Original Writing - Prose: A life changing moment.

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A life changing moment.

Blood splattered high on the walls from the force of the blows. Even though the screams of the two children had long since ceased, Linda kept stabbing and slashing, her breath rasping in her throat from the effort entailed, only as her strength began to wane and her mental state start to alter did she slowly become aware that she and the room were covered in nauseating, thick scarlet red blood and in the distance of her darkness she could hear the echoing wail of police sirens! She slumped back exhausted and began to sob, slowly at first, then like a torrential downpour.

“How do you plead?”

She barely heard the words, not even realising they were directed at her.

“Miss Smith, How do you plead?” the judges voice boomed out over the courtroom, obviously irritated, he was not a man to be trifled with and besides he also had one eye on the courtroom clock, hoping to wrap up proceedings for the day rather quickly as he had an appointment on the first tee of his golf club at 2:30pm and there was quite a substantial sum of money riding on the outcome, not to mention bragging rights for some time to come!

Linda snapped out of her trance

“Not guilty” she muttered looking despondently at the floor.

“So the court can hear you please Miss Smith.” The judge’s voice boomed out once again as he peered over his bespectacled   nose and cursed his luck for drawing this particular case, today of all days!

“Not guilty” Linda repeated, this time with much more conviction than she actually felt. As counsel began the convoluted twisting of this difficult case, Linda's troubled mind was already retracing the events prior to the incident, trying to make sense of it all.

“Mum, mummy, mum” a small voice whined continuously.

 “What sweetie?” Linda’s eyes met with the child’s, her face was cheerful.

“Can I have some coco pops please?”

“Of course you can sweetheart, but you’ll have to get them yourself, mummy’s got a lot of forms to fill out”

“Ok, thanks mummy.” The child lovingly pecked her on the cheek and skipped off into the kitchen while Linda pondered on how something as simple as cereal could bring such joy to her young sons life, her mind then skipped to thinking about how unusually quiet her other son tom seemed to be.

She rose from her and tiptoed into the living room, peering round the door frame she spotted a single red crayon but as she walked further into the room she was greeted by the sight of her youngest son sleeping awkwardly on their laminate flooring, covered in all sorts of delightful substances such as glue, paint and play doh.

“ Thomas Smith what am I going to do with you?” she giggled to herself and began the not so enviable task of cleaning up the little monsters mess.

It was three days later and the trial was well underway, it had become obvious to Linda that she was going to be made out to be someone who had suffered from mental problems from a young age, even though it wasn’t the truth, only she knew the truth, but they weren’t interested in the truth, as far as they were concerned she was going down.

They had called one of her neighbours up as a witness, relief swept over Linda, she knew the woman well, they were good friends.

“Please state your name”

“Margaret Lewis” the woman replied nervously, holding her arms stiffly by her sides and biting her bottom lip. She was then made to swear on the bible that the evidence she would give would be the truth.

“So” the public prosecutor began “Mrs Lewis, would you say that you and Miss Smith are friends?”

“Um… I guess, we talk to each other quite a lot.” Her face seemed unsure, her eyes, small and panic stricken, darted anxiously around the courtroom.

 “You guess?” Aren’t you sure?” he probed

“I am, I am sure.” She said, convincing nobody.

“Ok. So as a friend, how would you describe Miss Smith?” his eyes were completely focused.

“She’s a nice lady.”

“Just nice?”

“She’s kind.”

She’s nice and she’s kind yet she brutally murdered her two sons? That’s not very in keeping with your portrayal of her is it?”

“I suppose not. Sometimes people do things out of character.” She seemed more confident.

“But surely it shows a strong character to be able to control oneself?” It was as though they were discussing it casually at this point, the judge couldn’t see where it was going.

“It’s not always possible though.” She responded

The pace picked up.

“Not always possible?” his eyes bore into her making her feel about two foot tall “I put it to you Mrs Lewis, that if that is the case then wouldn’t the majority of court cases be about this sort of thing, about parents ripping their children limb from limb because it wasn't ‘possible’ to control their temper? Wouldn’t you have murdered your children?” he constantly questioned her, his tone more urgent.

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“I would never do that, I couldn’t do that.” She almost spat the words out, offended by his words but then she realised what she had said “But that’s me, people are different.” She quickly added.

It was too late, she had given him exactly what he had needed.

“That is what most people would say, unlike Miss Smith. No further questions your honour.” He smugly sat back down with a slight grin on his usually unresponsive face.

“Linda, can you get me Mr Edwards file by tomorrow, the one I told you to study?”

Linda’s boss Doctor ...

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