His brown eyes were staring into mine. I remembered when I thought that I didn't know when I'd see those eyes locking with mine. I thought about that ever since we got separated at the mine. And now when I was actually staring into his eyes again, seeing my reflection in his pupils, it all seemed unreal in a way-unreal in a way that made me feel the way I felt after waking up from a nightmare of the mine and Eztli. It felt like all of the air had been sucked out of me again, I was lost, not knowing where I was for a minute, only this time, something was different. This time there was warmth as well. The kind of warmth that I could never associate with the mine. It was the kind of warmth you feel when you hug a friend that you haven't seen in what feels like forever. The feeling of safety and just genuine happiness. It was the kind of feeling that you would want to bottle up and get high on every single day when things just seem like too much.
I was sitting there, not even realizing the fact that we were still looking into each other's eyes. I blinked and came out of my trance. As soon as I did, I surged forward and hugged him as tight as I could, or at least as much as all of the tubes attached to him let me. I could feel his hands on my back, but they were weak, and it was obvious he was struggling to hug me back. I slowly pulled back but still left my arms resting on his. He looked at me and I could see that he was shocked as well and as much as I wanted to talk to him and never stop, I knew that the doctors had to check on him. The last thing I wanted was for him to go into a come again. I looked at him again, 'You have no idea how glad I am to see you again, but I have to go call the doctor now, they have to do a full body check up on you, just to be sure.' He smiled and then nodded, it was obvious he was very tired, which was not surprising at all considering all that he went through. I stood up despite the fact that I wanted to stay by his side forever, just talking to him, with him, our eyes locked and never looking away.
I know, it sounds cheesy and made up, but here's the thing; you never really realize how much you miss and value something until it gets taken away. Which to me is one of the cruellest things in the world. Not realizing how much you love something until it gets taken from you. I never knew how much I'd miss something so simple as looking at someone's eyes, but I did. I missed it so much and it was horrible that I couldn't have it. Now I knew of course, but before… I never thought about what I would be like if I would never get to see Harry's eyes, or my mom's, or my dad's. And now Tim's and Ethan's as well. Every single person's eyes are so beautiful and so unique and even though I realized it quite lately, looking at someone's eyes, it's like you're having a conversation without saying a word. You have to look at people's eyes, not only because you will see the truth in them, but also because you never know when you might lose that.
I shook my head and forced myself to come back down to earth, reminding myself I had to tell doctor about Tim and his current state. I walked towards the information desk that was a few metres down the hall. Luckily, there was a nurse there filling out some papers, but she looked up and put the papers down when she heard me stop in front of the desk. 'Yes? Can I help you?' she asked me, and I nodded numbly, I still felt as if I didn't fully comprehend the fact that really woke up. 'Yeah, I-uh, Tim woke up from the come and-' she abruptly stood up and turned around to knock on the door behind her, and the doctor that checked up on me and Ethan when we arrived came out of the room. 'Yes?' 'The boy that came in the other day and was in a come? He woke up.' His eyes widened when he heard what the nurse had said and immediately closed the door behind him and hurried towards Tim's room with the nurse right behind him. Tim was lying in bed and for a moment I got scared that he was in the coma again or even worse, that I only imagined he woke up. But when I stepped in, I could see Tim's eyes were still open and I felt at least a bit better. The doctor, whose name tag read Dr Bram Ruiz walked around Tim's bed and then stopped at the head of the bed. He offered him his hand and introduced himself, 'Hello Tim, my name is Bram and right now I'm going to have to do a few tests on you, just to be sure you're alright. Can you nod if you understood that?' Tim nodded and Dr Ruiz smiled slightly. I stood at the door and I didn't even realize I started chewing my nails, it was something that I stopped doing years ago, but whenever something really stressful happened, I was back at it, and I would say that now was a pretty good excuse. I watched as Dr Ruiz told Tim to try to raise his arms, follow his finger with his eyes, react to pain and to communicate with him as well. I tried to stay as calm as I could, but that turned out to be easier said than done. I decided to look at the nature, at the events unravelling outside of the hospital window. I looked at the nature, at the playground, at the kids that were playing with their friends and parents. And how I wished I would be out there rather than stuck in here, with Tim, skating the day away.
I looked back at Tim and could see that they were finishing up with the tests already. I could see Tim looking at me out of the corner of his eye, so I walked over and sat down on the same chair I always did when visiting him. I didn't know what to do with my hands, so I let them fall to my lap but fidgeted with the hem of my shirt still. I looked up at Dr Ruiz once I heard him talking to the nurse about Tim. 'Alright, we did a few of the usual tests, responsiveness, conscience, those kinds of things. But the thing is, Tim's body is still fairly weak, which is understandable considering he's not only been in a coma, but also had one of his organs taken from him, the stress that he endured while being kidnapped… all of that leaves effects on a person's body, and it's going to take some time for him to heal. Therefore, he will need to stay in the hospital for at least two more weeks. I do realize that you have a trial coming up in a few days, but there is absolutely no way that Tim could attend it, at least not in person, not when his health is at such a risk as it is at the moment.' I nodded and could see Tim doing the same. I understood that, of course I did, we couldn't just risk it all. Tim could still attend the trial via Skype or something similar to that. I leaned back in my chair as the doctor and the nurse left with a few more instructions for Tim and saying that they'll do more tests on him later. Tim turned his head on his pillow so he could look at me. 'Juliet? What was the doctor talking about? What trial?' I exhaled slowly and looked at him, the trial, it was a subject I wanted to avoid talking about as much as possible. 'I-yeah. Here's the thing. First of all, I need to tell you something and it's terrifying and shocking and there's really no words to describe it so… I'm just going to say it. But you have to know that I'm here if you need me alright?' I saw him nod, confusion clouding his eyes.
I took a deep breath and looked at him again. 'Noah and Rose, his friend from the academy, went to look for Dr Rachel Davis. They found her, but the building she was hiding in burned up. She did it herself. The problem is, they couldn't find her body, anywhere. They looked everywhere Tim, they really did, but Noah said that at a temperature as high as that not even a person's bones could stay intact, not to even talk about the chances of survival. They aren't just one to a million, there is an absolute zero chance of surviving something like that. All of the windows and doors were closed, they say that there is no way she could've escaped. She is currently presumed dead.' I closed my eyes for a moment and then opened them again. I was almost afraid to see Tim's reaction to the news, I knew I took it pretty badly, but I barely had any interaction at all with Dr Davis, while Tim… I glanced at him and saw that his eyes were glazed over, and he was staring at nothing. His hands were still at first but then they started shaking and grabbing at the sheets trying to get a grip but failing. I quickly stood up, kneeled next to the bed, and took his hands in mine. 'Hey, Tim, I'm here, look at me, please, Tim? Can you hear me?' his hands were cold, and I could feel him shaking but he somehow still managed to turn his head and look at me. 'Presumed dead? That-that means that they're not sure whether she's dead or alive?' 'No, they don't. But like I said, there is a zero chance she could've survived in that building. If she did escape, which is also highly unlikely, they have cops looking for her all over the country, at the borders, they had her photo sent out to the media so if anyone sees her, they'll know.' Tim nodded again, but I could see that his mind was still currently a mess.
Before I could say anything else however, the door of Tim's hospital room opened, and Noah walked in. Tim and I both looked up at him as he neared the bed and then smiled at Tim. 'Hi. My name is Noah Cohen, I'm a police officer and I worked one of the cases of the disappearances caused by your kidnapper. I don't know how much Juliet has told you about the investigation so far, but we have a trial in court in two days when Eztli's punishment will be decided. I just wanted to say that I'm really glad to hear you're better and to thank you for all the evidence you have provided us with. It will help us a great deal in court.' This time a small smile crossed Tim's face and stayed on there for more than two seconds, 'of course. I know you know who I am already, but still, my name's Tim, it's nice to meet you.' 'nice to meet you too. Listen, I talked it over with the judge and my boss and they both said that you can attend the trial via a video conference. You'd still be in your room, a cop and a lawyer would be with you in here, so you would be safe. You ok with that?' Tim nodded. 'yeah I'm good with that. You're pretty nice for a cop, by the way, most of the cops I met were pretty grouchy and always serious.' Noah chuckled a bit at that. 'Yeah, some of them do tend to be like that sometimes, speaking of grouchy cops, Stone said that we have to be at the court at two o'clock in the afternoon. It's two hours before the trial starts, we'll go over all the technicalities, talk with our lawyers, all of that.' I nodded distractedly my mind already helpfully supplying me with scenarios of how things could go wrong. My mind was very inconsiderate, and I wanted it to stop, but unfortunately, not an option. I decided to ignore it for now and focus on the matter at hand. I looked at Noah and asked him if Rose will attend the trial as well, considering how badly she was injured on their search for Dr Davis. 'She'll be there. Luckily, the doctor said that she's allowed to leave to go to the court. However, she will have to be on a wheelchair, cause she isn't allowed to step on her injured leg for quite some time. But she'll be there.' 'Good. So, two pm at the court on Wednesday then?' 'Yeah. Your parents are allowed to come with you as well, Ethan said that his will be him too, which, considering he's been missing for a month is no surprise.' I agreed with him, I understood the situation completely. My parents were protective even before I got kidnapped but now… and Ethan has been missing for a month, it's quite obvious that his parents weren't going to just let him out of their sight for some time now, all of the trauma probably still fresh in their heads.
When I thought about Ethan's parents, I remembered my mom. She was probably all done with shopping and she did say to call her once I'm done with everything at the hospital. If it were my way I'd just stay there and talk to Tim, Noah and Rose, but I knew that I had to go home and be with my parents. Dr Ruiz also said that it would be good if Tim got some rest and ate some food, just because he was in a coma didn't mean he wasn't tired or hungry, so I decided to give my mom a call and ask her to come pick me up. Noah took the other chair that was available in the room and sat down next to Tim's bed. 'I know you're probably really tired now Tim, but could you answer a few questions for me? I promise I'll be as fast as possible.' 'Yeah, I can do that, I think. Are you gonna go home now, Juliet?' I avoided his eyes at first, but then remembered what I was thinking of before, of how I could lose a chance to look at someone's eyes and not even realize how much I would miss it. So, I turned towards him and my blue eyes met his troubled browns again. 'Yeah. Believe me, I'd rather not, but my parents… and you need to rest a bit too.' He smirked slightly, 'oh how nice of you Juliet, worrying about me, I'm flattered.' I rolled my eyes, but smiled, nevertheless. 'Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that. Get better alright? I'll see you soon and if you need me, just call. Oh, and Noah? Tell Rose I say hi and wish her to get better too'. They both nodded and then said, 'Will do.' At the same time. They then looked at each other and high-fived. Noah grinned, 'Well then Tim, I believe we are going to be great friends.' 'I believe so too.' I grinned upon looking at the scene unravelling in front of me. I was right, they did get along great. 'Alright, I'm going to go now, see you on Wednesday.' Noah waved, 'See you'. I opened the doors and walked towards the elevators while texting my mom to come and get me while waiting for the elevator. These were going to be two long days.
Once I stepped out of the hospital my mom was already waiting for me, so I walked towards the car and we drove home. As soon as I entered the house, I knew that the next two days were going to drag on like never before. And look, I usually love it when I'm right but right now? What I would give to be wrong about the fact that the two days would drag on to no end. They were spent with me mindlessly walking from one room to another, like a routine, robot-like. Sit at the table, eat my meals, stand up, do the dishes, go to my room, scroll through my phone or laptop, and then wait until I fall asleep. And then repeat it again. It may not sound long or boring, but it was. And I was so sick of it I almost wished the day for the trial would come sooner. Almost. Because every time I closed my eyes I could still see Eztli and Dr Davis and Tim lying on the table. And even the thought of having to face Eztli again, it terrified me, and in moments like those I wished those two days would never end. But I knew they would, and I knew we would have to face him again and put him somewhere where he won't be able to hurt anyone ever again. Noah said that Eztli wasn't going to be facing the death row because he helped with the investigation, but we still had to put him away. And no matter how afraid I was of all of it; of seeing him again, of getting another panic attack, of something going terribly wrong, I still wanted to do it. I still wanted to help. Not just because it was the right thing, no matter how movie-like that sounds, but also because I didn't want anyone to get hurt the way Ethan, Tim or I were ever again.
So, I spent most of the day in my room, going through court rules and such because if I'm going to have to be there, well, I might as well get there prepared, right? There were so many rules and some proceedings sounded so complicated it made my head spin, but I forced myself to read on. I wanted to know as much as possible and before I knew it, I was asleep, my laptop still opened on my stomach. Surprisingly, it turned out to be the one day when I didn't have nightmares of the mine. It was one of the best nights' sleep I had in a while if I don't count the fact that I feel asleep with my laptop on me. The next day dragged on as well of course, but I somehow found the energy to eat go through the day as I normally would, except with the fact of reading up more on police investigations processes and such. Once I fell asleep that day, the nightmares were back, I expected them, but it all still hit me pretty hard. I was shaking, waking up every half hour and then being afraid to fall asleep again because I know what I would see if I did. I was extremely thankful that the trial was scheduled in the afternoon because that way, I was able to at least get some of my energy back. I don't know how I could get through it if the trial was in the morning. My dad even let me go for a walk in the park, of course under the condition he went with me, but I didn't even care that he did, I just wanted to go outside, breath some fresh air, and if my dad was with me, I only felt safer.
And then before I knew it, the clock on the wall showed a quarter to two and it was time to go. I was told to dress a bit more formal, but not to exaggerate, so I decided to go with some grey jeans, a black shirt and a black and white camo patterned light jacket. I had my black Puma shoes on as well, I was dressed alright, but I was still feeling horribly nervous. I drove there with my mom and my dad and I was biting my nails the whole way, no surprise there. Once we arrived at the court parking lot, Noah was already there with Ethan on his right and Rose on his left. We walked closer and I quickly greeted Noah and Rose and then turned to Ethan who looked even more nervous than me. 'Hey. How are you feeling?' Ethan ran a hand through his hair and then looked at me, 'I don't know. I have no idea how a person is supposed to feel in a situation like this. I mean, it's not everyday you have to face your kidnapper in court, but for that kidnapper to also be your long-lost brother… it's a mess. Honestly, I'm terrified. I'm afraid of how I'm going to react when I see him again, I know he's my brother and that's supposed to mean something, because, you know, we're blood, we're family, but I don't know. It sometimes feels like there's more to it than that.' I nodded, 'There is. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my family, truly, I do, but there was a time when I didn't get along with them all that great. In those moments, I was closer to my friends than to my family, still am sometimes. People don't need to be blood to be family, and just because you're related to someone doesn't mean you have to get along with them and stand with them no matter what they did. It's understandable, especially in your case.' 'Yeah. It's just a mess, you know? I'm afraid of my own brother, that shouldn't be a thing. You should get along with your siblings, sure, sometimes you wanna kill them but, not like this, not literally.' I cracked a smile at that, trust Ethan to make a joke out of a serious situation. 'Yeah well, just know that through this whole mess, you're not alone, alright? You've got me, you've got Noah, you've got your parents, I know you haven't met Tim yet, but you'd probably get along pretty well too.' He finally smiled a bit. 'Thanks Jules.' 'Anytime.' We turned to look at Noah, who was talking to someone on his phone and then pocketed it. 'You guys feeling alright?' Ethan and I looked at each other and I knew that Noah could see the doubt, worry and fear in our eyes, but we nodded, nevertheless. His eyes flew over us again and then he nodded as well. 'Ok then, let's go, Stone is already waiting for us in the meeting room with the lawyer.' He then turned around and pushed Rose, who was sitting in her wheelchair to the door of the court building and we followed him. The building was huge, with marble floors that looked as clean as glass and resonated our steps. After about five minutes, we arrived at a room and upon entering it, we found lieutenant Stone talking to a woman dressed in a black and white suit. She had shoulder length red hair that were tied up into a fancy-looking fish braid that laid on her shoulders. She had green eyes and full lips, and she was wearing very little make up, if any. When they heard us, they turned around and Stone's eyes flew over us and he then spoke up, 'Let's do this.'
First, the lawyer introduced herself and I found out her name was Heather Hobbs, which sounded familiar to me at first and then I remembered that she was on the tv a few times, defending the victims of child abuse. I was glad she was on our side, I remembered watching a clip of her in the court room and I would absolutely not want to be on the opposite side of her. She talked us through the process that was going to go down in the court room. First with bringing Eztli from holding then stating the evidence and our goal, or, as she stated it, Eztli's sentence that we wanted to reach. She explained to us what we would have to do as well, which was answer the questions we will be asked by both Heather and Eztli's lawyer. We all got tried to get ready for what was about to come, but I was still just as terrified, and I could see that Ethan was too. Heather was then talking about a few things with my parents as well as Ethan's. They seemed like really nice people and you could see that they loved Ethan to bits. Once the clock struck a quarter to four, we had to move to the court room, since the trial would start at four. Ethan and I hesitantly stood up; we were both more nervous than we'd ever admit. Noah then showed up at our side and looked at both of us again and then his eyes stopped on Ethan, 'Are you sure you're going to be ok?' 'No, I'm not, but I'll improvise.' 'You can't improvise being ok, Ethan.' 'Sure I can.' Noah just chuckled 'I'm never gonna win this am I?' Ethan just shook his head grinning. I wasn't sure if they even realized it, but somehow, during their argument, their fingers locked together, and I could see Noah running his thumb soothingly over the back of Ethan's palm. When I looked at Ethan I could see he was more relaxed and even smiling a bit, even though the nervousness was still present in his eyes.
With every step we took closer to the court room, more nervous I got. My mom was standing by my side, my dad was walking behind me, and I knew it wasn't much, but I felt safer with them there. Once we entered the court room it was like everything became muted and time slowed down. It was like everything I was seeing was inside someone else's mind. Some other girl was watching as Eztli was brought into the room, sat in a chair, with his hands cuffed and some other girl felt immense fear and hate for that person. Some other girl was listening to Heather give the opening statements, tell them what sentence she was aiming for. Some other girl was called up to the stand to give her statements, to relive the horror story that she endured. She watched as the lawyer of the man she hated tried to defend him by saying it was all a side effect from the medication he was on, the things that he had to suffer through in his childhood and early teenage years. She listened to them talk back, looked at the photos that were taken at the place of her nightmares and it didn't seem to end. She listened to her friends give statements, she saw the worry and the fear in their eyes, but there was something else as well. There was determination. The want and the will to win, to get rid of the person standing in front of them, dressed in the colorful clothes, but looking like death.
And then suddenly, it was over, the judge pronounced the person in front of them guilty and sentenced to a life in prison, with monthly visits of the prison therapist. In that moment I was me again and looking at everything from my perspective. I looked at Ethan who looked relived but still shocked above it all, I looked at my parents, who were finally smiling, despite the worry still present in their eyes. I looked around myself and saw the court room emptying, the people were leaving to go back home. The only people left were our families, Noah, Rose, Stone, Eztli and 4 other cops. 2 of them were standing on either side of Eztli and two were stood at the court room door. We started walking towards the doors, we almost opened them, the two of the other cops next to us, when suddenly, there was a shout and then two loud shots followed right after. We all turned around and what I saw made my blood run cold all over again.
There, at the other side of the court room, barely 10 metres away from us, stood Eztli, with a police gun in his hand, the two cops that were standing at his side before were now laying on the ground, pools of blood starting to spread around their heads. Eztli's eyes were shining dangerously again as he took a step over the bodies on the floor and towards us. I could hear Stone moving behind me and then a thud next to me. He was lying on the floor, a shot wound piercing his leg. 'Well, well, now, we can't just have him pulling a gun on me now can we?' Eztli's voice got bounced off the marble walls and I felt paralyzed. Before I knew it, Ethan was holding a gun in his hands as well and at first I wondered where he got it from but then I saw Noah standing in front of him and turned slightly to the right, his gun holster empty. Eztli just grinned. 'Come on now Ethan, surely you won't shoot me, will you? I'm your brother, we're family.' Ethan's hands were shaking but I could see his finger on the trigger. Then, before I could even blink, three things happened at once. Eztli aimed at Ethan, the words 'see you soon little brother' whispered but still loud enough to be heard, Ethan aimed at Eztli and the minute they both pressed the triggers, Noah moved.
The next thing I realized was Eztli laying on the ground and Noah standing in front of Ethan, his right hand on Ethan's face and his left on his own stomach. 'Are you-Ethan, are you alright?' he nodded numbly and then looked at Noah 'I'm ok but I don't understand, I saw him shoot, I saw-' Noah then raised his left hand as well and ran it through his hair. Leaving read smudges in his wake. Ethan seemed to come to the realization of what was happening and grabbed Noah's hands. 'Noah, you're-you're bleeding!' he looked down at his stomach, a red circle already forming on his white uniform shirt.
In the next second he collapsed on the ground and Ethan dropped down with him. All I could see was Noah's body on the floor and all I could hear were Ethan's screams echoing off the court room walls.