Right, burnable inferno

Esmeralda Greene - In the courtroom of fate

I looked at him as if I had already won. I knew the Dark forces I had summoned would help me in this. Why do this? I had become addicted to the power that they gave me... I wish that I could change his opinion, I really wish there was a spell to turn back time. I loved him. There you have the real reason that I did this! I was really so obsessed with him that I had turned a witch. I wish I could turn myself around.

Yeah... In the courtroom, that day, I looked at Phineas as if I were seeking vengeance. But what was I to avenge? I was good at pretending, alright. That's why I wanted to be an actress. That nistagmus though... I was born that way. I had no choice. So, the only thing I remembered during that trial was to present the bewitched evidence I had in hand (I needed no lawyer because I was one) to the judge and then the jury would consider it true because of, well, the spells I placed on it. "Aren't I clever?", I thought to myself.

"Hear ye, hear ye!", the judge (Jessa Burnes, the girl I went to Law School with; a truly reasonable individual who I really get along with) cried. My heart was roaring in my chest. I took a few really deep breaths. I couldn't take the pressure at all. I felt tired, even though I had slept really well that night. I cried a few tears of frustration. I wanted to get out of there, I really desperately wished for the trial to be over as soon as possible. Yet, first the accused had to present his case. If that didn't annoy me, I don't know what did...

"Mister Phineas Frederick! You were charged with doing evil in the counter-clockwise, a crime which can be punished with a lifetime sentence. How do you plead?"

"Guilty," he said. "yet I do not deny the influence of Esmeralda Greene in this."

"You what? Are you saying that miss Greene may have framed you?"

"Not really. I'm just saying that this is just a possibility. As she is, well, a witch."

"Are you in the Middle Ages, sir? Do you think that witchcraft is still a thing? Well, it isn't. On this rather superstitious note, I would like to let you present your evidence. Your lawyer may proceed!"

And so, I was witnessing a half-hour of exhibits adding up to the truth about me. Of course, just like any other normal person would, I objected. If I didn't, then the case would be as good as lost. But at least I got to express my point of view! Well, not exactly my point of view, but a point of view that was requested by the situation. As I said, I could pretend to be firmly convinced about anything at all. And so I did that day. And because of not spells, but my skills in acting, they fell for it. "Ah, how stupid can people be!", I said to myself. I was really satisfied with the way things went my way, even if I steered them in order to do so. All the satisfactory thoughts of victory over the man who had become my obsession in the past few years ran through my head slowly and pleasantly. I was truly happy; the sadistic kind of happiness filled me up. Then I shivered: "No! It isn't me! I am not like this... Only one explanation there is to the sadistic feelings I'm getting - I'm going evil!"

At the thought of going evil, I was beginning to feel like I was about to faint. I was not and could never be evil! An intense whirring noise filled my ears. My vision was getting blurry. I heard gradually less... And less... And I was really about to faint right there and then. But someone noticed. The lawyer who worked for the accused did. He gave me a glass of water. Good thing there's water in all of the courts I'd been to, including this one!

Now it was my turn. My time to shine in the light of a moment that I couldn't handle the pressure of too well. My time to tell a lie that I would (for the first time in a decade) feel sorry for. A lie, however, in my favour. A lie that would help me achieve what I wanted. I was thrilled (both in the good way and the bad) to be able to get to support an idea I myself could never cope with. It was like in one of the debates I did in college, that opposition-heavy thing about the economy being more important than the environment. I was government in that debate. Second speaker, too, so I necessarily had to say something about why it'd be right to ignore the environment. And surprisingly, my team and I won that match. The first British Parliamentary format debate I had ever won... Then, I thought to myself that it couldn't be as difficult to win this case. Believe me, in times of despair, I often thought about that debate and it helped me feel better.

So I said to judge Burnes all that I had to say in another half-hour. Bot it wasn't boring. Exhibit A was a uniform (which in fact belonged to my brother and which I had sewn to fit me instead) to confirm that I was truly in the war at the exact same time as Frederick. The rest of the exhibits were false reports of battles, which favoured the fact (or in this case, fiction) that he had never done anything at all in the Army.

Then, guess what the decision was: "Based on the evidence at hand, I declare Phineas Frederick guilty of evil in the counter-clockwise with a sentence of fifteen years in prison because he confessed to this crime. Case closed!"

I was thinking that all the things I could do were done. Now, I didn't need to use my powers anymore. Yet this tiny voice inside was telling me, telling me to use them to torture the man who had been with me for a while, then broken my heart like it was nothing. I wanted him dead now. I wanted to kill him with my own two hands. Then and only then I would be able to move on.

With that in mind, I came to this conclusion: Indeed, I was going evil. And there was nothing I could do about it. The Dark forces were corrupting me, turning me to sin and I didn't like the way it sounded. I was trapped in a downward spiral that took me deeper and deeper into the circles of Hell. I wanted out. I then vowed by all that exists that I should repent for my sins after I had seen Phineas Frederick insane because of whatever psychoactive fungus I will place in his cell. The only thing I could do was call my brother, as he knew fungi better than he knew himself, I reckon.