Morix: Web of Mistrust

Turnabout Live, Part 8

August 8

Defendant Lobby No. 4

9:45 AM

James Devine

The next morning came without any permission from me, and I was forced to shuffle through the detention center so that I could go to the courthouse. I hadn't slept well the night before at all, and my mind was still spinning with the idea of having to be social. I normally loved being around people, but given the situation, all I wanted to do was curl up and block out the rest of the world. 

When I arrived, I could see that Chrysalis, Felicity, Yuri, and Anton were already waiting for me in the defendant lobby. I approached them slowly, putting on a brave face even though my nerves were rattling around constantly inside me. "Lovely day for a trial, wouldn't you say?" I prompted. Despite saying that, I didn't think it was true in the slightest. 

"Morning, James!" Yuri exclaimed, clapping her hands together out of excitement. "It's good to see you here. It seems like we're going to be able to get you out of the detention center today, and you'll be free to go home without any issues. Are you excited to finally be able to leave that place?"

I nodded with a wide smile. Even if I was anxious as could be, the idea of going home was something that I desperately needed to cling to. My mother was likely waiting for me. She hadn't come out to watch the trial as far as I was aware, but I wasn't exactly surprised. She tended to push herself too far out of stress and worry for others, and it was definitely for the best that she held back on coming to visit me if she thought that she needed a bit of time to examine everything from a distance. I couldn't wait to see her again, to say the least. 

"Nobody likes staying in the detention center," Chrysalis sighed with a shake of her head. I noticed her rubbing at her shoulder, but I didn't call her out on it, figuring that the subject wasn't one that I wanted to push. She was distant enough from me as it was, and the last thing I wanted to do was to push her even further away. 

"We're starting to put the pieces together now, so we should be able to end it all without any issues today... You know, if a few specific theories of ours wind up being correct," Felicity told me with a bright grin. "It's nice to see that you're feeling perky today though. I know that trials can stress people out at times."

She had no idea just how stressed out I was. I was thankful for my acting skills since the kept others from picking up on just how nervous I was about the outcome of this trial. If I was forced to think about it for even a second longer than I absolutely had to, chances were I would begin to panic. There was no way of saying for sure that this trial would end in our favor. 

This wasn't to say that I didn't trust the prosecution. Both of them were clearly good at their jobs and understood what they were doing, and I figured that they would do what was for the best. If everyone else around me seemed to trust them, I would follow suit. 

My primary issue was with the legal system as a whole. My memories of my father had always been limited, but I could say without a shadow of a doubt that he was fighting against a corrupted legal system while he was still alive. He never wanted to see people hurt by the system itself, and that was part of the reason why he became an attorney in the first place. I always found it admirable, and I didn't understand how anyone would be able to think of it as anything but good. Granted, the fact that the system needed fixing in the first place was far from being good, but I still believe my intentions and admiration were properly portrayed. 

"I'm sure that it's all going to be fine," Yuri suddenly said, snapping me out of my trance. Nobody seemed to realize that there was anything bothering me in the first place aside from maybe Chrysalis, who was watching me with an unreadable expression just like always.