Thanks for all the nice reviews people! They meant a lot to me! I passed all my exams btw so go me mini Mexican Wave. This is part 11 and I hope you enjoy! Just tell me what you think! lol
While You Were Sleeping
Part 11
"I was walking back from doing some Christmas shopping. My friend had always recommended Central Perk to me, so when I passed by I decided to call in for a few minutes. Just as I walked through the door I dropped my paper. I knelt down to pick it up and ... and ... and I ... " she paused, breathing heavily before continuing, "I saw someone walk in front of me. There were quite far away and I only saw their shadow but then ... a woman at the table furthest from me said 'Hey' to this person, it was a friendly 'Hey', a greeting. Then there was a bang and the next thing I heard was a scream. Followed by a shot"
"It's OK. You just take your time"
"I didn't know what to do. I think I just panicked. I crawled out of the door and closed it as quietly as I could. I hadn't shut it when I came in, I ran down the street and phoned the police before I ran home. I didn't know what else to do. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry"
"It's OK. It wasn't your fault. Just answer me this one question please Mrs O'Connell. Did the victims know their attacker?"
There was a pause. The air heavy with it's silence.
"Yes. Yes, I believe they did"
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In that instant her world crashed down. It's strange how something so momentous can happen in total silence. How a woman's life can be ripped apart before her very eyes in a room full of people she didn't even know. They decided her fate but in that instant she knew which way they would go. No one would believe her now.
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"Thank you Mrs O'Connell. You may sit down now"
Monica watched again as the strange woman moved to her seat. Her evidence confirming Monica's guilt. The victims knew their killer. They all knew her. She was the killer. Nothing could change that now. No matter what she did, where she went or who she met she would always be a serial killer to them. The woman who had wiped out a coffee house in downtown New York and sat back while her friends died around her.
Part of her longed to shout out, tell them it wasn't true. Tell them she hadn't done that, she'd not been there. But she couldn't. Because she didn't know what had happened while she'd been sleeping. Who had screamed to awaken her.
"Would the Jury now meet to discuss their verdict"
Monica was shaken out of her thoughts abruptly. Sitting there she realised Ross was stepping down from the witness stand and hr lawyer, as well as the blonde woman, were doing the same. It was over now. Nothing she could do would ever change their opinions. She saw them, the twelve, walking towards a door at the back of the courtroom. She knew from there they would discuss her. Her motive. Her hatred. Her personal business, dragged around the room for all to see.
But it was done now.
She couldn't change it.
All she could do was
Wait
And hope
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That is how she passed the next hours, days, weeks. She knew in her mind it had only been a few days since she had been confined to her cell again. But her body felt as though she had been there for years.
Eventually on the third day, there was a glimmer. Not of hope. Just a glimmer.
"Miss Geller, we need to take you back upstairs now"
Monica walked with them, up the first flight of stairs, passed numerous exits, around the staircases and eventually through the heavy oak door which led to her courtroom. Her fate. As soon as she entered the Judge began.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the Jury, have you reached a decision upon which you all agree?"
Monica's heart caught in her chest as she saw the foreman stand up. She watched him as her nervously patted his brow with a crisp white handkerchief. Her eyes never left him. As he stepped forward, away from the others, she closed her eyes. She heard him take a breath in the silence and her own breathing stopped. This was it. This was the moment.
"No, your honour"