~Ace
Two years earlier...
It is unbearable. Every second worse than the last. I hate it. I hate it all. I am gasping for the air she stole from me, every second of every day. I have been right all along about how if I lost her, my whole life would fall apart. And it did. I lost my best friend, my girlfriend, my lover, my smile, and the air I breathe. All because of her.
Flashbacks are coming back to me. One by one, each holds a very drastic, heartbreaking memory. The worst part is I can't do anything about it now. I've wished if they hadn't come back. It's not like I can help myself now. It's too late. Yet, I am left with these useless horrible images are on repeat in my mind as a punishment. I ask myself every day, what did I do to deserve all of this?
That guy I saw. The one I see smirking at me every time I close my eyes. He ruined Sarah. He destroyed her. And I don't even know who he is. I have never seen her with him, and I don't remember ever inviting him to her surprise party. Hell, I don't even know his name. A person who I never knew existed, his picture is now carved in my brain 24/7.
Now that all I do is stay in my cell most of the day. I do nothing but think about all the events and connecting them together. I have thought hard about everything. The chronological order of the events, the words she said to him, the reasons for blaming me for hurting her.
He will pay you, she said.
I will double it, she pleaded further.
Well, she has definitely been on this, of course not the rape, but the whole plan of locking me up in juvie. And the guy who raped her was too, but he wasn't the only one, some other guy too.
But who is he? Or what does he want from me? What will he gain from me being in the detention center? And why? Why me?
I mean Sarah. I don't know shit about the other guy, but why would she do that to me? Haven't she had moments of weaknesses? What about all our feelings? The nights we spent together? The words we said to each other? The promises? The hugs? The kisses? The ring? Our love? How didn't it mean anything to her? How could she fake everything so professionally?
Whenever I look back on that day, I remember how broken she has been. The way I cradled her figure between my arms, the way she cried. What was all that about?
I know that I should firmly believe that she hasn't loved me not even for one millisecond. But my heart tries to make sense of all her actions. My heart wants to believe that she didn't want this for me. It searches for moments with her, when she might've not wanted to do this.
Reality is she stuck with the plan anyway, whether she ever had moments of doubt or not.
And here I am. In a cell. All alone. Because of her.
Fuck.
You.
Sarah Keyes.
_________
The lock of my cell clicks and I quickly close my journal and hide it under my pillow. Since I am considered a sex offender, I was taken to a therapist to talk to him about what 'supposedly' I have done. He is supposed to find out the reason behind my actions, and after I told him my story, he advised me to write all that I'm feeling in a journal and just not pile up all the negative feelings I have. I like to believe that he believes me, but I can never be sure of that.
The guards around here make jokes about that. They're bored and are searching for something to entertain them. So when they see my journal, they make fun of me, calling me a little girl or whatever. I couldn't care any less, but I try to avoid them as much as possible.
"Visiting hours." The officer walks towards me and grabs me by the arm.
As we walk, I start to think of all the words I should be saying to my mother. My mother and Eric have been coming here every once in a while. I don't understand how the visiting thing works, and I'm thankful that I get to see them at all. They're the only ones who trusted me, and I couldn't be any more grateful. It's just my mom..whenever she comes to see me, I can see all the pain she is going through. She hates that I am here as much as I do, and it kills her that I have been wrongly convicted. I wish if I can take all her pain away. I wish if she didn't care. It would've been so much easier if she had done the same thing as dad did. This way, she wouldn't be in constant pain.
"Sweetheart." She covers her mouth, her eyes roaming all around my face.
I reach the table and she is quick to cup my face, completely forgetting that she shouldn't be touching me.
"What happened to your face?" She asks me worriedly.
"Mom..." I push her hands down gently, "It was just a small fight."
In the yard, kids fight. Guards make bets on who will win the fight. Sometimes you can get into a fight on your own. And other times, they make you fight. It's not always bad, but sometimes it's worse than you expect.
"What were you thinking?" She hisses while she takes a seat close to me.
"Mom, Eric is here." I turn to him and try to smile. "How are you?"
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He chuckles sadly.
"You should really stop with the fighting, Ace." My mother will not let this go.
"I will." I just go along with her to calm her down. "So what's new?" I ask both of them.
"I've got news." Eric avoids my eyes and my mother's. "But I don't know if I should tell you because there might not be anything that we could do about it."
"Did you find out something about that guy?" I slide forward to the edge of the chair.
"Let me tell you this first." He swallows thickly, "You know how my dad has connections everywhere and stuff.."
I nod, not really understanding where he's going with this.
"Well...I know for a fact that whoever did this to you had to forge some papers and write paychecks to prove that you're guilty of a crime you haven't committed. So..I used my dad's connections to find out if they forged the result of the polygraph and they did."
He looks up and he's sad, "The polygraph proved that you didn't do it. But they destroyed all the evidence and replaced them with fake ones."
"Can we get the man the speak up if the lawyer reopened the case?"
My heart is hammering against my chest with the tiniest possibility of my release.
His head falls forward in defeat, "My dad already offered him money but he declined all his offers. He's been threatened and he won't be able to say yes. I'm sorry."
And once again, all hope is gone.
My mom clutches onto his arm, "Just tell me who he is and I will convince him."
"Mom—" I begin.
"No. I can do this for you." She says, "There's hope for you and this is it. If he speaks and told us who it is..."
She stops and looks back at Eric, "Who is he?" She asks him.
Eric takes out a small piece of paper and slides it across the table, "Is this the guy?"
I pull the picture closer to me and it is him. God forbid I ever have to look at his face again. He is smiling broadly, so happily, almost like he is still smirking at me.
I flip the picture, "That's him."
"He's Daniel's friend, Kyle. Not that his name is important." Eric states.
Daniel's friend?
I'm waiting for an explanation.
"Daniel Smith," Eric repeats expecting me to understand. "Ace..."
"Smith..." my mom whispers lowly, "Holy shit, Robert Smith." She gasps.
"Who's Robert—" I stop myself.
That son of a bitch.
"Daniel set all of this up. I am sure of it." Eric states.
"Your father lost a lot of money, and people started demanding their money. He is hardly keeping his company standing."
Her words tug at the strings of my heart. This is happening because of me because I wasn't careful enough, because I was fucking blind, thinking I could be his friend and thinking nothing of his suspiciously friendly actions.
Then it starts to sink in. My mom's business too.
"What about you?" I ask her.
"What about me?" She quirks up her eyebrow.
"Your business."
"It's going great." She pats my hand, "Don't worry about this. We'll get you out now."
"Mom, don't get involved."
I don't know what she might do. I don't know if it'll be safe, especially that she's alone now. Dad is not with her and he doesn't even check on her. I don't want her to put herself in danger with people we don't even know what their limits are.
"I will do whatever I want. They put you here. They should get you out. End of discussion, Ace." She grinds out.
"You're impossible." I shake my head at her as a ghost smile falls upon my lips.
Her face brightens when I smile, "You will be out of here in no time."
Her tone is promising, but I don't get my hopes up. I don't really care if I get out of here as long as she is safe. She is all I have left and Eric too. But she is all I have left in terms of family and her presence means the world to me.