Caught In The Trap-HTGAWM

EIGHTEEN

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Connor sat in the back of  Nate's car— hand rubbing gently against the girl's back. The radio chimed in causing them all to worry. "Unit twenty-two is at five-three-six Charter Lane with two female victims, one deceased." Annora released a loud cry; burying her head into Connor's chest.

"What did they just say?" Wes whipped his head around to face his classmates. "I heard 'deceased'." Laurel leaned forward trying to get her ear closer. Connor gripped onto Annora tightly, covering her ears in the process. "If you shut up, we can hear it." His eyes burned holes into Wes who turned around after his eyes flickered to the crying girl.

He gulped bringing himself to look out of the window; thoughts running wild in his head. Michaela phone began to ring loudly in the tight space. "It's me. What do I do?"

"Nothing!"

"Don't a-answer it."

"She can't just ignore it!" Laurel yelled at the men in the car. "Shut up!" Nate's voice rose, glaring at them through the rearview mirror. "Answer it. Act normal. No one make a sound."

Wes stared in questioning, hands closing together. "Are you sure?" His head shook awaiting an answer when the cop turned to him. "Yes. You got this." The ringing stopped when she finally answered the phone— bringing it to her ear. "Hi. Yeah. Everything's fine."

Everyone sat in the room with their new client when Annalise finally came into the home. "Rachel was my best friend. We had this plan that we were gonna go to
college together, be bridesmaids at each other's weddings."

Zoe's dad then chimed in with a short lived smile. "Rachel's dad and I used to joke that maybe they'd marry each other."

"Tom." His wife, Lisa, scolded with a sharp glare. "I just want them to know the real Zoe, that what happened isn't her—" Annalise brought her hand up to silent his explanation and rambling. "We know it's hard, Mr. Mitchell, but we way need Zoe to do this in court, too, so... go on. You're doing good."

"Last year, when we started school, Rachel and I started hanging out with Molly and Megan. And it was fun at first. They were really popular, and we liked that they noticed us. But then Rachel started talking to Molly's boyfriend.

And Molly said it first; she said that we had to teach Rachel a lesson. And I thought that she was just joking, that we were gonna, you know, like; take her into the woods and scare her, but... I should have stopped them. And I know that. But I was scared. But... they made me do it. They made me kill my best friend."

"Any of us are capable of what Zoe did. We'd like to think that we have self-control as free will." Annalise paced the court room as she defended her new client.

"But under the right circumstances, any of us can become a killer. The prosecution wants you to believe that Molly Bartlett and Megan Harris were brainwashed by my client. The D.A. even made a plea deal with them so they'd testify against Zoe." She gestures to the prosecutor's table.

"But the truth is, Megan and Molly are the ones responsible here. They used their social clout to recruit Zoe, an impressionable girl, into their very own murder club. Zoe was roped into a sick revenge plot over a boy.

And in that moment, she lost herself, forgot who she was. Zoe wishes she could take it all back, return to the days when it was just her and her best friend, Rachel. Before she met the bad influences who'd ruin her life.

She's an innocent girl who doesn't deserve jail. Instead, she needs to be placed in a psychiatric facility where she can get the help she needs. So please consider this fragile, susceptible teenager and remember... she could be your child, too. "

"Zoe Mitchell is not a victim here. She's the ringleader," Prosecutor Kaplan argued as she walked around the front of the room. Making eye contact with each and every person. ", orchestrating the cold-blooded murder of Rachel Glasser."

She stopped to pick up a picture of the deceased and held it up for everyone to see. "It was Zoe who wanted this girl dead. Zoe bullied Molly and Megan into luring Rachel into the woods behind their school to kill her. Together they stabbed her not once... not twice... but fifty-two times."

She switched the photo from n her hand to the girl laying on grass, school uniform still on but accompanied by red stains. "What kind of person kills their best friend? A sociopath, that's who, because that's what Zoe Mitchell is— a conniving, remorseless murderer."

Annora stood outside of apartment four of Hamilton St. She brought her hand up to the door lightly knocking her knuckles against it. She heard rustling through the wood, along with hushed whispers.

The door finally opened revealing a nervous Wes. His eyes widened when he saw who had knocked on his door that night. "Nora. Wh-What are you doing here?" He lightly scratched the back of his neck anxiously.

"It's Friday..." He still carried the clueless look on his face not understanding the meaning of the day. "Weekly study 'group'?" She bit her lip hoping something would chime in his head in remembrance.

"Oh! Ugh..." He glanced back into his apartment seeing Levi seated on the bed with a smirk. "I can't do tonight..." Annora looked off to the side before drawing her eyes back to him. "Oh, all right. It's fine if you have company over. We could possibly reschedule for tomorrow night?"

The hazel-eyed man's eyes slowly moved connecting with Levi's, he almost groaned as he let his head rest on the door frame. "I can't do tomorrow either. We can just skip this weeks and try next week?" He tried to make it sound as nice as possible not wanting her to feel unwanted.

"That's fine by me. See you tomorrow I guess." He watched as she walked away and down the stairs. Not without stopping to wave goodbye with a light smile.

Wes stepped back into the apartment shutting the door abruptly. "Why are you ruining everything?"

- 1065 words -

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sorry for the late a short chapter, i was going through some things