Battleground of the Unknown

Chapter 4

"Brice! Wake your ass the hell up!" I open my eyes to see steel gray eyes of the mysterious FBI agent that had arrested me and my friends. I am wearing fairly normal clothes except for the Prisoner Identification Number on the right side of my chest that reads 9878183. I expected that I would be wearing the plain old orange jumpsuit, but I was told that I would be wearing that whenever I receive an official sentence. It has been three months, three months of trying to tell someone that I am innocent, three months of family members visiting me and asking me if I really did what everyone thinks I did, three months of talking to different attorneys crazy enough to represent us, and three months of awaiting trial. I and my friends were split up into different cells I only got to see the one time in the three-month span, and it was only for a few minutes. I am finally getting to meet with my parents today. Since my trial is tomorrow. I am glad that I will get to talk to them one last time before the inevitable happens.

"Your parents are here. You wanna' say goodbye to them, or are you planning on dying lonely? This agent has been particularly hard on me during my three-month custody. Saying things such as "Make sure you tell my dad in hell, I said hi." Or "Be sure to apologize to anyone you sent to hell early that night." Everyone seems to think that my friends and I had actually committed the murders that we were convicted of. Multiple of the attorneys that I met with tried to get me to plead guilty

I crawl out my particularly uncomfortable bed and make my way towards the iron cell door. The door opens, and three officers walk in. One of them cuff my hands in front of me and the other two grab me by both arms and escort me to the meeting area.

The meeting area has multiple circular tables where I see a few other prisoners meeting with their loved ones. That's when I see her. I see Brienna sitting at one of the tables talking with her mom and dad. She seems to sense that I entered the room because she turns around and her eyes lock onto me with a stare. A few seconds later she gives me a faint smile, I smile back. I make eye contact with her father, he gives me a nod, and I nod back. The two guards pull me towards a table. I turn and see my parents, I can tell that my mom has been crying, and my dad holds her close trying to comfort her. I am happy to finally see them. I sit across from them at the table.

"Son, it's good to see you." My dad says first.

"You too dad," I Answer back and smile. I expect him to smile back, but he doesn't. "I know what it looks like, but you have to believe me I didn't do what they're saying I did." I am pleading with them now.

"Then how do you explain the footage!" My dad begins to raise his voice.

"I don't know!" I'm shouting now.

"Well, you know what— He begins to say but my mom cuts him off.

"Listen to me, Andrew!"

"Yeah, what?" I say with a sigh.

"Mabey, if you plead guilty, you know," I come to a shocking realization. "The jury just might have mercy on you." She begs.

"Wait a minute!" I shoot up from my seat and shout. An officer begins to rush towards me, but my dad makes a motion for him to wait. "You think I actually did it, don't you?" I can't believe what I am hearing. I wait for them to say otherwise, but they say nothing. "Tell me you think I'm innocent! Tell me!" I am screaming at the top of my lungs now. My mom looks down and says nothing. They really think I killed 85 people. I throw my head back and laugh at the whole situation. My parents give me a confused look. "You two," I pause dramatically and I stare them in the eye. "Parents of the GOD DAMN YEAR!!!!!" I can barely control myself. "We're done here!!" I shout at them. My two escorts take me back to my cell. I pass by Brienna, she looks up at me with a sorrowful look, but I avoid her gaze. That night I can hardly sleep. I stare into the ceiling of my cell, thinking about the possible outcomes of our trial the next day. Our lawyer claims to have enough evidence to prove our evidence, but it still doesn't explain the fake camera footage. After a few more hours of attempting to fall asleep I finally close my eyes and drift away.

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