Dear Past, You Suck!

Trials Of Life

"Calling the case of the crown against Lord Abraham Warlest and Lady Elizabeth Warlest. Both are accused of attempted murder, assault, and treachery. How do you plead?" The judge said. I looked around expecting a lawyer for us to walk over and instruct us on what to do, but everyone remained seating and staring at us.

"Not guilty, sir," Abraham said as loud as he could. The judge's eyes shifted to me.

"Um, not guilty, sir," my voice quavered uncertainty as I tried to make my voice loud.

"I call the prosecution to make their case," The judge said. A man off to the side stood up, adjusting his wig and making his way towards the center of the floor. I had never seen him before and he looked quite wealthy- he must have been brought in from London.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we are here to come to a conclusion of the true events that has taken place last night. The facts are simple and straightforward: the new Princess Margaret had been viciously attacked in the woods last night and had escaped from those who intended to murder her. Her cousin, Elizabeth Warlest and her husband, Abraham Warlest were found in the woods near where she was attacked, both fleeing the scene. Understanding the grounds for this trial, I now call my first witness up to the witness stand; Princess Margaret.

Margaret stood up from a place I hadn't seen her, I don't think anyone had. She was wearing a nice but not extravagant dress and a gauze and bandage placed in the spot she had hit herself with that rock. She approaches the stand, her head held high but obvious tears rimming her eyes. She took a seat at the table. I waited for someone to ask her that stuff about honesty and whatever but no one did. For some reason this trial was quite informal. "Your royal highness, would you mind telling the people of the court the events of last night."

"Of course. Last night was..." she looked up at the ceiling, trying to hold back the tears that were obviously fake, "the most traumatic events of my life. I will start at the beginning. We arrived at the estate, I, Elizabeth, Abraham and Duke and Duchess Hemerton. The Duke and Duchess immediately retired to their rooms and Elizabeth, Abraham and I sat down in the drawing room. I had been on my feet all day and was very tired, so I wished to rest a bit. Elizabeth though said that it is a nice evening and today went by so quickly that we had not had the chance to talk much. So she suggested that the three of us go for a stroll in the gardens. I voiced my concern that it was quite late and we were all tired but Abraham quickly agreed so I reluctantly left with them."

"Did they or you notify anyone on where you were going?" The prosecution asked.

"No, most of the household staff had already retired to their beds. Abraham suggested going out the kitchen door, which is not an area of the house we go to often as it is mostly for servants and leads to the back of the house, he said that it was a more direct route to the gardens. Which I thought was odd since that meant that we would have to go around the stables and the pond to the gardens instead of just around the house if we had left from the front door. But I agreed to follow them that way, Elizabeth does spend more time in the gardens than I do. But as we were getting further away from the house it was becoming prevalent that we were not heading towards the gardens but towards the forest. Elizabeth explained that there was a creek there that she sometimes visits. We walked for what seemed like several miles. I began voicing my concern about our distance from the house when Abraham pushed me to the ground and held me down while Elizabeth beat me over the head with a rock." Margaret said with agony in her voice, a few dainty tears were just beginning to slide down her cheeks. It made my blood boil.

"That's a lie!" I shouted my frustration and desperation tumbling out into the courtroom.

"Silence!" The primary judge yelled. "Continue please your highness."