Chapter 3
"I don't know... I don't know..." I shook my head violently, tears mixing with the blood on my face, a complete mess. "I saw the knife... my mind went blank... I just thought... thought he should be really dead... otherwise... Otherwise, we'd both be in trouble..."
My voice was broken, my logic all over the place. The textbook trauma response.
Ruby looked at me. The sharpness in her eyes slowly gave way to something like sympathy and helplessness.
She probably thought I'd been scared out of my mind.
In the next room, Caroline and her friends' testimonies were slowly pushing me onto the "victim" throne.
"It was an April Fool's joke, we were trying to mess with him..."
"We got fake blood, the punk was supposed to be playing dead..."
"Caroline called him, said she killed someone, wanted to see him freak out..."
"But then... then he showed up, didn't say a word, just... just finished the job..."
"The look on his face was terrifying. His eyes were red. Like he'd lost it..."
Every piece of testimony pointed to one fact.
This was a sick joke. And I was the poor bastard they drove crazy.
My actions were a "crime of passion" driven by extreme panic and mental confusion.
Ruby came back to my room with the compiled statements.
The way she looked at me had completely changed.
It was the look she gave someone who was mentally unwell, full of pity.
"Roman." Ruby sighed, softening her voice. "You might need to get a psychiatric evaluation."
I looked up. My empty eyes squeezed out just the right amount of confusion and helplessness. "I... I killed someone, right?"
"Yes."
"Am I going to prison?" I asked.
Ruby was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "Based on the evidence we have, this was a crime of passion, and they seriously provoked you. The court will take that into account. Don't worry. I'll find you the best lawyer."
I looked at her, and the tears just came.
This time, it wasn't an act.
Tears of joy.
I knew I'd won this bet.
My case became the local headline news.
[Prank Turns Deadly: Man Kills in Shock After Ex-Girlfriend's Cry for Help]
[April Fool's Joke Goes Horribly Wrong as Former Lovers Face Off in Court]
Public opinion was almost entirely on my side.
I was painted as this quiet, boring guy who was still deeply in love with his ex.
And Caroline? She was the spoiled, selfish witch who thought human life was a joke.
The day of the trial, I was led in wearing my prison uniform, hands cuffed, escorted by guards.
I'd lost weight. My face was pale. My eyes still had that scared, blank look.
My lawyer told me to always keep that "victim" energy.
Caroline sat on the plaintiff's side. Well, witness stand, technically.
She'd lost weight too. The girl who used to own the room now just looked broken and terrified.
Our eyes met for a second.
She looked away fast like she'd seen something truly horrifying.
The trial went pretty much how I expected.
Caroline and her friends, under questioning from the judge and lawyers, stumbled through their story about the stupid prank.
Every detail was another nail in her coffin.
My lawyer hit the key point: mental distress.
"Your Honor, my client, Mr. Washington, was already severely agitated when he received his ex-girlfriend's call. By the time he arrived and saw all that 'blood' and a 'dead body,' his rational mind had completely collapsed.
"In that moment, he couldn't tell reality from fantasy. Pulling out that knife, stabbing again, it wasn't malicious intent. It was a post-traumatic stress response."
His voice rang through the courtroom.
I did my part, trembling in the defendant's box, holding my head, mumbling, "It wasn't me... wasn't me..."
In the end, the court accepted the defense's argument and the psychiatric report.
Diagnosis: Acute Stress Disorder.
The verdict came down.
Guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
But given my mental state at the time and the fact that the punk and Caroline were primarily at fault, I got five years.
A human life for five years of my freedom.
Best deal I ever made.
When the verdict was read, I heard a muffled sob from Caroline.
I looked up. Through my blurry vision, I saw her parents holding her up. She was barely standing.
Her father, Connor, head of Wilson Group, was staring at me with this incredibly complicated look.
Anger. Resentment. But underneath it all... guilt.
Time to start phase two.
Because of the case, Caroline got kicked out of drama school. She was the laughingstock of the whole city.