For Reasons Unknown

Maya lay in bed staring into the dark room, looking up towards her ceiling. She couldn’t sleep. She glanced over at the clock on her nightstand; 02:35. Was there much point in staying in bed? Every time she closed her eyes his face stared back at her. She’d been awake for a little over two hours after she’d woken up crying, the image of his face fresh in her mind.
She’d hoped to get a good night’s sleep what with the trial starting in the morning but here she was wide awake, afraid to go back to sleep in case she saw him again. Angry with herself she threw back her covers, grabbed her cell phone and made her way quietly into the kitchen. Maybe some warm milk would help. It always did when she was a kid. If she ever woke up in the middle of the night when she was a kid her dad would always take her into the kitchen, sit her on the counter and make her a mug of warm milk, sometimes even a hot chocolate. He’d then take her back into her room and sit with her while she drank it, sometime’s reading her another chapter of the book they were reading at the time.

Maya placed her phone on the counter without looking at it, unsure of why she’d brought it out with her. She walked over to the fridge and took out the milk, got the saucepan from the shelf and a mug from the mug tree. She poured the milk into the saucepan and lit the gas stove and put the milk to heat up. As she stood there silently waiting for the milk to warm, something caught her eye. She looked across at her phone which had just flashed silently. Confused she reached across and picked it up, looking closely, she noticed that she had left it on silent and that there was one new message. She flipped open her phone and pressed read.

“Hey how you feeling about tomorrow? Sorry if I’m disturbing you.” From Brian, sent at 11:47. Smiling she put the phone back down on the counter. A reply would have to wait, she didn’t want burnt milk. She turned the gas off and decided that she was going to make hot chocolate instead so she took the jar out of the cupboard and placed two teaspoons of powder into her large purple mug. She then poured the hot milk on top, stirring it into the powder. If only she had some mini marshmallows to sprinkle on top like her dad used to.

She put the saucepan into the dishwasher before picking up her phone and her mug and heading back into her bedroom. She switched on the small bedside lamp and climbed into her bed and took a sip of her hot chocolate. She felt better already. She set her mug down onto her night stand and opened up the message from Brian. She re-read it and pressed reply.

“Only just read your message, didn’t hear it come through. I can’t sleep thinking about tomorrow. Nightmares have come back.” She hesitated before pressing the reply button. Would he mind her texting him at 3am? Apparently not, as less than a minute later her phone was flashing silently, only this time it was a call coming through, not a message. A little surprised she opened up her phone to answer.

“Hello.”

“Hey, hope you don’t mind me calling you?” his voice was a little quiet and croaky as if he’d just woken up.

“No, not at all, I didn’t wake you with that message did I? She replied feeling guilty.

“No, it’s ok.” He said and Maya knew he was lying, she could tell by his voice.

“Don’t lie, I can tell by your voice, I’ve woken you up haven’t I?” Maya replied

“Ok, I was sleeping, but don’t worry about me, are you ok?” he replied.

“Yeah, I’m ok” she replied turning to pick up her hot chocolate.

“Now who’s lying, tell me the truth.” He said sternly yet with care in his voice.

“Ok, I just can’t sleep, I’ve had another nightmare.” She began, taking another sip of her hot chocolate.

“Same as before?” he asked

“More or less, just his face, sneering at me, over and over.” she began, her voice breaking as she fought back tears.

“Hey, you’re going to be ok, you just need to get through the next couple of days and see this creep pay for what he did to you.” He said reassuringly.

“Yeah, I know, it’s going to be a tough couple of days, and it would help if I could sleep.” She huffed.

“So what are you doing talking to me at...twenty past three in the morning?” he said with a small laugh.

“You phoned me remember!” she replied also with a small laugh.

“Only cos you text me saying you couldn’t sleep” he defended

“Ok, whatever, so I’m going to finish my hot chocolate and take a few sleeping pills to help me sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow?” she questioned

“Of course, I’m going to be there with Matt to support you; you’re not going to have to face this on your own.” He said

“Ok, thanks Bri, good night.” Maya said in barely a whisper.

“Night Maya.” He also whispered and hung up. Maya swapped her cell phone for the bottle of sleeping pills that was sat on the nightstand. She took two of the small white tablets and swallowed them down with her now luke warm chocolate.

Maya moaned at the sound of her alarm the following morning and reached out from under her comforter to turn it off. She got up and headed for the shower before joining Abi for breakfast.

“Did you sleep ok?” Abi asked as they finished drinking their coffee.

“Yeah, once I’d had a hot chocolate and taken some sleeping pills.”

“Nightmare again?” Maya nodded.

“So who were you talking to at like half three?” she asked with a small smile, indicating that she already knew the answer.

“Brian. He called to see how I was.” She explained smiling, watching a smile erupt over Abi’s face.

“At half three in the morning?” she asked and Maya explained about the text messages.

“But he still called you at half three in the morning, and you don’t reckon he likes you?” she said with a smile.

“Shut up Abi, and don’t you dare say anything to him today!” Maya yelled.

“What? He’s going to be there?” she also yelled.

“Yeah, he’s coming with Matt.”

“He so likes you!” she half sang.

“Shut up!”

***

As Maya and Abi pulled up on her bike outside the courthouse she spotted a small group of guys and two girls sat on the steps, most of them smoking. She recognised them instantly as Brian, Matt, Jimmy, Johnny and Zack and believed the girls to be Valery and Gena.

“There’s the guys” she said looking in the direction of the five men and Abi immediately looked over in the same direction. As they walked across towards the courthouse, Jimmy noticed them and gave a small wave, getting the attention of the other four, who all began to stand up. Compared to the others, Matt was dressed a lot smarter, dressed in smart black jeans, black shoes and a black shirt with his shades hiding his eyes.

“Hey guys.” Maya said as her and Abi reached the steps.

“Hey, how you feeling?” Matt asked placing his hand in Val’s.

“Shitting myself” she said simply yet honestly.

“Hey you’ll be ok.” Matt replied.

”I’ll see you later, apparently I’ve gotta go sit in some witness room and wait to be called so I don’t hear anything to do with the case.” He added with a smile and turned with Val and walked back up the steps.

“So who’s this?” Jimmy asked signalling towards Abi.

“This is my best friend Abi. Abi this is Jimmy, Johnny, Zack, Gena?” she asked and Gena nodded with a smile.

“And this is Brian.” She concluded

“Nice to meet you.” Abi said smiling towards Brian causing Maya to glare at her.

“So did the hot chocolate work?” Brian asked with a smile as they began to walk up the steps.

“Well, I think the sleeping pills did the job really but yeah I had a good night’s sleep after.” Maya replied.

The group walked up into the courthouse and were directed to court six where they were greeted by Sergeant Sloan. She explained that Maya would be called up to give evidence, followed by Matt and then there would be a cross examination by the defence council and then it would be up to the jury. She then showed them to a waiting room where they could stay until they were called.

“Can you tell me where Matt Sanders is waiting?” Zack asked as Sergeant Sloan showed them into the waiting room.

“Sure follow me.” she replied and Zack, Gena and Johnny followed her back out of the room.
Maya placed her helmet and her gloves on one of the chairs and took off her backpack and her jacket. She swapped her biker boots for a pair of pumps she’d taken out of her backpack.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to get a car?” Jimmy asked with a chuckle as he and Brian sat down.

“But a car’s not as much fun as a bike.” Maya stated, Jimmy shrugged and Brian laughed.

“Fair enough, so how long have you been a biker?” Jimmy asked.

“All my life I guess, my dad first took me out when I was-“she stopped abruptly as a court usher appeared in the doorway.

“Ms Kinder? If you’d like to follow me, your attorney would like to talk to you briefly before they start.” The short, old woman said softly. Maya stood up and took a deep breath with the other’s following suit.

“Good luck honey, just remember to stay calm and breath.” Abi said stepping forward and hugging her. As they parted Brian stepped forward and wrapped his muscular, tattooed arms around her.

“You’ll be fine, try not to look at that creep, and remember that I’ll be there with you.” He whispered supportively into her ear. These simple few words made her feel so much better. She pulled out of the embrace and smiled up at him.

“Thanks Brian.” She whispered before taking another deep breath and following the usher down the large corridor.

She was led into a small office where her attorney was sat behind a small desk glancing over a set of papers. She quickly went over the procedure and some of the possible questions that she would be asked. They’d gone over them in a meeting the week before but she wanted to go over them again.