Finding Solace

XLVIII

"What are you doing?" I whispered, pulling at Mr.Eyler's suit sleeve, causing him to stop his rising action and to bend down to my level.

"Winning this case." He whispered back before standing again. "Can I have a monitor brought in." He opened his brief case, which filled me with anticipation as I tried to peak inside, desperately trying to see inside. He delicately pulled out a disk, careful not to put fingerprints on the bottom. Intrigued, I sat back in my chair, my fingers nervously tapping on the wood in front of me.

"What could possibly be going through your head?" I muttered under my breath, analyzing his movements as he set up the screen. Once he was finished, he slid the disk in to which the screen lit up, revealing a picture of the night sky.

"I could like to call Cora Springfield to the witness stand." The doors opened from behind us and my head whipped around, my eyes landing on one of my former best friends. She stumbled a bit when we made eye contact but she recomposed herself and continued onward, not even bothering to look Analia's way.

"Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth?" The officer asked after having her place her hand on the Bible.

"I do."

"Thank you Miss. Cora for coming today." Mr. Eyler handed some papers to the office, who handed them to the judge.
"Now, as we've al heard according to Miss. Patel's side of the story, my client was intoxicated and extremely violent but if you look at those papers, her medical reports say otherwise. Those were taken upon her arrival at the hospital and her results show that she had little to no alcohol in her system." He pushed a few buttons on the remote, which then began a slideshow of pictures of the screen, ones of the crime scene surrounded by police and yellow tape.
"According to Miss. Patel, during my client's wild outburst, she was throwing the glass bottles around, which started the altercation, yet, in these pictures, they are all neatly place beneath this tree." He zoomed in on the photo.
"Now of course, this can be considered circumstantial considering the alcohol could have left her system when she bled out and the police could have gather up the bottles but that is why I brought Miss. Cora here today." He left the monitor to approach the witness stand.
"Can you confirm that you were indeed there during the night of the attack."

"Yes, Sir."

"Could you please tell us everything that you can remember about that night."

"Of course." She shifted nervously in her seat. "After hiking in the woods, we stopped for the night. I remember complaining so we would." She paused. "After drinking and smoking a bit, Faylyn went to bed early but the rest of stayed up to finish the bottles. When they were gone, we all decided to go to bed. I'm not sure how long we were sleep for but we awoke to screaming and Analia telling us to run. That's when we called the cops."

"Thank you, Miss Cora. I know how hard this much be for you. How hard that night much have been." He nodded and paced around the room. "Why did you want to stop that night."

"I told them I was tired and scared." She hesitated, her mouth opening before closing again. "The real reason I wanted to stop was because there was supposed to be a meteor shower that night and I wanted to see it. I tried to stay up as late as I could but I was too tired," she wiped her hands on her dress pants nervously. "so I decided to set up my phone and video it."

"What ever did happen to that video?"

"At-At some point in the night, it much have slipped down because," she sucked in a deep breath. "because I got the whole thing on camera."

The entire audience gasped, aside from myself. My reaction was much more silent but much more visual, my body leaning forward in my chair, eyes widening. It wasn't possible, it couldn't be possible.

"This isn't for the faintest of heart, so the audio is muted and the entire video will not be played but it will be played in it's entirety to the jury when they go to the other room." He pressed play. "But I think you all deserve to see what Miss. Patel is capable of."

The screen was switched back the night sky and began playing, the video panning downward, as if the phone slipped from its original position. It was being fast forwarded until three people began to get out of their sleeping bags, whispering to each other until they approached mine. It was at an awkward angle and it was almost too dark to make anything out but when they woke me up and began to drag me over to the fire, their faces were illuminated, shedding their cover and revealing the monsters that were lurking in the shadows. Once the knife was pulled, and it began its motion to enter my body, the video was stopped.

"As you all can see," He gestured to the screen, making sure to point of the knife, "that Miss. Patel isn't as innocent as she seems. As I revealed, she is a manipulative liar who tried to kill my client and is now attempting to walk free."

"Objection, Your Honor!" The other attorney jumped to his feet with an accusing finger. "This is defamation of character! My client is mentally ill and had no idea what she was doing!"

"Objection sustained."

"Actually, Your Honor." My lawyer went on. "If you set my client's medical reports aside, you will see several papers of psychiatric doctors that I sent in to observe and interview Miss. Patel. If you read the results of each report, it does show that she is mentally ill." He gave a dramatic pause, then stuck up his pointer finger as if he had an 'ah ha' moment. "But that's before the answers were properly analyzed, which shows she was lying because each answer contradicted the other. The only thing she has is a narcissistic personality disorder, which is extremely accurate considering that the last report in your hand is a written confession by Miss. Patel's cellmate they says her motive of trying to kill my client was because my client got a scholarship that she wanted."

I wanted as Analia's attorney turned red and began whispering harshly to her, who's face was screwed up in anger. By their reactions and the smug look my lawyer was sending me, I knew we had this in the bag.

"That is all." He concluded and returned next to me.

"Do you have any questions?" He asked the other attorney, who was still bickering with Analia.

"No." He snapped bitterly, crossing his arms across his chest as glared in front of him.

"If that is all, the jury will now enter the back room to reach a verdict."