testimony

Every one stared at the little girl as she walked in. after sitting in the chair where she is supposed to, look around the court as if searching for someone to help her, and then started speaking in a shaky voice that got stronger buy every word:

<< M...my name is Annabelle white, the daughter of Isabella and David white, I am twelve years old, I used to live with my parents in one of the most dangerous hoods in Chicago because of our bad financial situation. Of course living in such a place, street fights are so common, but one day, we heard screaming down the street. It was normal at the beginning, but for some reasons the fights got bigger and the screams got louder. And then out of nowhere, I heard several gunshots, three I guess. In the next few minutes, all I heard was a heavy silence that was cut by a loud scream of someone calling the ambulance, another gunshot followed by even more silence .I was beyond terrified at that point, I barely noticed my father looking at the window eyeing the scene when my mother was calling the cops .Later that night, the police came to our doorstep and took our testimony. My father, who saw everything, saw the killer's face and so, told the cop who thanked us for our cooperation and left us all alone. A week later everyone seemed to forget about what happened and went back to their lives, and so did we. But the killer, the suspect sitting in front of you, for sure didn't. That day he just broke the door open in the middle of the night and got in. We were asleep so we couldn't defend ourselves. The killer said he is seeking revenge, that we should have kept quite. I, tied to a chair next to my mother, was forced to watch as he killed my father. I saw as his small pocket knife started making cuts all over my dad's pale skin, stabbed him with a smile, with joy. I watched as he blood dripped down dad's weak body, turning it to a lifeless corpse, all I could do was screaming, I screamed until my throat hurts. But that wasn't the end of it, he did the same to my mother right in front of my eyes I remember her begging him to spare my life. Seeing my parents lying lifelessly on the ground and believing this to be my end as well, I couldn't take it so I just passed out, felt unconscious thinking I'll never wake up again, but guess what? To my big surprise, I did. With a lot of cuts and bruises all over me, but I woke up. I ran to my parent's dead bodies and saw something on the wall next to them, written with their blood, the killer decided to leave me a goodbye present, a letter that says<<this is my last warning, don't be a fool like your parents and keep your mouth shut, I will be watching and remember this second chance will be your last chance>>. I was scared, terrified to say the least. So, I did the first thing that came to my mind and ran, I didn't know where to, but I didn't care because all I wanted is to wake up from this nightmare and go back to my life, but I didn't . I came to a place I didn't know; I was lost with no money, help or anything. Fortunately a woman came to me and took me to her house, took care of me and respected my wish to keep my past to myself and not tell her. After a while I started to get better and the nightmares stopped. I started to have a normal life again. Mary, the woman who adopted me, started to take me out of the house for walks to get me out of my severe depression I had. She even started to invite her friends in and having sleepovers with them, and that's how I met Katy who is a cop responsible for the witness protection program in our state, I spend days thinking what to do but end up deciding to tell her my story because I was tired of running. If I'm going to die, then I will die taking revenge for my parents. When I told Katy that I got some really important information about the incident but I was too scared of the outcome of revealing them, she offered me a deal: I come here to this court, reveal everything in my testimony and in return she will get me in witness protection program, get me a safe shelter and a new life until this is all over>>

This was my very first attempt to publish my writings. So if you like it please comment or vote, your opinion matters to me more than ever, positive or not, I am grateful for those who read this story

Thank you ;))