freak|adam banks ¹

twenty-two: il marche parmi nous

TW: SUICIDE, SELF HARM & RAPE

Jae:

"You don't control me anymore."

He stares at me, smiling. He quietly laughs to himself, making me angrier.

"Are you sure love, I thought I controlled that pretty little mind of yours," He walks closer to me. I feel my breathing stop in my throat. "That pretty little mind. You know the one that wrote great stories, the one that would sing the most beautiful songs to me, the dirty one that-" The police officer that is present in the room grabs him by the arm, dragging him back to the place he has to stand. I was grateful he pulled him away, I know where he was going with that one.

"Okay let's start," I hear the judge yell out. I feel his eyes staring at me. I know what he's trying t do. He wants to get in my head. The sick bastard he is, he wants me to relive that pain. And I'm not going to let him have that satisfaction.

"The first thing on this paper is a girl name, Ashley Montanez. Jaelyn, can we hear your side?" The judge asks as she looks through a folder filled with papers. I take a deep breath before starting from the beginning of Ashley's tragic death. I blink away the tears as best as I can.

"Ashley came to us when she was eleven, this was four years ago. She was the closest one to my age at the time, everyone else was much younger. We got really close quickly. We protected each other and helped each other through everything we went to. Years go by and there's no sign of ever getting out. We were all hopeless. One night before we all went to bed, Scarlett and I were singing to the younger girls trying to get them to go to sleep. Ashley seemed fine that night. She said goodnight to us and went to bed. During the middle of the night, while I was sleeping, I was woken up by a loud bang. I immediately woke up and went to check on the girls. I noticed that Matthew's bedroom door was open and I quickly ran in to see what happened. I saw Ashely hanging from the ceiling fan, dead. Matthew was just waking up when I started screaming and crying. He hit me and told me to shut up. But there was something written on her forehead, something in red ink." I say, trying to remember what it was.

"il marche parmi nous." I hear a faint whisper. My head snaps to the side of where I heard the sound.

"That's it! Who said that?" I ask loudly. Ashley used to say that all the time, especially when talking to Matthew.

"il marche parmi nous." I hear the voice again. I recognize the voice. It was Luna Collins. She was only six at the time of Ashley's death. I walk over to her and bend down so I can see her face. She looks terrified, after all, she's only nine.

"How do you remember that?" I ask.

"I speak French too." She says. That's when I remember that both of them were from Canada and spoke fluent French.

"What does that mean?" I ask. She looks over at Matthew, who is already looking at us.

"He walks among us." She whispers. My face drained of color and my heart raced. What the hell does that mean? Luna must have sensed my fear. She placed her tiny hand against my cheek.

"She means that he," She says pointing towards Matthew, "He is the devil on earth. He walks among us." A look of realization spread across my face.

"I understand now," I say. She smiles and kisses my cheek lightly. I walk back to my seat and sit down.

The girls that were comfortable enough, spoke of what happened to them.

"What were some things he did to you?" The judge asks me.

"Rape, torture, made me cut myself, and stole my innocence," I say, staring at Matthew. He smiles at me.

"vete al infierno, maldito bastardo." I yell at him. His smile fades and he's trying to figure out what that means.

"Okay, Okay. Matthew Crawford, you are sentenced to forty years for manslaughter, rape, and abduction, no probation."

I see Adam staring at me with disbelief in his eyes. Only forty years? Surely he will be old by then, maybe even dead. I just wanted to hear her say something horrible to him, like life in prison.

"I'll be back."

IM SORRY I USED GOOGLE TRANSLATE IDK IF ITS RIGHT.
btw what Jae said was "go to hell you fucking bastard" :)
sorry, this sucked so baaaad.