Behind Bars

Chapter 3

Here's Chapter 3!  Enjoy and don't forget to vote/comment!

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When I got home, I didn't even have a chance to speak before my mom locked me in my room.  I wasn't able to explain to her that I was innocent, even though a part of me doubted she would believe me.

There was so many things I knew I should be doing right then.  I should have been researching evidence and lawyers for my case.  I should have been calling my friends and explaining what had happened.  I should have broken my door down and demanded that my mother listen to my side of the story.

I didn't do any of those things.

Instead, I stared blankly at the wall, fiddling with my new ankle bracelet.  It wasn't anything fancy, really.  Just a plain black band with a large metal piece attached, but to me it symbolized so much.  I had been told that if I so much as stepped off my front lawn, a patrol car would be at my heels in minutes.

I lost track of how long I'd sat there.  The sun had gone down a long time ago, and the sound of my mom's hushed phone conversations had died down.

I wonder what she told Jamie.  The thought kept circling in my brain, clawing at my insides.  I could deal with a court not believing me.  I could cope if my friends, or even my own mother not believing me, but I had no idea what I'd do if my own little brother didn't.

What would happen to Jamie if I got taken away?  Who would he go to when Mom was in one of her moods?

At some point I drifted off to sleep, the troubling thoughts still circling in my head.

The next few days dragged by.  My mom eventually realized that I would have to use the bathroom sometime, so she was forced to unlock my door.  Even so, I stayed in my room almost all the time.  Mom wouldn't allow Jamie to be near me, so there wasn't really a point to leave.

For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to tell my friends what was happening.  I'd gotten dozens of texts asking where I was, but I didn't respond to any of them.  It was almost as if I told them what had happened, it would be confirming that this was all real.

A couple of times I had even tried to convince myself that this was all a dream.  I'd almost believe it, but my ankle bracelet was always there to remind me otherwise.

I knew that my court date was approaching rapidly, but I still couldn't bring myself to do anything about it.  It was as if part of my brain had just stopped functioning.  I was like a zombie.  An empty shell of a person.

It wasn't until the night before my court date that I finally snapped out of the little trance I'd been in.  The realization hit me like a bucket of cold water. 

 If I don't do something, I'm going to end up in jail.

That thought send a wave of raw determination through me.  I stayed up all night on the computer, trying to find something to help my case.  I was cramming a week's worth of research into one night.

I dug through some of my mom's paperwork on the table, and found the name of my lawyer.  Fredrick Conrad.  I did a google search on him, and felt the bubble of determination in my stomach slowly deflate.

If one thing was for sure, my mom obviously didn't put too much time or money into finding a lawyer.  This guy had only represented six cases, and every case had lost.  Well, that was certainly reassuring.

After hours of researching, I still hadn't found anything that would help me.  Exhausted and discouraged, I flopped back on my bed.  There wasn't anything for me to do now but await the morning.