sister sister // heathers au

sixteen

I am damaged. Far too damaged.
- Jason Dean, 1988

"State your name and age for the record."

"Chloe Grace Dean. I'm thirteen." She said meekly, sitting down.

"Chloe, can you tell us what happened while you were with Emily at your brother's apartment?" Mr. Cohen asked her.

Chloe felt her ears whoosh as she started to remember being grabbed the way she was. She started to recall how Jesse said Emily caused it.

"I don't want to." She said, looking down at her shoes and sighing.

"Did anything bad happen while you were there?" He asked.

"Yes." Chloe said.

"Can you tell me?" David asked.

"Someone hurt me." Chloe spoke up softly. She was still looking at her shoes. If she focused hard enough, it wouldn't happen again.

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"A boy came in my room. He hurt me." She explained. She looked up to see her mom was crying and that her dad was seething.

"Is that why you called your mom and told her where you were?" David asked.

"No. I found out that Emily paid the boy to kiss me." Chloe answered.

"I didn't do that!" Emily shouted.

"Jesse said you did!" Chloe told her before the judge could call for order in the court.

"We aren't going to dwell on this right now. I need you to answer one more thing for me." David told her. Chloe nodded. "Do you miss your father?" He asked.

"Very much so." She said.

"I don't have any more questions for you, Chloe." David said, sitting back down. Mr. Dimitri stood up.

"Can I go to my mom?" Chloe asked. She looked nervous.

"Yes, Ms. Dean." The judge granted. Chloe got up and went to sit back down.

"Your honor, neither of the Dean girls are cooperating with me. I can't do my job if they won't even speak to me." Mr. Dimitri complained.

"They're very clearly traumatized. After seeing the way you were accusing their parents and family friends, it's only natural that they wouldn't want to deal with that." David argued.

"Mr. Cohen is right. These girls are in a fragile state right now and they're fair to worry that you'll be cruel to them." The judge ruled as the lawyers sat back down. At this moment, someone came into the room. Everyone looked back at the person. "Can I help you?" The judge asked.

"I'm late but I'm here. I'm Jesse Dean, your honor." The person said, addressing the judge directly.

"Take a seat, Mr. Dean." The judge ordered.

"Actually, your honor, Jesse is next." David interrupted. The judge let Jesse come up, he let him be sworn under oath and he let him sit on the stand.

Jesse grinned at his father as Mr. Dimitri walked up.

"Mr. Dean, how old are you?" Mr. Dimitri asked.

"I'm nineteen." Jesse answered.

"Have you ever known your father to do anything illegal?" He asked.

"He's here for dealing heroin. So, I'd say yes." Jesse told Mr. Dimitri.

"I mean aside from this." Mr. Dimitri explained.

"Yes, I have. He smokes weed." Jesse said.

"Was your father ever abusive to you?" Mr. Dimitri asked.

"He kicked me out of the house when I was seventeen." Jesse answered, looking directly into his father's mirror eyes. They had the same eyes.

"Why did he do that?" Mr. Dimitri asked.

"I don't recall." Jesse lied.

"Let me ask you this, Mr. Dean, do you think your father deserves to be in jail?" Mr. Dimitri asked.

"Yes, I do. My mother and sisters would be better if he wasn't around." Jesse answered.

"No further questions." Mr. Dimitri stated as David stood up.

"Mr. Dean, you have contact with your sister Emily, correct?" He asked.

"Yes, I do." Jesse replied.

"Then you'd know that your mother and sisters are not doing well in the absence of your father." David said. "Emily said that in your care, she was getting drunk. Is that true, Mr. Dean?" He asked.

"Yes but I didn't give her that alcohol. I had friends who were around that gave it to her." Jesse answered, lying about not giving Emily the alcohol.

"Your other sister, Chloe, testified that she was assaulted in your care. She said that you claimed Emily paid your sister's attacker. Is this true, Mr. Dean?" David asked.

"Yes, it is." He said.

"I will remind you, Mr. Dean. You're under oath." The judge said. "Mr. Cohen, continue if you will."

"I'm aware, your honor." Jesse sighed.

"Did Emily pay a young man to kiss Chloe?" David asked.

"No, she didn't." Jesse said. He could see the disgust in his parent's eyes.

"Then who did?" David asked.

"No one paid him to kiss Chloe." Jesse answered.

"Did someone pay a young man to assault your sister, then?" David questioned.

"I did that." Jesse told David.

"Why?" David asked.

"Because it's easy, Mr. Cohen. It's easy to do all that I've done. Give Emily some alcohol, pay that dude to hurt Chloe." Jesse said. "It's easy to pay someone a lot of money to drive a few hours and put some heroin in my father's car." He added, smiling.

"You put the heroin in your farther's car, Mr. Dean?" David asked.

"No, but I paid someone to do it for me." Jesse said.

"Who did you pay to plant heroin in your father's car?" David asked.

"To tell you the truth, Mr. Cohen, I can't even remember. It was so long ago." Jesse stated.

"Why did you do this to your family?" David asked.

"Because they threw me out. They paid my bills and then one day, they just stopped. They stopped calling. They stopped paying my bills." Jesse answered.

"Then what?" David asked.

"A simple call from a pay phone to Sherwood's finest." He added, smiling again.

"I don't have any more questions your honor." David said.

The jury went to deliberate. It didn't take long for them to do it.

"For the three counts of drug dealing, we find the defendant not guilty." The head juror stated. "For the abuse of heroin and Xanax, we find the defendant not guilt. For the abuse of marijuana, we find the defendant guilty."

"Shit." JD muttered under his breath.

"However, we feel the defendant has served enough time. We say they should be released at this time without further punishment besides a fine of $3,000." The juror added.

"Thank you." JD said to them. He was a free man again.

"Mr. Jesse Dean, due to your confession under oath, I am sentencing you to three years in prison on the counts of possessing drugs, selling drugs and for framing your father. With an additional eighteen months for planning a sexual assault on a minor. You will get psychiatric evaluations yearly." The judge told Jesse. "You have forfeited your rights to a trial."

The cops that were planning on taking away JD got his son instead. Jesse felt accomplished. His family didn't even say goodbye to him.