All Black Everything // Luke Hemmings

Chapter 35

The week went by slow, as if the world was trying to keep us waiting longer,and make us think more about what we would say, or what would happen at my dad's hearing.

The time was set for ten in the morning, and that day all three of us had stayed at Mums house. Ashton was going to meet us there. We drove in nervous silence, all three of us were very pale.

What if they let him off the hook? What is someone bails him out? I kept thinking. My mind played through every thing that could go wrong, every thing that could possible happen to let him walk free. The only thing I wanted right then, was to see his face behind bars.

When we arrived at the courthouse, Ashton was outside.

"Hey." He said to us, and we all three gave him a hug.

"You ready?" Luke asked, looking at me.

I shrugged, and we made our way inside. Mum, Luke, and Ash sat in the pews, but I had to sit with our lawyer in front. Don was sitting at the table next to ours, in handcuffs. I was starting to panic, and I knew I could have an anxiety attack any moment. The fact that he was in handcuffs made me feel a little better, but he was still sitting not ten feet away from me. I looked back at Luke and he gave me a you'll be okay, look. I took a deep breath, and it was at that point when the judge came in through the back door.

Mum had to speak about her marriage with Don, and what he had done to her, along with the alcoholism, and the abuse.

When it was Luke's turn to talk, my lawyer began asking him questions.

"What is your relations to Ana Holloway?" He asked, standing up from our little table.

"Um, I'm her boyfriend." Luke replied.

"Please describe what you saw on the night of the crime." He said.

Luke took a deep breath and said, "I was going to the beach, to meet Ana there. We had gotten into an argument before, and she went to go see a friend. She agreed to meet me there, because we always went there. I had gotten there before she did, and I took a walk on the beach while I was waiting, I think he followed me there. When I walked back up to the parking lot, I saw them. He had her pinned against her car, and he was digging a cigarette into her arm. As soon as I saw it, I knew who he was. I stayed silent, and called the police. I was hiding behind a tree, at that point. The police came soon after, and they got him. She didn't see me until after all of that."

"And, can you please describe the fight you two had beforehand?" My lawyer asked.

"Well," Luke started, "I had said something I really shouldn't have, and she left to go to Ashton's house, because he was a close friend and she was upset with me. I didn't contact her, because I knew she didn't want to talk to me."

Don's lawyer stood up. "So, when you agreed to meet her at the beach, you didn't perhaps set this up, or was it really you, that hurt her?"

My jaw dropped, and so did Luke's. "No, why would I-" he started.

"You can't ask him that! Why would he do such a thing?!" My lawyer exclaimed.

"He could be lying. We don't have full proof that Don was even there." His lawyer said.

"I would like to call Ana Holloway up, please." The judge said, and I got up.

When Luke and I passed, he squeezed my hand for a split second, and I sat down.

"Ana, please describe the night as best you can." Don's lawyer said.

"Okay," I stated. My hands were shaking. "Yes, Luke and I did get into an argue met, and uhm, and I went to Ashton's flat for a while before I said I would meet Luke at the beach. When I got there, Don was standing by his car, and I didn't think it was Luke, because he wouldn't just stand there. Eventually he came up to me. He was drunk, maybe high, I don't really know for sure. I tried to get away, but he grabbed me. I tried my hardest to escape, but nothing worked. Eventually, he did burn me. When the police came, he let go of me. I fell to the ground, and I saw Luke, standing at the other side of the parking lot. I ran to him." I looked down, at the verge of tears.

"So, how do we have proof that it was actually Don?" His lawyer stood up.

"Well, his cigarette must have been on the ground, and he threw my phone to the ground, and it broke. Between the two I'm sure there was some DNA." I said.

"We haven't gotten the results, yet." He said.

"Oh..." I replied, very disappointed. They were right, without those, we didn't have any proof.

"She isn't lying, sir." My lawyer interrupted. "She took an oath, as did everyone who is speaking."

I nodded in response to that.

The hours dragged on as we took turns speaking, and Don spoke. He lied, obviously. Ashton talked about how he didn't know anything, and how I was at his house before then, but other than that he didn't see anything, and he didn't suspect that he was even in Wales.

After a long time, the Jury went into a back room to speak. They came our shortly after.

"Jury, have you made your decision?" The judge said, once they were all sat down.

"Yes." One of the women said. "On behalf of the jury, we have decided that Don Selton is...guilty."

I jumped out of my seat, and hugged ran to my mother. I hugged her for what seemed like a million years. We were all crying.

"We did it!" Luke said through happy sobs. I cupped his face, and kissed him for a long time.

"I love you so much." He whispered, with the biggest smile on his face.

I gave Ashton a huge hug. "I'm so glad you spoke, today. It's just good that you were here to support us.

"Well I'm not the only one that was here." He said, and pointed to the back of the room where Calum, Chloe, and Michael were standing. I ran to them, and gave them all hugs. They were crying, too.

We did it. We really did it. I thought