Jason testified first, leaving my side to make his way up to the stand. I didn't want him to go because he was the only person making me feel slightly at ease, but I knew that he had to go, and that him testifying would pay off in the end. I could survive sitting without him for a bit. The clerk next to the judge made Jason swear to tell the truth, and he complied before getting into the chilling details of his own memories of Otto, and what he remembered from the top of Mount Huron.

I was on edge the entire time he was up there. Otto's lawyer was ruthless, and didn't hesitate in asking the toughest questions. Even Jason seemed slightly caught off guard when it came to certain questions or statements.

I watched the jury's expressions as Jason spoke about the incident on the mountain, and the aftermath of getting shot by Otto. I was sure the jury could see his pain, and I'd like to think that they felt remorse for him, that there was no way they didn't believe his story about Otto cold-heartedly pulling the trigger. Even I got choked up remembering him in the hospital. I looked back at West once, sitting in the audience stands, and he was crying, too. He just sent me a weak smile before I turned back around, finding that Jason was done with his testimony.

He was helped down off of the stand and back to sit beside me, where he placed his hand on my shoulder.

"You're tense," he whispered. "It's okay, Harrison. You see what I did up there? Fucking baller."

Jason smiled at me, and even I cracked a smile at his words. His personality was just contagious. I was sure that he was the only person who could actually make me smile at a time like this.

"Jolene Wright, up to testify," the judge announced, and I spun around to watch as Jolene walked up to the stand. When she looked at me, I faintly smiled in her direction, but was met with a cold glare back at me.

Once she was sworn in, Otto's lawyer was summoned to ask her questions, and I felt myself getting jittery. I could barely sit still in my seat, but Jason kept a grip on my shoulder that calmed me.

"Miss Wright, can you tell us why you're here today?" Otto's lawyer asked, pacing back and forth slowly, as a typical lawyer would.

"I am here as a subpoena, requested by the lawyer of Harrison Woods," she told him, and he nodded. Otto's lawyer stopped pacing, then faced his body directly towards Jolene. She didn't look nervous in the least bit, and that confused me. She had been so on-edge just talking to me yesterday, surely she should have felt even more so sitting in a courtroom testifying against Otto.

What changed for her?

"Is it true that you were in a romantic relationship with my defendant, Otto Landry?" The lawyer asked.

Jolene nodded. "Yes."

"When was it that you and Mr. Landry started dating?" He continued.

She remained calm. "While I was in college."

"And what were you studying in college?"

She said, "Psychology, specifically mental health."

The lawyer nodded and returned to his walking back and forth. "Is it okay if I ask you some questions regarding your relationship with Otto Landry?" He asked.

She answered with no hesitation. "Yes."

I reached over, grabbing Jason's free hand and squeezing it tight. I needed to brace myself, awaiting for what was about to happen. Otto's lawyer was going to have to ask her about how Otto tried to kill her and the book that I had lost, and she was going to prove him guilty. The video evidence Beck claimed to be in Jolene's possession of Otto talking about his victims as well as the photos she'd taken would be shown and everyone would believe that Otto Landry was capable of murder. There was no way past it.

"During your relationship with Mr. Landry, did he ever appear violent towards you?" Otto's lawyer asked, taking a step up towards the witness stand. His proximity to Jolene shook me, but Jolene sat in place, not moving a muscle.

She shook her head. "No."

"During your relationship with Mr. Landry, did he ever make an attempt to kill you?" He questioned on.

That was when Jolene's first lie slipped out of her mouth. "No."

From the corner of my eye, I could see Jason turning to look at Beck, both of them probably as confused as I was. My eyes were glued to look at Jolene. She was looking straight at me, deadpan expression on her face. She turned her attention back towards Otto's lawyer, but I still sat there looking at her as if she had just shot a bullet through my chest.

And that was essentially what she had done.

"No?" The lawyer asked. "We were informed that Otto had attempted to kill you? That was why you were subpoenaed to be here."

That was when she lied again. "Whoever told you that was wrong. I was called here to testify against Otto because they thought Otto tried to kill me, but he didn't. I came here to make that clear."

"Very interesting," the lawyer said, eyeing the jury. "Well, we were also told that there would be physical evidence proving Otto's murders," he said, turning to face me. "However, the book seemed to have gone missing. Or so Miss Woods claims."

Another bullet.

Otto's lawyer turned back to Jolene and sighed. "So I continue. Miss Wright, we were also told that you recorded video evidence of Mr. Landry in a dissociative state discussing his victims. Is this true?"

She lied again. "No."

Another bullet.

I didn't know what the hell was happening. Yesterday, Jolene had told me about how Otto tried to kill her. She told me how he covered their hotel room in trash bags and tried to stab her. She told me how she ran away and escaped from him, never turning back. She seemed completely distraught even talking to me about the things Otto had done, yet here in court, she was calm and collected, as if nothing bothered her. As if nothing happened.

"Forgive me for being a bit confused, but Miss Wright says there are no videos or photos in her possession. And there is no evidence that this book of Otto's even exists," His lawyer said to the jury, then turned back to Jolene. "Do you recall ever seeing this unknown book?"

She lied once more. "No. I never saw any book. I never saw any proof that Otto killed anyone, and I wouldn't buy it, anyway. Otto isn't like that," she told the lawyer, and right as the words left her mouth, everything clicked.

Jolene did it. She took Otto's book out of the vent in my room, she had to have done it. There was no one else in my room yesterday besides her.

Fuck.

She was protecting Otto. Although she had opened up to me about her relationship with him, she had completely different intentions for her testimony. But why in God's name would she want to save him? He tried to kill her, and she had seen the book, she knew what Otto was capable of.

I felt like a complete idiot for trusting her, but then again, she was supposed to be trustworthy. An almost-victim of Otto's second personality just like I was. She was supposed to testify against him and send him to jail for the rest of his life. But here she was, if anything, proving Otto's innocence.

"Interesting," Otto's lawyer said. "No further questions, then."

With that, Jolene was dismissed from the stand, and as she walked past me to take her seat, she smirked at me. She actually smirked. She was pleased with her performance like she was an award-winning actress. I felt another bullet plunge into my chest. For whatever reason, she was choosing to protect Otto.

The judge then adjourned the court for a brief lunch break. Everyone was getting up, and I could see Otto being escorted out of the courtroom, and Jolene left in the opposite direction. But I couldn't move. I was cemented in my seat, frozen like a statue.

"Harrison?" A muffled voice asked, and I suddenly broke out of my trance, turning to Jason who was grabbing onto my arm.

In an instant, I found myself standing up and running out of the courtroom. I could hear Jason yell my name, but I kept running until I reached the hall, turning to head into the bathroom. I flung myself into a stall and collapsed onto the ground, throwing up in the toilet.

Shortly after I started, I felt a hand pull my hair back, and as I finished my little session, I sat back against the stall. West let go of my hair, but ran a hand along my arm to comfort me. Then, all at once, a pool of tears started running down my face. After minutes of just crying, I heard the door to the bathroom open again, and Jason slowly made his way in and over to the stall, resting against the bathroom sink.

"I can't do this," I sobbed. "I can't testify."

"Yes, you can. And you're going to," West assured me.

"How am I supposed to go up there and testify against Otto after what Jolene just did?" I asked, then inhaling deeply, finding it hard to breathe in the current moment. "She just got rid of any chance that the jury would believe Otto murdered those other girls. You heard Beck earlier, Jason! She said that Jolene was the last piece of evidence we had, and even that got fucked up! God, I'm the worst."

"Don't think like that," West said, but was interrupted by Jason before he could continue.

"Harrison, come on. You need to stop being so hard on yourself," Jason declared. "What Jolene did up there? That had nothing to do with you, it wasn't your fault. She made that decision, not you. You thought she was going to tell the truth and be on your side, and that's it. You couldn't do anything about it. You can't. But you just have to go up there and testify, tell them all what happened to you. What you went through. Jolene, that piece of shit bitch ass coward, doesn't even matter anymore. You hear me?"

I waited a moment before nodding silently, but keeping my mouth shut.

"The jury, the judge, they might still believe you, Harrison. And then Otto is going to testify and maybe he'll prove his own guilt," Jason said, trying desperately to convince me that things would turn out okay.

"Otto wouldn't do that. He's probably not even himself, anyway," I muttered, and then the door to the bathroom opened, causing all of us to look towards it. Beck stood in the doorway, and catching a glimpse of my appearance, she sent me a sympathetic look.

"The trial is resuming," Beck told us. "It's your turn to testify, Harrison. Don't worry about it. It's all going to be okay." She weakly smiled, and waved her hand for us to follow her. West left my side, standing and then helping me up with him.

Jason walked slowly behind us, although I could feel his eyes watching my every move. He cared so much about my wellbeing, sometimes it was a little overwhelming. I appreciated him more than anything, but right now nothing was going to put an end to my discomfort. Not West, not Jason, not anything.

As we re-entered the courtroom, I was ushered immediately up to the witness stand. The bailiff made me hold my hand up, and said, "Do you swear or affirm that the evidence you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"

"Yes," I said, and then he motioned for me to take a seat at the stand. I sat, putting my hands underneath me to pretend that the shakiness didn't exist. As I looked up, I made eye contact with the one person I didn't want to see at all and also wanted to see the most.

Otto. He was wearing that ugly orange prison uniform. But he looked the same as when I had seen him weeks ago: His perfectly plump lips, his pallid yet clear skin, his high cheekbones even more accentuated than usual, and his ruffly brown hair naturally wavy. I felt goosebumps rising up on my arm, so I turned away from him. Then, Otto's lawyer approached the stand, and I gulped, my nerves becoming even more heightened.

"Miss Woods," he addressed me. "You attend Arbor Coast High, am I correct?"

"Yes," I said, nodding.

"Is it true that Otto Landry was your English teacher?" He asked.

"Yes."

"And is it true that you consented to a romantic relationship with Mr. Landry?" He asked, stepping a bit closer.

"It's true," I admitted. It was so hard to say even 2 words, as my breathing was so irregular due to my anxiety.

"Did you know about Mr. Landry's dissociative identity disorder when you were together?" His lawyer asked.

"No," I told him. "Jason told me about it when Otto disappeared for 2 weeks. When Otto came back we talked about it and— and then he dissociated and took me to the mountains."

"But you agreed to the trip, didn't you?"

"Yes, but at the time I didn't know he was dissociated. He seemed normal," I said, recalling that day.

He nodded, then started his stupid pacing he seemed to enjoy doing. "At what point did you think that Otto was going to kill you?"

I took a deep breath. "When Jason ran up the mountain and told me about the book he found."

"You mean the book that went missing? The book that you claim to have seen and held onto, yet no one else has seen it, and there's no proof of its existence?" He asked, arching his eyebrows.

My jaw clenched at the tone of his voice, so accusatory. "Yes, that book."

"And in this supposed book, you claimed to have seen picture evidence of 15 women Mr. Landry killed?" His lawyer asked on, turning his attention directly towards me. "And you were in the book as well? Is that correct?"

"Yes."

Otto's lawyer chuckled slightly. He turned to face the jury. "This all seems a bit ridiculous, doesn't it?" He asked. "I mean, we were promised evidence of this books existence, yet there is none! How are we to believe that this book is even legitimate?"

He then turned and walked over towards me, pointing at me. "Do you want to know what I think?" He said. "I think that you're accusing Mr. Landry of these murders because you can't handle it!"

A ball climbed its way up into my throat, threatening to release tears from my eyes, but I didn't let it happen. I couldn't. I had to stand my ground. I had to hold myself together.

"You are accusing Mr. Landry of these crimes so that all of the blame is transferred onto somebody else instead of yourself. It is your fault that we're here today, isn't it?" He asked, and he stepped even closer to the stand. "You consented to a relationship with your teacher, and you kept going with it, too. You didn't put an end to it, and yes, that is partially Mr. Landry's fault. But as the evidence shows, you were the one who agreed to go to Mount Huron with Mr. Landry. You could have said no, correct?"

"I—"

He didn't let me speak. "You went to the mountains with Mr. Landry. Jason was shot and paralyzed from the waist down. You claimed to have then read a book called 'Præda' filled with Mr. Landry's previous victims," he restated. "I believe you're making up a story about this book. I don't think it actually exists. I think that because of the fact that Mr. Landry shot your friend in front of you, and broke your heart in the process, you are making it seem like he is worse than he actually is!"

"That's not true!" I tried to object.

Beck stood up from her spot. "Objection!" She yelled. "He's harassing her, he can't do that!"

The judge thought for a moment, looking back and forth between Beck and Otto's lawyer. "Sustained," she said, and I watched Beck's eyes widen in pure rage before she sat back down.

"Harrison Woods, I believe that you're trying to frame Mr. Landry with murders that you have no proof of. Fake murders that you came up with in your mind, I would say," Otto's lawyer said. "You fell so hopelessly in love with someone who you couldn't be with, someone who was out of your reach, and someone who just recently broke your heart. You couldn't handle it. You still can't handle it, can you? You can't handle the fact that you fell in love with Otto Landry."

Tears which were welled up in my eyes threatened their way out, and I looked over the lawyer's shoulder, meeting Otto's eyes. He didn't look happy, he looked sorry, he looked pitiful.  I turned my eyes back to Otto's lawyer, who was just smiling in front of me, pleased with himself and the show he was putting on for the jury, who were eating it up. He made me seem like a broken teenager who was seeking revenge against her ex-boyfriend. Except that wasn't true in the least bit, but I couldn't do shit to prove it. I couldn't do shit to deny it, either.

I lost Jolene's compliance, and I lost the book because of her. And now, as Otto's lawyer was accusing me of being a pathological liar, there was nothing I could do, and at the moment, I realized that he was right. He wasn't right about me being a liar about the book, but he was right about the fact that I had fallen in love with Otto. I fell in love with him, and I was so stupid to do so, but it happened. I still loved him.

And I couldn't handle it.

"No response?" Otto's lawyer asked per my silence, then looking up towards the judge. "No further questions."

•••