Hybrid's Trial

by Abbie Payne

  Lily was doing okay with answering all of their questions until one of them asked why she didn't have a baby bump anymore (I did mention the baby along with the records of the birth Kiki printed while I was waiting on Hazel when I was presenting, but up until this point she was denying that she ever had a baby). She bit her lip, put her hand over her chest and looked down pitifully at the floor. She started sobbing again, “I-I don't want to talk about it.” She decided. With that, Granges let her sit back down with her family and the jury retreated to their room. We had a thirty-minute break at that point, but neither of the boys wanted to go anywhere, so I stayed with them.

  “Do you think we'll win?” Taz asked me quietly.

  I sighed and shook my head, “I wish I could tell you that, Little Bud. I must applaud you, though. You're doing fantastic.” I replied, putting my arm around his shoulders and hugging him gently before letting my arm fall again.

  Taz smiled softly, but he didn't say anything else. Instead, he looked at his brother for commentary.

  Levi looked up at me, “We just wanted to let you know we appreciate your help, no matter what happens. We know you did everything you could.”

  ***

  Thirty minutes later, the jury returned to their place in the box. My palms were sweating and my mind was swirling with thoughts that were somewhere between “This isn't normal, why am I panicking like this?” and “What if everything I did isn't good enough?”. I watched as one of the jury members handed Judge Granges a slip of paper with their final verdict on it. I felt both of the boys grab and squeeze my hand and I couldn't help but smile at least a little bit.

  I watched as Judge Granges read the note. Her face contorted into a frown before she looked up at the people in the court room, “The jury has found the defendants…”

  Acknowledgements

  Well, we reach the end of another book.

  A huge thank you to my mom for the constant support she has given and continues to give during this crazy roller coaster I’ve decided to go on. Thank you for being the inspiration for Hazel and answering all my crazy “what would you do if…” questions.

  Thank you to my grandma for being my editor and fixing all of my

  mistakes because – let’s face it– my brain works faster than my hands.

  Thank you to my forensic science teacher, Mr. Watkins for indirectly giving me ideas for my novels and for giving me the courage to keep going with my books.

  Thank you to my sixth grade English teacher, Mrs. Cummings, for giving me the novel idea to write a book. Thanks to you, this is now my third novel.

  Thank you to my seventh and eighth grade English teacher, Mrs. Sartor, for never giving up on me and cultivating my love of writing and somehow pushing my imagination further than I ever dreamed of.

  Lastly, thank you to my amazing friends for sticking it out through my endless (probably very annoying) conversations about my books. Just so you know, if one of the characters has a quirk you think might be inspired by you, it probably is.

  I love you all so much. Keep being the amazing people you are.