The Disappearance Of Will Black / REWRITING /

⸢ xvii ⸥

A/N: this chapter was way, way, WAY overdue. i truly hope this chapter makes up for it. and just a small note, what's written in italics are from the past (an hour ago) and everything else is in the present.

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"It could've been worse."

"You're lucky to get out alive."

"If it were anyone but you, you'd have been given a death sentence."

"You got off easy, but don't count on it again next time."

Their voices, each one of them, played repeatedly over and over again as I was hustled into the police car. I felt the cuffs sink into my wrists, imprisoning me, becoming a part of my identity. Officers were giving me pointed looks as I walked out of the trial hall with two policemen at my side, my eyes locked on the floor in front of me, numb. They all tutted their unwanted comments and opinions, telling me that there could've been worse consequences.

What was worse than being called insane for something you didn't do?

"Sarah Norman Black is charged with several offenses that are both proven and yet to be proved.These offenses conclude of brutally killing Olivia Keeper with purpose, carrying a lethal unregistered weapon, the one that put a bullet in Eric Warrington's brain, and is highly suspected for the murder of William Black."

An officer slammed the door shut, and I took that moment to take in the silence that almost drove me crazy in the prison cell. It was only three hours ago that I was sitting in that blank, empty cage, yet it felt like a lifetime ago. I drew my face close to the window, my nose skimming the surface. My eyes darted around, looking for my parents or a sign of Julia and my friends, but the place swarmed with people I never met.

The judge beckoned me with a curt nod of his head. "After all the offenses listed, is there anything you would like to add or diminish?"

I didn't respond. I was looked wildly around the room, distracted, my eyes falling on William who sat justly beside the Judge with hard eyes. He didn't belong there.

"Say it," he snarled.

I shook my head uncontrollably. There was nothing to say.

"Say it!"

My own family didn't attend the trial. The police never waited for solid evidence stating I killed my own brother. Seeing me beside Olivia Keeper's smashed face holding a knife was enough for them.

I sat back, a headache spreading through my temple. There was a cell wall dividing me and the officer at the wheel and the passenger seat. I was trapped, even in a stupid car. The officer in the front, a spindly tall man, met my eye in the rearview mirror. He looked disappointed, like he had high hopes for me in the trial. He didn't even know me.

"Black?" The judge pressed. I visibly trembled, watching the blood fall from the base of Will's head and slither below his smirking eyes. This was a stage and I was the entertainer. I clenched my fists, ignoring all the waiting eyes burning holes in my skin. William wiped his forehead, leaving a faint red stripe on his temple. Then, something snapped in me.

I suddenly stood up, alarming everyone at the trial, and started to ascend towards the Judge's table. I was ready to pull his eyes out or to pull him out of whatever outer universe he came from and show everyone that he was alive and breathing. Hallucinations couldn't be this real. They couldn't.