Chapter 6: Proof and Promises
March 6th, 2013, 1:49 p.m.
Sunny Pines Apartment complex
The seventh floor
Piper stood at the tip of the stairs, well aware that there were several pairs of eyes on her, as well as cameras, and she tried not to let that get in her way. At the foot of the stairs, the judge held a stopwatch and a mega-phone, so she could hear him, and she could see him if she looked over the edge, the stairs a long maze that went left than right then left then right. “Ready?” he called. She knew that how fast she went depended on whether or not she might be saved, but she decided that she would do just as they asked. “Start at the door to room 210 and when I say go, run as fast as you can down the stairs and out side.”
“Okay,” she called back. Along the walls were guards watching her every move, and waiting in the lobby were the twelve jurors that would be deciding her fate. They had breached the surveillance cameras and placed the footage on a screen in the lobby, where no doubt, people were huddled around anxiously waiting.
She waited, waited for him to say go, wishing he’d just count down already. “Go!”
It took her a split-second to release the panic and run, and she hoped that the jurors hadn’t noticed. She raced down the stretch of the hallway, her combat boots that she had changed into in the cab sounding off the floor loudly. She grabbed the familiar rail as her feet padded down the stairs in a blur, left, right, left, right, left, right. She skipped the bottom step of each set, landing on the connecting platform with both feet with a thud.
She then went on to the next set of stairs, her heart racing, adrenaline pumping through her veins. Go your fastest, she told herself, but a part of her was worried that maybe she had the ability to do it. She was starting to question her lawyer’s validity, hoping that she hadn’t been lying when she promised that she’d help her get out of prison.
Focus. Left, right, left, right, left, right.
There were too many of them, and Piper was having a hard time trying not to trip. Left, right, left, right, left, right. She had passed three flights by now, her legs wanting to give up, and she was trying not to slow down, for fear that the jurors might notice and think she was cheating. Her breathing was deeper, and she realized what four years of confinement can really do to you, at least for her, who spent her exercise time talking with Tyler.
Left, right, left, right, left, right. Don’t stop. Keep going.
Four flights of stairs. Five. Six. She was rounding the corner of the seventh flight, almost at the bottom. She leaped over the last step, running toward the lobby doors, ignoring the crowd of people on the side. When she reached them, she pushed on their hard glass, running out into the street before stopping to catch her breath, bending over and placing her hands on her knees, breathing heavily.
Behind her, her Charlotte Mcnabb rushed outside with a grand smile on her face, running to Piper. “One minute, nineteen seconds!” she declared, and Piper let out an exalted breath, smiling. She stood up, reaching her hands up to the sky, stretching, wishing she could touch the clouds that always loomed over the wild city.
The Prosecutor came out of the building, his brows furrowed in a flurry of anger and disbelief, his face turning red. “I don’t believe it!” he shouted, pointing his finger at Piper, the judge and jurors following him outside.
“Would you like to do it yourself then?” Charlotte asked him, and his face only continued to turn the color of a tomato.
“She cheated!”
“Consult the jurors, see if they agree.” she suggested.
“You!” he said, walking towards Piper, his temper flaring, and for the first time in four years, she was frightened.
“You!”
Her father strided towards her, fists clenched, teeth grit, face red, and she backed up closer to the wall. “It wasn’t me, I swear!” she shouted, panic flooding her thoughts, tears already surfacing.
He threw her into the wall behind her, pain surging through her shoulder, and she winced. “Then who was it then? Huh? Huh!” Who was it?!”
“Please. . . .” she said, but then started sobbing, and he kicked her, sending her to the floor, making her cry out. He kicked again and again, making it hard for her to breathe. When he finally stopped, he stood over her, tears glistening in her eyes, not a hint of remorse in his eyes.
“I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”
She took a step backwards, the familiar rush of panic fluttering in her chest. Charlotte stepped in front of her, holding her hands out to block him from Piper. “Stop being an asshole John, we’re not through with this case. Pull it together!” She turned to the Judge, sighing. “The defense calls for a recess, and would like to pick up where we left off tomorrow.”
Piper wasn’t sure if you could do that, but the Judge simply nodded, announced to the jurors that they would all be spending the night in a confidential location until they could pick up the trial tomorrow. She let out a breath of relief, putting a hand to her head. Reynolds jogged over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“You okay?” he asked. Piper nodded. “Scared me for a bit.”
“Me too,” she admitted. She chuckled, trying to get out all of her energy she had prepared, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see two tall figures walking towards them. When she turned her head, her eyes landed on the guards, she closed her eyes, not wanting to go through the routine of being trapped between the two bodies that were so tense they could be statues. One of them reached out to lead her to their car, but she held her hand out, stopping him. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
On the ride back to the hotel, her mind was just elsewhere. All the memories she had blocked out all those years were rushing back to her, and she was afraid. She hated being afraid.
When they reached the hotel, she felt as if she were just going through the motions, but she didn’t stop it. They rode the elevator in silence, the quietness stretching between them like a veil. When they stepped out into the hallway, Reynold’s spoke up, trying to get her to speak.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
“Hm?” Piper hadn’t been listening. She was too busy focusing on pushing back everything that came to mind, refusing to remember the things that had caused her such pain. Reynolds swiped the key-card and they entered their quaint room. The first thing Piper did was fall against the couch, exhausted from her race against the clock.
“I was just wondering,” said Reynolds, setting down the key-card. “why you're so quiet all of a sudden.”
“Oh, I, uh, guess I’m just tired, that’s all,” she lied. “I think I’m going to take a nap, didn’t exactly get much sleep last night.”
“Okay,” Reynolds said, understanding completely. He felt the exact same way. “I think I’m going to do the same. And please, try not to leave the building this time.”
Piper smiled despite the protest of her muscles. She took the remote off the floor and turned the TV on, flipping through channels until she rested on some action movie she didn’t know, falling asleep to the sound of gunshots.
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When she woke, it was dark, nothing but blackness coming from the windows. The TV was still on and Detective Reynolds was sitting by her feet, watching the weather station. Her cheeks felt wet, and she realized she had been crying. Again. “Did I wake you?”
Reynolds directed his attention to Piper, realizing she was awake. “Oh, yeah, but I’d already gotten a few hours in.”
Piper sighed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry.” Sitting up, she smelt a familiar stench, and her body tensed, eyes searching until she found a bottle of beer resting in the detective’s hands. “You’re drinking?”
Reynolds looked down at his hands, as if noticing for the first time that he was. “Oh, uh, yeah, I was trying to go back to sleep.”
She took the bottle from his hands, and he froze, shocked. “What’re you doing?”
She took a swig before grimacing, not liking the foul aftertaste. “Can’t have you drinking on the job,” she said before putting the bottle to her lips and finishing it off.
“You’re under age,” Reynolds protested, and Piper set the bottle down, letting out a belch. She was already starting to feel the effects of alcohol.
“Can I tell you a secret?” she said, feeling light-headed and dizzy.
“What is it?”
“You have to promise,” she said, hiccuping. “not to tell, or I’ll never ever forgive you.”
“Okay, I promise,” he said, cautious.
“My dad was a drunk. After Mom died, he’d come home from drinking, and sometimes he’d pass out, but other times, he’d come to my room and drag me out of bed and hit me real hard.” She hiccuped again, leaning her head back against the couch.
“Is that what those pain-killers were for?” he prompted, trying to reveal parts of the missing pieces he never could fit together.
“No, silly!” she said, touching his nose with her index finger. “Those weren’t for me.”
“Then who?” he asked, but she was slowly drifting away.
"Windy. . . ."
"Who's that?"
"She's sick," she told him, yawning.
"Did you kill your father?"
She giggled, leaning to the side until her face met the couch's soft cushions. “Shhhhh," she said quietly, putting a finger to his lips. "Don’t tell Will.” Then, she fell asleep, only this time, she wouldn’t wake up screaming or crying.
Reynolds sighed, his eyes drifting to her shoulder where the scars began. He picked up the blanket from the floor and lied it out on top of her, wondering how someone so young could ever hold so much inside of them all at once. He hesitated for a moment, staring at her, thinking she looked so peaceful like that, then looked away. “Goodnight Piper,” he said, then turned off the TV and headed back into his room.