The FAYZ Trials Chapter 3
Karim couldn't believe it, not Sam Temple no he was innocent! Freddy had manipulated that jury and now Sam had to pay the price. He turned the corner of the long corridor he was storming down and spotted Freddy talking to a reporter whilst on his way back to the courtroom.
"Hey! Fredrick! Get over here!" he yelled down the corridor. Freddy glared at him before shaking hands with the reporter and heading over to Karim. He had such a swagger in his step Karim was tempted to deck him one and run, but he restrained himself.
"Yes my dear friend?"
"How can you live knowing what has happened to Sam Temple?" Karim demanded hotly. Freddy shrugged,
"It was the jury's decision not mine," he replied
"He was innocent!"
"Oh really?" Freddy asked his cool blue eyes flashing angrily "Did he 'throw' that Duck kid to his death?"
"Yes but there's no law that says you can't throw a kid!" Karim yelled feeling stupid.
"No of course not but he wasn't being trialled for throwing was he? We all knew he threw the kid! What the jury had to decide was whether or not he was responsible for the death of Duck Zang! And at the end of the day Karim, he was!"
"It's not murder!" Karim retaliated "Duck asked him to do it!"
"Fine," Freddy said "Is assisted suicide legal? Nu-uh, so if you want to challenge the court and have a re-trial then fine go for it, but whatever you do I am always going to have this boy locked up, murder, assisted suicide, manslaughter you name it! Sam Temple should be locked up and Caine Soren will be too."
Caine sat in his cell. He would be returning to the courtroom in a few hours for the jury's verdict. Admittedly he was a little scared. But he was confident the jury would be on his side. As he was sitting and thinking, the doors at the far end of the block flew open and three huge security guards dragged a limp and sobbing boy into the room. Caine stood up and peered through the bars of his cage-it was Sam! Sam was back from the courtroom, Caine felt his heart drop, if Sam was back then Sam was guilty. The guards dragged Sam past Caine's cell and Caine looked Sam in the eye, they were scared and empty. Caine heard the cell doors open to his right and Sam was tossed into the cell. The guards laughed and left the block slamming the doors behind them.
"Sam?" Caine asked pressing his ear against the wall. "Sam what...what happened?" He knew the answer but he had to hear it from Sam in case...well, in case...
"Leave the kid alone you dirty little creep!" The rapist with one eye yelled from across the room. Caine glared at him and raised a hand threateningly,
"Shut up or I'll make you shut up," he yelled back. Seeing his raised hand the guy crouched and turned away.
"Sam talk to me, I need to know what happened." Caine urged Sam. There was a long silence and then in a small, weak voice Sam answered.
"Don't worry Caine, you're cell won't get cold."
Freddy adjusted his tie as the cameras started rolling for day two of the FAYZ Trials. He was wearing his new grey Armani suit ready for his glorious celebration when Caine Soren would be locked up for good. The other side of the room, Karim sat looking nervous as he read some of his notes. Nerves, that was a bad sign for him, Freddy chuckled and wondered why Karim even bothered-after all he was never going to win- with the boys.
The judge entered and there was a pause as the cameras settled into position. The audience hushed as Caine Soren was escorted into the room. The boy was standing tall, his dark hair looked vibrant and his skin was practically glowing, not how most murder suspects tended to look when on trial. Freddy watched the boy with interest hoping to spot a glimmer of fear in his eyes but they were unreadable.
"Mr Soren, the jury are about to reveal their decision, do you have anything else you would like to tell the court?" the judge
"No your Honour," Caine replied smoothly. There was a murmur in the room and Freddy shook his head, that was the judge's way of saying
"Own up now!"
But Caine Soren had nothing to say.
Standing in front of the whole courtroom and effectively, the whole world Caine felt uneasy. Usually he basked in glory when he was in front of a crowd but today he felt sick. This was only the first of his trials and Sam had already been sent down...
Down where the jury sat a young guy who looked about twenty stood up. He had jet black curly hair and dark, tanned skin. He looked Spanish or Mexican, he looked a bit like how Caine imagined Edilio would grow up to look like. He looked nervous and cleared his throat before he spoke, Caine held his breath and waited. Waited for his fate.
"The jury has discussed," the man said "and we have come to a conclusion..."
The whole room fell silent.
Freddy sat on the edge of his seat.
Karim stared at his notes not reading, just staring.
Caine shut his eyes.
"The jury was unable to come to an agreement and would like to call for a re-trial."
Caine snapped his eyes open .
Karim sighed heavily.
Freddy nearly fell off his seat.
Caine looked at the judge who was quickly reading some documents in front of him.
"Approved," he said "Take him away, the re-trial will be held tomorrow and if the jury should be hung again then a new jury will be placed on the trial,"
Was this good or bad? Caine wasn't sure. He was going back to jail but for one night only. But there was no guarantee that it would be his last night either.
"Objection!" cried Freddy Wishman from across the room "Your Honour! Please!"
The judge raised his hand to silence Freddy.
"Save your arguments for tomorrow Mister Wishman,"
Freddy glowered and shot Caine a killer look.
Caine smiled back.
Sam sat on the cold, hard floor of his cell. Forget the bed he was sleeping on the floor. His mind was numb and blank, he'd barely noticed the guards take Caine away that morning. The one eyed rapist had been taunting him all day-daring him to use his powers. But of course, he didn't.
It was dark when the doors flew open. Two guards were accompanying Caine to his cell. Well, Caine didn't really need the guards, he was strutting over to his cell willingly. Sam heard one of the guards lock Caine's cell and leave.
"Back Caine? I thought so," Sam said almost smiling.
"Sure, 'for one night only!'" Caine was laughing.
"What...what do you mean?" Sam asked
"Well Sammy boy, the jury just couldn't decide if I was innocent or not, so I've got to do it all over again tomorrow!" Caine said mockingly "Life is tough huh?"
Sam ignored him and tried to fight the angry tears that were daring to fill his eyes. How the hell did Caine get free and he wind up in the cell?
"Oh by the way how's the food here Sam?"
Freddy was still fuming. It was seven thirty and he was still in the courtrooms waiting to see the outcome of Quinn Gaither's trial-not that he really cared-it was Caine Soren who was bugging him. Brat. What was wrong with the jury? He needed to get home and revise his notes for the re-trial. Quinn Gaither was nothing but an afterthought. Still, seeing that goofy, hat wearing kid get sent down would maybe cheer him up for a while.
He strolled to his seat, avoiding Karim so he wouldn't have to hear him gloat.
"Order, order!" the judge called. An eerie silence fell as if everyone was expecting a similar outcome as Caine's.
"Mr Quinn Gaither how do you plead?"
"N..not guilty." The kid was shaking. Poor baby.
"Speaker of the jury, do you find Mr Quinn Gaither guilty of blackmail?"
Get it over and done with, Freddy thought.
"The jury finds Mr Quinn Gaither, not guilty!"
Crap, Freddy thought.
Outside in the fresh air Quinn crumpled to his knees. Free, he was free! He felt sick. He should be celebrating but Sam was still inside and he was walking free. It just didn't seem right. Karim, his lawyer, came and stood next to him.
"You okay?" he smiled
"Uh, yeah, I'm okay," Quinn mumbled, he was too numb to speak properly
"I know how you must be feeling," Karim said still smiling "It's a shock but you'll soon be out celebrating!"
"I'm up for more trials," Quinn reminded him
"Well yes, but this was the big one," Karim agreed, he patted Quinn on the shoulder "Hey brighten up kid, go out there and enjoy your freedom"
Quinn snapped
"How can I enjoy myself when Caine Soren walks free and my best friend is locked up in jail? You're a useless lawyer Karim, sure, I get to walk free but Sam is guilty?! It's a joke, the whole thing is a joke and you're a joke" and he got up off the steps of the court and left Karim alone.
Freddy was angry. Quinn was supposed to be an easy case. Was he losing his touch? The whole of the world's press had just witnessed his epic fail live and Karim was the hero. In frustration he downed his whole whiskey in one, much to his regret when it burnt his throat and caused him to gag. He sat down at his desk and inspected his papers. There were still plenty of other cases for him to deal with and with the re-trial tomorrow he was sure Caine Soren would go down. And if the jury were blind enough to find him innocent then he would make sure Caine would be guilty in all the other trials;
The Uranium Spillage: Guilty
The Thanksgiving Massacre: Guilty
The Great Bug Invasion: Sooo Guilty
That kid was as guilty as sin and Freddy knew it. Karim was a fool to back the kid. He glanced at his calendar, the Thanksgiving Massacre trial would be starting in two days time and he hadn't looked at any of his notes...
Despite his success with Quinn, Karim felt deflated. Caine's re-trial would be starting any minute and he was nervous. He was nervous because he'd just seen Freddy strutting around in front of the cameras with an air of someone who knows what they're doing. It annoyed him how cocky Freddy could be in front of the cameras. This was a kid's life they were playing with not some petty criminal, although at the back of his head Karim still didn't know just how innocent Caine really was. Not after talking to the other kids and reading the statements. Control freak, power hungry, selfish, heartless, these were all words that had frequently described Caine Soren. But so much had happened during the FAYZ, and Karim knew that Sam Temple wasn't the saint that many kids made him out to be. If only Freddy didn't have it in for Caine so bad. What was his problem with Caine?
"Mr Smith?" called one of the ushers, breaking Karim's train of thought "The court is ready for you now"
Karim sighed and adjusted his tie, this re-trial had better be worth it.
Caine had listened emotionlessly to the opening speeches of both barristers. He didn't want the jury to be influenced by his own emotions. As usual that Freddy guy had ripped into him, calling him heartless and cold and Karim had defended him saying he was as guilty as Quinn Gaither – and he'd walked free. Finally it came to the questioning again. Caine was prepared, he'd been up all night preparing for questions. Freddy Wishman was going to ask him the worst questions ever and he needed to overcome them.
"Well, Mr Soren we've been here before," Freddy had said charmingly making Caine sneer "Tell me, why should a manipulative little murderer like you walk free?"
"I should walk free because I'm not a murderer," Caine replied calmly "Nor am I manipulative," he lied "Or little," he added as an afterthought.
"Ok so mister Zang asks you to throw him to his death and you agree to do so, are saying that doesn't make you a murderer?"
"We've been through this," Caine replied wearily "He asked me to do it,"
"And if I asked you to play in traffic would you do so?" Freddy asked folding his arms over his Armani suit.
"Your Honour," Karim yelled standing up "That is an inappropriate question!" but the judge shook his head and Karim was obliged to sit back down. Caine thought for a moment, trying to come up with an answer that would be as believable as possible.
"The thing is, if you told me to play in traffic or jump off a cliff or whatever, I would know what the consequences would be-I'd be dead." Caine said smoothly with a menacing glint in his eye "The difference is, when Duck asked me and Sam to throw him to the Darkness, we didn't know what would happen."
"Oh don't give me that crap you good for nothing little-!"
"MR WISHMAN!" the Judge shouted.
Freddy, who had raised his voice considerably looked ashamed
"I will kindly remind you that this is a courtroom and not some daytime chat show, please calm yourself and act appropriately."
"Yes your Honour, very sorry sir," Freddy mumbled. He's obviously rattled now, Caine thought, he looked over at the TV camera crew who were all looking a little apprehensive as if they expected Freddy to burst into swear words live on air.
Freddy took a long audible breath and continued ;
"Mr Soren, please, do not pretend that you had no idea how dangerous a situation you were in."
"I'm not pretending anything!" Caine replied annoyed that Freddy had recovered so quickly "Duck had a power like me, like Sam, he was a freak! I didn't know how his power worked it was our only chance!"
"You didn't think to talk things through?"
Karim interjected;
"They were surviving in a split second environment, they hardly had time for a coffee and a chat,"
"Mr Smith please," the judge said wearily.
"At the end of the day, Soren, Duck was afraid and you had no right to end his life like that, you are a murderer!"
"Murderer no," Caine replied "Manslaughter? Maybe."
There was a deathly silence around the courtroom. Freddy stared up at Caine and even Karim looked worried. Caine instantly regretted that remark, but thankfully, it was time for lunch.