For the month of November, my Short Story Sundays will be excerpts from my NaNoWriMo novel, Second Chances. Please keep in mind that while this has been proofread for my blog, it is still first draft material.
You can also read Excerpt One, Excerpt Two, and Excerpt Three.
Ezekiel balled his hands into fists and clenched his teeth. I sighed knowing that I was making him frustrated. If he would just come out and explain everything to me straight forward then we wouldn’t be going around in circles like this.
“Hunter is being convicted of murder, Lesley. Murder! Guilty or not, his life is never going to be the same. I’m sure you’ve seen trials in the newspapers, haven’t you? Every person believes something different. Some are going to think he’s innocent, others will believe him to be guilty no matter what the jury ultimately decides.” Ezekiel ranted. “Everyone knows his name and face from the news. He’s going to walk down the street and people will either congratulate him or spit on him.”
“But it was just a car accident. It was a mistake, but it wasn’t intentional.” I defended him.
“Not everyone is going to see it that way.” Ezekiel whispered to me. “Don’t you get it?”
I drew in a breath and nodded my head. I understood what Ezekiel was saying even though I didn’t agree with it. But he was right. Not everyone was going to be satisfied with Hunter’s verdict. Things were never going to be the same for him ever again.
“That was probably why Hunter was having that dream. Deep down he knows he’ll never get that back.” Ezekiel looked at me with a soft gaze. I swallowed hard.
“Inside his house with him mother, behind the scenes and away from everyone else, it’ll be as close to normal as possible. But once he steps foot outside his house…”
“I get it.” I held up a hand to stop Ezekiel from talking further.
Ezekiel closed his mouth and continued to stare at me. He clasped his hands together in front of him and watched me as though he expected me to say something.
“What is it?” I asked with caution.
“You really have no idea, do you?” he shook his head in disgust.
I folded my arms across my chest wondering what he could possibly mean. I knew he wanted me to figure it out on my own, but he was giving me absolutely no clues. I didn’t know how I was supposed to figure it out on my own.
“Hunter didn’t tell you about the trial?” Ezekiel asked.
My eyes grew a bit bigger. “The trial?” I repeated.
Ezekiel nodded his head. “He has a court date. They’re picking jury members as we speak. They’re gathering witnesses to testify against him. This is a big deal.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this in the very beginning?” I took a step forward closer to him. I wanted to punch him in the gut, but I knew that wouldn’t solve anything.
“Hunter was supposed to tell you. He wasn’t supposed to keep that from you.” Ezekiel looked down at the ground. “This is what you need to help Hunter with. You need to help him get through this trial and help him get a non-guilty verdict.”
My jaw dropped. “How in the world am I supposed to do that? I’m not a lawyer, I’m not on the jury. I can’t talk to any of these people. How am I supposed to persuade them that Hunter is innocent?”
“You’re a witness.” Ezekiel smiled.
