"Mister Perry. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Say I if you agree." He took a brisk breath, but cautiously nodded, "I." The court room was packed. Family, friends, and people from around the town who had seen the two men grow up together, in a seemingly perfect relationship, were now there. Watching as the unspoken truth about what they hid from the world unravel. "Now Mister Perry, how would you describe your relationship with Mister Myres?"
The whole court room fell silent. Awaiting what was to come from the young man's voice. Was it going to be another fairy tale to hide what happened to him. He was the center of attention. Nothing like this ever happened in the small town they grew up in, it was always quite, and only ever minor car accidents or small robberies that were dealt with right away.
Audrey looked over at his grandmother and then down at his quivering hands, fighting for the right words to come out of his mouth. He wanted to lie and say something that didn't happen. The story the one he was against would tell them. But this was his time to get justice for the pain and suffering that lasted years. The punishment he got for breathing wrong, or the humiliation for speaking at the wrong points when in public.
"We were close. Curtis and I grew up together. But when we were twelve we started to get a lot closer and ended up dating a year later. Him and I-" He cut himself to adjust his sentence, "It and I had started good for around a month till when he first hit me. It was over the stupidest thing and I thought he would never do it again, but oh how I was wrong." He took another sharp breath with a long exhale, clearly nervous from spilling the truth. "He got worse over the years. My treatment was worse and I was put under some kind of curse to believe that it loved me."
The prosecutor looked at him, deciding to question before letting him continue, "The it you refer to, that is referring to Mister Myres correct?"
His head nodded as he looked out to the eyes of his abuser. "We were together for fifteen years. So up in till this year, when I finally escaped that monster of a man. It was like a cat and mouse game. One minute he would love me and hold me, giving me the affection that I so needed and yearned for. In the blink of an eye he would be yelling and beating me for what I had not done. I was terrified with him, scared to the bone that what I had to live through would never end. I felt as if I could never leave. Trapped under his spell of 'I love you' and 'i'd never hurt you.' I loved him and knew deep down that he loved me too.. He just didn't know how to show it properly."
Audrey spoke with a small shudder in his voice. He had never spoken out about those years he spent with him. The awful years he spent in pain and lust and love with that monster. Made to believe the man wasn't really what he was. In a trance of what he thought love was. Love was far from what it was, it was being beaten and used for the offenders pleasure.
"Hypnotized under his spell of love one minute, torture the next. I kept telling myself that one day he would get better and over his sickness and prove to me just how much he really did love me. But that day never came and my beatings continue to get worse. Bruises, pulled fingernails and even broken bones are just some of the things he did to me. If we were to go through the full list we would be here for days."
"Now calling to the stand is Curtis Myres."
Walking to the stand in an orange jumpsuit and cuffs he smirked at Audrey as he passed by. He had the devilish tint in his eyes that he did when he was plotting something horrid against the other male.
"Mister Myres. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Say I." The hellion just put on an innocent face to trick the jury and nodded, "I."
"How would you personally describe your relationship with Mister Perry."
The smile on the males face gave everything that Audrey needed to know that he was sure as hell not going to be telling the truth. "I grew up with him. We had always been really close but he started to get closer to me when we were twelve only to spark up a relationship when we were thirteen. Him and I went well and I was happy with him and he was happy with me. I never saw any issues with our relationship. But me being three years older than him caused some problems when we were in that funny gap where I was too old and he was too young. The first time we got intimate was consensual and amazing. It was perfect and I wouldn't change a thing. Audrey over there likes to tell people it was forced and when he was too young to understand but that's him remembering it wrong. He was seventeen and I was twenty. Perfectly legal. Not like what-"
Curtis was cut off and he sighed softly leaning back in his chair staring dead at the victim to all of his games. "Mister Myres, this is what your relationship was to you, please get back on track here. We will talk about this later."
"Fine fine. We were close, and good in my eyes. I wouldn't ever want to hurt him because I love him with all my heart. Not until recently have I ever snapped at him for any reason. I've been very stressed with work and paying for our rent when he doesn't help me at all and I work all day long. But to me our relationship was good till now, considering what he's accusing me of."
"Thank you. Curtis can you now explain what exactly went on the first time you two consummated your love?"
YOU ARE READING
Devil Within
Teen Fiction"It was like a cat and mouse game. One minute he would love me and hold me, giving me the affection that I so needed and yearned for. In the blink of an eye he would be yelling and beating me for what I had not done. I was terrified."
