Amanda entered the cold room with Peter s hand tightly gripping her arm. She had grown so frail and week from shooting up so frequently that Peter could wrap his index and thumb fingers around her upper arm completely. Amanda was a complete mess. The Judge took note of her disheveled appearance. The purple rings that colored the bags under her eyes concerned the Judge in a way which would solidify his decision about the trial before it had even begun.

Amanda received a court appointed lawyer to represent her in this trial. The lawyers that worked for the state were not too concerned about their job, as Amanda could clearly see. Though she didn t have her wits about her in this state of withdrawal, she was aware enough to tell this was going to be a one-sided trial. The Court deemed Amanda too dangerous to sit unsupervised next to her lawyer because of her self-abusive habits. She was placed next to her lawyer with a security guard standing right behind them both.

There is a clear difference between self-harm and harming another, but no one in this room educated enough to know it. I m so screwed.

Amanda scoffed at this observation and slouched in her chair. Every sound drowned out until the room had only the sound of static. Mouths were moving, people were gesturing, arguments were occurring, but Amanda was not tuning in. She had tuned out completely, leaving her with no notion of how the trial was progressing. Amanda cited the withdrawal to blame for the inability to focus. She regained clarity when Amanda s arresting officer entered the room, an hour late . His devious smile and the cold, calculating look in his eye was unmistakable. Amanda had knocked on death s door when she had first crossed paths with Detective Matthews, and she was revisiting the horror today.

Eric stared her down, as if Amanda was both mentally and emotionally inferior to him. She had been insulted by him with just one glance. He might as well have placed himself within inches of her face and cackled directly at her, spitting with every chuckle. Though he had to be there for the trial, his presence unsettled Amanda indescribably.

She was sure that Eric was going to make it impossible for her to walk out a free woman. He was going to hold her down underwater and suffocate her story until she had become limp and succumbed to the fate he had chosen for her. Eric was out to get her; she could feel it in her bones and hear it in the tone of his voice.

The judge nor the jury addressed Amanda, not even once. No questions, nothing. They were giving an unfair trial, but Amanda had no control over it. Corrupt measures had screwed her over yet again. Another thing she did notice was that Peter had a pallid complexion about him. His eyes turned grey and his face fell at the verdict. Her sentence was 2 years for possession. To Amanda, it might as well have been life. She felt as if she should blame it all on the lawyer, not Eric Matthews who had framed her. Her public defender stood rigid and barely contributed to the proceedings at all. Amanda had been wronged in so many ways.

Peter had his grip tightly on Amanda s arm again as he removed her from the court room. On the way out, Eric flashed his devilish smirk at her yet again. His hands were in his pockets. Eric was relaxed and calmed by her sentencing. His job was done here. Yet another innocent was framed and suffered the worst of consequences for it.

Amanda's sentence went quickly. Now that she knew her fate, things progressed quickly. She made the same routines, going back and forth from that shadowy place and shooting up every night. Peter still had the same fondness for her he had always possessed. He helped her through it all. Little did she know, Peter was there for more than just her cause.

Kerry, I think I ve got enough evidence to figure this whole thing out. Detective Kerry swore she heard the voice of reasoning every time Eric spoke a word. But she was about to be proven incorrect over and over again. Kerry whipped around in her office chair, flicking the ash from her cigarette as she listened intently to this newfound information.

"There's so much rich evidence here. Do you know how many goddamn surgical gloves Eric used over the past couple years? Its remarkable. Then there are the many victims of his vicious schemes. One Amanda Young, one Laura Prescott, one Xavier Gutierrez, and countless others were all charged for various heinous crimes."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I get it. I'll mull over your research in a second. I'm kind of busy right now, Peter."

"Just promise you will look at it. We ve got quite a mess on our hands."

"Sure Peter, I'll look at it."

Kerry promised nothing more than an once-over. This is where Peter made his mistakes. He also handed her all his original copies, entrusting that she would hand back every document to the newly appointed undercover detective. Peter was the rookie at the precinct and unfortunately for all those involved in Eric's torment Peter acted like one too.

Just as Peter should have expected, Kerry looked at it once, and made sure all the evidence was properly discarded with no chance of recovery. Peter wasn t much for office gossip, but it was plain as day in the precinct that both Matthews and Kerry had romantic involvement of some sort. She would be the last to convict Matthews and throw him in the slammer. Plus she loved the perfume she had been given one night while Matthews out on the job. Kerry had no remorse for being as cold and uncaring as Matthews was. Amanda had no get out of jail free card prematurely. She was doomed to serve the sentence she was wrongfully given.

Two years passed. Amanda was free, but with nowhere to go. Contacting Brian was impossible. The apartment they had once shared years ago was now occupied by another who had no relation to Brian. Brian had not owned a cell phone, nor was he ever in contact with his parents. Amanda had no choice but to forget him, as every search she made for him turned cold.
Amanda had no choice but to continue her habits she learned in jail. She subject herself to the fantasies of others in exchange for a few dollars in order to receive the euphoric rush she so desired the days before her trial. She lived in a shit hole on the bad side of town. The room was relatively bare except for a yellow lamp and a bed with rose red sheets. It reminded Amanda of the cell she shared with Laura many years ago.

The way Amanda met John was strange. It was through torture, again. John had kidnapped her. He had set up a sadistic game for her to play to prove her merit. As messed up as Amanda was, she had now known she had to do whatever she needed to survive; even if it meant taking someone else s life in her own hands.

Amanda awoke spinning. All she could taste was metal. Her lids opened slowly as she took in her surroundings. She felt bound, as restricted as being in a jail cell. It turned out she was restricted, there was no visible way for her to escape this hollow tomb. She looked down to her hands. Duct tape stuck her to the chair she had been placed in. She could feel some sort of enclosure surrounding her head and blocking her mouth. Amanda began hyperventilating in fear and uncertainty.

The TV screen adjacent to her lit up, revealing a strange figure. This figure told her the only way in which she would be able to escape these dingy, dark four walls. There was a man lying in the corner, and he was her only means of escape. She couldn t recognize him from her chair. She had to get up to figure out who he was. Amanda freed her wrists from the duct tape with a few swift tugs. Unfortunately rising from the chair was her biggest mistake.

Clang! Tick, tick, tick, tick

Unknowingly, Amanda had started the timer to her demise. It was only mere seconds before she had to make life changing decisions. On the way towards the man lying on the floor she found a knife. What was she going to do with the man on the floor, and the sharp instrument now in her hand?

As Amanda reached the man she noticed something deeply disturbing about his identity. Her memory bounced back to the day Eric Matthews first arrested her. The man who was on the floor unconscious now was the same man who gave her his dress shirt to wear, the same one who cuddled with her, the same one she was romantically involved with. The one who lay before her inert was Brian.

She wasted precious seconds thinking back on what he had meant to her. But what occurred to her is that she hadn t been there for her now. Amanda had tried to locate him before she wound up in this dingy basement to no avail. It was all too late now. Brian s fate had been decided.

With one sharp movement the knife plunged deep beneath Brian s skin, cutting into his stomach. Brian s eyes opened wide at this moment. He wasn t already dead like Amanda had assumed. Though this made it harder for Amanda to continue, she had to press on. Through bouts of sobbing and violent jerking motions she had found the key hidden within Brian's flesh.

Frantically she searched for the lock on the back of her head. Mere seconds before the device was programmed to unhinge itself, Amanda successfully removed it from her cranium. Hands covered in blood and eyes soaked in tears, Amanda trembled in the dark room along sobbing uncontrollably. Then, the closed off passageway was opened. Amanda's gaze rose slowly to meet eyes with the figure that stood before her. He removed his hood and analyzed Amanda's current state doubled over in fear and distress.

"Hello. My name is John. Amanda, you have deemed yourself worthy of being a crucial part in my operation to help those who are selfish to appreciate the lives they have now. Join me, and together we will make this world a better place for all. I can help you, Amanda. We can help each other."

Amanda knew he was twisted. She knew he had flaws. But she noticed something that he had said, something that had gotten her to succumb to his wants. He was going to help her, like Peter. He was not going to objectify her. He was just going to aid her. That was the night Amanda sealed her fate, once and for all.

The time in between then and now was a blur. Amanda was back to lying on the cold sick room floor, the only thing warm around her was her blood circling her body. John had saved her, alright. John had saved her in a way that was against his message, but it had satisfied Amanda nonetheless. Amanda's death saved her from all that had plagued her from her past, and with John's help she was finally going to get relief from the drama and hardships she has encountered. After all these years, Amanda was finally free.

A/N: I know the ending isn't exactly true to the actual story, but that's how I meant it. There was a puppet before John came out and those weren't his exact words but I felt it wasn't crucial to the story line. I am sorry I havent been able to develop this story more but since I've been quite busy lately I decided to just put an ending to it. I've been seeing a number of people reviewing it and taking interest in it and I felt it was only fair to give those who are fans of the story closure. I also had to do a project for my Creative Writing class and thought this story would be perfect for it. :p. Thanks for the support everyone and I hope you liked the ending!