Broken Soldier

He still couldn't get over the shock of all of this. He had made a lot of screw ups in his life. He knew that. He hadn't thought that he was a bad person though. And yet, now his life had fallen apart. And that was only the beginning. It was going to get worse. The ruins of his life were going to fall down and if he wasn't careful, they were going to crush him entirely. As it was now, his future was crippled at best.

"I didn't do it Jason. You believe me right?" the fifteen year old asked. The plea in his voice as clear and the need for understanding made the words tremble as they stumbled from his lips.

"I believe you Sam," Jason whispered clasping his hands and resting his forehead on the interlocked fingers. The silence between the two teenage boys was a dark, dark thing. The situation that they were in wasn't something that any boy of sixteen should have had to deal with. "The court's not going to though," Jason continued making the darkness grow. "I saw the looks on those jurors' faces. To them...you were guilty the moment that Beth cried rape."

Sam winced at the mention of his ex-girlfriend. The night that they had given each other their virginity, he had thought that they would be together forever. He had even told her how much he loved her. And the next day, his world had fallen apart when his mother had opened the door and the cops had come to arrest him for the rape of Elizabeth Yellan. His mother still wasn't quite the same since that day. She barely spoke to him and his father had disowned him. It left Sam very alone in the world.

Except for Jason.

A tear rolled down his cheek. First one, then another. A third joined them and the dam broke causing the boy to break. Silent sobs racked his body and tears flooded over his face. It was all over. He had lost his family. He had lost his hope. He had lost the girl that he had thought he had loved. He had tried to stay strong, but with only Jason in the room, he simply couldn't do it anymore. Every little facade came crashing down around him like glass shattering against jagged rocks. There was nothing he could do to fix any of it either. That was what made it worse. Every other time he had screwed up, he could do something for it. And now there was nothing left for him except a hell he hadn't truly created.

He only had one thing left. His pride. He held tight to it. He wouldn't cry in front of those people who had seen that his parents were sitting next to the Yellans looking at him, their own flesh and blood, with hate and disdain. His parents had damned him with their actions almost as much as Beth had done with her words and false testimony. The shaking in his body started to fade and the pain and emotion in his face faded into nothing being replaced by a mask of pride and resignation.

"Hey Sam...do you wanna pray?"

Jason's voice broke the silence and Sam looked over at his friends, his eyes unable to remain cold as they looked at him. "No offense Sam, but prayer hasn't done me any good since this thing began. What good will it do me now?" he asked his voice gaining a bit of a hard, almost bitter edge to it as he spoke. "So...no offense, but I'll pass."

Jason nodded in understanding biting back the sigh that wanted to slip past his lips. "Can I pray for you?"

For a moment, Sam felt need rise inside of him. God, if only he could just break again and stay broken. he couldn't though. He couldn't afford to break no matter how much he wanted to. He had to put himself back together and stay that way, cold and hard. "Please," he managed his voice chocking on the word.

A knock came at the door a moment before it swung open killing what was left of the frail teenage boy that had sat with Sam moments before. "Jury's ready," one of the guards said as the two men came forward. Sam stood up, keeping his head held high as they led him out of the room. He refused to look back at Jason though he knew that his friend was watching him as the guards took him from the room.

The courtroom stilled as he was brought in. He could feel the hate that was sent towards him in looks. At the beginning of the trial and after Elizabeth tear filled testimony, most had tried to show their hate with words or actions. The guards had taken care of that, but it didn't change how they felt about him. He told himself that he accepted that and that it didn't matter, but he could still feel the empty anticipation twisting his guts as the jury and judge filled in. He was just listening for one phrase. He didn't have to wait for it long either.

"Yes, we have your honor. We, the jury, find Samuel Thorne guilty of rape." He didn't hear anything after those words. All his promises of pride and a hard heart were forgotten as his head fell against the desk and sobs began to rack his body yet again.