I sighed, as I was sitting in the courtroom, alone. One of my clients Larissa Young—ages twenty years old, a college senior, was a college senior before Larissa had murdered one of her friends. It was all based on jealousy. Larissa was jealous of her girlfriend, Rebecca Mason's dating partner, Robert Aquino. Robert was a year older than Rebecca. Robert and Rebecca had a long distance relationship.
They were planning on getting married after graduating from college.
But unfortunately it didn't seem to turn out that way. Larissa had explained to the detectives that she murdered Rebecca because she felt betrayed by her only best friend and roommate.
All Larissa wanted was a close friend who would never leave her side. Larissa took revenge. But as I awaited inside the courtroom, Larissa's trial wasn't going to begin for another hour.
I can imagine Jacob sitting at the witness stand waiting to be questioned by me or another lawyer. I bet Larissa is nervous, and I don't think Larissa feels sorry for what she did to Rebecca.
Robert was a witness, and so were Brooke Collins, Amy Bedecked, and Evelyn Taylor's who are witnessing their first ever trial.
Larissa will need 12 jurors to agree to win. But I had a feeling I was going to lose the case. This was also Larissa's first trial. Larissa was close to finishing college in getting her doctorate in psychology. I met Larissa by her mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. Young.
Mr. and Mrs. Young are a lovely couple. They both cared about Larissa, a lot. I felt the same way, even though Larissa and I had known each other for a while. Larissa has long black hair, hazel eyes, and dresses like tomboy.
Larissa was the first client to dress like a boy, even though she's a woman. As I was waiting for the trial to begin, I began to pray for Larissa.
I am a catholic.
Growing up, my mother and father raised me catholic. I was saved by the Lord when I was just a month old. I was baptized at a Catholic Church. But I was kind of angry with God, and I began to feel like my faith was draining from me.
With everything going on, I have a hard time adjusting with God. I looked at my watch, and saw some people, including Judge Judith, who once again prefers to be called Judy, stepped into the courtroom and Judy noticed me sitting in the middle of the courtroom alone.
"Ryan?" Judy asked.
"Yeah?" I answered back.
"Have you been sitting here the whole time? The trial doesn't begin for another thirty minutes," Judy explained.
I took a deep breath, and slowly sighed, "I just-I just wanted to be here early," I answered back to Judy.
"Oh, I see," Judy said.
I softly smiled. Judy could tell I was unhappy with myself. I am upset about a lot of things. I sighed, swallowing, stroking my short brown hair to the side.
Judy asked me if I wanted to talk about something that was bothering me. Judy knows when I am feeling like a failure. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Judy asked. I shook my head not knowing, shrugging and Judy understood, "You may feel a bit better if you talk about what's wrong," Judy said. I shook my head no, "I just-I will be fine," I said softly, and smiling.
"Okay," Judy answered back, smiling, "I'll be inside my office," Judy said, before leaving the courtroom, smiling. I watched Judy leave the courtroom and I continued to sit on the courtroom bench.
I sighed once again, and I took out a picture of Jacob, me and our parents all sitting on the floor together, smiling at each other out of my wallet, it was during Jacob's first Christmas. Jacob was a baby, and I was twelve years old at the time.
I had a flashback of my parents car accident.
So, I put the photo back into my wallet, and I just sat there at my bench, thinking. I had another flashback, and this time I remembered when mom and dad were always fighting, because they were worried about being in debt, after my father had been fired from his job.
Jacob and I heard our parents fight almost every night at home. Sometimes the fight ends with my parents almost getting into a divorce. It was because of my cancer, and other bad things. I wasn't proud that I caused harm to my family.
I also remember how my dad would sleep on the couch, and my parents died before they were on their way to court to end their marriage.
I wished I had told them I loved them one last time. Before my parents left the house, I was angry at my mom and dad.
Now that I understand it, my parents fought over me and my problems, because they were trying to figure out what to do to help me. My parents weren't fighting because of my dad being fired from his job.
My dad actually quit his job, because he wanted to support me and my problems. I drank my stress away, and I used alcohol to heal myself from being severely sick, and my parents not getting along.
Before I understood why my parents were actually fighting about it, I explained to my parents how their fighting was affecting Jacob and I. I stormed out of the house, and I never said goodbye or I love you.
So, I went over to my best friend's Yale Alias house. Yale is an asian friend of mine since I first met him in kindergarten. Yale and I had gone to the same college before we went our separate ways.
Yale Alias always understood what I was going through. Yale wanted to be a doctor, he always wanted to be a surgeon. Yale wanted to become a neurosurgeon.
I hadn't seen Yale for a long time. I wondered how he was doing. Yale took care of me for a while as I was battling my addiction with alcohol.
I still have Yale's number in my contacts, but I bet Yale has a new number by now, and is too busy to speak with me.
Yale wanted me to get help because of my addiction. Yale was worried, I was worried about me, too.
But I eventually did get help.
It's been thirteen years since I have become sober. I would visit a support group. I even go to a program called Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) that uses a 12-step program that aims to help people abstain from alcohol.
I had gone to rehab for six months, before my parents had died. I was very proud of how I was handling my addiction, even though there are days I want to drink again.
I had explained to Jacob how serious an alcohol addiction can become. I told Jacob my story about how I was addicted to alcohol. Jacob did apologize to me about drinking.
Jacob explained to me why he did drink, and I understood my little brother, because I went through the same process. I didn't want Jacob to end up becoming an alcoholic like me.
I wanted Jacob to have a healthy lifestyle. I regret my first time drinking, because my parents were killed by a drunk driver, and not only Jason was driving under the influence, but Jason was also an alcoholic.