On Trial

The Shock

Hi, thank you all for waiting so patiently for this chapter! I really hope it was worth the wait!

1791-

"Grab it, and let's go!"

Madeline stared at the glistening necklace in front of her.

This was her chance. A chance of a better life, a life off the streets, a life without starving and scavenging. But, for whatever reason, something just felt...wrong.

"What are you waiting for?!"

The voice of her boyfriend caught her attention.

"Brian, I-I-"

"For goodness sake, Mads, just grab the darn thing!" Brian exclaimed, "it'll change our lives, make them better, don't you want that, or do you just want to spend the rest of your life as a dirty, unloved, street orphan?!"

Madeline shook her head, her deep-brown eyes, filled with fear.

"Well go on, then!"

The young woman took a deep breath, and extended a shaky hand towards the necklace. She closed her eyes and took it from it's stand.

The gorgeous, sparkling diamonds felt cold, and fairly heavy against her fingers.

"Mads!"

Madeline's breath caught in her throat, as her arm was grabbed.

Brian began to drag her down the street, as loud voices rang in their ears.

"Now the bloody guards are after us!" He growled, "this is all your fault! If you had hurried up, we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"I know. I-I'm sorry."

"That's not good enough! You know, sometimes, I wonder why I bother with you, why I don't just abandon you and leave you to fend for yourself!"

Madeline gulped and squeezed his hand, tighter.

If he left her, she'd be all alone, again, getting beaten up and threatened every night. There would be no one there to protect her.

Brian was her protector, her lifeline, she trusted him, with her life. She had to, in order to survive.

"Please, please don't abandon me, I-I'll do better!" She cried, louder than she intended.

"Shut up, will you, we'll be spotted!" Brian snapped, dragging her round a corner.

They continued to run, until Madeline's chest burned, her lungs screaming for a rest.

"Hide!" Brian instructed, shoving Madeline behind a gathering of wood, "I think they're still on our tail!"

Madeline cowered, threading the necklace between her fingers. She kept glancing at Brain, waiting for him to make the next move.

"Wait here," he whispered, peering over the wood pile, "I'm going to look around, I think the coast is clear."

"Okay."

"Give me the necklace," he said, "just in case they find you here. They won't have any evidence against you, then."

Madeline handed him the finery, and watched, as he snuck away, not daring to come out from her hiding place, until he said so.

She waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"B-Brian?" She whispered.

No answer.

"Brain?!"

Still no answer.

Madeline began to panic, her heart pounding.

Where was Brian? Had the guards caught him? Was he alright?
The young woman felt sick, as she reluctantly, peeked over the logs.

"Brian?" She tried again.

Brian was nowhere to be seen, replaced by the scowl of a guard.

Present day-

"I was questioned, before they dragged me to the palace and made me stand in front of the king, and confess what I did," Madeline sighed, "I don't think I'd ever been so terrified. King Gareth, ordered for me to put on the Prison Barge of the Lost Sea, imminently, so I wouldn't cause any more trouble."

"King Gareth..." Cassandra recited, "that's King Fredric's father. You lived in Corona, too?!"

Madeline smiled, fondly.

"Oh yes! My parents and I moved there, when I was six. I have some very lovely memories of that town," she chuckled, "going to the sweet shop..."

"Uncle Monty's Sweet Shop!" Cassandra gasped.

"Is that what it's called now? It used to be Grandpa Ben's Sweet Shop, when I was a girl!"

Cassandra smiled, but her heart ached, when she thought of Monty. She'd been a favourite customer of his, when she was little. He'd call her his "little warrior," and sneak her free bon bons and lollipops, when her dad wasn't looking.

When she was older, he referred to her as his "sweetie" and still gave her free sweets, from time to time.

She highly doubted that he thought of her as his "little warrior", or "sweetie", anymore.

"My parents died, when I was twelve," Madeline continued, "I was on my own, from there."

"I'm really sorry," Cassandra replied, "that must've been really difficult for you."

"It was. But, after seventeen years in prison, getting attacked, barated, even put into the asylum, once or twice, my life started to get better. I was offered a job in this place, which bought me a cottage, and many, many dogs...they helped a lot."

Cassandra's eyes widened, in shock.

"You're the girl from that story you told me, when I first came here, aren't you?!"

Madeline nodded.

"As I said before, you just need to keep your head up high, be brave, be strong, and you'll get through this, and come out the other side, just fine."

Three weeks went by, and while Cassandra's relationship with Madeline got stronger, her treatments got much, much worse.

She had been through seven shock therapies, three ice bath therapies and even one isolation therapy.

She had kicked, screamed, cried and begged, throughout each one, especially the isolation.

She'd been placed in the dark, tied down, unable to see, hear, or speak and left there for two days, straight. It was just like the trial room.

Hell.

She had screamed until she lost her voice.

Madeline had offered her some throat tonic, but she refused to take it.

She'd spent the next few days either asleep or crying, the darkness being the only thing on her mind.

It seemed that whenever she felt hope come her way, it was immediately stripped away again, and she wasn't the only one to notice it, either.

Madeline had snapped.

A cottage door swung open, alerting the attention of the dog, curled up on the rug, by the fire.

"Hello, Dmitry," his owner said with a chuckle, stroking his fur, "I have a little job for you to do, tomorrow."

The German Shepherd looked up, his eyes wide.

"There's someone, I want you to meet. I think you might be able to help her."

Yay, my boy, Dmitry's here! I have been waiting so long to put him into this story and now I can! 😁