut my eyes, and took two deep breaths focusing on relaxing my body.

My mother's voice rang though my ears, 'Breathe darling, breathe.'

So I did. I closed my eyes. One. I transferred as much air as I could through both my nose and mouth into my lungs. I puckered my lips as if I was about to whistle slowly blowing out the air, slowly.

'Frankie, I want you to breathe with me, okay?' She echoed in my mind.

Two. Repeat.

I snapped my eyes opened. It never completed fixed everything, but it helped.

"Will the defendant please rise." The white haired man with the glasses and black robe said.

I, trying to distract myself, imagined him as someone from Harry Potter. In my mind, Daniel Radcliffe was sitting right next to me.

"Has the jury reached their verdict?" He asked.

A man sitting in the seats of the jury stood saying, "We have your honor."

"On the account of attempted murder in the first degree, what is the verdict?" The white haired wizard said.

I held my breath and bit the inside of my lip. I could feel the crease forming between my eyebrows that I'm sure will leave permanent wrinkles.

The man representing the jury was my only focus. My eyes did not and would not leave him until he responded.

"Not guilty, your honor."

I let out my breath clasping my hands together. I wasn't sure how to feel. I was so frightened.

"On account of attempted murder in the second degree?"

Relief hit me all too fast and the man hesitated before he answered the judge."

"Guilty."

"On account of assault?"

"Guilty, your honor."

"On account of burglary and theft, your verdict?"

"Guilty."

I stiffened at these last words. My eyes shifted to the defendant.

His face had hardly faltered, as if he already knew, but I could see something no one else was able to see. He was broken. He ran a hand back over his graying hair in distress. Slowly nodding, he put his head down for a split second before shaking his lawyer's hand.

"Case dismissed."

It was the end. After four months of trials and lawyers and testifying, it was over.

Men in police uniforms came and placed the silver handcuffs onto the man's wrists then they began to walk towards the door on the other side of the courtroom. As they passed by me, it seemed as though time slowed to a stop. His head turned to me. I had a closer look of him. He had bags under his eyes and looked as if he'd aged ten years in the few months I had not spent everyday with him. My heart just broke looking into his eyes. I knew he wasn't a criminal. He didn't deserve to go to prison, at least not for the amount of times he would be serving.

He stopped and so did the officers with him.

"Seven years, that's all. Frankie, remember, with strength comes courage, with courage comes freedom. I hope you will be able to learn before I come back. I'm sorry I couldn't be stronger for you." He gave a weak smile, no teeth, just a slight curve of the lips, then left with the two officers holding his arms.

I was too afraid, I couldn't speak. I had become mute for those for seconds he spoke to me, and now regret flooded over me like a dam that had just burst.

"I'll see you soon, Dad" I whispered to no one. Not even I could hear.

***

Walking into my house was the strangest part of it all. I stepped through that front door followed closely by my father's lawyer saying something to reassure me of my situation—it was not reassuring. But stepping over the small clutter of a few stacks of unopened mail and old clothing lying in corners, on chairs, and on the floor and any other junk that could be found was quite unusual. There was so much stuff yet it felt so empty.

"I thought we had them! But I guess it was just the attempted murder charge that got a little messy. Anyways, you should probably get the house a bit cleaned up before they come to check it out. We want you to get as much out of it as possible." Joseph said with his arms flailing around pointing to the little mess that had been made throughout the last few months.

It wasn't terrible. He makes it seem like we were a bunch of train wrecks when we truly were not. Dad and I lived like normal people. We were normal people, and we still are. Sure we had had a bit of a rough year, but who doesn't have their tough times. Of course, ours just led to our great downfall—The Great Downfall of the Williams Family.

I didn't bother responding to Joseph. He was a smart man; I can assume he understood that I had heard him.

"I'll be back later with the realtor and inspector. What time do you think your uncle will be arriving?"

"I don't know. He said sometime after lunch." I didn't turn my head towards him to speak, and maybe I did feel a bit inconsiderate by not doing so but so be it.

"When will that be?" Joseph questioned yet again.

To this I did turn to him, but I said nothing. I knew he could tell what I was thinking by my glare. I do not know, Joseph. I do not care, Joseph. Please leave now, Joseph. Like I said, Joseph was a smart man.

"Alright then, I'll see you in a couple of hours. I'll drop by with the others around two o'clock. Okay?"

I just nodded and proceeded to compile remnants of laundry around the house into a basket to be washed and boxed. The front door sounded of a slight slam, and that's when I knew Joseph had finally left. Somehow, it was easier to breathe.

:):

Hey guys!

So I finally realized that's all of my older "stories" we're shit. I guess being a 14 year old idiot, you think you can write a 5 star story. I was wrong. They sucked.

But I thought I'd give it another go. I came up with this idea one night and I could get it out of my head. I kept thinking in the main characters point of view and I just felt the need to give her a chance to tell the story.

So I hope you enjoy it and I hope it doesn't completely fail!!

Xo elsy