A Wave Of Desire

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Reef

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"Now that the opening statements have been given, please let us move right into this whole process. Theo, would you care to call your first witness." This was what Analise, Abraham and I were here for. We were the three witnesses for the prosecution. Us and a private detective that had apparently been sent in to find out about Brittney. I don't know how much they were able to dig up in just a week, or who all they talked to, but I knew that they found out at least a little bit.

"Thank you, Judge." Theo stood again, stepping in front of his table. "I would like to start this off by hearing from the defendant. I think that would be the best way to begin this whole process. So, I would like to call Brittney Cartwright to the stand."

"Miss Cartwright, please come to the stand." The bailiff instructed her, pointing his hand in the direction of the place that she was supposed to be seated.

"Yeah, sure." She put on as sweet of a smile as she could before walking past the jury. I could see that she turned to look at the jury and reached her hand up to wipe her eyes. She was trying to gain their sympathy. She wanted them to feel sorry for her. I really hoped that she didn't get what she wanted from them.

Once the girl got to her seat and settled herself in, the bailiff swam over to her with a piece of pristine white coral. It was literally perfectly white with no other color at all.

"Place your hand on the coral." She thankfully did as instructed without complaining or whining. "Brittney Cartwright, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you by the Gods Poseidon and Neptune?"

"Ppfft." She sniggered a little at the end of those words. I think that she had a problem with the Poseidon and Neptune parts. She was so disrespectful. "Yes. I do." She thought that she had hidden her laughter pretty well, but she didn't. I had heard her, and I knew that the jury had as well. Some of them were already whispering about it.

The bailiff stepped away from the stand and Theo walked closer to the girl. He was, of course, in his human form and therefore standing. The judge and the bailiff were the only ones in their merforms. Brittney was eying Theo up and down, assessing him in that human form of his. She was making a mistake though, one that Theo had already been expecting from her. He was a smart man after all.

"Miss Cartwright, can you tell me, in your own words, what happened the day that you were arrested?" Theo always started soft with people, and this was no exception.

"Well, Sir, I went to the hospital to visit my boyfriend. Only he broke up with me and told me that he didn't want me anymore. He said that he had fallen in love with someone else. And that someone else was another man. My boyfriend now had a boyfriend of his own. He didn't want to see me anymore. He didn't want to talk to me anymore. He didn't want to have anything else to do with me. I was devastated when he told me that. I felt my heart shattering into a million pieces. It was the most miserable moment of my life, but I didn't want to give up on him. I didn't want to let our love die so easily for nothing at all. I wanted to salvage what we had. I loved him, I still do."

"Well, all of that must have made you quite angry." Theo played along with her for a little bit, letting her weave her web. It was sure to be a web that ensnared her and ultimately ended her. "Were you angry, Miss Cartwright? Were you in a rage? Were you so mad that you could just scream?"

"I was upset, yes. Anyone would be, right? I had just had my heart ripped out of my chest and completely destroyed. But to be honest, I was more depressed than anything. I loved him, and I didn't want to lose him at all. I thought that the two of us would get married and grow old together. I thought that what we had was real and would never end. I thought this was one of those forever types of love that people write songs, books and movies about. I thought we would have a family and be happy after college. But that man, that merman, stole him from me. He knew that Ocean and I were together, yet he still took him from me. He doesn't even love Ocean. He just wanted to ruin his life. He wanted to take out his competition. He wanted Ocean to be unable to function so that he could be the number one in the school. He wanted to be the top swimmer on the team. He wanted to be the most popular. He wanted everyone to love him. And to do that, he needed to take Ocean out of the picture." I could already sense a little bit of crazy building behind the girl's voice. Not to mention that I could see it in her eyes as well.

"Wow, what did you do then? When was it that you confronted the merman? Makai, isn't that his name?" Theo's voice was calm and Brittney was confident that she was winning this case right now.

"Well, Sir, while I begged Ocean not to leave me, Makai walked in. That was when Makai started to threaten me. He told me that if I didn't leave Ocean alone then he would kill me. He said that Ocean belonged to him now and there was nothing that I could do. He was frightening and scary. I feared for my life, but I knew that I needed to try and save Ocean from him. I needed to free my boyfriend. I told Makai that I loved my boyfriend, and I would never give up on him. I told him that he would regret taking him from me and that I was going to go to the authorities about what he had done. I had just found out that Makai was a merman because he had told me then and there. He knew that I was a Siren, something I didn't even know until I turned eighteen just last month." That was most likely true, or she would have recognized Ocean's birthmark. Though I imagine he never had the chance to see Brittney's birthmark. From what I knew, Ocean and the girl were never intimate and she was always very standoffish around him.

"So, you never knew what you were? You mother didn't tell you? That is not very considerate of her. I bet finding out that you weren't human made you quite angry."

"No, not at all. I was happy to learn that I was special and different. I knew that my mom had to have had a reason to hide it from me. I knew that she would never lie to me without a good reason. She is a good mom, and she just wanted to leave the sea and be with my dad." She was trying to show that they had a loving family but it wouldn't work. 

"Oh, is that how it is. OK, well, could you tell me at what point you sang to Ocean and Makai? At what point did you try to make them kill themselves?" Theo was still handling her with those fake kid gloves.

"I didn't! I never sang to them or anyone. I don't even know how to use my powers. My mom told me that I have them, but that doesn't mean that I know how to make them work. They are a complete mystery to me." A hint of desperation was in Brittney's voice.

"Wow. This must all be very hard on you, being accused of these crimes like this. How are you coping?" Theo pretended to look so sorry for Brittney, but the concern was only on his face and not in his eyes.

"I'm not. It's all really hard. I just want to go home with my mom and go back to my normal life. I don't like being in jail. I am not a bad person. I don't belong there." At that, she put her face in her hands and sobbed like she was so upset about all of this.

"I am so sorry for you." There was a thick layer of sarcasm in Theo's voice, so easy to detect, but that stupid little girl couldn't see it at all.

"Th..thank you." She sobbed some more, lifting her head to look at him, but her eyes were dry, and it was clear that she wasn't really crying at all.

"I am done with this witness for now, but I would like to reserve the right to call her to the stand again later."

"Yes, counselor. Lisette, the floor is yours." Judge Saltwater asked the defense attorney.

"I have no questions for the witness at this time, however, I also would like to reserve the right to call her back to the stand again later." There was a grin on the woman's face that made me think that she had won the lottery. She truly thought that Theo was blowing this case and that she was going to win easily.. She was in for a massive surprise very soon.