“Please state your name for the
court.”
“Elizabeth Harding.” She looked
around the room with the same sparkle in her eye as had always been there,
reclined with her feet on the stand and without a cloud of guilt in her eye.
She looked the lawyer square in the eye showing her lack of intimidation for
the jury to see.
“Ms. Harding, where were you on the
night of Dec. 17th?” He returned her unfaltering stare and for a moment one
might expect steam to explode from his ears in an almost animated manner.
“You know damn well where I was!” A
loud bang rang out as the judge pounded her gavel.
“Ms. Harding, you cannot curse in
court, one more outburst and I’ll be forced to hold you in contempt of court.”
The judge threatened with a glint of malice in her eye.
“Anyway, as I was saying” Elizabeth
continues as if the judge had never intruded on her thoughts “I was with him,”
“Who?” The prosecutor demanded.
“My boyfriend, Nicholas” just the
invoking of his name drew a tear from Elizabeth’s eye. “We had just fought, and
as always after a fight he was very upset.
“We climbed into his car, and he
leaned over and kissed me. I didn’t think much of it; that was his usual way of
trying to make me feel better. As we pulled out of the parking lot and headed
home, he looked over at me and I saw a trace of a smile on his face. When we
were nearing the house his usually happy expressions became unbearably sad, I’d
never seen him so upset.
“When we got to the driveway he
reached his hand into the console. He said ‘I love you’ and I responded the
only way I could. I told him how I really felt. I told him that I didn’t want
to be with him anymore. I told him that he was too controlling of me. I tried
to explain to him that the violence was unacceptable. I explained that these
past two years have been the worst of my life.
“He started shouting at me about
how all he does is care for me. About how he loves me with all of his heart.
Then, this strong man, this figure of torture for the past two years cried. He broke
down and sobbed all over the steering wheel. I almost felt bad for him. Then he
flicked open the pocket knife and poked my neck with it. He said that if he
couldn’t have me, no one could.
“I told him we could stay together
if he just put the knife down, and he did. He set it open on his lap and kept
bawling his eyes out. Then he looked up at me with this crazy look.” Elizabeth
was nearly in tears “He said that it was best for me if he were gone. I can’t
say I disagreed. He put the knife up to his wrists and asked me for one final
favor. So I did it… I killed him. I ripped open his flesh with his own knife.
“And you know what? For the first
time since I met him, I felt totally free.” She looked around the courtroom,
from one bewildered face to the next. “Wanna know why I did it? I loved him, I
really did, and when someone you love asks you for a favor, you do it.”
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