Chapter Ten

Testimonies

"Uh...hey." I felt so awkward. I so did not deserve this. I can't believe I was being forced into visiting Cam. Here. In the small white room that made me feel like suffocating.

Cam looked up with a pained expression, his hair still as messy as usual. "Sam?"

I put my hand on the edge of the white bed. "It's Sammy. It's always been Sammy. No one calls me Sam."

He gave a little grin. "So does that mean I should call myself Cammy?"

I actually laughed. A little. "Cam..." I looked away. I didn't know what I wanted to ask. "I-you-ugh."

Cam slapped his hand on the table next to him. "If you wanna ask me anything, ask me here, where I can't go out of crazy."

"I hate to see you here." I stated.

He didn't say anything. He stared straight ahead; for a split second I thought he would lash out and hit me or something.

"What will your parents think back in Boulder?" I started to rattle on. "Will they visit you? Cam, you-"

"No. They're dead." he snarled.

And how come I never knew this? Suddenly I realized that throughout all of the time I had knon Cam, I had never really known him. I didn't know is he had siblings, or parents, or family at all...

Well, now I knew about the parent thing at least.

Cam had been put into a rehab center, so cleverly named the Santa Martina Rehabilitation Center.

Finally Cam choked out, "Please go. Go back to your perfect boyfriend. Go back to your perfect life. Go to college and get married and have kids, I could care less. Just go."

I stood frozen in place.

"Just go!" he finally snapped. "Why did they even allow you to visit me? Isn't this illegal? I need a cigarette."

I whacked his arm and he winced in pain. "Your boyfriend showed no mercy." he croaked.

I rolled my eyes and pointed to my wrapped up arm that still hurt a lot. I needed to apply special gel on it everyday. The medicine/gel-stuff was really greasy-feeling and it came in this tall metal tube. It was pretty gross. And I needed to re-wrap my arm everyday, also. The only two people I allowed to do this on me were Dad and Casey."Of course he showed no mercy. You tried to kill me."

Cam grimaced in pain again. "I'm an idiot."

"That you are."

He looked up at me and through his messy hair I could make out his eyes-smiling. His mouth wasn't, but his eyes were.

I reached over and pushed aside his hair to see his eyes better. Those blue eyes, the ones that can so easily manipulate and persuade.

He began to look really faint, and I knew I should probably leave soon. "Okay. Bye, Cam. Sorry about the broken rib and arm. But you shouldn't have stabbed me, or followed me to California anyway. But I should be leaving. I hope this rehab works, because if it does, you might actually be able to do something with you life. Like, maybe cut you hair, you know. But also, I think that you were, at a point, an OK boyfriend. Okay, maybe you were overcontrolling but I know you well enough to know that you sort...of...cared about me. So when you're finished with all this rehab and stuff-and I know your're also in serious trouble for the drug dealing, but please promise not to say my name anytime because I really don't want to be called to court-" I knew I was rambling nonsense just to make him feel a little better but-

"The prosecutor wants to call in for a testimony. They know you're connected to me back in Colorado."

I froze. "What?"

He rolled his eyes. "My. Prosecutor. Wants. You. To. Make. A. Statement."

"What does he want me to say?"

"The prosecutor is a she and she wants you to say anything that could put me in jail." he didn't look moved. "Good luck." he said drily.

"Well, I'm not going in. I don't want to be a part of this."

"Sammy, if you don't go in to give them information, you go to jail too."

I paused. "What?"

"You give them information, they give you a get out of jail free card. You don't give, they put you in jail with me. So what'cha gonna do?"

I thought. "Give them information?" I squeaked. "I can't go to jail. I just can't." and then I turned and left before he could say anything.

I couldn't go to jail. I knew I couldn't.

And I wouldn't.

Nine days later. In court.

There was Cam, with his lawyer. He was in a suit and his hair was combed. He looked bored. Had he done this before?

The judge was a big African American man, he looked scary. Like he wouldn't take any nonsense.

I gulped.

The pretty, petite little prosecutor lady gave Cam evil glances. The judge was chatting it up with someone else.

Suddenly everything began. The judge took his place and the prosecutor stood up to make her opening statement.

I gulped again. I shouldn't be here.

I looked back at Casey who was seated in the back with my dad and Marissa and Danny (witnesses). Casey looked freakishly hot in his suit. Cam just looked deranged.

The prosecutor lady began-her name was Miss Donacelli.

I practically fell asleep. What did it matter? This had nothing to do with me. Sort of.

Donacelli's clincher: "...Cam Stalin is guilty for attempted murder."

Woah. Stalin. I never knew his last name. Hmm. Stalin? Like the facsist, Joseph Stalin? Or dictator? Or whatever he was?

Interesting. I wonder if Cam was a descendant of Joseph Stalin. Cam was a very good manipulator, come to think of it...

Cam's lawyer-Mr. Engall-stood up for his opening statement just as Donacelli sat down.

Engall's statement was weak-he stated that Cam was not attempting murder, there's no way to prove it.

It was a big lie, we all knew. We all knew Cam was trying to kill me. But he was true-there was no way to prove it. Of course, I had been stabbed. But, I was fine. I was not dead. There is no way to prove that Cam's intentions were to kill me.

After the opening statements, I was called up. I felt dizzy. Sick. I saw my dad and Casey and Marissa and Danny giving me encouraging thumbs-up and smiles. Casey blew me a kiss with a funny wink. I laughed inside. He was too cute.

Finally I was facing Engall. Here's how it went.

Engall: Ms. Keyes, you were on the receiving end of Mr. Stalin's knife on the noon of June 16th, were you or were you not?

Me: Yes, sir.

Engall: And did Stalin ever say the words 'kill' at that noon of June 16th?

I thought about it. Did he? No. He did not. He said "You left me" and then went psycho.

Me: No, sir.

Engall: Did he ever threaten to kill you anytime before?

I thought about that, too. Yeah, he did! But wait. That was only in my dream/hallucination. My dreamcination.

Me: No, sir...

Engall: And were you ever in a relationship with this young man?

Me: Yes, sir..

I didn't like where this was going. At all. Casey was here. Oh God.

Engall: What sort of activities were you involved in with Mr. Stalin back when you were in a relationship with Mr. Stalin?

OH GOD.

Me: Can you rephrase that? Or give me an example? I don't quite comprehend.

Engall (calmly): What types of things did you and Stalin do together as a couple? Were you both in a certain extracurricular? Did you both enjoy the same sort of hobby? Books? Music? Movies? Did you go to a certain restaurant often? Were you sexually active with him? Did you two get along? Just name a few.

Me: We weren't in certain extracurriculars...

Engall: And? What about similar hobbies and interests?

Me: Not really.

Engall: Books?

Me: Nothing I know of.

Engall: Music.

Me: We both like screamo, I guess?

As if that helped anything.

Engall: What about places? Special places?

Me: His apartment...?

Engall: Were-or are- you sexually active with him?

Casey was in the room. Goddammit! Ugh. I cleared my throat.

Me: Slightly.

Engall: What does 'slightly' mean? Define.

Me: A little.

I tried not to look Cam in th eyes. I knew he was dying to add something to make me look bad. Or was he?

Engall: About how often did you sleep with him?

I could lie. This was court. I could lie and they'd never know. Why would they believe Cam? I could easily say, 'We weren't really..' but instead I said the truth.

Me: I'm not sure...not a lot...I know that for sure.

Engall: Moving on. Was he nice to you? Did he treat you well?

Tell the truth, Sammy.

Me: He was OK. In the middle.

Engall: Define.

Me: He, um, was a little forceful.

Engall: But not too forceful? Only a 'little'?

The judge intercepted. "Objection. Let Ms. Keyes define herself. Don't lead her any way." (GO MR. JUDGE!)

Engall: Let me rephrase that. How 'forceful' was he and why?

Judge: Sustained.

Me: He was in the middle. On the more side. He pressured me into...

Engall: Into?

Me: Into things like. Drugs. I don't know. Drinking? I never drank before I met him.

I paused, and then added

Me: ...and sex. You know.

Engall: Is that it? He didn't ever threaten to kill you if you didn't listen to him?

Judge: Objection. Rephrase the question.

Engall: He never threatened or forced anything else?

Judge: Objection. Rephrase once more.

Engall: Did he ever threaten you?

Judge: Sustained.

Me: Yes-no-not really-

Engall: One answer.

Me: He threatened to dump me.

Engall: And that's all? Nothing else?

Me: No, sir.

Engall: Nothing further.

Judge: Nothing further.

I guess that was it for Engall's interrogation. I don't know what angle Engall was going for. He was trying to make Cam seem innocent- why was he asking me those weird questions that made Cam look bad?

Ohhh. Because I clarified that he did not threaten me.

Huh. Engall is pretty smart.

Next up, the prosecutor wanted to interrogate me. Since the prosecutor's job is to make Cam look guilty, she must have it easy. Because he is.

Donacelli: On the noon of June 16th, you were at your friends house?

I pointed to Marissa and said

Me: Her house, yes.

Judge: Let the record show that she is pointing to Ms. McKenze.

Donacelli: You were with whom?

Me: Danny Urbanski, Casey Acosta, Marissa McKenze.

Donacelli: Did you know Mr. Stalin would show?

Me: No, ma'am.

Donacelli: Nothing further.

Okay. If she was going to end it that quick, that was fine with me. Besides, my time in court was over. I was so glad I never had to come back and do this again. It was freakishly scary.

Not to mention, boring.

Dad took us all out to dinner that night at Chipotle. He left early for God-knows-what and Marissa and Danny left early for a movie date.

Casey was driving me home and we talked about anything. The World Series. Osama bin Laden. The Killers. Then about upcoming movies. Transformers 4. Pirates of the Carribean 4. Jurassic Park 4.

We talked about anything but Cam. Because he was over. Out of our lives. For good. Thank. God.

I was finally free from the Drug.

A/N: NEXT CHAPTER = LAST ONE! I'm reeeeeeealllly excited to post that last chapter, like Ahh! I spent the most time on it and I love it because it wraps up the whole story perfectly (in my eyes at least). And Sammy's emotions go way deeper than any of the other chapters I've done. Its really detailed and descriptive, like every separate single thought has its own separate line to be said. And also, I think you guys will like the Epilogue that comes with it... Just saying... (: COMMENT FAST!