Beautiful insanity (Dylan O'Brien) | ✓

36 | Time gone by

I never thought to be sitting in a court room. I never thought to be watching the one I love being treated like a criminal. Seeing him up there; exhausted, drained from life, he looked like he had given up. I knew he hadn't. Because he had promised to come back to me. He had made that promise when he asked me to marry him. And now three weeks later here we were. He was chained up like an animal. His skin was pale, almost transparent, making the blue veins underneath his flesh visible. His dark brown hair looked dull, laying on his head in a tousled mess. Dark circles lay under his eyes, making him look like he hadn't slept for days - which he probably hadn't. I felt so terribly sorry for him. My heart ached at the sight of him; cuffed, hunched over. It reminded me of the first time I had seen him. At the bus stop, filled up with alcohol and medication. I hadn't known at the time who he was and that he would become so important to me. Maybe if I had known that all of this would happen I wouldn't have waited with him. I would've done like everyone else. Run.

The court room was almost empty. It was just me, Sophia and a couple of people who were just here to see him suffer. Alex was also present but as a witness and as Dylan's  former psychiatrist. The trial seemed to last forever. So many things were being said and so many thins sounded wrong. He had showed them that he had changed, that he was sane again and still they kept accusing him of the most horrible things. Assault, rape. Every time they talked about rape something inside of my stomach twisted. I felt nauseous thinking about it, thinking about Dylan violently forcing himself on a girl. But he had told me in all honesty that he never touched a woman that way and I believed him. I had to believe him because if there was no trust between us what was the point in even getting married at all? The judge cleared his throat and pulled me out of my thoughts.

"This is my final decision." He said, looking straight to Dylan. "Because of your showing of good will and good behavior I will cut your sentence to half of the time you were given. Your sentence of 20 months in the asylum will be reduced to 9 months, starting today. You will be out before Christmas. This is my final decree." He hit the table with his hammer and the trial was over. They immediately took Dylan away. They didn't let me see him or hold him. When he turned around to look at me the guard yanked at his arm and dragged him through the large wooden doors. Two seconds our eyes locked but it was enough. Because in that one single look we told each other everything there was to say. I love you. Everything will be just fine. I'll be fine. It applied to the both of us.

I was not allowed to see Dylan whenever I wanted. One day a week on Monday or on Wednesday. I had asked - more like ordered - Mike to give me the Mondays off. He owned me that - and much more. If it weren't for my brother things wouldn't have turned out as ugly as they were. I was happy to see Dylan whenever I had the chance to and I made sure never to miss a day or even a minute. I always was the first to be sitting in the waiting room and the last to leave. Time went by slowly and as summer came and left again I knew fall would be harder. In the summer time when the bar was packed with tourists I was so busy working that I didn't think about the time and how long he would still be there. But when the leaves would turn brown and the people left to go back to their boring lives, it was like time stood still.
For some reason September was one of the worst months. It wasn't exactly cold outside yet but it wasn't hot either. School had started again and I had to prepare myself for my tests - which were at the end of November. I would be done with them a week before Dylan was a free man again.

Time passed by slowly. In the months that had passed since Dylan's arrest I had grown much closer to Sophia. She was the only one that had not betrayed me and the only one I could really trust. Alex was still my friend but things were different now. I knew he had done what he had done to protect me. He had been naif to trust my brother but he had done all of it for me. Still he shouldn't have judged that quickly. Beside me he was the one standing closest to Dylan. He had pretended to help him while he was just luring him into a trap. I never spoke to Tyler again. The sight of him made me sick to my stomach. To think that I ever trusted him, that I called him my friend, that I believed him over Dylan, it was enough to make me want to puke. He occasionally stopped by the bar, to tell me he was sorry, to tell me he wanted me back. I kicked him out every single time. After a while he didn't come back anymore.
It was hard to forgive Mike for what he had done, but he was my brother, my family and my boss. I couldn't just erase him from my life. So he spent his days trying to make it up to me and I tried to forgive and forget. 

It was the 21ste of December. Snow once again fell from the sky and froze the city I called home. I was wrapped in a tick warm coat and scarf and leaned against the door of my car. My eyes looked up at the enormous clock that hung above the big wooden doors of the asylum. Time went by slowly. Seconds seemed like hours and minutes seemed like days. Eventually the clock hit 12 p.m. and the doors opened. I pushed myself off the car and took a step forward. Then he walked out, covering his yes from the bright outside light. I smiled and hurried over to him and stopped when I was just a step away. It felt strange to see hem outside the visiting room. In his normal clothes instead of the blue uniform he had to wear. 

"Good afternoon Mrs. O'Brien." Dylan greeted, a cheeky smile on his lips. He wrapped his arm around my waste and pulled me to his chest. He softly placed his lips on mine and kissed me. 

"Not yet." I replied, smiling at him. He chuckled, wrapped his arm around my shoulder and we walked to the car. At that moment I realised I had never felt more happy. I had the trunk of my car filled with mine and Dylan's stuff. I had told Mike a week ago that I would not be coming back until me and Dylan had our life in order. I was about to marry the man of my dreams and start my life far from all the people who ever hurt him or me and everything just seemed to fall into place. Dylan looked at me before opening the door of the car, kissed my forehead and said:

"Let's start again."

THE END