Holiday From Real

Mary Jane and Gabe sat in the court room listening to the trial. Mary Jane hadn’t been called to the witness stand, yet, but she knew it wouldn’t be much longer. As soon as she thought it, her name was being called to go up.

Mary Jane was sworn in, and then she sat up on the witness stand. She looked down and saw Chris smirking at her. She immediately looked away from him and found Gabe staring at her. She was suddenly calmed. That was until the questions began.

“Okay, Mary Jane, could you please tell us about the night in question,” Chris’s attorney began.

“Okay,” Mary Jane said. “Well, we were all on tour, and we had a night off, so we decided to go to a club. After a while, Chris came up to me and asked me to go upstairs with him, and I went. When we got upstairs, we went into a room, and he locked the door behind us. He then told me that he was going to have sex with me, whether I liked it or not. And then he raped me.”

“You claim Chris raped you?” the attorney asked.

“Yes,” Mary Jane said.

“What do you mean by rape?”

“Well,” Mary Jane started. She looked out to see Gabe looking back at her. “I told him I didn’t want to have sex with him, and he pushed me down on the couch and did it anyways.”

“You say that Chris asked you to go upstairs with him, and you agreed, correct?”

“Yes.”

“So, he did not force you into going upstairs with him?”

“No, but…”

“And you agreed to go into that room with him?”

“Yes, but…”

“So, he never forced you into entering that room with him?”

“No, but…”

“No further questions,” the attorney said.

“You may step down Miss Carter,” the judge said.

“Oh my god,” Mary Jane muttered as she walked back and sat down next to Gabe.

“It’s okay,” Gabe whispered to her as he put his arm around her. She placed her head against his shoulder and leaned into him.

They sat there for another half an hour while both attorneys talked to Chris some more. Mary Jane didn’t know what to think. She wasn’t sure if the jury was going to believe her or not.

All of a sudden, the judge said, “Okay, the jury will now go deliberate and make their decision.” Mary Jane’s head popped up. She looked over at Gabe, worry in her eyes.

“What happens if he gets off?” she whispered.

“Don’t worry,” Gabe told her as he grabbed her hand that sat in her lap. “He won’t. There’s no way. We all know that he raped you. There’s no denying it.”

“But,” Mary Jane began.

“MJ, don’t worry,” Gabe interrupted as he kissed her temple. “Everything will be fine.”

“Okay,” Mary Jane whispered as she laid her head back down on Gabe’s shoulder.

A few minutes later, the jury came back into the room.

“Have you reached a decision?” the judge asked.

“Yes,” the foreman said.

Mary Jane looked over at Gabe and squeezed his hand tighter. She then looked back over at the jury.

“We find the defendant not guilty.”

Mary Jane couldn’t control the tears as she let them flow down her face. Gabe, not knowing what to do, just held Mary Jane, trying to make everything in the world disappear for her.