Chapter Two: The Sweatshirt

Hanging from the weather beaten oak tree with an old rope in a noose around his neck. His body sways back and forth lightly with the wind.

A note in his pocket and a dark blue sweatshirt around his waist. His mouth hanging less than a centimeter open as his lifeless eyes stare at the baby blue house.

The house of the girl that he thought liked him. She was the Queen B in school and when she showed an interest in him, he jumped. Little did he know that it was a setup.

A terrified scream erupts the moment that the girl saw the body. She was heading to school that early Monday morning. She never made it.

Police questioned her and she lied through her teeth. 'No. I have no idea why Jake would do something like this.' And, 'no. I had no relationship with him. I may have saw him in the halls but I never really talked to him.'

Lies pouring out of her mouth as the tears flowed from her school royalty eyes.

In the note, the school was blamed. The whole school was blamed for this tragedy.

The whole school, excluding one person. One girl. One owner of the sweatshirt. Victoria Cross.

I jerked awaked from my nightmare. I look down to see that I am drenched in sweat and shaking slightly with every movement I make.

I look over at the hook on my wall. The empty hook that once held a blue sweatshirt but I look quickly away when I can't bare the sight.

The sweatshirt has been gone for a year and a half now. But, that doesn't mean the pain is gone as well.

There was more that I could have done. I think sadly to myself. I could have helped him off the floor and not just thrown him my sweatshirt.

I wish that I could have reported all that happened that day and that I could have helped him stop. I could-

"Victoria! Breakfast!" Mom cuts off my thoughts. I sigh and hop into a short shower.

I throw on a long sleeved shirt and sweatpants before I walk down the stairs.

"Good morning, Victoria." Mom greets me as she drinks coffee. I glance at the clock on the wall. 6:55am. I'm never up this early on a Saturday.

"Morning." I grab a cup and fill it with coffee. I put a little sugar, cream, and milk in before I take that scolding yet amazing first drink.

"I have work, so you'll be home alone for most of today. I'll be home around eleven or so. The cases I've been working on are really kicking me in the as*. They make me do actual work to prepare a statement. I never knew that this is what being a real lawyer actually was." She laughs at her joke and continues talking but I tune it out.

I only focus on my coffee and drinking it. I know the basics of what she's saying anyway. In the twelve years that she's been a lawyer, she's never gotten assigned a big case.

Normally, she'd get assigned animal abuse cases which are alway cut and dried. They abused their animal and all evidence can walk into the court room. The monsters finally pay the consequences for abusing a helpless animal and the case would be over.

She loved helping those animals but she wanted to make a bigger difference. Any newbie could come in to the courtroom and prove that the animal was being abused so she wanted something harder. Something where she would have to fight tooth and nail to see  justice prevail and the wrong to get punished.

At least, that's what I hear her say when I actually listen to this stuff.

"I'm leaving. Call me if you need anything, okay?" She walks to me and kisses my cheek goodbye as I nod my head in understanding.

•••

Hey! Hope you enjoyed my slightly morbid chapter.

Comment and tell me what you think!

-TotalNerd23
Originally published: August 12, 2015