Rebel With A Cause

by Ashleigh Neame

  The nurse gave him a funny look. “Oh, um, ok,” she stuttered.

  The nurse was on the phone, chatting with someone on the other end of the line. She looked up at T-Man briefly and then hung up the phone.

  “Doctor Martin is doing his rounds,” she said pompously. “He should be around in about twenty minutes.”

  T-Man nodded. “Thanks.” He shot the nervous nurse a smile and walked out of the ward. He walked down the stairs, too amped up to wait for the elevator. When he got downstairs, he found Kaitlyn in the hospital café. He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “Hey,” he said quietly. “You ok?”

  She looked up at him and gave him a small, watery smile. “I guess.”

  T-Man sat down opposite her and grabbed her hands. “Katie, I think something’s wrong with Carter.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I think there’s something wrong with his brain. Something to do with the love-hate part of his brain. I know how much he loves you Katie, and if he was in his right mind, he’d never be saying those mean things.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything,” she sighed. “He has reason to hate me. I put him in danger, and I’m the reason Aria’s dead.”

  T-Man frowned. “Then how about the fact that he loves Bekah now, even though before he went to rescue you, he was furious with her?”

  Kaitlyn shrugged. “Again, it’s all tied to my stupid actions.”

  T-Man squeezed her hands. “Look,” he said. “I think something’s wrong with Carter, and I’m staying to talk to his doctor. You can either come back up with me, or you can wait down here, in the café, alone.”

  Kaitlyn sighed. “I guess.”

  “You guess what?”

  Kaitlyn looked up at T-Man. “I’ll come and wait with you, for the doctor. But Carter’s going to start in on me again, and I can’t handle that. After all the shit he’s put me through, this is just one thing too much. I can’t…I can’t handle it. It’s just too hard.”

  T-Man sighed and stood up. He pulled Kaitlyn up with him and wrapped her in his arms.

  “Sorry, Katie,” he said tiredly. “I didn’t realise it was so hard. You know you can always talk to me.”

  She pulled away. “Let’s just go and talk to the doctor.”

  “I think I know what he’s going to say,” T-Man said. “I think something happened while Carter was in a coma, and his brain has somehow rewired itself to think love is hate and hate is love. Either that or he has post-traumatic stress disorder.”

  Together, they walked up to Carter’s room, and Kaitlyn walked inside, numb from Carter’s constant hatred and rejection. When Carter saw Kaitlyn, his sad expression turned into rage.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he bellowed. “Get out! I don’t want you here.”

  T-Man frowned. “Dude, chill out.”

  Carter scowled. “I hate her! I want her out of here!”

  Kaitlyn sighed and walked over to the window seat. She sat down and looked out, wishing that things could be different. Each mean word Carter said was like a blow to the heart. She loved Carter so much. To hear that he hated her, even though according to T-Man, he didn’t mean it, it hurt. She wanted to crumple to the ground and cry.

  God, what’s happened to me? she wondered. When did I become this pitiful girl who pines for love?

  She sighed. She needed to get away from Carter. He was bringing her down, changing her. If she was changing for the better, she wouldn’t be upset, but Carter was changing her for the worse. She needed to get away from him.

  T-Man walked over to Carter and punched him on the arm. Carter scowled.

  “What the fuck was that for?” Carter screamed.

  Kaitlyn saw red at that. She was sick to death of Carter’s anger, his selfishness, and his ego. She wanted to strangle him, and she’d never wanted to do that before.

  “That’s it!” she screamed, getting up from her seat and looming over Carter. “I am sick of your bullshit! I can’t take it anymore! You hate me, I get it! But stop blaming me for everything shit in your life! I may have fucked up, Carter, but you didn’t have to come after me! You could have let De kill me. You could have stayed away, with your friends and family, and worked on your little plan. I followed my gut instinct and it got Aria killed! It got you landed in hospital! You think I don’t regret everything I did? Yes, I regret what my actions caused. I regret Aria dying, and I hate being the reason you’re in here. I’m sorry, Carter! I’m sorry! I don’t know what you want me to say!”

  She backed away and sat down, exhausted from her outburst.

  Carter’s face was twisted into a horrible, threatening state of pure hatred. He looked like he wanted to strike Katie.

  Kaitlyn looked away, tears slowly sliding down her face. She was just so tired, and so lonely. Carter hating her was horrible, and she needed to get away. She needed to leave him, or she’d go insane.

  She shook her head and stood up. “I’m outta here. Do me a favour and don’t call me, Carter. I never want to hear from you again.”

  “Good!” Carter screamed. “I hate you.”

  Kaitlyn reached the door and paused. She looked back over her shoulder. “Goodbye, Carter. Have a nice life.”

  As Kaitlyn walked out of the hospital and hopped on the train, she realised that she missed Carter, and that she would continue missing him. She felt like she’d ripped her own heart out of her chest.

  Chapter 25

  The trial for Deangelo Carboni took place three months later at the Court House. De had been appointed an amateur lawyer, who had no clue what he was doing.

  De’s trial had run for two months, and in those two months, no witness had been allowed to be in contact with another. Marcus and Brady were the exception, living with Brady’s parole officer, and banned from discussing the trial in any way. T-Man had stopped running the races, and Carter had stopped attending them. All of the guys had decided that too many creeps showed up at the races, and decided to no longer be a part of that scene.

  No one had heard from Bekah. Carter had thrown her out after realising that she was a useless loser, and word on the street was that she’d gone on the run. No one knew why.

  Kaitlyn had moved out of Carter’s house, and back in with her family. Her parents were in marriage counselling again, and they were back living under the same roof. Not in the same bedroom, though, but you couldn’t have everything. She was also taking a break from boys for a while.

  Carter was in counselling. Kaitlyn leaving him had made him realise that he needed help, so when he was released from hospital, he contacted a counsellor. He was making lots of progress, and had realised that Bekah was a loser. He’d thrown out the furniture that was in her bedroom and the room was now completely bare, leaving no indication that Bekah had ever lived there. Carter was also single, with the intention of winning Kaitlyn back.

  Today was the first time that Carter and Kaitlyn would reunite, after their split. Understandably, both of them were nervous. A month after they broke up, Kaitlyn had turned eighteen. Carter had bought her present months in advance, and hidden it from her. Today, he planned on giving it to her.

  Kaitlyn was nervous, because she was missing Carter. She feared that he was still sick, and still hated her.

  She was rummaging in her bag on her way up the ramp, when she ran into something hard. She stumbled a bit, but someone grabbed her elbows and held her steady. She looked up, and looked into familiar, chocolate coloured eyes.

  “Hey,” Carter said casually. He gave Kaitlyn a small smile and released her when she was firmly on her feet again.

  “Uh, hey,” she replied nervously.

  Carter stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled. “So how’ve you been?” he asked.

  “Uh, not bad,” she replied. She licked her lips, a nervous habit that she’d recently picked up. “What about you?”

  Carter shrugged. “I’m doing ok. After you dumped me I realised what an i
diot I was, and I started going to counselling. I’m working through my problems.”

  Kaitlyn nodded like an idiot. “That’s good.”

  Carter grinned. “Yeah, it is. So, what’ve you been up to? How’s everything going?”

  Kaitlyn stepped back, putting a little more distance between them. Carter pretended not to notice, but his grin faltered slightly.

  “Nothing much,” Kaitlyn said, answering Carter’s questions. “My parents are back together, sort of. I dropped out of school, for real.”

  Carter was shocked. Katie had always valued her education, until she met him. He assumed that without him around, she would have gone back to school.

  “Why?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “I’ve missed too much. I’m so far behind. I’ll be studying via Open Polytechnic next year, and working part-time. I work with my mum at the moment, at her Event Design business.”

  He nodded. “Cool.” He checked his watch. The trial was due to start sometime soon. He looked at Katie and offered his arm. “Trial’s starting soon, and we’ve both given our evidence. De’s due to get sentenced today. Shall we go and see how long he’s getting?”

  Kaitlyn nervously took his arm and let him lead her inside. He didn’t seem to hate her, which was a good thing. In fact, he seemed calmer than the last time she’d seen him, more rational. He even seemed more mature. It was nice.

  Carter led her inside to the row of seats behind the prosecutor. T-Man was there, along with Aria’s mother. She had come to see her two daughters’ death’s avenged, along with that of her granddaughter, Estella Carboni.

  The courtroom filled up in no time, everybody wanting to see Deangelo put away, where he belonged. In all of the victims’ eyes, he was a monster, and deserved the death penalty. Sadly, in New Zealand, the best they could hope for was a life sentence, which in De’s case would be seventeen years. He could be in his thirties when he would be released, if he didn’t get parole.

  “Hey, Katie, Carter,” T-Man greeted them as they sat down. “It’s been a while.”

  Carter nodded at T-Man. “Sure has. How’ve you been doing?”

  T-Man shrugged. “Not bad. Got a girlfriend, a job, settled down a bit. I moved out of that shithole I lived in.”

  Carter did that weird head nod thing that guys do, something that signalled ‘sup, or that’s cool. It was usually referred to as The Nod. “Awesome. Where are you now?” he asked.

  T-Man answered, “My girlfriend Tanya works at a day-care, as their receptionist. It pays pretty well. I work as a truck driver for a refrigerated goods transport company. We’re renting a small one bedroom apartment”

  Carter nodded again. “Cool.”

  A loud male voice echoed in the hall, announcing the arrival of Judge Hawthorne. The voice then ordered the people in the courtroom to rise, to show their respect. Once the judge had walked in and sat down, everybody else sat down. Then the jury walked in. All of them sat down, bar one.

  Judge Hawthorne turned to the juror still standing. “Are you speaking on behalf of the jury?” he asked.

  The juror folded his hands in front of him and straightened up. “Yes, your honour.”

  Judge Hawthorne nodded. “Have you reached a verdict?”

  The juror nodded. “We have, your honour.”

  “And is it unanimous?”

  “Yes, your honour.”

  “On all charges?”

  “Yes, your honour.”

  The judge nodded. He received some papers from an officer of the court, briefly scanned them, then shuffled them neatly and stood up. His long black robes made him seem more imposing than ever, and Kaitlyn felt herself lean into Carter for support. Carter wrapped an arm around her shoulder and held her tight. T-Man leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clenching his fists. His face was set in a grim line, as was Carter’s.

  “We are here, for the sentencing of a Mr Deangelo Carboni. He is being charged with three cases of second degree murder, one case of attempted murder, one case of abduction as holding one or more persons hostage, and two counts of rape,” Judge Hawthorne announced. “Over the two month trial, you have heard from witnesses, police officers, pathologists and crime scene investigators. You have seen and heard the evidence, and heard Mr Carboni’s defence. Now, on this day, we shall hear the jury’s decision, and reveal Mr Carboni’s sentence.”

  The Judge turned to face the juror. “On the three counts of second degree murder, how do you find Mr Carboni?”

  The juror cleared his throat. “Guilty, your honour.”

  Kaitlyn, Carter and T-Man all breathed a sigh of relief. De would be going away for seventeen years for that alone.

  “And on the one case of attempted murder against a Mr Carter Hawke, how do you find Mr Carboni?”

  The juror stood his ground. “Guilty, your honour.”

  The Judge nodded. “On the one count of abduction as holding one or more persons hostage, how do you find Mr Carboni?”

  “Guilty, your honour.”

  “On the two counts of rape, how do you find Mr Carboni?”

  “Guilty, your honour.”

  The Judge looked at the rest of the jury. “So say you one, so say you all?” he asked.

  The jury nodded in silence. Judge Hawthorne seemed to accept that and sat down.

  Kaitlyn quickly performed the calculations. If she was right, De would be going away for over twenty years. It was more than she’d hoped for.

  The Judge looked up from his papers and stared De in the eye.

  “Mr Carboni,” he said gravely. “I must impress on you the severity of your actions. You murdered three females, one of whom was your own infant daughter. You raped two women, you held two people hostage, and you caused serious harm to another, which could have easily become a manslaughter charge.”

  “Objection!” yelled De’s lawyer. He really did have no idea what he was doing. “That is an assumption of the court.”

  The Judge peered over his glasses at De’s lawyer. “Mr Moore, may I remind you, objections cannot be sustained if the defendant has already been found guilty. Your objection is dismissed.”

  De’s lawyer went bright red, and sank down into his chair. Judge Hawthorne pursed his lips and continued.

  “Mr Carboni, if the death penalty were still legal in New Zealand, you would be served with it. However, fortunately for you, the government abolished that punishment in 1962. You are safe from that punishment. Instead, you will be receiving two life sentences of seventeen years, for your three murders. You will be receiving an eight year sentence for your charge of attempted murder. You will be receiving three years for each charge of rape. You will also be receiving five years for the abduction charge. In all, you will be receiving fifty-three years imprisonment, with a twenty year period before parole can be applied for. If you don’t die in prison, you will be in your forties before you are eligible for parole.”

  De scowled. His lawyer was useless now, and as the cops came to handcuff him, he made a break for the door. He didn’t get very far, and was almost immediately caught by the two guards at the door. The knocked him down and restrained him, allowing a police officer to come and handcuff him. He was then hauled to his feet, and led away to the jail cell off to the side. As he passed Carter, he smirked.

  “Bekah helped, you know!” he cackled manically. “Bekah wanted Kaitlyn dead as much as I do! She’ll come after her again, you know! Kaitlyn pissed her off one too many times! Me and Bekah were in this together, and now she’ll be coming back to avenge my wrongful imprisonment! She loved me!”

  Carter was stunned. He couldn’t comprehend his baby cousin being involved in something as deceitful as wanting Kaitlyn dead. His brain refused to compute it. It just seemed so surreal. Kaitlyn felt the same way. So did T-Man and Marcus. Bekah was a friend to them all, and yet De was implying that she’d fooled them all.

  “You bastard,” Carter hissed. “Leave Bekah out of this. She wouldn’t stoop to your level! Bekah i
s my family. She wouldn’t want Kaitlyn dead, not when Kaitlyn makes me happy! Bekah is not a bitch. She’s not a criminal like you!”

  De laughed as the cops pulled him away. “She is, Carter! And one day, she’ll come after you!”

  Carter wanted to run. He hoped like hell that De was lying, because what he had known his whole life had crumbled around him in the past year, and he couldn’t handle any more surprises. Finding out that De, one of his closest friends, was insane and abused his girl, shook him. He was furious. He wanted to hurt De.

  The after effects of De’s attack had made Carter go mad. He’d lost his mind, and he was still paying for it.

  He’d lost his only remaining family member, Bekah, and he didn’t know why. Five months ago, after they’d all left to save Kaitlyn from De, Bekah had disappeared. No one knew where she went, or why. The next time they’d seen her was the day Kaitlyn left Carter. That day, the two most important girls in Carter’s life walked out. He feared he’d never see them again.

  And now, back in the present, De was saying that Bekah was behind it all, and that she’d be coming after Carter next.

  Just when he thought he’d have a happy ending, with nothing left to work for but Kaitlyn. He didn’t want to keep fighting, just to keep losing everything.

  He felt familiar arms wrap around him. They belonged to Katie. He shook them off, not wanting her near him. He needed to fight – figuratively speaking – De and Bekah on his own. He needed to stand strong, and prove to himself that he was able to stand on his own two feet, or he’d never be able to have a successful relationship with Kaitlyn.

  Carter turned to face his old allies and grinned. “Well,” he said casually. “Now that the nutcase criminal has been locked up, how about we go and celebrate?”

  Kaitlyn was looking at him, frowning. “De’s insane, you know. Bekah probably had nothing to do with this. De’s probably making it all up.”

  Carter shrugged. “I’m not gonna worry about that now. I just wanna get drunk and celebrate De being locked away.”

  T-Man grinned and clapped Carter on the back. “Awesome idea, man. We definitely need to celebrate his long, long, long sentence.”