Blame

The Trial

The trial, when it finally started, was one of the most anxiety-inducing things Elizabeth had ever experienced.

It lasted four days.

Charlie found her an attorney, and Elizabeth had a very long talk with him before it started where he gave her the rundown.

He told her the story that they were going with, which was that the assailant was not her, but instead an unnamed individual that was still running free. What else could they say? They couldn't just place the blame on someone that was innocent, and bringing up demons in a court of law didn't exactly scream "take me seriously" or "I'm not making things up".

Charlie tried to give her further reassurance that things would go well, but Elizabeth was still having trouble forcing herself to believe the brunette.

On the first day, the jury was selected.

On the second day, they listened to victims of earlier attacks. Laura, Arlen, and Freddy made appearances. Everything they said was in Elizabeth's favor.

Although Charlie had literally said to Elizabeth's face that they were going to speak in her favor, she still couldn't help but feel a little surprised when the time came for them to talk and they actually did.

Even with the knowledge that they all knew a malevolent demon was using her like a string puppet, she found it hard to believe that they would want to.

She also couldn't help but feel almost nauseous as they recounted everything. The things Ennard had used her to put them through replayed in her mind in the same unwanted clarity that they had in the woods.

Words would never be able to accurately describe the disgust she felt within herself when she could see people, most of which she had known for many years, getting viciously attacked while her hands held the weapons and manhandled them like rag dolls.

And then the disconnect between the actual memories and listening to the victims talk like she wasn't even within a twenty-mile radius of the events when they occurred just made it worse.

Elizabeth really wished she knew how to sear Charlie's words into her head and force herself to believe them because really, she was just making the task of sitting there and not looking guilty far more difficult for herself.

On the third day, they listened to DNA experts, detectives, and a few timeline witnesses.

Things were brought up that nobody could seem to find an explanation for.

A thick, black substance was staining Elizabeth's face, the leaves, and the throwing knife when she was arrested. Despite the various amounts of testing done to it, nobody could seem to figure out what it was.

She knew that it was Ennard's blood, but of course, she didn't say anything about it.

There was also the large number of puncture marks on Elizabeth's forearm that were clearly from something biting her, but nobody really knew what could've possibly bit her and left the kind of teeth marks that it did.

The best that her attorney and Charlie could come up with was that Elizabeth had accidentally irritated some sort of animal in the forest -- one that she couldn't identify -- and it bit her. It was a rather weak explanation, but it sounded more plausible than the truth did.

The first few timeline witnesses were present when Nick's body was first spotted. They had seen Elizabeth converse with Jesse near the payphone, make a call, look up at Nick's mutilated corpse with abject horror, and run off into the alleyway. They had also seen Jesse pick up the phone before chasing after her. Luckily though, they didn't seem to know why either of them had disappeared into the alleyway.

The rest of them were more people from her troupe who had seen her before Laura and Freddy got attacked.

On the fourth day, the lead detective spoke some more and brought up Elizabeth's previous encounter with the police a few towns over.

Once the detective was done, Elizabeth's attorney spoke for her in an attempt to better establish her defense. It was definitely a good thing that he did most of the talking because, during the few times that Elizabeth did have to speak, she ended up sounding like she was either on the verge of tears or shutting down.

Why was she covered in Jesse's blood?

Well, that was because after the unknown assailant had attacked her, Elizabeth had tried to help her out and stop her from bleeding. In the process, she had gotten quite a bit of it on herself.

That lie felt particularly wrong to be silent about.

Jesse, while being stabbed repeatedly, had tried to force Elizabeth off and managed to smear blood all over her in the process.

Elizabeth could almost feel it on her again as she struggled to pay attention to her attorney.

She could feel the warmth and stickiness.

The way it cracked after it had started to congeal.

The way it practically caked her clothes.

And for a moment, it felt like the metallic scent was in the air again.

A voice in the back of Elizabeth's head wished that Jesse had just gone ahead and stabbed her when she had managed to wrestle the knife away. Sure, that would mean Elizabeth would be dead, but at least Jesse wouldn't be...

Why did she have a knife in her hand when the police found her? One that rather obviously belonged to her?

Elizabeth really did have no idea that it was in her coat pocket. She hadn't worn it since the night Arlen was attacked and she had stuck it in there, and it didn't fall out when she washed it because the pockets had zippers on them.

Her attorney rattled off something about the attacker taking the blade from her, using it to attack Jesse and attempt to attack Gar, and Elizabeth eventually getting it back to use it in an attempt to defend herself.

Gar finally appeared and said his piece. Everything sounded pretty much just like what Elizabeth's attorney had said.

After that, the prosecuting attorney did a whole lot of talking.

Elizabeth didn't know what half of the overly long words and terms he was using meant.

Her attorney spoke one last time before the judge addressed the jury, the bailiff told them to rise, and they all disappeared into the deliberation room.

That meant the trial was nearly at its end.

The anxiety that Elizabeth was feeling increased tenfold as the jury left the room.

She awkwardly fidgeted with her hands and stared down at the multicolored carpet as she waited for what felt like hours for them to return.

She could feel the eyes of everybody that had remained in the courtroom on her and it was immensely uncomfortable.

When the door finally opened again and the jury returned, Elizabeth could not bring herself to look back up at the people that were speaking.

"Have you reached a verdict?"

"We have, your honor."

"What say you?"

"We the jury, in the case of The State of North Carolina versus Elizabeth B. Jones, find the defendant not guilty of the⁠—"

Elizabeth didn't hear anything else past that, the words "not guilty" were so unexpected to her that she felt like she had just walked straight into a brick wall. They echoed through her head and almost immediately, she broke down into tears.

Charlie had been right.

She wasn't going to rot away behind bars.