Criminal Essense

Chapter 6: Proof and Alibis

Chapter 6: Proof and Promises

March 6th, 2013, 1:49 p.m.

Sunny Pines Apartment complex

The seventh floor

Piper stood at the tip of the stairs, well aware that there were several pairs of eyes on her, as well as cameras, and she tried not to let that get in her way. At the foot of the stairs, the judge held a stopwatch and a mega-phone, so she could hear him, and she could see him if she looked over the edge, the stairs a long maze that went left than right then left then right. “Ready?” he called. She knew that how fast she went depended on whether or not she might be saved, but she decided that she would do just as they asked. “Start at the door to room 210 and when I say go, run as fast as you can down the stairs and out side.”

“Okay,” she called back. Along the walls were guards watching her every move, and waiting in the lobby were the twelve jurors that would be deciding her fate. They had breached the surveillance cameras and placed the footage on a screen in the lobby, where no doubt, people were huddled around anxiously waiting.

She waited, waited for him to say go, wishing he’d just count down already. “Go!”

It took her a split-second to release the panic and run, and she hoped that the jurors hadn’t noticed. She raced down the stretch of the hallway, her combat boots that she had changed into in the cab sounding off the floor loudly. She grabbed the familiar rail as her feet padded down the stairs in a blur, left, right, left, right, left, right. She skipped the bottom step of each set, landing on the connecting platform with both feet with a thud.

She then went on to the next set of stairs, her heart racing, adrenaline pumping through her veins. Go your fastest, she told herself, but a part of her was worried that maybe she had the ability to do it. She was starting to question her lawyer’s validity, hoping that she hadn’t been lying when she promised that she’d help her get out of prison.

Focus. Left, right, left, right, left, right.

There were too many of them, and Piper was having a hard time trying not to trip. Left, right, left, right, left, right. She had passed three flights by now, her legs wanting to give up, and she was trying not to slow down, for fear that the jurors might notice and think she was cheating. Her breathing was deeper, and she realized what four years of confinement can really do to you, at least for her, who spent her exercise time talking with Tyler.  

Left, right, left, right, left, right. Don’t stop. Keep going.

Four flights of stairs. Five. Six. She was rounding the corner of the seventh flight, almost at the bottom. She leaped over the last step, running toward the lobby doors, ignoring the crowd of people on the side. When she reached them, she pushed on their hard glass, running out into the street before stopping to catch her breath, bending over and placing her hands on her knees, breathing heavily.

Behind her, her Charlotte Mcnabb rushed outside with a grand smile on her face, running to Piper. “One minute, nineteen seconds!” she declared, and Piper let out an exalted breath, smiling. She stood up, reaching her hands up to the sky, stretching, wishing she could touch the clouds that always loomed over the wild city.

The Prosecutor came out of the building, his brows furrowed in a flurry of anger and disbelief, his face turning red. “I don’t believe it!” he shouted, pointing his finger at Piper, the judge and jurors following him outside.

“Would you like to do it yourself then?” Charlotte asked him, and his face only continued to turn the color of a tomato.

“She cheated!”