Fourth Down - 16. Chapter 16

“Not guilty your Honour!”

What?! We told Mayson that if he chose to fight this he wouldn’t be able to win. It was in his best interest to take the plea deal we had set up for him. This will only make things worse for him, and cause unnecessary stress on my son’s boyfriend. I look over toward Hunter and already you can see the frightened little boy hiding inside of his much larger frame. I look toward Mayson, and am somewhat surprised at what I see. He looks shocked, and a little paler than he was just moments ago, but his lawyer seems to be reassuring him, with a pat on his arm, and saying something in his ear. Which only gets the barest of nods from his client.

***

“Not guilty your Honour!”

How can this be? Mr Peterson promised me that Mayson would plead guilty. And now here we are. Him saying he was not guilty of what he did to me?

“Order! Order!” Judge Hawthorne was yelling, while smacking her little wooden hammer down.

“We will begin opening proceedings at ten on Monday morning. I trust opening statements will be ready by then. Court will be in recess until then.” then with a smack of her hammer, we were asked to stand, as she left.”

“Everything will be ok Hunter.” Mr. Erichson said, as he squeezed my shoulder. “Mayson doesn’t have a leg to stand on in this.” He then shuddered. “Bad choice of words, but he really doesn’t stand a chance.”

I just nodded my head in response, then seemingly on auto pilot I seeked out the one person who could comfort me, and within seconds I was in Dale’s comforting arms.

“It will be ok.” He whispered in my ear, and gave my cheek a kiss while stroking the back of my head.

***

Monday morning found us once again outside the courtroom. Who knew how long this was going to take. Once inside, we were seated as we were on Friday. Once again the door to the side of the room opened with Mayson being wheeled to his side of the room. As he entered, our eyes locked for a second. The expression on his face was not the one I was used to seeing. Gone was the sneer, the look of contempt. He just looked dead inside.

Once again we were asked to stand as Judge Hawthorn entered the room in her black robe.
She then told Mr. Erichson that he could do his opening speech.
“Thank you, Your Honor.” He said, before looking towards the jury. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury. I am here to prove to you that the defendant, Mayson Priestly is guilty beyond reasonable doubt, that he not only raped his roommate, Hunter McIntosh , but he also falsely imprisoned, and forced him into sexual servitude.”

I could just feel everyone's eyes on me with what he just said. It scared me knowing that people in this room will hear what exactly happened to me in what I could only describe as the worst month in my life. In that place I once called home.

“Mr. Jennings. Your opening statement?” Judge Hawthorne asked Mayson’s lawyer.

Standing up, he thanked the judge, then looking at the jury, he began. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury. I am sorry to have to waste your time like this, but I am here to prove the innocence of a young promising member of society. One who only just recently lost both his legs in a rather terrible car accident, which left him in a coma.” He said. “And while my young client was recovering, his boyfriend was filing these horrendous allegations, false, I might add, and cosying up to the man he was cheating on my client with.”

What? I wasn’t in a relationship with Mayson. What is he talking about? I was about to say something, when I felt Mr. Peterson place his hand on my arm, and shaking his head. Reminding me that I need to try and stay calm. I looked toward Dale, he just looked at me sympathetically and mouthed that he loved me.

“Don’t worry, these claims will be easily disproved.” Mr. Erichson whispered to me.

Shortly after that, Judge Hawthorn was asking the prosecution to present any witnesses they wished.

“Would you like to go up first?” I was quietly asked

I just steeled my nerves wanting to get this over and done with. I nodded. I was then called by the Prosecution and sworn in.

“Can you tell us who you are, and your relationship with the defendant?” Mr. Erichson asked me.

“My name is Hunter McIntosh, and Mayson was my roommate.” I say into the mic in front of me. Trying to not sound as nervous as I was.

“How would you describe your relationship with Mr. Priestly?”

“Ah, not the greatest.” I answered.

“Are you able to elaborate?”

“Well I tried avoiding him whenever possible.”

“Why is that?”
“Well,” I began. “He made living with him rather difficult, as he would always sneer at me, and make nasty comments.”

“What were some of the comments he would tell you?

“He would tell me that I was dumb, and ugly, and that I was only good for throwing a ball around, and fucking up other peoples lives.”

“Were you ever romantically involved?”

“No, we were never romantically involved.” I said, looking straight at Mayson's lawyer.

“Can you tell us about the day that led to us being here?”

I then began tell them of the day I found out that Dale was gay, and what happened to me that night.

“How did you know that you had been raped?” Mr. Erichson asked.

So I explained about waking up naked on the couch with no knowledge of the night before, the pain in my rear end, and the video that was sent to me from Mayson.

“You mean this video?” He asked, with an apologising look on his face. He had said he had wanted to avoid this, but it would be necessary if we had to fight. He then clicked a button on a remote, and a T.V. began playing the events of that horrible night.

“Yes.” I said as tears of shame began forming in my eyes, I could not look at it. I could hear a few people murmuring in the room.

With another click he turned off the tape. “How would you describe your relationship with the defendant after this night?”

“It was nothing short of a nightmare.” I said with a little tremor escaping my lips.

“Can you go into more detail?”

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, trying to speak, but no words were wanting to come out. Then Taking a few steading breaths, I began explaining how Mayson had me undress whenever I was home, and how I was to serve his every sexual need, and how he had forced me to stop going to my tutoring sessions, as I was no longer allowed to see Dale.

“Why were you not allowed to see Dale?” Mr Erichson asked me.

“I am not sure.” I answer, “I think it had something to do with Mayson knowing that I liked Dale, and him wanting to keep us apart as a way to hurt me. He also mentioned something about not him not allowing me to hurt Dale, and that I would ruin his chances at having a normal life. But I am not sure where he got that from.”

“So what led to you being chained up in your room?”

“I was told by my coach that I was risking my scholarship by not going to my tutoring sessions with Dale.”

I then told them of how I went to my last session, of the message I received from Mayson, and how I found my room when I got back. I then told them how Mayson had chained me to my mattress, and how he would repeatedly violate me. That I did not get food or water on numerous occasions as he had said that I was undeserving because I had somehow misbehaved.

“No further questions Your Honour.”

“Mr. Jennings. Your witness.”

“Thank you, Your Honour.” He said as he stood up, straightening his grey suit as he did so. “Mr McIntosh,” He then directed towards me. “You say that you weren’t in a relationship, but I have evidence here that disproves it. I would like to hand evidence to the court of a transcript of a text conversation my client had with Mr. McIntosh, when they first started living together.”

He then handed me a few sheets of paper. It was a text conversation between Mayson and myself, from a time I would have called him a friend, before his attitude towards me had changed. The conversations it showed were just us talking and joking, and us getting to know one another as he was moving in with me. There was nothing remotely showing us as being in a relationship.

“Can you tell the court what these are?”

“They are various texts that Mayson and I send to each other.” I told him.

“I would like to read to the court, an excerpt from this communication between my client, and Mr. McIntosh. ‘I had so much fun. Can’t wait to repeat it next weekend.’ Can you explain this to the court?”

“I had invited Mayson to hang out, so we could get to know each other before he moved into the spare room.” I answered.

“I would now like to hand in evidence, communication between Mr McIntosh and a Mr. Evan Michaels.”

He then handed me another sheet of paper.

“Can you tell the court what that is?” Mr Jennings asked.

“It is a conversation I had with my best friend.” I say, puzzled. How did he get this, I wondered.

“I’d like to read an excerpt from this document for the court. ‘Oh man, Evan, This Mayson guy is hot. I don’t know how I will be able to concentrate on my studies with him around.’ Are these your words?”

“Yes.” I answer. And I did find Mayson attractive at the time, but him treating me like shit all the time, made me see him differently.

“Were you out to your parent’s at the time?”

“No.” I answer, wondering where the hell he is going with this.

“So you and my client started dating in secret, then when he saw you getting close to your tutor.” He then indicated towards dale sitting in the audience area of the courtroom. “He tried to spice things up with role play in fear of losing you. And because you were not into it, you came up with the whole rape and imprisonment storyline, so your tutor would take pity on you and take you to his bed! Is that not true Mr. McIntosh!” Be basically yelled.

“Objection! Badgering the witness Your Honour.” Mr Erichson said, standing up and angrily glaring at his opposition.

“Your Honour. I am just trying to show that they were in a secret relationship due to the fact that the witness was closeted.”

“Sustained. But no more yelling at witnesses Mr. Jennings.” Judge Hawthorn said. “Please answer the question Mr. McIntosh.” She then directed at me.

Feeling a little shook up, I answered Mr. Jennings. “No, it is not true, sir.”

“Well the video we just watched seems to tell a different story. You looked like you were quite enjoying yourself.” He said smugly. “How would you explain that?

Anger at his questions just boiled inside of me, but one look at Dale managed to keep me calm. I looked back at Mr. Jennings, “ I would describe that as me being drugged, and losing my virginity. With someone who took advantage of me in that state being the very person to have drugged me.”

He just looked at me smugly. “No further questions, Your Honour.”

Thank you for reading Chapter 16  Hope you all enjoyed it