Defendants with Cameron Dallas

Chapter 5

"The prosecution would like to call witness Cameron Dallas to the stand." Our lawyer stated as he stood from his chair.

"Go ahead." The judge motioned for Cameron to stand.

Cameron stood up and buttoned his suit jacket. I looked up at him. "You've got this."

"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" He whispered, his face appeared concerned.

"I'll be fine." I reassured him.

The judge cleared his throat and nodded slightly at the cameras in the back of the courtroom. There was double the amount that there had been usually. They almost couldn't all fit in the room. Every news outlet wanted any piece of Cameron's time on the stand that they could get.

Cameron nodded and proceeded to take a seat at the stand.

"Mr. Dallas, is it true that you discovered the victim?" Our lawyer began.

"Yes, sir."

"Where did you find Mr. McHale?"

"In a bedroom on the second floor." "Based on what I knew about the home, I would assume it was his room."

"What led you to believe this?"

"Well, when Hannah would keep me overnight." He paused. "Away from Kate." He glared at Hannah. "We would stay in her room."

"Which was not the room you found the victim in."

"Correct."

"And how would you describe the condition of the victim when you found him?"

"Uhhhh, well, he was dead."

There was a quiet giggle that passed through the seats in the back of the courtroom. The defense lawyer glared at Cameron.

"More specifically, Mr. Dallas."

"Well, there was a lot of blood everywhere, the walls, and the floor." "His shirt partially open, as if he'd been buttoning it when he was stabbed." Cameron's eyes glossed over and his gaze drifted.

"When you arrived at the hospital with Miss Kate the hospital staff reported that you were covered in blood but uninjured, can you explain that?"

Cameron locked eyes with our lawyer. "I just needed the keys." He said in a voice I did recognize. It was distant, and tinged with despair.

"Did you search the victim for the keys?"

Cameron stared off at the cameras. Seconds passed and he remained silent. Flash bulbs went off behind me. I turned to catch a glimpse of them.

"Mr. Dallas?" "How did you get blood on you, Mr. Dallas?"

A single tear rolled down Cameron's cheek.

"Get your witness together, I still need to cross examine him!" The defense lawyer shouted as he rose from his chair.

My head whipped from Cameron to him. I stood and lunged for him, arms out. I felt someone grab my shoulder and hold me back.

"Kate, don't do it." Sierra said calmly.

I gritted my teeth and turned to walk up to the stand. I made it up to Cameron and took his hand in mine. I crouched down next to the chair he was sitting in and looked up at him. "Let's go, love."

He nodded and stood up. I wrapped my arm around his waist and helped him leave the courtroom. His legs wobbled as we passed the press in the back of the courtroom. I shifted his weight onto my shoulder, he was a lot heavier than I anticipated.

Finally we made it back into a meeting room. I eased him down to the carpeted floor. He laid there on his back, staring blankly up at the white painted ceiling.

I picked his head up and laid it in my lap. I sat there playing with his hair gently while he cried silently.

He had always been so concerned for me, always asking if I was ok. He was the one who comforted me when I woke up screaming. He was the one who helped me calm down before taking the stand. He was the one who helped me heal in the hospital.

It was so foolish of me to assume he was ok. I was selfish in that I accepted all of that comfort while I never gave it back. I never asked him about when he found Hannah's dad. He could have been suffering alone because he put me ahead of himself.

Now here I was sitting with him in a meeting room not knowing what to do, not knowing what to say.

We each had our own pain weighing on us, causing us to breakdown.

Would we ever get over this? Was this going to keep happening? Could we even make it through the trial? We had only made it two weeks and both of us were already wrecks.

We had survived being held captive for eight months but we couldn't escape the ghosts that still haunted us.