Revenge or Revolution?

31.

Three years had passed by after the reunion. Brian was held accountable for Steve's murder and Sandra had gone to the hearing. She had submitted Sean's necklace, which was gifted to her, as an evidence that it was Brian who had killed Sean. She also told the court about the shirt with blood stains.

'I was with Kate that day! I got the necklace on the hood of my car! The blood stains were not actually from blood. It was Kate's lipstick mark.' Brian had said to defend himself.

Since there was no proof of that, Kate was called to confirm if Brian was there with her. She didn't want to have any connection with him and she lied straight through her teeth that he wasn't with her that night.

Sandra had no legit proof that it was Brian who killed Kyle and that's why she didn't mention his death. She never got the meaning of the numbers but she felt good making Brian punish for his crimes. He was announced guilty by the jury for double homicide and attempted rape charges which were filed by Sandra. The tape filmed by Steve was also presented as evidence. The gun found in the room was found empty but since the murder was done by the extinguisher, the gun was found to be irrelevant to the case. Mr.Patrickson was present in all of the case's hearings. When Brian was sentenced to lifetime imprisonment, he finally was at peace.

The news channel had run several programs on the murder of Steve and it was heard all over the country how a bully was sent to jail because he didn't just stop at bullying. Girls all round the country understood the importance of choosing the right partner and stricter laws were made against ragging in colleges and schools. If any student was accused of bullying and if it was proved, they would be suspended from the school/college. And suicide rates decreased, college dropouts were in a lesser amount now, things were actually looking good for the nerds. Steve had actually brought a change all over the country.

******

After the hearings were done, Sandra had moved away from Grestown and completed her education. But she had realized her true passion for writing murder novels. She frequently thought about Steve when she wrote. He would have loved it that she finally started writing. It was one such day when she was writing the beginning of her novel. She couldn't think of anything when she decided to pick a page from her own life. The first time she and Steve had met! How simpler the times were back then.

A sudden bulb lit up in her head and she instantly knew what 77 meant. She took her coat and went back to where it all started.

Sandra took a deep breath as she entered the campus of Grestown again. Things had changed there from the last time she had visited. The trees were cut to make more space for the ground. There was some kind of construction going on which was for a new swimming pool. She asked the watchman about it and came to know that after what happened 3 years back, the college had gotten significant publicity and the government had also given it a grant to make it better. Since then, the place has changed a lot. Sandra grinned at the news. Steve had one goal in his life – to change the world for better and he did it. The new swimming pool was also named after Steve.

Sandra was happy visiting the college after a long time. She had doubts visiting it because of how Brian had ruined this beautiful place. But she had to find out about 77. All of her professors had either retired or had died and all of the staff was new except some of the peons. She met them and they were quite happy to see someone who remembered them. Sandra felt as if the whole atmosphere of the college had changed. People were more positive and helping. They had become more understanding and careful. It was a pleasant sight overall.

After seeing the whole college, Sandra went to the place where Steve and Sandra met for the first time – Economics lecture. She looked up where the class numbers were written and saw the number 13 freshly painted. She was a bit confused but then she realized that the whole college had changed. She went nearer to the room and squinted her eyes to see more clearly and the number 77 was visible. It was faded out but it could definitely be made out unmistakably. Sandra felt a sigh of relief. She turned around and went to the notice board where she had been standing.