Worlds Apart

Chapter 1

The handcuffs around her wrists felt like huge weights attached to them and had for the past 6 months. It was pure hell on earth. Being locked away from the outside world, unable to smell fresh air besides being outside for 15 minutes out of the day. The bright orange jumpsuit she had to wear was degrading, her honey blonde hair currently hanging down her back over the huge black letters that had her number printed on it. A number; that's all Emery would ever be unless she found a way out of this mess caused by her now deceased ex-fiancé. The thought of him made her heart clench tightly in her chest in both anger and sadness. She was sad he was dead and gone from the world, but angry due to the fact someone was pinning his death on her.

She had been restricted to solitary holding cells and now a private room with bars over the otherwise bare windows. In mere moments, she would be out in that courtroom, exposed to the family and friends of her now dead ex-fiancé, Colby Lopez. Exposed to the general public, the reporters. This case had been dragged out for a while now, while the prosecutor and defense attorneys went back and forth, trying to find something, or nothing, within the evidence that had been presented. Emery wasn't alone; her lawyer was reviewing last minute things, sorting out the closing speech and trying to ignore the guards manning the doors while talking quietly to themselves, though their eyes never left the prisoner.

Born and raised in Moline, Illinois by the Mississippi River, Emery Colfax had a relatively normal childhood. Her father, Marshall, worked at a factory making a little better than minimum wage and her mother, Sally, stayed home with the children. It was enough income to keep a roof over the family's head and food in their mouth. Emery was the middle child and often thought of as the black sheep of the family. Somewhat rebellious, but nothing too extreme. Her older brother, Trey, was 3 years older and treated her badly, always getting her into trouble in order to prevent punishment. Sometimes their parents saw through his antics, but 9 times out of 10 they believed anything Trey said and punished Emery for actions she didn't do. It wasn't until Trey left home to pursue an education in Carbondale, Illinois at SIU that they started getting along.

Gisela was the baby of the family and only a year and some odd months younger than Emery. They had a lot of the same friends throughout school and got along for the most part, unlike her and Trey. Truthfully, Gisela despised Trey as much as Emery, so the sisters would often play pranks on him as a means of revenge. Because of Gisela's uncanny ability to surpass the educational system, she was put in the same grade as Emery, making them share a lot of classes together and whatnot. High school changed their relationship and sisterhood because Gisela wanted to focus solely on schooling instead of going to parties and enjoying her adolescence. She begged Emery to join her, but being the black sheep made the middle child drift away into the world of drugs, underage drinking and sex. Luckily, her parents never found out about what she did. Her ex-best friend, Carla, at the time was a bad influence and, thankfully, Emery was smart enough to escape before she was expelled out of high school or put in jail.

Somehow, Emery graduated with high honors and received a 2 year scholarship to any college of her choosing. Wanting to stick around home since she already had a job at Best Buy and made fairly decent money, Emery opted to go to a junior college for a degree in medical coding. It required a minimum of 2 years, which would give her an Associate's degree, enough to get her a better paying job doing coding for a healthcare establishment. Emery focused on schooling for the most part instead of dating, not wanting to get attached to anyone in case she had to leave state to continue her education. The only friend she had was Annalise, who she met at the Junior college and they hit it off instantly. Annalise's major was journalism, wanting to report the evening news throughout the Quad Cities one day a dream of hers. They pushed each other to succeed, studying together at the library and Annalise kept Emery grounded. She was going for her Associate's degree as well for journalism.

They thought they would be friends for a long time, but that was until Colby Lopez came into Emery's life.

The day Emery met Colby was one she wished never happened. Her life had been turned upside down from the moment they laid eyes on each other. At first, it was simple; he was sweet with flowers and candy - the works. He even bought her favorite perfume for one of their dates. Emery thought she had met her soul mate, someone to share her life with. Annalise didn't like Colby from the moment they were introduced. For some reason, she felt a bad vibe from him and made it known to Emery. Because the woman thought the sun shined out of Colby's backside, she sided with Colby and their friendship became strained. Annalise would never turn her back on Emery, but she did not support Emery and Colby's relationship.

A lot of Emery's time was spent in Davenport, Iowa, which was just across the Mississippi River from Moline. She never missed any of her schooling, leaving earlier every day she had class, but for the most part she stayed with Colby. He worked at a nearby construction company, laying concrete and grunt work. It was decent money he made, enough to allow Colby to have his own place while Emery was stuck living at home with her parents. They also didn't like Colby, sensing something off about him and Emery was blinded by the truth right in front of her. Without realizing it, she alienated her family and chose him over her blood, all because she was deeply in love with him and thought he could do no wrong.

It was a miracle she was able to finish college enough to acquire an Associate's degree before quitting instead of going for her Bachelor's.

2 years into their relationship, Colby popped the question on Valentine's Day, of all days, and Emery was stupid enough to accept the proposal. It was so beautiful and thoughtful, Emery never thought Colby would turn into the monster he would turn into. He took her to the Davenport Skybridge that overlooked most of the city and turned colors at night. It was where they first met; she'd done research on it and wanted to see what it was about. Annalise had gone with her because she knew Davenport fairly well, living there a bit before moving across the river to Moline. The same night as the proposal, Colby asked her to move in with him and, once again, Emery accepted. There was no point being engaged and planning a wedding if they weren't living together, after all. Colby's logic made sense at the time and Emery was willing to do anything to make him happy.

Less than a month after moving in, something in Colby changed, which still puzzled Emery to this day. First, he demanded her to stay home while he was at work and have supper on the table every night. He wanted to be the breadwinner and bring home the money, not wanting his soon-to-be to be out in the working world. When Emery argued against it, he began slapping her around, blaming his work for igniting his temper. All he wanted her to do was keep the house spotless and make him dinner that wasn't burnt. Emery wasn't the best cook in the world and she kept the house clean, but any speck of dust he found made him beat her up. At least that was his brilliant logic. Emery put up with it for another 2 years, refusing to marry Colby before she found a way out of the relationship and took it, not looking back.

Only Colby followed her, stalked her for months and made her life miserable – a living breathing nightmare. 6 months ago he was found dead in the back of her apartment building, facedown with bullets embedded in his body. The worst part was Colby's corpse had turned up missing and, once again, the blame all came back to Emery. All the evidence found pointed to her, at least on paper, where it was convincing and, in theory, should have been enough to lock her away for the rest of her life. As far as general public opinion went, she was guilty. She could have been the next Jodi Arias for all they cared, minus the sexual aspects. However, in reality, while the evidence did strongly suggest it had been her who murdered Colby Lopez, the evidence was also circumstantial.

What was there just wasn't enough.

Her only friend in the world, or so it seemed, Annalise, was the one to ultimately get her away from Colby Lopez, at least out of his house. Colby had to go out of town on business, something he rarely did because he liked keeping a close eye on Emery. She had tried leaving him a few times and it made him paranoid to the point where he made her quit her job. Threatening to kill her family that lived across the Mississippi River in Moline was definitely a switch Colby used to make Emery do whatever he wanted. He always said he'd have her dead or alive, but nobody else would claim his property. However, Colby did not know about Annalise and she lived in the same town they did, but kept her distance while finding a way to get Emery away from him. When the moment presented itself, Annalise didn't hesitate. Together, the women flew to Tampa, Florida from Davenport, Iowa to start their new lives. Just to make sure Colby never found her, Emery changed her last name with Annalise's help and cut ties with her family, as much as it pained her. He didn't find her for 3 years, but thanks to several private investigators, her luck ran out and the stalking began.

Annalise was there. Throughout the entire situation, she had done what she could to help Emery. There was no doubt in her mind Emery did not kill Colby Lopez, even if she had dreamt about it. She didn't do it. Emery was too good of a person and, the fact that piece of abusive crazy dick, even in death, was still managing to mess up Emery's life, angered Annalise immensely. She prayed to whatever gods there were that Colby Lopez was in some version of hell, being tortured with fiery pitchforks up the backside. She had, obviously, been a key character witness for Emery and able to provide what insight she had into Emery and Colby's relationship, as well as Colby's character. The things he had done she knew about, such as stalking and all the abuse her best friend suffered through. She wasn't sure if that would help or hurt Emery though because all it did provide motivation to murder the douchebag.

Mentioning the abuse and everything Colby did to her would only make Emery look guiltier, so the lawyer highly suggested against bringing up the past. The man was dead, after all. Not like he could pay for what he did to her anyway. Emery agreed with her lawyer, John Layfield, and she begged Annalise not to say anything when put on the stand. Annalise hadn't and the jury seemed to believe the incredible things her friend had to say. Of course, Annalise was also biased because they were roommates, so they didn't question her a lot throughout the trial. Annalise visited Emery once a week, bringing her little things from the outside world she could appreciate and wasn't illegal to bring inside. They both had the same question: Who would frame Emery for Colby's murder and want to ruin her life?

Obviously, Colby himself came to mind, but Colby was dead. As abusive and slimy as he was, Annalise had a hard time believing he had a mistress on the side. Not when he had tried his hardest to be as far up Emery's backside as possible. Colby's body disappearing was another mystery, one nobody had any clue about. It had been there long enough for photos and basic exams to be taken, but then... it was gone. Cameras had shown nothing; logbooks had been triple checked and it was mindboggling to say the least. The stalking affected not only Emery's life, but also Annalise's since they lived together. Paying bills became a hassle because Emery had to quit several jobs just to stop Colby from coming to her work.

Annalise finally ordered her to stay home at the apartment and she would cover the bills, wanting her best friend to stay safe. Emery felt like a freeloader and left the safety of the apartment to go to a local women's center to talk to someone about her situation. Of course, Emery did it under a false identity and they told her to turn him into the police. Emery didn't listen and went back to the apartment, feeling completely vulnerable to Colby Lopez. There was no escape from him. Emery ended up crying herself to sleep that night and didn't wake up until the following morning, not hearing the gunshots outside of the apartment or the squealing tires from Colby's attacker. Her alibi had been she slept for nearly 15 hours straight and the jury refused to believe that along with the police. They were certain she killed Colby Lopez, even though Annalise assured everyone her best friend would never harm a fly.

Colby wasn't the victim, Emery was.

While she had been called on as a character witness and her testimony limited because Layfield didn't want any more ammunition against Emery, what she did have to say was considered bias by the jury. Layfield walked her through everything, told her how to frame her words and in what tone, also warning how the prosecutor would come at her personally. It had been a mess, but Annalise hoped it would be enough to keep Emery out of prison. Along with the circumstantial evidence and the fact nobody could prove Emery's sleeping alibi as a lie... at this point, everything rested in the hands of the jury.

So far, there'd been 4 trials to determine if she was innocent or not. The jury was split down the middle on what to do and therefore the judge kept having to continue the sentencing. Today was hopefully the day. Emery longed to feel the air on her face and sense of freedom, tears stinging her deep aqua eyes at the thought of going home. Her head snapped up when the metal door swung open to the room she currently sat in and Emery stared back at her lawyer walking inside with hopefully good news.

And not another continuance.