Short Stories, One Shots and Contest Entries

My One True Love

Title: My One True Love
Author: asiangurlinlove
Type: original story
Reason: writing contest entry
Note: I have a writing contest up and the first place winner of each prompt gets their story featured in this book. This prompt was plot twists.

Brandon Novan sat in his cell, thinking quietly. Why was he in there? What wrong had he done? All he had done was love someone he could never have. . . .

"Novan!" A prison guard's face appeared between the bars of Brandon's cell. "Stay where you are," the guard barked as he unlocked the cell, "or I'll be forced to sedate you."

Brandon shivered involuntarily but remained in his spot against the wall. After his first experience with a sedative, he had woken up in the very cell he was in. He hadn't been given a trial or a lawyer, he had just been placed in here eight days ago.

The guard fully stepped into the cell and walked towards where Brandon was sitting. Pulling out two pairs of handcuffs, the guard quickly snapped one over Brandon's wrists and the other over his wrists, and pushed him forward.

"One wrong move, and you're getting sedated, no matter what," the guard warned, a needle in his hand. "The first time, you ended up in a jail cell. Who knows where you'll go after the second time?"

Brandon's eyes widened slightly in fear. There was only one other place worse than the prison -- the mental institution. Only crazy people went there, and Brandon wasn't crazy.

"Wait here."

Brandon immediately obliged, barely even breathing. He was in front of a door, through which no sound at all could be heard. Was it the door to outside? Maybe they realized that they had a mistake and were now letting him go. Maybe the people behind the doors would be there to take off his handcuffs.

Just as Brandon was feeling hopeful, the doors opened, revealing what looked like a court room. He was disappointed at first, but he perked up again when he realized that this was a trial for him. He could prove that he was innocent, and he would be set free.

The guard pushed Brandon roughly in the back, but Brandon walked into the room with his head held high and a huge smile on his face. In just a few minutes, he could leave the building. And then, he could go find his true love. Although she had reported him to the police, he would forgive her.

"After punishing her a little, of course," Brandon thought out loud with a soft chuckle. "When she finally admits she was wrong, I'll forgive her and be with her forever."

"You see, Your Honor?" An unfamiliar man dressed formally stood up next to Brandon and gestured at him. "Based on what he just said, I feel no further questions are necessary. I am sure the jury has already made up their minds."

"Sit down, Lawyer Kingsworth," the man in the center of the room said with a scowl. "We shall need more proof than that."

Brandon watched the man remain standing with a victorious smirk. "Judge Larson, I call Elizabeth Rose Octyle to the stand."

"Liz?" Brandon also jumped up in his seat to stare at the girl who walked into the room. To stare at his true love, the one who still refused to understand that she didn't love him. "Liz, it's me!"

However, the only response Brandon received was a banging of a wooden object from the man in the center. "Sit down, sir!" the man said, the same scowl on his face. "Unless you want to be sedated again, and waste the time of every single person in here."

Brandon sat down immediately, but he still watched Liz step up to the man in the center and place her hand on the bible.

"Elizabeth Rose Octyle," Lawyer Kingsworth said as he stepped up to Liz. "Would you please tell us your relation with the defendant?"