Chapter 207 Murderer
>>Riona
The courtroom was a cold, sterile place. My entire body felt heavy, weighted down by the accusations, by the stares that drilled into me like knives from behind as I stood on the defendants’ podium.
“I don’t know how this happened,” I whispered, the words trembling on my lips. “I didn’t do it,” I had been saying this over and over again but no one listened. My mind raced, trying to recall how it had happened but nothing came to mind. My memory was blurred and that was my biggest flaw that was used against me.
I looked down at my hands, my messy blonde hair moving to come to the front. I slightly raised my palms towards my face, staring at them with my blue eyes and a flash of blood staining them crossed my mind, disgusting me… terrifying me.
“All the evidence points to you.” Those words, from the prosecutor, echoed in my head over and over again, louder than the silence around me.
The gavel came down with a sharp crack, the sound ringing through the courtroom like a death sentence.
"Look at that wench" People watching the trial whispered
"She doesn't look like a killer,"
"My God... You can't trust anyone in this day and age."
“Riona Mason, you are found guilty of murdering your parents.” I looked ahead, right at the judge, “Here is the final verdict. Riona Mason is to serve for life!” The judge’s voice was cold, impersonal. His words cut through the haze in my mind, and the reality of it hit me like a punch to the gut.
Life.
I didn’t move, my heart pounded so loudly it drowned out everything else. My vision blurred as the weight of the sentence crashed down, suffocating me.
Life?
“No!” A voice broke through the noise, desperate and pleading. “I refuse to believe Rio did it!”
It was Annamae, my little sister. Her voice cracked as she stood up from the bench, her movements unsteady, her eyes unfocused. I glanced back at her as she stumbled toward the front of the courtroom, her face twisted in agony, her hand gripping the railing. “I’m sure there must be some misunderstanding!” she cried, her voice trembling, but firm in her belief.
Anna…
Except her, no one believed me. But maybe she didn’t believe me because she couldn’t see it herself. Because she’s blind.
“Please, reevaluate,” No one listened to her. Not the judge, not the jury, not even the spectators.
“Anna,” I heard Ava grab our sister, “Don’t make a scene,” She forcefully took Anna back and I looked away. I couldn’t raise my head. I couldn’t look at her, couldn’t bear to see the pain on her face. Shame clawed at me.
“But!” Anna tried to protest
“Shut up!” Ava said, Ava was a year older than me, “Riona is a murderer!” The words coming out of the mouth of my own sister hit me like a knife slash.
Anna shared features with me, blonde hair, blue eyes but Ava didn’t. She had black hair and black eyes.
The guards moved toward me and I knew there was nothing that could be done now. They grabbed my arms and snapped the cuffs around my wrists once more. The cold metal bit into my skin, and I felt the pull as they lifted me to my feet.
Anna’s voice called out again, more frantic now, “Please! Don’t take her! Please, listen!” But no one stopped, no one paused. The guards began to drag me toward the door, their hands rough on my arms.
I stumbled, my knees threatening to give way due to all the anxiety and horror, but they didn’t stop pulling me forward. I kept my head down, my eyes glued to the floor as they led me away,
Right before I was about to exit the room, something smashed against my head
!?!?
I looked to the side. It was a tomato, the puree came trickling down from the side of my head.
“Get him!” One of the guards went to grab the man who threw it at me.
"What was that?" Anna asked, freaking out while the man who threw the tomato made a run for it through the other door and a guard ran after him.
"Nothing," Ava replied as she watched me with a blank face, refusing to tell Anna anything. Seeing my sisters look at me unnerved me, so I looked away again.
The hallway was eerily empty, every sound seemed magnified—the clink of my cuffs, the heavy footsteps of the officers flanking me, and the distant hum of voices from the courtroom fading into silence behind me. I kept my gaze fixed on the cold, polished floor. The tomato had fallen off of me and a guard roughly wiped my head with a tissue but I could still feel the stain there.
Why…?
Why can’t I remember what happened in that room that day? Why? Did I really do that? Did I really kill my parents? But why would I do that? I could never think of doing something so brutal. And never to the people who had given me so much love.
Never…
Ahead, a group of men came into view, walking toward us from the opposite direction. They were talking among themselves, their voices low. I didn’t look up, couldn’t bring myself to meet anyone’s eyes but I still noticed that two of them had tattoos and they were big, like over six feet, wearing suits.
As we neared, one of the men slowed his pace. I didn’t lift my head, but I saw the way his steps faltered.
How his attention shifted. The faint sound of his companions’ voices continued, slowly dying out when they noticed him looking around.
His eyes landed on me… I think… I mean I could feel the intense stare, and there wasn’t anyone else facing my direction out of the others.
I kept walking, the guard beside me tugging my arm forward while the tattooed man sniffed the air, barely audible, like a predator catching the scent of something it had been searching for.
Then he stopped entirely. The intensity of his gaze increased but I didn’t bother to look at him, I had enough on my plate already.
But as we passed, I caught the faintest whisper, deep and primal, like a growl barely restrained.
He mumbled something. The word was spoken very quietly and it didn’t register in my mind.
I paid no attention to it, or the man who said it, but it made the other people around him stir and I felt more gazes on me.
The court entrance doors swung open, and the noise hit me like a wave. Voices—so many of them—crashing into each other, overlapping in a chaotic storm. My heart sank as I realized what was waiting for me outside.
Reporters.
They were everywhere, crammed together on the courthouse steps, cameras flashing, microphones thrust forward, all of them shouting at once. The guards tightened their hold on me, pushing through the throng, but it wasn’t enough. The crowd swarmed, desperate for a glimpse, for a soundbite, for a picture of the woman who’d been sentenced to life for murder.
“Miss Riona!” one of them shouted, the microphone practically shoved into my face. “Why did you do it?”
I kept my head down, my lips trembling. Another camera flash. More voices rose in a cacophony, their questions sharp and unforgiving.
“Did you plan it?”
“Was it revenge?”
“Why kill your own parents?”
Each question was like a blade, cutting into me. I felt my breath quicken, my pulse racing, but I couldn’t stop moving. The guards pushed through the mass of bodies, but the reporters were relentless, shoving closer, their cameras flashing like lightning in the storm of voices.
“Riona, look at the camera!”
“Why did you murder them?”
“Were they abusive? Or did you simply find them annoying?”
“Please! Give us a statement!”
I tried to shrink into myself, my hands trembling in the cuffs. My mind screamed at me to say something, to defend myself, but the words wouldn’t come. They caught flashes of my face—my tear-streaked cheeks, the hollow look in my eyes—each click of the camera immortalizing this moment of my life falling apart.
"Why did you do it, Miss Riona?"
The question echoed over and over in my mind, louder than the rest. But I didn’t have an answer. I couldn’t tell them what they wanted to hear because I didn’t understand it myself.
The guards finally managed to push through the crowd, guiding me toward the waiting car. I was pushed into the police vehicle and the car started. The reporters tried to come to the windows but the police managed to keep them away as we drove out of there.
The car’s engine hummed steadily as we drove further from civilization, the only sound filling the silence. I stared out at the empty fields, lost in the blur of the landscape, but my mind couldn’t escape the dark spiral it was trapped in.
Without warning, there was a loud, sickening pop, and the car jerked violently. The tires screeched against the road, and I was thrown forward in my seat as the vehicle skidded to a sudden halt.
!?!?
The guards cursed under their breath, one of them gripping the wheel, trying to regain control. “What the hell?” one of them muttered, turning to look outside.
We were in the middle of nowhere, the road stretching endlessly behind us, and yet... there was something off. The silence felt heavier now, almost unnatural. I could feel my pulse quickening as the car finally came to a stop.
And then, out of nowhere, figures appeared.
Masked people—five or six of them—emerged from the fields on either side of the road, moving quickly and without hesitation. Before the guards could react, the car was surrounded. The driver's door flew open, and one of the assailants yanked the guard out, slamming him against the ground. The other guard tried to reach for his gun, but he barely had time to pull it out before another masked figure slammed into him.
The sounds of the struggle filled the air—grunts, the dull thud of fists meeting flesh, the muffled groans of the guards being overpowered. I froze, my heart pounding in my chest, unable to comprehend what was happening.
One of the masked figures turned toward me, their eyes cold and emotionless behind the black fabric. Panic surged through me as they reached for the car door, wrenching it open. I tried to pull away, but there was nowhere to go.
A cloth was suddenly pressed over my mouth, the sickly-sweet scent of chemicals filling my nostrils. I tried to fight, thrashing weakly against the grip, but my body was too heavy, too slow.
Darkness began to creep into the edges of my vision, and I could feel myself slipping away.
As my eyelids fluttered, I saw the bag—a rough, black sack—being pulled over my head. The last thing I felt was the rough grip of their hands as they dragged me out of the car and into the unknown, my body limp and useless, swallowed by the darkness.