The judge sat on his chair like a throne, jet black hair shot through with gray hanging down onto his shoulders, a confident smirk on his lips. "So, William, was it? According to the file on you here, you've been given tickets for several minor misdemeanors on the road, been incarcerated once for attempted theft, and now here you stand before me for rape." He leaned over to look down at the young man as a god would a wild beast. "That was my friend's daughter you raped, and I will see you punished beyond what you ever imagined for it."
William, a youngster of 19, stood up in his seat and slammed his hands down on the table hard enough to cause one of the policemen to grab his tazer reflexively as if expecting him to become a crazed shooter on the spot. "I did not rape her! We'd dated for a year and a half, yes she's 16, but the only one that pushed charges was her father, who hated me because I was a white boy dating his daughter anyways!"
This, however, only drew a sneer from the judge. "Boy, you should have known better than to date their kind anyways! Our two races should always be separated, and their places are under here, as it was when my ancestors were farming these lands, as it should be now." He raised an eyebrow at the young man. "Though some of us would apparently disagree." He paused, glanced at the obviously nervous man next to him. "What is your stance on this subject, mister..." He glanced down at the information in front of him for the hundredth time.
"James Marland? It says here that this is your first case." He laughed and leaned back in his chair, the cocky lord in his domain. "I would say that you would do well to remember whose court room this is, Mr.Marland, otherwise you may just find your career to end...unexpectedly." He laughed again, it was a sound that James hated, a mix of a donkey baying a balloon having the air let out of it.
James cursed under his breath, sweat dripping down his brow. It was hot enough to give a demon a heat stroke, and yet they refused to turn the heating on. His platinum blond hair had gone from combed back to a matted mess, and he was constantly blinking sweat drops out of his green eyes. He glanced over at the young man he was suppose to be defending, and between his dark eyes and hair, he could have been the cornered animal he looked like. This was not going well at all, and they both knew it. There was nothing James could do, the bastard with the mallet was toying with them now.
The judge smiled a predatory smile then swung the mallet down. "The sentence is death in the chair for the boy....and Mr.Marland, I must say I am disappointed in you, you've just stood there deaf and dumb this entire time." He leaned over in his chair to look down crooked nose at James again. "See to it that in the future, you do more than stand there like a moron, though I must say that there are...less intelligent parties present." He growled, glaring meaningfully at William.
Wonderful, his first case and he'd let his charge die. Just as James was biting back the tears of failure in his eyes, the judge smiled a grim smile and looked down at him. "I just had a revelation...Mr.Marland here obviously encouraged the crime, and he shall die with the boy." He motioned and an officer raised the gun, and the sound of the bullet seemed to make the world shake.
James woke up gasping, a teenage husky hopping about around him, licking at anything that was exposed, and his alarm clock was blaring. He ran his hands through his hair and over his face before pushing the dog to the side and hobbling to the bathroom. "It was a dream....just a dream. I'm not down where I grew up anymore, I'm in a different place now." He splashed water on his face and looked at the scared man in the mirror. That was then, this was now. This case wasn't that tough, it was just a minor theft case, no big risks involved. He got dressed and then left his small apartment on a calm Tuesday morning to begin the career of a lawyer.
Two hours later, James walked out of the court room, his first case unexpectedly simple and successful. He found himself walking towards the graveyard to reminisce on something.
Once there, he stood in front of a grave. "William Stalham. 1986-2006." James chuckled softly, staring down at it. It was odd to see ones own grave, especially when you had had your fiance's father arranged to have it placed there. That had been his case he'd remembered in his dreams, and his lawyer had refused to help, he instead stood there playing along with the judge...He'd sprinted out the door immediately after he knew he wasn't going to have a chance in Hell at walking away free. A couple years later, he'd met a cute Italian girl whose father was in the Mafia....From there, he began forging his new life.
It was ironic that his first case, the start of "James"'s life was on the same day as the end of "William"'s, but that was just how things played out. And so, James turned and left, deciding that it was his last time ghosting over his old-self's resting place.
12/3/2013, 6:23 am by 
