Chapter 29...... "We Find The Defendant.."
I walked down the hall to the door of the court room. It was where I stood just hours before I was put into the small room. I got to the doors just waiting for them to open, but before my lawyer opened the door he said
"Walk forward to the chair on your right side. Don't look at anyone just walk forwards."
I nodded. He opened the door for me and I walked in. Everyone looked at me as soon as I stepped in the room, just like he said I looked forward. I started walking, I didn't pay attention to anyone around me, I just kept looking forward. I held my wrists just below my belly button, palms down so no one could see the scars just yet. My knees felt weak but I just kept moving. It didn't feel like I was controlling my body, every move felt empty. Eyes burned into me and once I was at the desks at the front, I could feel all the eyes on me
I looked over to see Scott and he looked at me. His eyes burned into mine, but behind his eyes there was no soul. I didn't stop as we made eye contact but I just moved a little bit faster to the chair I was going to sit in. I got there and sat down and looked at the judge. I looked back at the crowd Dave gave me a small smile, then I looked at the man who was getting ready to move. That one man stood up and cleared his throat
"Hello Mia."
I looked at him, and with just this one look I didn't like him, there was just something about him that wasn't right. I moved forward and used the microphone that was there in front of me
"Hi."
My voice came out quiet
"So from my understanding you were taken in the afternoon of December 12?"
"That's correct."
"Explain to us that day."
I gulped. Now I'm going to have to say everything that happened. I'm pretty sure they told the story before I came in, I heard it. But it wasn't the full story or from my perspective. I had to pause and prepare myself
"Well I woke up early that morning and I cleaned, something I always do. Dave, my boyfriend, told me that he had to go into work early and he would see me on my lunch, right outside my work. So he left for work and I left for work later that morning and I did my usual shift. Then my lunch break came along."
"And what happened when you seen Dave outside your work?"
"Brandi, his ex was kissing him right outside my work."
'Don't let them break you' I thought. I kept a calm demeanour
"And what did you do?"
"I let my mind take over and I didn't realize what exactly was going on, as anyone would think how could that happen. I'm sure other people would do the same thing. In my clouded judgment I ran away, took my car and drove home."
"So was it Dave's fault that Scott got you."
I looked over at Dave and he looked shocked and pissed. Before I could say anything the judge stepped in, I was happy because he seemed to be on my side
"Objection. We've been over this. It was all planed by Scott."
The guy nodded. He cleared his throat and continued
"What happened after you got home?"
"I ran inside to pack a bag, by mistake I left the gate and the door open, I knew I wasn't going to be long but what I didn't know was I was being followed. Then Scott came in and." I paused
Everything was replaying in my head and all the pain was coming back. I was trying to keep my composure but it was really hard
"And what Miss. Johnston?" He asked
"He tackled me to the floor then preceded to hit me over the head with a vase." I answered
Then a picture of the smashed vase was shown with a puddle of blood and a trail of it. Everyone murmured amongst themselves. I even looked at the picture, I loved that vase and now it was shattered
"Then what happened after that?"
"I was out cold for about three days, then when I awoke I was tied to a bed in a motel."
Then my lawyer stood up and came forward
"Can you tell us the place you were found during the investigation?" He asked
"I was at a place called Live, Love, Stay."
"Which was the motel Scott's biological parents owned and he never took over it causing it to become old and out of shape, and that's how he knew where to take her. He knew that it would be the least suspecting place to hide, rape and kill and innocent girl."
He was looking over at the jury. I didn't realize they were there, I never looked over there. What terrifies me is that my fate and Scott's fate lay in their hands. If they let him go he will do it again, and if he finds me he will make sure I die. My lawyer nodded and sat back down
"Continue." The guy said
"Then I remember Brandi calling Scott saying she was going to go to the police, then Scott snapped at her saying he would do what he did to me to her. After that he came over to me and tried to take advantage of me, he grabbed the knife so I wouldn't struggle. I screamed for help and he cut my stomach open, I could feel everything that he did. He stopped the wound from bleeding and once he did he tried to get on top of me, I tried to fight but I couldn't."
"He started to rip my clothes off, I still struggled but I couldn't do anything, I was no match for him. Once he took all his clothes off and he got back on top of me and."
I started to have an anxiety attack because the images were so crystal clear in my mind. I took a deep breath
"And what?"
"He raped me, not once, not twice, not three times but more. He did what ever he wanted to his hearts content. I couldn't fight back."
The crowed gasped and I tried not to cry. My mind raced, no one will ever know the extent of damage that this has caused me
"What happened after that?"
"I blacked out but I awoke to Scott yelling. Again he was yelling at Brandi. He turned on the TV and the news was on, there I seen officer Jet, my sister Mel, and my boyfriend Dave on the TV. They said they knew where I was and they would find me. Scott punched the TV and then took his knife and started to cut me. He cut my legs, and my wrists." I said
"Could we see the ones that are visible?" One of the jurors asked
I stood up and I flipped over my writs and I walked over to them. They were scared and you could tell they were new. My older ones were small unlike the new ones which were really big, it would have been too hard to self inflict those. They all looked wide eyed, I'm guessing because the scars were on my vain and all in that area. Once I passed all of them I sat back down. The one guy stood up
"Mia don't you have a bad history of cutting?"
I was offended by his question. Did he really think I inflicted this on myself? Jerk
"Objection, she's been clean for years, plus your honour these are too big to be self inflicted. Also the pictures that were shown when her body was found match those. They were done by a knife instead of a typical razor blade."
"Can I see your wrists Miss. Johnston?"
I nodded so I stood up and I turned to face him. I showed the judge my wrists and he nodded
"Over ruled."
The guy nodded for me to continue
"I asked him to stop but all he did was hold my body and cut. He cradled my body as I was bleeding to death, he sang songs to me as I started to fade in and out consciousness. He kissed my wounds and places a kiss on my forehead."
As I said that a picture of the bloody kiss print showed up, I remember that all too well
"Also he coated his fingers in my blood then did bloody lines on my face."
The next picture was the one showing the lines on my face
"He kissed my wounds again and liked his lips then left me to die."
"Thank Miss Johnston, that will be all." The judge said
The guy nodded. My lawyer nodded and then came up to me and offered his hand out. I took it and he helped me down to few steps and into the crowed with the others. I seen Mel standing at the back and she bowed her head. I didn't bother to look up at the cameras that were scattered around the room, instead I took a seat beside Dave and he instantly grabbed my hand and kissed my cheek
"You did good, and you didn't let them break you."
Before I could say something Dave was called up. He kissed my cheek again and made his was up to the chair where I sat
"How long have you known Mia?"
"Since I was 14."
"How long have you know Scott?"
"Since I was 11."
"Did you have any clue what he was like?"
"No."
"So you let the love of your life run off with him."
"Objection!" My lawyer yelled from the table
"He just said he didn't know what Scott was like."
"Is there anything you would like to share?" The man asked ignoring my lawyer
"We found Scott's journal, it had some pretty gruesome things."
"Like?"
"He planed to rape Mia, kill her then rape and kill me."
The crowed gasped. It went on that for a while. Dave kept calm just like I did even though some of the questions were demeaning and offensive. They weren't going in the right direction if they wanted to win this case in Scott's behalf. Then they called Jet and he spilled everything. About what he seen, about the journal, everything, which wasn't a bad thing, they would believe a cop over us. Jet got back up and sat down again. My lawyer stood up
"Thank you everyone." He said
The jurors left into a little room. We all sat there just waiting. The judge hit his hammer
"Recess." He called
We all got up and left and Dave took my hand. We just waited outside the doors, not straying away too far. Everyone went away but we didn't
"You did good." I said
"Thanks you did too." He said as he kissed my forehead
Mel came running up to me and hugged me so tight. I think I almost suffocated. She let go and smiled, then looked down at my stomach
"You know too?" I asked
"Yes." She said with a smile
I sighed but she didn't say anything else. She just hugged me again. She let go and we talked like nothing happened. She told me that she was happy for me. Then I looked at Dave and he stood by my side watching everyone, like a guard dog. My guard dog. The doors opened again and we were the first ones in. We sat down. Dave on my right side holding my hand and Mel on my right holding my other hand
We waited for everyone to come back in. People started to flow in as we waited, soon the while room was full with the people that were here before and a few more. This was an open case so people were free to come and go, except me and the others that were main people in this case. I held Dave's hand and Mel's hand tight as we saw the jurors came out one by one till all 12 were standing. The judge, my lawyer, and Scott's people were all there now
One lone jury member came out from the box. He walked forwards with a piece of paper which had the answer but you couldn't see it through it. It held my fate, he held my fate. He cleared his throat. I bit my tong as he opened his mouth
"We find the defendant......"