10 months of Vackner's life had been wasted behind the bars of Rikers. He had better things to do than hang around this rotting Hellhole. It was good ole' trial day. He had nothing better to do so what the hell? let's go to the courthouse.

Shackled at his ankles and wrists, he was escorted out of the cell. He was led down the corridor to the awaiting patrol car. The media surrounded the car like a feeding frenzy, grabbing every opportunity to get a shot of James. He had to admit, that he craved this attention.

It gave him a rush.

Just like squeezing the life out of a fragile body and hearing the heartbeat wind down to a whimper.

In a matter of 30 minutes, the car pulled behind the courthouse to hide from some of the media reporters. The officer in the passenger seat turned around and warned him to not resist when they got out of the car. While being escorted out of the car, Vackner stared down the officer and struggling a bit to get the officer riled up. The officer tightened the cuffs. Vackner knew just what to do to get anybody's blood to boil. He knew what buttons to push when he was younger; when his father would beat the crap out of him and how he would enjoy the torture that his father gave to him.

He loved it.

His court-appointed attorney met him at the door and they all proceeded to enter through the double-doors. They were surrounded by the very few that would be in the courtroom. His lawyer had informed him that this was just a preliminary trial, not the real trial. The court system had been backed up so it took 10 months to get this one in.

What he didn't know was that Mac and Stella were in the courtroom. Mac was the fill-in representative for Lindsay and Stella was there for support.

Stella leaned into Mac, "Do we have all the evidence for the case?"

"We have everything here that we need," Mac said, patting her arm "Don't worry."

"This man caused the attack on Lindsay and he deserves more than a stay in jail, I just want to make sure that everything is perfect." Stella, sighing.

The Judge entered the courtroom and sat down and banged his gavel.

The lawyers from the defense team were huddled at their table and it was evident that something was wrong. This action was ignored by the judge and he proceeded for the prelim to begin. He asked if the Vackners team was ready to begin and his lawyer motioned with his head.

"Do you have the papers for the motion to carry on the trial?" the Judge said, looking at the defense team. The lawyers looked like deer caught in the headlights of a car barreling down the highway.

"I said, do you have the paperwork?"

"Your Honor, we can't find them."

The Judge looked shocked, "You can't find the paperwork?"

"Your Honor, it's not here, for some reason it was never typed up."

"Well, counselors, since you're not prepared, this trial is over, case dismissed."

With the uproar of the mistrial, noticed the look on Vackner's face. He relished in this moment.

He glanced over at the shocked faces of Mac and Stella. And gave them a wink.

to be continued...