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Listeners' Fantasies |
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The Verdict
by Vicarshusband
 Inspired by Kathy’s awful experiences and Elizabeth’s uncomfortable involvement in the rape trial, this unsettling tale comes from the Fantasy Archers topic of .
When the news was read out to the hushed court, Kathy gasped in horror. No longer able to control herself she stood up and ran from the courtroom, screaming.
"Silence" shouted the judge "I will have order in my court. Silence. I understand the strong feelings - but there are times and places for expressing those feelings and this is neither. Silence."
As the hubhub died down, Elizabeth got up from her place in the public gallery and left the room. She searched the maze of anterooms and corridors, trying to find Kathy. She didn't know what she could say, but she must say something, anything. The way that Kathy had looked at her when she gave her evidence….
Finally, she realised that she was lost. The building was much bigger than she had realised, and the corridors seemed to run for miles. Now she was just trying to find her way out. From time to time she heard footsteps, or distant voices, but they faded away as she tried to follow them. Eventually, heart pounding, she sat down on a wooden bench in a dark corridor to rest, and reached for her mobile, but either the battery was dead, or the thick stone walls allowed no signal through.
"Elizabeth?"
She started in surprise. She hadn't seen anyone here, but with these shadows, that wasn't surprising. Sitting at the other end of the bench was Owen - or Taylor as she must think of him.
"Elizabeth" he said again "I wanted to talk to you. About what you said. Those bad things"
Elizabeth gasped. This couldn't be true. He shouldn't be here. How had he got here?
"I mean" Taylor went on "I thought you liked me. Those glances in the kitchen, the times I was in the store cupboard and you just brushed against me. I mean, you wouldn't be the first. But those lies you told."
Elizabeth slid along the bench as far as she could, but something was preventing her from standing up - "I never, I…"
"Oh, don't tease me" Taylor replied, moving closer. He smiled, and reached out his hand towards her. "What you said wasn't nice. I thought you liked me. She made you say those bad things, didn't she? You have to make it up to me now, you have to!"
"Lizzie! Lizzie!"
It was Nigel. Suddenly able to move, Elizabeth ran towards him and wrapped her arms around him. As they walked away, she looked back. The bench was empty, and the corridor a dead end, but she heard a whisper: "you'll have to make it up to me, you'll have to…."
At the rear entrance to the court, the coroner's black van stood, waiting to receive Taylor's lifeless corpse. There would be a post-mortem and an inquest, but nobody doubted the verdict. Rather, the question to be answered was, how had Taylor managed to hang himself, so quickly, despite the precautions that the judge had ordered?
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