127

"What's that?!", I interfered and my anger towards this woman was boundless at that moment. Not only did she hit her daughter who had autism. No! She didn't even honor her son's gravesite and after looking defiantly into her eyes, I also immediately realized that she might even be drugged.

"What's that to her!", she yelled at me and grabbed Mira's arm roughly while she kept screaming and hurting herself by pulling at her hair.

I knew how autism worked and knew that such people needed time, patience and love, but Mira only seemed to know coercion and being unable to fight back due to her condition, she self-injured to withstand the pressure. It was horrible to watch...

"You have to help her," Hektor suddenly spoke to me from my side and I angrily followed the two women for a while until I turned to Hector and then took off my sunglasses again.

"How? I'm going home soon. I can't do it," I explained to him and, after my words, he turned to Emilio's grave, which I also looked at with extreme pain in my heart.

"By doing it for his love. He only finds peace when she's okay."

Hector looked into my eyes pleadingly for a moment and I thought it all through. Could I really still fight? Was I strong enough to do anything when I didn't even have the strength to support myself?

I hesitantly walked towards the grave and, in a daze, took one of the beautiful roses to look at in my hand thoughtfully for a while, while silent tears ran down my cheeks.

I remembered the first time I saw him. Bleeding, he leaned against my desk and studied me with his dark eyes, while I then realized that the name Mira was branded over his beating heart. I realized that paying my last respects had nothing to do with standing here, but with letting him rest in peace.

"I'll save her," I whispered through tears, dropping the rose into his grave, but I wasn't looking down at his coffin at that moment, I was looking up at that beautiful blue sky. "I promise you."

-

The days passed lazily and most of the time I lay in my bed and stared at the white wall, lost in thought. That day was the court date. Everything would come up again today, but after the funeral I had discussed with Hektor in detail how we would testify so that Mira and I would keep our deserved freedom.

But freedom? For me it had nothing to do with shackles. On the outside maybe, but on the inside I was a prisoner of myself anyway and I always would be. As long as my heart would beat and look for him.

I got up with a clear head, changed into a standard yellow shirt and light-colored jeans, and after a bit of cleaning up in the bathroom, made my way to court.

I walked the whole way to give myself some time to think it over, and while I felt shameless frame a dead man for murder, I knew Emilio didn't ask anything else of me.

When I finally arrived at the huge building, I saw Mira with her mother from the other side of the street, who seemed upset again and tugged at her daughter.

On the day of the funeral I had registered with an association that represents people with disabilities and at the same time I had filed a complaint with the police against Emilio's mother for assault. So today it wasn't just about the murder of Carlos, but also about Mira's future, which was almost more important to me than anything else.

Taking a deep breath, I walked across the wide street after the traffic light had turned green and then saw Hector standing at the entrance.

Without looking at Emilio's mother, I climbed the stairs and then nervously entered the huge-looking building, being the first to be patted down by a woman. My bag was also checked afterwards and I thought it was a bit exaggerated that they rated my nail darts as a weapon, but I didn't comment and followed Hector down a wide corridor.

"You know what to do?" he said questioningly when we arrived at the farthest bright door and nodding, I took the handle in my hand to enter the large room.

It didn't feel like a courtroom to me. At least not like the ones you see in movies or series.

At the front in the middle was just a very wide, dark table, with a somewhat smaller table bordering on the side.

Of course there were also many chairs for spectators and also for witnesses, but it felt more like a classroom to me.

I walked carefully between the seating options and as soon as I reached the front row, a woman in a black robe came out of another door in front of us and sat down with a thick file directly in the middle of the table.

"I'm so nervous," I whispered to Hector, who patted my hand reassuringly.

"Everything will be fine," he spoke again and after I turned around I saw more people enter, including a security guard and also Mira and her mother, who eyed me disapprovingly. Surely she would like to rip my head off, but she no longer had the opportunity to defend herself and would feel firsthand what she was doing to her daughter.

"So," the woman with the robe suddenly said loudly and a few more men in dark suits joined her at the table while she looked straight into my eyes.

"Isalie Parker. Have a seat over here, please."

My heart was racing and I slowly walked towards the wide table and then sat down at the edge of the small side table with my eyes on Hector.

I laced my fingers nervously and looked around at the crowded audience until my gaze settled on the judge and she started asking me general questions. Including how old I was, where I was born and at the end she added that I should tell the truth, which of course wasn't what I intended.

"Did you know him well?"

"He was my landlord and has also become a friend over time."

"And you didn't have any arguments in your friendly relationship?"

I stared at her for a while, swallowing hard to glance at Hector, who gave the faintest of nods.

"Yes," I breathed into the small microphone in front of me, looking down at the light wood of the table in front of me. "We were at a fiesta together. It was all good until I went home alone and a few hours later he knocked on the door."

I got an awkward feeling in my stomach remembering that night, but I collected myself, took a deep breath, and faced the judge again.

"He was drunk and tried to rape me," I said aloud the events of that night for the first time, feeling somehow relieved even though it hurt me too.

"She's lying!" I suddenly heard someone yell out from the audience and looked deep into the tear-streaked eyes of an elderly woman. "My son would never do such a thing!"

She kept screaming, but the security guard hurriedly removed her from the room, which still brought tears to my eyes. I ended up killing him, never thinking about how his family felt about it.

"So they have a motive."

An elderly man sitting right next to the judge gave me a close look, intimidating me, but I immediately shook my head defensively.

"It wasn't me," I let him know, but he just grinned and continued to look at me.

"His body was not found, but there were traces of blood in her apartment. According to the investigation of the victim."

"Yes, that's true, but it wasn't me. I wasn't anywhere near my apartment at the time!"

"Do you have witnesses for your testimony?"

I nodded to him and looked at Hector, whom the man then looked at intently.

"But then who has him-"

"It was Emilio Torres," I said, which I really didn't want to say, but Hector was right. Even dead, Emilio would have shouldered a thousand murders for my freedom.

Whispers broke out among the spectators and the judge had to bang her gavel several times on the table for peace to finally return.

"And how do you know that?"

"He told me. He wanted to protect me! Carlos was a pig and Emilio wasn't a bad person. He certainly saved a lot of women from a terrible event in their lives."

According to my statement, the room went quiet. Everyone seemed to let it all sink in for a moment, until suddenly Hektor was called out as well.

He was also asked a few questions and he answered the same as I did, so the Carlos issue was quickly shelved. You couldn't prosecute a dead man or ask where the body was, so we closed that topic and after Hector sat down, Emilio's mother was called.

She, too, was asked many questions about what was true about my ad and I was delighted that the judge also noticed how huge her pupils looked. She became more and more confused in her own statements and I was also questioned again.

I talked about the situation at the cemetery and also about what Emilio told me about his family, until at some point the judge left the room and I was allowed to sit next to Hector.

My heart was beating more and more uncontrollably and I glanced at Mira a few times, who was staring at the ceiling above us with wide eyes and seemed absent. I did the same and tilted my head back, but the ceiling above us was plain white.

"Please stand up," the judge pulled me out of my thoughts and I quickly grabbed Hector's hand to be helped up.

"Taking a mother's child is not what a court would consider right," the judge suddenly said, looking at Emilio's mother, who also caught my stunned look. "But her behavior does not reflect that of a loving mother. We hereby strip you of custody of your daughter."

I wide-eyed the judge and said a soft "thank you" before turning to Hector and letting myself fall into his arms.

A huge weight fell from my weary shoulders and I knew that Mira would be fine in the home I had suggested to the youth welfare office. There were trained people there who knew how to handle it. Other women who were similar to her and I just hoped that she could finally find happiness there.