sister sister // heathers au

fifteen

Luck runs out.
- Emily Dean

Emily walked up slowly. She felt like a corpse. Here, she was allowed to say whatever she wanted so long as it was the truth.

"Ms. Dean, have you ever suspected that your parents are doing illegal things?" Mr. Dimitri asked her.

The answer was yes but she knew that's not the answer she needed to say. "People like you have changed what I once thought." She decided this was a good answer.

"What do you mean by people like me?" He asked.

"People who like to make lies about my parents and profit off their suffering." Emily answered. "You don't want to help me or my sister. You just want to make sure my father doesn't come home." She added.

"Emily, nothing that I've said here has been a lie. I'm working off what I know. No one is lying about your family." Mr. Dimitri told her.

"You've got it all cooked up. You're painting my father as a drug dealer. He's not. He's also not a drug addict. You can't hide things like that for years, Mr. Dimitri." Emily argued.

"What makes you so sure, Ms. Dean?" He asked.

"My father barely drinks. In fact, he hates alcohol. My grandfather was an alcoholic during his childhood." Emily told him.

"And?" He questioned.

"If someone doesn't like beer, what makes you think they'd do heroin?" She asked.

"You have a fair point. But my speculation is that your father was dealing heroin. Not taking it." Mr. Dimitri said.

"I don't want to answer any other questions." Emily told the judge.

"Could you answer the questions of Mr. Cohen?" The judge asked her. She nodded. An exasperated Mr. Dimitri sat down as David stood up.

"Emily, can you please inform the jury of what was happening while your father is incarcerated?" He asked of her.

"Well, my sister and I went to our brother's house. I was drinking excessively and I lashed out at my family. My sister won't stop crying." Emily answered.

"Have you ever known your father to commit crimes?" He asked.

"No, I haven't. I know he's a good man, Mr. Cohen." She said.

"I don't have any more questions for her, your honor." He said as Emily got up and went back to sit beside her mom. Everyone in the Dean family sighed collectively as they saw Bud Dean take the stand next.

But the words he said were short. He didn't dwell on his answers. And he kept one thing clear, that while he may not have really liked JD as a teenager that he was a grown man now. He said that he wouldn't risk his family.

Veronica's parents said the same things as Bud. Though they spoke more about Veronica than JD. While Veronica's mother came off the stand, Chloe was called up.