The murder

After all that had happened, the murder, the conviction, the verdict. It seems like it all happened in the blink of an eye. And I almost missed it. But I am getting ahead of myself, my name is Lila Williams. And I am 13 years old. I never thought it would all happen so fast. But wait, let me back up. The first thing that happened in this series of events was I was late for a math test. I know. Such a mundane little detail. All of my friends say that I should make it something crazy like, someone was having an emergency and I had to save them! Or I just had this feeling that something was wrong so I ran back, and thank god I did! But no, the truth is I was late for a math test. But if I hadn't stayed up late that night, slept through my alarm in the morning, and ran through the halls quickly to get to my math test. I might not have seen her body being dragged away. Her assailant smiling maniacally as he watched the blood drip from her neck. So when I ran through the hall to get to my math test and saw the blood on the ground, that's when I stopped turned around, and saw him. Dragging her through the hallway by the feet. As if she was just a ball bag, some dead weight he had to drag around with him. When he saw me he looked at me and grinned. His teeth shining white, and a splotch of blood near his mouth. It was sickening. He was wearing a pair of black slacks, a white button-down shirt, and shiny brown shoes. His hair was slicked back, and he had a scar under his eye. I stood there frozen in fear and he just stared at me. I thought move you idiot move! But I couldn't. I was frozen to the spot. It seemed like he had cast some sort of spell over me. Paralyzing me. Finally, he began to drag her away again, and I was able to tear my eyes away and call 911. As I dialed the number I was terrified that he was going to notice and kill me too. But he didn't, it was like he didn't even care. He just continued to drag her through the hall. Trailing the blood-red, and staining behind them. I saw a knife gleam in the light. Flashing in his other hand. There was blood dripping from it's tip. On the other end of the line, I heard the receiver pick up. "Hello, this is 911 what is your emergency?"

"Hi, this is Lila Williams, there is a man who just murdered someone." I tried to whisper.

"Where are you?" The woman on the other line asked.

"Sweet Winter Junior High," I said. The man glanced up and my heart jumped out of my chest in terror. Afraid that he was going to do something to me. But he didn't, he just turned back to dragging her down the hall. I gulped. I should not be doing this. I shouldn't even be here! If I had known that watching an extra episode of Grey's Anatomy would lead to this, I wouldn't have watched it. I would have gone to bed super early. I trembled as I turned back to the phone.

"Please get here soon." I pleaded.

"We will. Someone is on their way now. Stay there. but get away from the man." she said. I could hear the urgency in her voice, but that was not helping me at all. If she sounded scared this must be really bad. I mean, of course, I knew it was bad, but in the back of my mind, I had been silently hoping that this was all a huge misunderstanding and that this wasn't really happening.

"Ok," I whispered. Even though my feet were rooted to the spot.

Now I am seated on the witness stand. Staring out at the people in front of me. The 2-3 dozen or so odd people in the room. The Jury Panel. I looked at the man on the right side of the courtroom. A scar just below his eye. I shivered, the last time I had seen that man was when he was dragging that woman through the hallway.

"Excuse me? Miss Williams?" The attorney in front of me asked. I snapped back to attention.

"I asked you who you saw murdering Miss Green," she said. I gulped. Then composed myself. I could do this. I pointed to the man I had seen on that horrible day, "him," I said. "the man sitting on the right side of the room in the blue suit, striped tie, slicked-back hair, and scar under his eye. Antony James." the attorney in front of me nodded. She was the family's attorney. I could see the mother, her face was red and blotchy, and her eyes were puffy and rimmed red. But she stood up straight in her seat looking deeply wounded but like she was trying to hold it together. And succeeding. She was wearing black with a one-inch color, and a tight bun pulled into a knot at the back of her head. Big pins stuck through it, holding it together.

"Can you tell us what happened that day?" she asked. I simply nodded.

"Yes, I can," I said. A lump of nerves grew in my throat as I flashed back to the memory of him dragging her across the floor. The police showed up after that. They arrested the man, which I learned went by the name of Anthony James. I learned that the woman's name was Ellen Green. She was a new teacher at the school. Well was going to be. It was her first day. The job was in a different state though and her boyfriend didn't want to go. Her boyfriend said he wasn't going to be able to handle the long distance. She still took the job though and they broke up though. I learned that the boyfriend was named Anthony James, her murderer. After they carted him away I was brought into the case. Being the only witness actually on the scene. Well besides him. After that, it was just a cascade of papers, and crying, and setting up our case. I learned more about the daughter because the mother took a liking to me. The case became not only something I was a part of physically but I was involved emotionally too. Which brought us to the courtroom, the place that I had been thinking about for the past month straight.

"Take your time." the attorney said. Sarah, I think her name was. But I shook my head. I could do this. I needed to keep it together, if not for myself for the mother. It was her we needed to worry about, not me. So I swallowed and began to speak.

"I was late for a math test," I began to say.

"From the very, very, beginning please." the attorney said. I nodded.

"Okay," taking a deep breath I started all the way from the beginning.

"I go to school at Sweet Winter Junior Highschool. The night before the," I gulped. "Murder," that's when the mother gasped and burst out crying. I took a deep breath, pushed through it, and continued. "I was studying for a math test I had the next day. I got done at around 6:00 PM. So I unwound with some Grey's Anatomy. I watched a cliffhanger episode which caused me to watch for episodes after that. Which caused me to get to bed by midnight. The next morning I slept through my alarm and was running late to school. Like I said before I had a math test that day. I biked to school and when I got there I parked my bike. Then I ran to my first period, math." I gulped. Here was the hard part. "That's when I saw him, he was dragging miss green through the halls, and was holding a knife. There was blood everywhere." I gulped.

"Then I called the police they arrested Mr. James and the Paramedics took Ms. Green away." I stared down at the table. The polished wood gleamed in the bright light. There was something so regal looking about it. It was interesting that it was in a room that looked so buetiful but the subject matter was so dark. I looked back up, reminding myself that I was the only witness, so I needed to remain here and answer all of there questions.

"What was he wearing?" the attorney asked.

"Black slacks, a white button-down shirt, brown shiny shoes," I said. She walked over to the accusing sides table, and lifted up a plastic bag with the word 'confidential' in red across the front o fit. Inside were the clothes he was wearing that morning.

"Does this math your description?" she asked. Directing the question towards me.

"Yes," I replied.

"And was Miss. Green truly dead?" the question felt abrupt even though I knew it wasn't.

"Yes." I said. The mothers sobs grew louder at those words and I stared back down at the table.

I am now sitting on the front porch. We had gotten the news of his sentence that afternoon. We had gone back to the courtroom after days of showing our case, they were going to announce the decision. Me and the family were sitting on one side of the room. Along with a few other witnesses. Anthony James and his attorney and witnesses were sitting on the other side of the room. On our side, there was a lot of wringing of hands and crying. Most of the witnesses were sitting in the back of the room. On the benches in the back. But I, however, was sitting with the family. Not because I was being insensitive, but because we had grown close and they wanted me there. The judge had walked in and one of the security guards said, "All rise." After the judge sat down everyone did too and it was like everyone was holding their breath. That is when the judge began talking.

"The court has made their decision. It was a unanimous vote, and it ruled that Mr. James is..." There was a deep pause and everyone held their breath for that second.

"Guilty." She said. The word was like candy. Sitting sweetly on my tongue. It also had a bitterness to it though. Justice was being served, but the reason it had to be served was horrible. And even worse to think about. But the court had done the right thing. Everyone let out their breaths and the mother let out a cry. If it was grief, joy, or a mixture of both I don't know. But that brings me to sitting on my front porch. Thinking it over and over again in my head. I couldn't stop. I was going over to the family's house that evening to have a celebratory dinner. Which I was looking forward to. But I also in a way just wanted the case out of my life forever. I wanted this chapter in my life to permanently close, and to never have to look back on it again. But to quote Elise Grey, "The Carousel never stops turning," it just keeps going around and around and around.