Make You Love

Chapter 20

The night came and fled all too quickly. Two prison guards woke Craig up from his uneasy sleep, fed him coffee and steak, and bundled him into their van. Tomorrow was here. His life flashed before his very eyes, from the time he said his first words, to when he met Isla. Restrained by handcuffs in the back of that police van, he relived all his firsts.

First friend. Isla.
First kiss. Isla.
First heartbreak. Isla.
First Val. Isla.

She was everywhere yet nowhere in particular, just floating around his subconscious. As the vehicle ended it's journey at the courthouse, Craig drew in a sharp breath.

The dead silence of the guards worsened his situation. If he didn't know what fear was before, he felt it now, clawing away at his soul like a hungry monster. He bent his head to say a quick prayer, perhaps in hopes that God might have pity on his distraught spirit, but he couldn't say a word. All reason fled from him. He felt empty. Vague. Even his legs felt like they no longer belonged to him, and he was sinking further and further into a maze where no one could find him.

The night before, a preacher had visited his cell. He read to Craig from the book of John...
"For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

"God loves ya, son. He died for ya. Wanna give your life to Him?"

Craig gently closed the Bible and pressed it to the preacher's chest.
"It's too late for me. If God truly loved me, He'd have found me a long time ago."

He broke down wholly. Set free all the pain and regret that had been building in his soul. Craig cried. Not the tears of one mourning his loss. He wasn't crying for himself. He was crying, rending his soul in pieces for those he loved. He pitied them more than himself, because he'd stained them with evil.

If he were convicted now, they'd have the mourn him in private. They'd weep their eyes out for days on end in their closet. He saw a glimpse of his Mom just before he was rushed into the witness box to give his testimony.

She had to bear the weight of watching her only child undergoing trial for murder. He could tell by her bloated cheeks and her masc
ra running down her eyes that she'd been crying for him. He'd give up anything to ease her pain.

"On the night of 27th November, 2016," the state attorney began, "Novah Mendes, an extremely bright student of Bright Wood High, was crushed to death outside her sister's home in Baltimore, Maryland."
The prosecutor pointed to a large scale enlargement of Novah's beautiful face on an easel. The jury stared at the face, then jotted down stuff.

"As it turns out, she was at a party thrown by her sister, Isla Dehler. They were playing a game of truth and dare, in which she was dared to kiss Mr Peter, Isla's boyfriend. She was so alarmed by the mere notion of it that she ran into the street in a bid to escape. Two men in black overalls and baseball caps jumped into a Civic parked about five blocks away, revved up the engine and ran right over her body. She never had the time to say goodbye to her family. To make sure they'd finished the job, one of them rolled down his window and calmly put two shots into the head of Novah's dying body. Before any of her friends could decipher the situation, they sped off at the speed of light."

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Can you put the puzzle together? 😊