Justice Served

35 | The Trial

Chapter Thirty-Five
Jayce Mirella

April 1st, 5:30 pm.

This is it.

People filled the public benches, from people I didn't know to faces I recognized like Blue, Dimitri, Luna, Rhys Chandler's father, Vincent, that damned Ian Lennox even that Verena girl who I didn't like but made it her mission to come. The people I was close to sat in the front seats, the ones closest to the swinging doors while the rest of the seats filled with the family of Keagan, and Delilah Quince who wept softly, curious strangers and reporters who wanted to get the scoop on my trial occupied the rest of the seats.

The number of people inside the actual courtroom did nothing to represent the actual amount of people who came. Outside in the rotunda, you could vaguely hear their indistinct chatter as they waited for the trial to be over to see what my verdict would be; those people were mainly reporters who weren't fortunate enough to get a seat inside on time.

Funny enough, the reporters had camped outside the courthouse waiting for the doors to open for them to get a seat inside. The amount of dedication that these people had was outstanding. By the entrance door, were two police officers, a man on the right while there was a tall female to the left. Rhys said that he knew the male officer, I think he said his name was Mateo Gonzalez. The man kept going on and on about how he scored a date with the woman of his dreams and thanked Rhys though he did nothing to aid nor fuel their romance.

To my right is a well dressed Kyo Midori in a navy blue dress shirt, a black suit on top, black slacks, and a black-tie with his hair styled in a pompadour. To my direct left is Rhys Chandler who sits by me in a clean black suit with black slacks, a white undershirt, a black tie, and expensive black dress shoes. He radiates an aura of calmness with those unwavering eyes of his as he listens intently to words that came out of an emotionless Judge Trenton Owens.

While they looked dressed to kill, I looked casual with my long-sleeved black shirt and light washed jeans that I borrowed from Luna, I also wore Blue's beat-up classic black vans that she purchased from a thrift shop last year. I had on my light brown wig for today that was tied into a low ponytail, the ends touching my lower back. Though I didn't match up with everyone else in terms of presentability, this outfit was better than anything I've worn in a while except for the outfit I wore when I spent a day with Rhys -- that one was bomb as hell.

His hands lay on the edge of the table with his black briefcase a few inches away. He doesn't look at me but I believe that that was for the best, I wanted him to maintain control and radiate that powerful aura Luna gushed about whenever she had come to watch him in court but for some reason, I had the belief that he'd somehow lose the exterior he's built up if he looks at me for a period longer than necessary.

My eyes travel over to the clerk and court reporter who types rapidly against the keyboard, making sure to never omit a single word that came out of the judge's mouth. Hair tied up into a high ponytail, the clerk's eyes darted from the keyboard to the screen of the Apple computer with great speed as she paid no mind to anything else going on around the room.

Unlike before, the jury box is filled with people, I think it was around twelve people in total; twelve strangers. No matter how many times I tried to ward the feeling off, I couldn't help but feel some type of way when I noticed that the majority of the jury box was white. I tried not to think that way as I have admittedly gotten better at not jumping to conclusions but with the previous William Brown case and the fact that his jury box was filled with white people the first time around when he was falsely convicted of his crime, this made me feel anxious. Those people were the ones who were going to have to decide if I was not guilty and the majority of them were biased against people like me, nothing Rhys and I could do would matter in any way.