Chapter 19
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
The frosty snow beneath my feet gave way as fresh snowflakes floated to the ground around me. The town seemed oddly busy for a Sunday afternoon, people bustling around as cars whizzed down the roads, causing me to park the car around the corner and walk through the snow. Pulling my hat down further over my ears as Parker and I trekked down the sidewalk, I squinted, only to see that the shop we had been looking for was right in front of us.
Breathing a sigh of relief as I hustled into the building, I couldn’t help but relish the sudden warmth and coziness that the cute little café held as the door closed slowly behind us. The twisted scent of freshly brewed coffee and homemade biscuits immediately caught my attention, making me smile as I took a quick peek at the selection this place had to offer.
Shaking any excess snow off of me, I looked to my side, only to see Parker gazing at me with amusement.
“What?” I asked, my cheeks lighting up in a blush that always seemed to appear when he was around.
He shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to contain his laughter. “You have snow in your hair.” he stated, smiling down at me as he gently ran his fingers through the ends of my hair.
“I never would’ve guessed,” I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes at him.
Even though I could still see flecks of amusement dancing around in his eyes, I was pleased when he didn’t reply, instead choosing to take my hand as he led me to stand in line.
“So,” he started, casually moving his arm around my shoulder as he nodded towards the menu, “What do you want?”
Looking up at the menu, I was reminded of why we had come here in the first place.
Earlier this morning Parker had knocked on my door, offering to help me study for the end of term exams that seemed to be approaching quickly, and although my mind wasn’t quite at it’s full capacity at the ungodly hour he had arrived, I agreed and let him in. For almost four hours we had been concealed in my house studying, ignoring the blizzard that rolled in and casted a cloud of white over the town.
However, when Parker suggested taking a break from studying, I was surprised that he wanted to come to this coffee shop, although, now that I stood waiting to order, I could see the appeal that the place held.
“I don’t know,” I replied, my eyes skimming over the various choices, “What do you get when you normally come here?”
He raised an eyebrow as I looked up at him curiously. “And who says I’ve even been here before?”
“You wouldn’t have known where this place was if you hadn’t already been here before,” I said, “It took you five minutes just to show me what roads to turn on and where to find a parking spot.”
Chuckling, he rested his chin on my shoulder and smiled. “Okay, so maybe I’ve been here a couple of times before,” he conceded, his voice just above a whisper as his breath fanned the side of my face. “And I usually just get a hot chocolate, nothing special.”
Looking up at the menu, I didn’t have much time to decide as the people in front of us walked off with their drinks and the cash opened up.
“Next please.”
Stepping up, I tried to skim over the board as quickly as I could, but giving up, I bit my lip. “Umm…” I started, looking at the cheerful teenage girl that was manning the cash, “I guess I’ll have a hot chocolate.”
“Okay, will that be the regular hot chocolate or the deluxe?” she asked, her finger hovering over her screen as she waited for my reply.
“The deluxe…” I trailed, not really knowing what that included, but as I looked to Parker for reassurance, I saw him nodding.
“I’ll have one of those as well,” he said, before looking over to the display cases and pointing to something on the top row, “Oh, and we’ll have a slice of that chocolate cake too.”
“You got it,” the girl replied, typing in our order quickly.
It didn’t take long for our order to be ready, and not more than two minutes later we were sliding into one of the booths at the back of the café.
“So…” I said, slipping off my jacket before settling into my seat, “What exactly is a deluxe hot chocolate?”
“Now if I told you that, it’d ruin the surprise.”
“What surprise?” I asked doubtfully, looking at the mug in front me. It seemed like a normal drink to me, although the artfully sprayed whip cream that sat on the top was a nice touch.
He rolled his eyes. “Just taste it.”
Taking his advice, I brought the mug up to my lips and slowly took a sip. At first, the smooth, rich hot chocolate taste was all that hit my taste buds, but as I swallowed the drink, I was left with a surprisingly different aftertaste. My eyebrows rose in surprise as I recognized the taste instantly. “There’s marshmallow’s in here.”
“Mhm,” he nodded, taking a sip of his own drink before continuing, “Apparently they blend the marshmallows and chocolate mix together before adding the milk. I don’t know if they do anything else, but it’s definitely better than the regular hot chocolates.”
“Definitely,” I agreed, taking another sip without burning myself.
A lull in conversation happened then, as the two of us sipped at our drinks and settled into the atmosphere. Looking around at the customers that surrounded us, I couldn’t help but feel at ease.
“And was there a reason why we couldn’t just take a break at my house?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as I picked at a piece of cake with my fork.
He shrugged, taking a bite of cake himself. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
“And you thought that this coffee shop was the best place to do that?”
I saw his hands clench and his posture stiffen before responding. “Well… the trials coming up,” he started, his voice tight and raw as he spoke.
My body froze momentarily at his statement. I knew it was approaching, as he had been meeting with his lawyer a few days a week to make sure he was ready, but before now, he hadn’t actually brought up much about the trial himself so I had no idea it was so close.
“Oh,” I replied, trying not to show how scared and shocked I was. Clearing my throat, I continued. “When is it?”
“Next Wednesday.” he mumbled quietly, looking down at the table as he spoke.
My eyes widened. “What?” I exclaimed frantically, shrinking back into my seat quickly as I realized how loud I’d been, and the looks of confusion that other customers were throwing my way.
A minute of silence passed before I spoke again, allowing the surrounding crowd to divert their attention elsewhere. “I mean, what?” I started again, but although my voice was incredibly quieter than before, it didn’t end up sounding any less panicked. “But isn’t that the day of your law exam?”
“Ironic huh?” he replied emotionless, his voice restrained before he shook his head, “The trial only starts at noon, so I still have time to write the exam before I have to be in court.”
“But isn’t that going to be horrible, writing an exam when you know you’ll be going to court a few later?”
“Yea,” he said distastefully, not meeting my eyes, “But it’s not like I can do anything, the time was set and I have to live with it.”
“Because of your father.” I mumbled under my breath angrily, wondering how someone’s own father, their own flesh and blood, can abandon their son like that. “Don’t worry,” I continued, reaching across the table to settle my hand on top of his, “I’ll be there to support you.”
“You don’t have to do that.” he muttered, although the way he flipped his hand over and slowly intertwined our fingers together made me think otherwise.
“Stop that thought right now,” I demanded vigorously. “I’ve said it so many times before… stop worrying about me walking away because I’ll be there to support you no matter what.”
And although I knew I wouldn’t be able to completely get rid of his worries about the trials, it was enough to see a slow smile grow on his face as the side of his lips turned upwards.
“Thanks Jill,” he said affectionately, leaning over the table to peck me on the lips.
“That’s what I’m here for.” I replied teasingly.
The conversation seemed to improve as the topic of the trial was pushed away and we continued to joke and just talk about anything and everything, which I was glad for. However, as our hands stayed intertwined and the minutes passed, I couldn’t help but see the fear and anxiety that danced in Parker’s eyes. It gave me a bad feeling that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t quite ready for his trial.
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As the days passed in a whirlwind of studying and meetings, it seemed as though everybody in town had found out about Parker’s court date.
Students that had once ignored Parker, previously settling for glares or silent judgments, had started to voice their hatred as he walked the halls.
“I hope you get what you deserve!”
“What did Freya ever do to you?”
“I hope you rot in jail for what you did to your sister!”
It wasn’t hard to see that the words were slowly taking a toll on him as a whirlwind of emotions was suddenly thrust upon him. By the end of the week, with the way he had once again reverted back into a brooding and moody shell of a boy, I was surprised that he hadn’t lost it yet.
I was doing the best I could to keep him calm and reassure him that everything would be fine; that nothing would change when Wednesday rolled around. I could tell by his expressions that he didn’t really believe a lot of what I was saying, and honestly, I didn’t know if I did either.
So many things could happen at the trial that I was afraid to even think about it, but even though I tried to hide my fears and put on a brave face, the looks that Saige, my dad, and even Parker had sent me proved that I hadn’t done a very good job in masking my emotions.
No matter how many times I wished for all of this to be a dream, for me to wake up and have a normal life with a loving boyfriend, I knew that wasn’t the case. This wasn’t a dream and I just had to learn to accept that, and fast.
However, accepting it seemed to be a whole lot harder said then done when it suddenly snuck up on me.
Monday and Tuesday passed in a blur as I sat both my calculus and biology exams, but as the dreaded day approached quickly, I didn’t have much confidence left; I was drained.
Walking into school on Wednesday I was a mess. My eyes and ears caught each glare and whisper that was thrown my way as I headed towards my locker, and my nerves were on high alert - and it wasn’t because of the exam that I had to sit that morning.
Today was the day the trial started, and according to Parker and my dad, it could last anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks, which made me terrified. If I was freaking out this much today, how would I be able to handle it if this were prolonged a month or two?
Doubts had been circling my head for the last week about what the opposing lawyers could say or do to win the case, and the thoughts my mind conjured up were enough for me to lose sleep over. There were things that Parker had done that could’ve looked shady to some people, mainly the jury, but I knew the truth. The fact that Parker was innocent in all of this was the only thing that had kept me from going insane.
As the clocks in the halls slowly ticked forward and I waited at my locker, a feeling of paranoia fell over me. My history books were spread out on the floor in front of me, my back leaned against the cold locker door as I sat on the floor trying to concentrate. All of the studying I’d done over the past couple of weeks still didn’t seem like enough, and even though I was confident I wouldn’t fail, I wasn’t so sure I’d do well either.
But that might have had to do with my jumbled mind rather than the amount of studying I’d done.
When the warning bell rung out loudly, my heart jumped slightly in my chest, and not just from the noise. The night before Parker had called to wish me good luck on my exam, and although I found it sweet, it also left me wondering where he was. If he had his law exam today, shouldn’t he already be here? As I piled my books into my bag to get to my exam, a bad feeling settled into the pit of my stomach as I noticed he was nowhere to be seen.
Biting my lip nervously I scanned the hallway one last time, but when there was still no sign of him, I sighed, making my way slowly to my exam.
I’d like to say that I was able to concentrate on my exam; that I was able to breeze through the questions with a clear and concentrated mind.
Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
Before the exam had even started I knew that I was in trouble. While my leg seemed to have a mind of its own, as it bounced up and down in anticipation, I repeatedly tapped my pencil against my desk, receiving glares of annoyance from the classmates in the seats around me.
Looking around the room, I saw that some of them were just as nervous as I was. Plenty of them were flipping through their notes in hopes of a few last minutes of study time while some just chewed the ends of their pens as they stared at the ticking clock on the wall, waiting for the exam to be placed on their desk.
I wasn’t nervous about the exam however, I was worried about the fact that my boyfriend, who had only a few hours before he had to arrive in court, was nowhere to be seen.
For all I knew, I could’ve been blowing this whole situation out of proportion. Parker could have been running late because he slept in or stopped at a café for breakfast, but somehow I knew that the explanation wasn’t as simple and innocent as that. Something was definitely wrong.
Minutes later as the teacher got the class under control and slowly started to hand out the exams, I took a deep breath, silently telling myself to calm down and shake off the nerves.
“Thank you.” I muttered quietly as the teacher slid an exam onto my desk before moving down the aisle.
Taking a deep breath, I tried the best I could to push everything I was feeling to the back of my head before flipping the first page over and scanning the exam.
Running through the questions in front of me, I quickly jotted down the answers to the multiple choice and true or false that I knew off by heart, and by the time I reached the long answer section of the exam, I glanced up at the clock to see that forty-five minutes had already passed.
Skimming over the first question, the references to jailed historians and the controversial events of the past brought my mind right back around to Parker. Silently telling myself that whatever was going on with him was something I had no control over, I started writing.
By the time the exam was finished another hour and a half had passed and I was a nervous mess. I had managed to convince myself for a few minutes that Parker had simply forgotten to turn his cell phone on this morning, but other than that, he was the only thing I could think about. I knew that I hadn’t done the best I could on the exam, but as I placed it on my teacher’s desk, it was as if I didn’t care about the grade I’d get or the mistakes I’d made, because only one thing mattered to me at that moment.
Seeing the time, my eyes widened as I realized that Parker’s trial was set to start in less than two hours.
Scurrying out of the classroom, I quickly took my phone out of my bag to text Parker, but as my home screen loaded, I saw that I had three missed calls and two voicemails. When I recognized the caller, a feeling of dread washed over me as I brought the phone to my ear and clicked on the first message.
“Hey Jillian, it’s me Parker,” I heard him say, but the way his voice shook as he spoke did nothing to calm my nerves. “I know you’re probably listening to this after your exam, which I hope you did well on by the way, but I guess I just, I wanted to tell you that, umm, the time of my trial got moved up. You don’t have to come right now, I mean, the first part of the trial is probably going to be really boring with explanations and stuff, but, I don’t know, I just really want you here.”
As a dull beep sounded, signifying the end of the message, my heart and mind were frozen. As people bustled around the hall around me, I stood frozen trying to process what had just happened.
The only thought that crossed my mind as I finally moved and rushed out the school doors was that I had to get to that court room, and I had to get there fast.
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I didn’t end up going to the courthouse right away, and although I desperately wanted to, I knew that it wasn’t smart to barge through the doors of a court room, in the middle of a hearing, dressed in a pair of baggy sweatpants and a hoodie. Instead, I made a quick trip home, dropping my school bag at the door as I bolted up to my room to change.
In all honesty, I didn’t have very many clothes that were appropriate for a courthouse. Immediately I knew that all of my jeans and leggings were out of the equation, as well as the shorter skirts and over-glamorous dresses that I owned. Pulling out an older black skirt of mine, I slipped it on quickly before grabbing a blue blouse from its hanger and tucking it into the skirt.
Tossing my hair up in a ponytail, I looked over my appearance quickly in the mirror and decided that it had to be good enough as I headed out of my room and hurried back down the stairs.
I was, however, surprised to see my dad waiting for me at the bottom.
“Dad,” I said, a surprised tone to my voice as I slowed down, “What are you doing here?”
“Most people at the firms don’t go in when a majority of the workers are in court,” he stated.
“But I thought you were working on Parker’s case? Shouldn’t you be at there too?”
He shook his head. “I was just helping some of my co-workers with the case, I have my own cases that I’ve been working on.” he explained, nodding into the living room where I could clearly see numerous pieces of paper scattered across the table. “The better question is, why are you home? Isn’t there somewhere you should be right now?” he asked, raising an eyebrow pointedly.
I fidgeted with the end of my skirt I’d just pulled on as my gaze fell to the floor. “Parker told me that the trial was originally scheduled an hour or two from now, so I went to school and wrote my exam. I just got the message he’d left me telling me that the times had been switched.”
He furred his eyebrows in confusion. “Parker’s trial was never set at a later time,” he replied, “It’s always been scheduled for this time.”
“What?” I mumbled confusedly, more to myself than to my dad.
“Don’t worry about that right now,” he said, wrapping his arms around me before pulling back and placing his hands on my shoulders. “I think you have somewhere else to be because, if I’m not mistaken, somebody needs your support.”
Nodding, a small smile graced my lips as I headed towards the front door, but before I could close it behind me, my dad spoke again.
“Jillian,” he called, causing me to turn my head, “You know I’ll always be here if you need me. You’re still my little girl, and you always will be.”
“I know dad.” I smiled and this time, when I went to leave, he didn’t stop me.
And it was a good thing he didn’t.
I don’t know why the streets were so busy at this time on a Wednesday morning, but for whatever reason, I seemed to hit every red light possible, get stuck following the slowest drivers, and even made a couple wrongs turns because my head was swirling with emotions.
First, I wanted to get to the trial and be there for Parker, however, as soon as I was able to talk to him, I knew I had to ask him why he had lied about the time of his trial. And even though I had an inkling as to what his reasons were, I didn’t like the fact that he lied to me about it in the first place.
After what could only be described as one of the worst drives through town in history, I finally arrived at the courthouse, however, luck still happened to be betting against me. There was not a parking spot in sight, and by the time I was able to find one down the block, I had to walk another three minutes on the snow covered sidewalks just to step foot on the front steps of the building.
Stepping into the courthouse, I immediately realized the intimidation factor that this building held. Standing alone in the lobby, I scanned the area only to see a few others standing around, as though they were waiting for something to happen.
“Excuse me,” a voice addressed, and when I turned around, I saw a woman who looked to be twice my age looking directly at me. “Are you lost dear?”
“Umm… no, yes, kind of.” I stuttered, not really sure of my answer. “I’m just looking for where I could find the trial that’s going on right now, the one questioning Freya Collins death?”
“Sure,” she replied, pointing towards a pair of daunting wooden doors down the hall, “It’s straight through those doors, but just between me and you, what’s going on in there isn’t exactly something you’d want to be watching.”
Before I could question her further, she turned and left without another word, leaving me in the middle of a courthouse lobby frozen in place as her words repeated dauntingly in my brain.
‘That isn’t something you’d want to be watching.’
Sighing, I tried to shake her words out of my mind as I headed towards the doors she had pointed towards.
Now, I was fully aware that a court session would be taking place on the other side of the doors, which is why I pushed the door opened slowly, trying to go unnoticed. That didn’t happen though, as the moment I started to move the door, the hinges squeaked loudly, causing a flush of embarrassment to role over me as I stepped foot into the courtroom.
Letting the door close behind me, it didn’t take me long to realize I had made a disturbance. Flinching, I saw multiple people seated in the gallery of the courtroom glancing back at me, either sending glares or scanning me curiously, wondering why a seventeen year old girl was there. Trying to inch out of the spotlight, I slowly stepped to my right and took a seat at the edge of a pew a few rows from the back.
“And that’s why my client, Parker Collins, pleads non-guilty against the accusations set against him.” Parker’s lawyer said as I tuned into the hearing, finishing the speech she had started before I had briefly interrupted.
The judge nodded, appearing non-judgmental towards her words as he directed his gavel towards the opposing lawyer, signaling for him to respond.
“Well your honor,” the opposition started, standing up slowly as he shuffled through a few papers on his desk, “Although we have no eye witnesses to the crime, I, along with some of my esteemed colleagues, have gathered evidence justifying that while he may appear innocent to some, there is more to the story. That is why I’d like to call Parker Collins to the stand.”
“Parker, you may approach the bench.” the judge said.
Holding my breath, I watched as Parker stood up from his chair and slowly made his way towards the bench. On his way, my eyes connected with his, and although I didn’t see confidence shining through, I smiled softly, hoping that somehow, someway, I could give him enough strength to get through this.
“So Parker,” the lawyer started as Parker took a seat, “On the night of December 15th, 2010, it says that you walked into your house to see your sister lying on the ground. Was your father anywhere to be seen?”
“And remember, you’re under oath.” he added after.
Parker shook his head. “No.”
“So what you’re saying is that you aren’t sure that you’re father was the one who killed your sister, then why is he the only other assumed suspect.”
“My father was physically abusive. Freya always tried to protect me from the damage he caused, but I knew what was going on. He’d used his fists against me a few times in the past, and I’d seen him verbally, physically, and emotionally abuse my sister.”
With the way Parker was answering, a bubble of hope started to form in my heart. He was doing what his lawyer had advised, standing strong and answering with short, to the point responses.
“Why did you never report him if the abuse had been going on for so long? Why were you covering for him?”
And with that simple question, I saw Parker’s resolve slowly crack. I knew that this was a touchy subject for him, and as he responded in a shaky tone, I felt the bubble in my heart burst in defeat.
“He was still my dad, I didn’t want to risk being away from my family.”
“Or are you trying to blame your dad for something he didn’t do?” the lawyer asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. “The autopsy reports show scars on Freya’s body, and I am aware that your medical reports say that your scars are due to abuse by hand, but is it possible that they came from somebody else?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? You could’ve easily gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd at the age of fourteen. Gotten into a few fights, have your sister help you out of a few sticky spots, make some enemies.”
“That didn’t happen.” Parker pleaded, clenching his teeth in anger.
“Then let’s talk about your sister.” the lawyer said, switching topics as he saw the reaction he was getting out of Parker. “When you saw her body lying on the ground, why was the first though that ran through your head not to get help, but rather to let her lie there lifeless?”
“I couldn’t believe that my sister was actually gone.” Parker whispered, his voice cracking with sadness.
As the trial continued, I sat there and listened to the prosecutor throw question after question at Parker.
‘Why didn’t you give a statement that night?’
‘Have you spoken to your father since that night three years ago?’
‘Describe the scene you walked into when you entered your house that night.’
'Was blaming your father after his disappearance a way for you to get away with the murder?'
My heart wrenched for him as he looked as though he wasn’t able to answer the questions, and as he bowed his head in defeat minutes later, our eyes connected. I could see the pool of disappointment looming within his gaze, and I was stuck in my seat, merciless and incapable.
All I could do was sit there and watch the boy I was growing to love get brought down.
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Sorry about the long wait for this, and I’m also sorry that this isn’t my best piece of writing. I tried to edit it the best I could, but I honestly don’t think there was much I could do to make this any better.
I hope you did enjoy this chapter, but don’t hate me for the ending! There is still two more chapters left, plus an epilogue, and everything will be wrapped up :)
I will try to get the next chapter up before the end of next week, but as always, there may be a delay :S Until next time, vote and share your thoughts down below, I’d love to hear what you think will happen and how you guys feel about this chapter! xx