Red at Day

~Annabelle's Pov~

We all wait around for the others to return. I really hope Jackie and Bruce calmly talk things over so everyone can be happy. Bruce and Paris will finally be happy together and Jackie can be friends again with Paris.
“Goldfish.” Kasmira says.
“Why are we playing this?” Rose asks.
“Because Honey, Kasmira and Annabelle don't know how to play poker.” Carter replies.
“So? We can play Poker without them.” Paris retorts “There would be enough people.”
“It's fair this way.” The door opens and we see James walk in with Jackie behind him. Jackie's hands are tied with rope and James is holding Jackie's katana.
“What happened?” Honey asks.
“Why is she tied up?” Carter asks.
“Where's Bruce?” Paris asks. James shoves Jackie forward. Jackie looks at the ground, unable to look at us.
“Bruce isn't here.” James says.
“Where is he?” Paris asks, panic in her voice. James looks at Jackie and we all know what he means.
“No!” Paris screams, tears falling from her eyes “What did you do to him! Give him back!” Carter and Reed hold Paris back. Paris tries to break free but can't. She screams more but the rest of us just stand in silence, staring at Jackie. Jackie bites her lip, still staring at the ground.
“Kill her!” Paris screams.
“Take it easy!” Carter shouts “It's okay!”
“No, it's not! She killed him! Bring him back you murderer!” Paris stops struggling against the boys and crumbles to the ground, tears dripping from her chin. The boys let go of her and she covers her face.
“Bring him back.” she sobs.
When Paris calms down we lock Jackie in the bathroom to discuss what had happened.
“I told you she would take him away from me!” Paris scolds.
“We don't even know what happened.” I defend.
“She murdered Bruce! You think that's nothing?”
“I'd like to hear her side and then we come up with a conclusion.”
“And you don't think she'd lie to get out of this?” Rose asks “Lets face it, Jackie is a good liar. She used to do it all the time to her parents and sometimes to us.” That's harsh hearing Rose say it. Rose use to be Jackie's best friend but before the apocalypse, Rose and Jackie drifted off. Rose became closer to Paris and they both gained a twisted personality. No one knows why, either. Some say it was because Jackie use to like Reed but months before the friendship ended, Jackie stopped liking Reed. Reed, however, is friendly with everyone.
“Like what?” I ask “What lies did she tell you guys? As for her parents, she only lied to them to stay out of trouble.”
“Do you see my point?” Rose asks.
“This is completely different! Look, why don't we hear her story and have everyone decide what to do? It'll be like a jury system. Uh, Angel can be the judge, Paris the prosecutor, I'll be the defense, and the rest of you can be the jury.”
“That's unfair!” Paris says.
“How?”
“Jackie is friends with almost everyone on there! I want to be on there to punish her for what she's done!”
“You're letting your emotions get the best of you. It's fair, trust me.”
“Like when I trusted you that Bruce would be fine?”
“At least this way you can defend Bruce.”
“I could have if you let me go with him!”
“He wanted to go so he could talk to Jackie! If you went they couldn't have talked!”
“And I could have saved him!”
“This talk was more important than you think!”
“How? Tell me why this was so important, Annabelle. What makes this talk so important that it was worth the risk?”
“Bruce still liked Jackie.”
“Bullshit!”
“He liked her and he wanted to talk to her so he could fully be in a relationship with you!”
“Bruce loved me! He didn't like Jackie at all!”
“How would you know? You guys don't even talk! You guys tonguing each other isn't talking!”
“You bitch!”
“I talked to him last night and he said all this! You think I'd lie?”
“You're Jackie's friend! You're a liar just like her!”
“Bruce is my friend too! Why would you think this doesn't effect me at all?”
“He wasn't your friend! You two didn't even talk!”
“We talked last night!”
“He didn't leave bed last night! You must have dreamt it!”
“Why would I dream of your boyfriend? I'm telling you it happened!”
“No, it didn't!”
“Stop!” Carter yells, “Lets do the jury idea and see where that leads us!”
“You're on her side too.” Paris mutters.
We moved the furniture to look like a court room. Angel sits on an arm chair. Next to her is the coffee table where the witnesses will sit behind. Carter, Honey, Kasmira, Rose and Reed sit on chairs from the dining room table as the jury. Facing Angel is three chairs. Jackie and I sit in two of the chairs separated from Paris in the other. Behind all three of us is James.
“I'd like Jackie to come up here and tell us her side of the story. Annabelle and Paris can question her and then any other witnesses, like James, can come up and and be questioned.” Angel says.
“That's not how a court is run.” Paris begins “You have to-”
“Paris, this is my court. I don't want to hear her plead or have opening statements. I want a fair trial of just figuring out what had happened.”
“That's not-”
“Please be quiet or I'll hold you in contempt.” Paris glares at Angel but doesn't say anything.
“Jackie, could you please come up here and tell your story?” Angel asks. Jackie nods and sits behind the coffee table.
“Now, please tell us everything you remember.” Angel says. Jackie nods and pauses before saying “We were in the gas station. Bruce wanted to talk about us. I said there was nothing to talk about even though Annabelle told me to stay calm and just talk to him so we could all get along. We ended up arguing and he confessed he loved me. I kept yelling at him because he was with Paris and I didn't want him to hurt her but then he grabbed me. I panicked and ended up killing him with my katana.” No one says anything.
“Paris, you may question her if, you like.” Angel says.
“Gladly.” Paris replies. Paris walks up to Jackie and asks, “So, you admit to killing him?”
“Yes.” Jackie replies.
“But, Bruce was with me at the time. You say he 'confessed his love to you' but could it just be your twisted fantasy of wanting him all to yourself? Could it be you were the one to confess to him and when he rejected you, you killed him?”
“Objection.” I say.
“On what grounds?”
“Argumentative.”
“Sustained.” Angel says.
“I didn't like him.” Jackie states “He confessed to me and I rejected him.”
“If what you're saying is true, why did you kill him?”
“He grabbed me.”
“And that gives you the right to kill him?”
“I thought he was going to try and rape me.”
“Why would he rape you when he has me? He didn't even-”
“Objection.” I say.
“Sustained.” Angel says.
“No further questions.” Paris huffs, sitting in her original seat. I stand up and walk over to Jackie.
“So he confessed to you and you killed him?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“But you only killed him because he grabbed you?”
“Yes.”
“Is it true that the last time you talked to a boy alone, the Adolf incident, he tried to rape you?”
“Yes.”
“Then is it safe to say you felt nervous the same thing would happen? That without zombies nearby to save you, you felt he would have succeeded in raping you?”
“Yes.”
“No further questions.” Jackie and I sit down in our seats. Paris stands up and says “I call James to the stand.” James stands up and sits behind the coffee table.
“Were you there when Jackie killed Bruce?” Paris asks James.
“No.” James says “I was outside guarding the door.”
“And what did you hear outside?”
“Lots of yelling.”
“What was the yelling?”
“Bruce confessing to Jackie, Jackie yelling at Bruce for doing this when he's with you.” Tears well in Paris' eyes. She doesn't want to believe Bruce loved anyone except her.
“And what did you see when you walked in?” Paris says. You can hear the strain in her voice. I didn't want this to happen to her. I'd much rather Bruce never died and everything was resolved. Paris knew he previously liked Jackie but never knew that he went into the relationship halfhearted, no matter how many times we told her. I'd like to wrap my arms around her, tell her I'm sorry and that it'll be okay but I know she's angry at Jackie and I. She's angry at us about Bruce and she's angry at us in general. I won't question her anger, just wish it wasn't there so we could be the three musketeers again, three unbreakable friends unaffected by time. But I know that we were affected. I know that there's no going back. We're all scarred by our words and nothing will go back to the way it was.
“I saw Bruce on the ground, blood pouring from his chest, and Jackie's sword beside her, covered in blood.” James answers.
“Do you think it was logical to kill Bruce?” Paris asks, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Jackie was nervous with Adolf trying to rape her in the past. It's easy to see she would react this way. Anyone would but it wasn't smart to kill Bruce.”
“No further questions.” Paris turns around, wiping a stray tear away, and sitting in her seat. Paris hid her face but you could easily see her trembling. I stand up and walk over to James.
“So you said anyone would act like how Jackie reacted, am I right?” I ask.
“Yes.” James replies.
“Then how can you say that it was wrong of her to kill him? If she couldn't act differently, how could her actions-”
“Objection.” Paris calls.
“On what grounds?” Angel asks.
“Speculation.”
“Sustained.”
“No further questions.” I say, sitting down. It sucks that I can't think of anything to help defend Jackie. Usually I can bullshit any situation.
“The Jury may now retire to deliberate.” Carter, Honey, Kasmira, Rose and Reed go into the master bedroom to talk about whether Jackie is innocent or guilty.
Angel waits in the teen's room so she can't talk to anyone. Paris said that if she were to remain with us, Angel's judgment would be compromised by fraternizing with the enemy. That doesn't stop Paris from talking to Jackie.
“I hope you're found guilty and sentenced to death.” Paris hisses. Jackie looks at Paris but doesn't say anything.
“I hope they decide to kill you nice and slow. I hope they tie you to a chair and rip your fingernails off one by one. Then they put nails in your eyes and peel your skin off with a rusty potato peeler. Then when you're almost bled out they cave your head in with a rock.” Paris threatens. Mine and James's mouth drop. Not only are we thinking “How could you say something like that?” but also “That's vivid and really gross. How and why were you able to think up something like that off the top of your head?”
“Paris, calm down!” I say.
“No, you calm down! We are dealing with a murder and she won't stop unless we kill her! She murdered Bruce! Who's next? You, Carter, Honey? Before I thought her pathetic childish ways meant she would be the cause of her own death! As we can see from her latest attention stunt that-”
“Oh my god do you ever stop talking?” I think. I block out the rest of Paris's rant because lord knows it will go on for about twelve more paragraphs of untrue shit.
“Are you even listening to me?” Paris yells.
“Nope.” I reply, staring at the ceiling.
“As for you-”
“That's enough!” Jackie yells. Paris looks at Jackie a bit surprised. “You can fuck around with me and tell me all of my so called 'flaws' but you are not allowed to fuck with anyone else! I am so fucking sick and tired of you walking around treating people like shit for no reason!” Jackie yells. Paris flushes with anger and says “It's for a reason! You-”
“There is no reason! You have slowly been picking people apart finding a reason to hate them! What'd Carter and Angel do to you? I know you hate them! What'd Honey and Kasmira do? You hate them too! All you did was like Bruce but even then you treated him horribly! I'm sorry you lost your boyfriend and I'm sorry you hate everyone but there's no more room for hate! It's the humans against the zombies not everyone against you! So get out of your fucked up mind frame and learn to be kinder!”
“I am nice! You all-”
“Have done nothing!”
“Let me tell you what you all did! And stop fucking cutting me of! I sit patently and listen to you and you guys ignore me!”
“Well maybe if you weren't constantly going on long winded rants over how 'utterly terrible' everyone is, we would!”
“You all are immature, sadistic, childish, small minded, conceded, narcissistic, egoistic-”
“Just stop it!” James screams “I agree with you that it was wrong for Jackie to kill him but she's right on everything she said!” Before Paris can open her mouth, the jury walks out of the master bedroom.
Everyone's back in their places. Paris is glaring at Jackie and I.
“We, the jury, have decided that- wait can we give suggestions?” asks Reed.
“Sure.” Angel replies. Paris smirks, sure Jackie has already been sentenced to death. “Okay. Well, we, the jury, have decided that Jackie is innocent but be put under watch.” Reed continues.
“What?! This is an outrage! Is there no justice anymore?!” Paris screams.
“Calm down, Paris.” Rose soothes.
“No, this whole court is out of order! It's unfair that everyone is friends with Jackie, therefore making her punishment lighter on her! Can you all not see the injustice done?! Can you all really believe that this killer, this monster, is innocent? Well I can! Unlike you people, I have a large justice sense! It's sad that I can't go up to my 'friends' and tell them about my problems because they're all to busy judging me from afar and taking sides! You all sided with a murderer and you're all wrong! Rose, you were my only real friend here and you just let Jackie slip threw your fingers and now she's off as a free woman never to be touched by the hand of god because she killed him! She killed Bruce and you're all willing to let that go!”
“Paris, I'm in the same boat as you! I told them everything that should have been done! That she was to be executed and they just wouldn't listen! They're all murderers for siding with the killer but I side with you! There is no blood on my hands and they all share his on their hands! Look at Jackie's hands! They're red and smell like iron! I would do anything to bring Bruce back and have her blood on his hands but there is nothing I can do! I side with you!”
“Siding with me did not help bring Justice to Bruce's murder!” Paris storms off into the master bedroom with tears flowing down her cheeks. We all look at each other with a loss for words. The sun peaks through the sides of the blankets that cover the window. It's time to leave for Paulatuk.