Error POV
Today is the day...Not the day of the trial (Thank God) But the day that I and Fresh are going to that place where we give our evidence, it's just to get a feel for the place and make us understand just what we have to do. It's just the three of us in the car, it's only been 15 minutes but everyone is tense and the atmosphere is so thick you'd have to cut it with an Axe, even Fresh who would usually be obvious to this kind of tension is gripping his 3DS so hard, it looks like its gonna snap in half. I reach over and put my hand on his shoulder, he flinches but I don't let go, "Fresh?" I whisper "Yeah Brah?" He whispered back in a fake confident tone, "You're gonna break your game if you grip it any tighter. I'd say you have a white-knuckle grip but you have white knuckles period." I try to crack a joke to cheer him up but he doesn't even give me a pity smile but it does get him to put the 3DS down. He folds his hands over his lap and even I can see that there trembling slightly.
"Fresh Honey; everything is going to be fine, there's nothing to be afraid of, we're just having a look around, ok?" Mom says out of nowhere, she must have noticed in the rearview mirror, but I could tell that she was nervous too but I'm sure what about; but then again a lot of things could go wrong, Fresh could refuse to stay there, I could have an episode, Fresh could have a panic attack, he could call the whole thing off...so, yeah... a lot of things could happen. I sigh as I move my eyes to my lap as I start to play with my fingers, I could feel the pull on my soul to summon my stings and fiddle with them like I always do whenever I'm in an awkward situation, so which is a lot but ever since IT happened, I've felt uncomfortable to summon them. I don't remember much about what happened after Fresh passed out, all I remember is feeling the strings coming out my fingertips and feeling a rage like no other, all I could see was red 'Error' signs and I could only hear my soul pounding with magic as the noise bounced around my skull.
"-here." I shake my head slightly as I partly hear something Mom had said "What?" I say as look in the rearview mirror to meet my Moms gaze "I said we're here." I look out the window to see a big building, it had about what looked like five floors and was quite long. I turn my head to look at Fresh, he too is looking out the window with a blank stare and a little frown on his face. As we make our way out of the car, we see a woman walking towards us, as they get closer we realise its Miss Parker, the woman who came to see us a few weeks ago to talk about this, as she gets closer, she and mam start talking and I move closer to Fresh and reach out to take his hand, he flinches slightly but takes my hand in a tight grip. Miss Parker then looks down at us "Hello boys, now I understand that this must be very scary for and no one expects you to pretend that you're not uncomfortable, if either of you needs a break, then you need to tell us, Understand?" We both nod our head, but then we see the 'Use-your-words' Look from Mom, "Yes, Miss Parker." We see in unison, we look at each other and we both let out a small laugh as we make our way to the front door; still holding each other's hand.
As we walk in the place seems empty with no other human or monster in sight, I glance around and it looks to be mostly offices and cubicles, again mostly empty. After climbing a few sets of stairs, we were presented with a double door with a panel next to it "What does that panel do?" Fresh questions. "It keeps the door locked so only people that are allowed in, can get in, Its why I have this special keycard, see?" She puts her hand to her neck where a small card is hanging from, it has what looks like a picture of herself (if not looking a little younger). He hangs it too the door and I hear a small 'Beep' and she pushes the door open and we follow her once again.
This whole thing, it doesn't feel real, like, this-this can't be real. This is not happening, we should not have to BE HERE! I grip Fresh's hand a little too tight, I hear whimper softly, bearly just being able to hear it, he whispers "Bro, that hurts." I pull myself out of his hand like it had burned me but he just grips the sleeve of my jacket "Sorry." I whisper back as we stop in front of another door and when it is opened, we both see that it's a small room with toys in one corner, a couch in another as some kid chairs and a few beanbags as well as a TV with what looks like DVDs next to it on a shelf as well as a wide variety of books; from children's book to really thick books that are probably intended for some really angsty teen to pore there strange feelings onto fictional characters...Wait, so if all of this stuff is already here...how many kids have been here before us... how many of them have had to give evidence for worse things they've through?
"This room is where you both will stay before you have to give your evidence; we try to make the room as less stressful as possible by having things to distract yourselves with. However, if you both would like to bring some stuff from home to do while you wait, then that is fine. I also advised that you bring food and drinks because it is unknown just how long you both will have to stay here." She then sits on the couch and opens a clipboard I didn't notice she had in her hands before "Would you boys like to have a look around while I and your mother talk about some important stuff." It was sounded like a question but we both know that means that we don't really have a choice, Fresh nods and immediately moves towards the bookshelf and started flicking through the thick books, completely ignoring the books meant for his age, God my brother is so smart.
I move over to the TV and the pile of DVD's to see what they have to offer. "Baby stuff, baby stuff, more baby stuff- Oh cool How to Train Your Dragon!" I mumble under my breath, most of the films here are for younger kids...really makes you think...Fresh is really mature for his age but not having emotions really stopped him from being a real kid but even now that he has them he still most acts like his old self, if not more open and caring but definitely more quiet. It's not right, none of this is natural, it's not fair, none of it is. "Hey Bro?" I snap my head over to see Fresh standing by my side, whispering in my non-existent ear "You've been staring into space for a while, you ok?" I sigh and sit on one of the bean bags behind me; Fresh then drags over a purple one and sits next to me, still focused on me with a worried look on his brow. We sit in silence for a while, I feel his fingertips on mine; I grab it and hold it loosely so he could pull it back at any time, he usually loves physical affection; Mom used to call him her 'little cuddle bug' when he was a little younger but me of all people understands that sometimes; like when he's having a moment, he doesn't like to be touched, hell even now I'm still not as comfortable with it as I am with Geno...
'I miss Geno, he hasn't been home in a while and he was allowed to come but he had to stay in the hospital...again, I wish he was here...' I look up and I see Fresh with a sad look in his eye, "Me too Bro...Me too..." What the-? Oh crap, I said that out loud didn't I? "Geno would know what to do..." Fresh whispers out and I feel his grip tighten "I-I..." I can hear the shaking in his voice "Fresh?" I look over and see Mom and Miss Parker looking at us, both having a mildly concerned look on there faces "Fresh honey, is everything ok?" Fresh perks up and mumbles "Yeah, everything's Rad." Oof, ok that clearly sounded fake but the look on Moms' face, it's best not to push, he knows he can talk about when he's ready. "Well," Miss Parker pipes up "Would you both like to see the room where you'll be during the trial?" We both stand up, still holding hands; We move towards the door but Mom stays seated "Mom?" I speak up. She smiles softly and reaches and strokes my skull "I can't come in I'm afraid, but don't worry I'll just be right here when you're done." I feel Fresh's grip tighten and I see him tense up out of the corner of my eye. "We won't be too far so if you need to go, I'll show you where we are." Miss Parker opens the door and points to the end of the wide hallway, it was only two doors down from the room we were in.
Both I and Fresh nod and she guides us out. When we get into the room, it's smaller then I expected but not tiny, there are two chairs in front of a huge TV, much bigger than the one we have at home. "This is the chair that you'll both be sitting in when you are asked some questions, I will be sat in the other chair as support or if you need me to make the question more understandable for you. Because your both young we'll only be asking mostly yes and no questions but if you two ever feel the need to say 'I don't know' or 'I don't remember' then that is totally fine, you just tell the truth and the whole truth. Do both promise to do that for me?" We both nod and Fresh pipes up "Yes Parker, we promise" She smiles softly "Please, call me Lucy." Fresh Smiles softly and I get a warm feeling in my chest, I'm actually thankful to have someone who seems to actually care about us, especially Fresh, not to say that she didn't care about me but she could tell that Fresh was a 'Special' Case and paid more attention to his needs and feelings, which I'm really grateful for.
Suddenly there is a frantic knocking on the door and Lucy opens it to Mom, looking shaken. "Look, I really hate to cut this short but have to go, Now." "W-what do you mean? What's wrong?" Mom looked frantically around and stammered out "I-I just got a call from this hospital." At that, I felt my soul drop and my non-existent blood run cold and Fresh didn't look any better, he too had frozen and his eye lights had gone so small it was almost impossible to see them but you could clearly see them glancing back and forth between the two adults. "And my other son's condition has...Look we really just need to go." Lucy nods and Mom grabs our hands and we all speed walk out the building, The adults talk in hushed whispers but I don't pay any attention, I'm too lost in my own thoughts...No, no, NO! Why now? This is not happening, It's not. This is a bad dream. I get pulled out of my thoughts as we get into the car as I hear and low whimpering from next to me.
I look up and of course, it's Fresh. I can see the purple magic tears in his eyes, bubbling up and one sliding down his pure white cheek, leaving behind a light purple trail. "Oh Fresh, come on, don't cry." I reach out to touch his shoulder but he violently flinched away and...it hurt, he had never really refused to be touched before, especially now that we were starting to get closer. He suddenly takes a deep breath and sighs, he wipes the tears from his cheek and lets out a weak laugh, "Hehe..." He smiles sadly and looks up at me and cocks he head "It's not going to get any better, is it? It's only going to get worse, isn't it?"
I look and a shake my head "I don't know Fresh, I really don't know..."