Until Death Do Us Part

Athena

Name Athena CRESSLEY

I would like to start off by saying thank you for giving me the opportunity to present my case to you, and to have you overlook your decision. For those of you who don't know, my name is Athena Cressley, and at age fifteen, I was accused of murdering Elsie Farlington. 

I went to trial on charges on manslaughter, and was found not guilty of manslaughter by a jury in a court of law. 

I would like to recount my side of the story, so that you can hear the truth, and come to your own conclusions on whether I deserve the sentence you have given me. I hope you make the right decision.

I met Elsie when we were eleven, and became fast friends. We even became best friends at one point, and we were inseparable, along with two other girls, who are not too relevant to this story, although they do play a role. 

We were best friends for a year or so before things began to change in the group. Slowly, I noticed that I was being pushed out of the group. It was subtle; they left me out of the group chat, and then they began to leave me out of conversations. They would hide away and talk amongst themselves, and would stop the second I went near them. 

It wore me down, and I began to be very upset over it. I felt like I was loosing my best friends, and that was hard for me. I was never any good at making friends, and I was loosing mine, and I didn't know how to cope with that. 

I had struggled with my anger before, but usually I was able to control it, but this time it was different. I felt the anger just below the surface, bubbling away, subsiding every now and then, but when it reared its' ugly head again, I couldn't control it.

I began to lash out at the people around me, and I was arguing with everyone over the tiniest of things. I never once got physical though, that wasn't my style, even when I was angry. 

And I never got physical with Elsie or the others in our group. But Elsie was the ring leader in this situation. While the other girls were still friendly and had even apologised to me, Elsie didn't. She kept pushing me, insulting me, giving me dirty looks - which again, wasn't much of anything, but I was thirteen when this started, and I didn't know anything worse than that. 

Of course, that is no excuse for my behaviour. 

Instead of taking the high road, like I should have done, I became petty, and I retorted back. I would give her looks, and say mean things, and I didn't stick up for her against bullies anymore. I  became the same as her, a bully. 

This went on until we were fifteen, although things rose in spikes and then settled down again, so we had a civil relationship most of the time. We still had mutual friends and best friends, and so every now and then, our paths would cross. 

She began dating our friend, Tom, and I began to see more of her, but we still weren't friends by a long shot. We kept our distance, and were polite to each other, but never really interacted on a friendly level. 

Things spiked again for whatever reason, but this time it was particularly nasty. The anger within me spiked more then ever before, and I couldn't keep it at bay for most of the time. Elsie began to get more personal with her insults, talking about my family, and chipping away at my self confidence. 

People at school began to get involved, and of course this made everything worse. People began to stir up rumours, and make up lies to us about the other one, or what the other had said. It fuelled both us, and it only got more and more heated. 

Until one afternoon, when things reached a head. 

I was called over to the drama block to talk to Elsie, and I walked over with my fists clenched, and my mind set. I wasn't going to hurt her, but she did need to hear some home truths. I was going to let her know exactly what I thought of her and who she really was, and just give her a dose of reality. 

But things went south very quickly, and before long, she was pulling my hair, and I was spinning round to face her. I lost all control, and my fists flew. I had hurt her, I could tell, but she put up a fight, and landed a few good punches on me, making me bleed in several places. 

The school bell went, and people started to step in and break us up, the onlookers around us interested in what was happening. 

Elsie stalked off, laughing to her friends, only winding me up further. But I brushed it off, grabbed my bag, and headed up to business studies, wiping the blood from my face. But it was just minutes before I was being summoned to the year office. 

Elsie started as I entered, but sat back down quickly with a look from Mr Kitchen. 

We argued some more, and it was still very angry between us. She had insulted my family, the one thing I couldn't stand. And I wasn't about to let it go. 

Both of us stormed out at the end of the meeting, our argument far from over, and we both happened to be classes opposite to each other. So I followed behind her up the stairwell, where a group of our class mates were standing outside, doing some kind of class exercise, but we didn't notice them. 

And we didn't notice the broken bannister, no one did. It had stayed in it's place, and no one knew it was broken. No one could have stopped what happened. 

Elsie had suddenly turned, outraged at something I said, and she backed her way up the stairs and around the corner of the stairwell. We stopped dead, I can't remember why, and I continued to talk, lowering my voice a touch, but I still had a furious tone to my voice. I gestured in my rant, I use my hands a lot when I talk, but it made Elsie flinch, and take a step back. 

It was then that she backed into the broken bannister, and it dropped, while she stayed, fighting for her balance on the edge. 

I tried to grab her, I really did, but my hand just wasn't enough and she fell. 

I ran down instantly, calling an ambulance and screaming for help. I put her in the recovery position, just like the lady on the phone said to, and waited for the ambulance to arrive with the police. 

So, there it is. The full story of what happened to Elsie Farlington. 

I hope that you listen to this, and understand that I never intended to hurt her, and I really tried to save her, just as the witnesses said, but I just wasn't enough to save her. 

Everyday, I am paying for what happened with the guilt in my mind, which I know isn't compensation to her family, but I believe I have paid my debts in my voluntary work that I do at the local hospital, helping children and teenagers who have had traumatic accidents. 

Thank you for your time, 

Athena Cressley