Sorry for the late post - the site wasn't letting me upload.
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JR lay in his uncomfortable bunk starring at the ceiling of his cell. The orange jumpsuit they had given him itched and the room smelt of sweat and bad drains. He kept his eyes focused on the drab gray ceiling. He was ignoring the vision of Marissa that was watching from the opposite bunk. She was the only one of his phantoms who hadn't left him after he fled the gallery, his sanity in tatters. JR felt more himself again. He just had to work how was going to get himself out of this mess.
"So you're still not going to admit any guilt." said Marissa bitterly. Her strength had returned now the JRs dark shadow was gone. She looked just the same as the first day he had seen her; dressed in a long brown gown, her long red hair swept around her shoulder, a trickle of blood from the bullet hole in her forehead.
"You are in the wrong. Admit it! And accept the consequences."
"I'm not going to jail." snorted JR, at last glancing her way, "Not for Binky!"
"Binky is it." said Marissa shaking her head. "Do you know the real reason why you hate her JR?"
"She stole my wife!" snapped JR.
"I said the real reason."
JR just stared blankly back at her.
"You do know it JR... because I know it. I'm still you remember. Why do you hate her?"
"Why do I need a reason?" said JR angrily. "I hate her. Why is that not enough?"
"You are jealous."
JR scoffed at that.
"Why would I be jealous of that!?"
"Because," said Marissa staring intently back at him. "Everyone loves her and you can't understand why. You can't understand how she can be the way she is."
"What gay?"
"You know what I mean."
"I'm not jealous of Saint Bianca."
"Yes you are. You grew up together. You bonded over your parents divorce. You just can't understand how your lives ended up so different when you started out just the same."
JR snorted once more.
"Well." said phantom Marissa carefully. "I say you don't understand, but you do. Deep down you know that it all came down to choice. You chose to put your own interests above all else. That is what has ruined every relationship you have ever had. Bianca chose to put everyone else's interests above her own. It hasn't always worked for her either but the truth is, the reason so many people care about Bianca is because she cares about them."
"She's a sap." said JR incredulously. "You think I want to be like Bianca."
"No, but you want to be loved like her. The closest you got to that was with AJ."
"I love my son." retorted JR.
"And yet you still couldn't put him first. Were you thinking of AJ when you picked up the bottle? Were you thinking of AJ when you went to war with Marissa and Bianca? Were you thinking of AJ when you refused to get help with your drinking? Were you thinking of AJ when you shot his mother in the head?"
JR gave Marissa a hard look.
"Love is not some given right JR, it is a gift. A gift that gets better the more you share it. It's not something to covet."
"I think I liked it better when I was ignoring you." said JR cutting the conversation off cold. He lay back onto his pillow and returned to stare at the drab gray ceiling.
"Only because you know I'm right."
There was a discrete cough. JR turned to find his lawyer standing by the cell door.
"Mr Chandler I'm here to talk about strategy for you defence."
His smarmy lawyer was staring at him, his eyes a little wide.
How long had he been standing there?
…
