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That week was just an overwhelming maelstrom of fuss and trauma. They moved me from cell to cell, never even telling me what was going to happen. I spoke with my lawyer for a while, and told him that I wanted to plead guilty and just get my sentence over with. Since I was so close to being 18, they were just going to try me as an adult, which I was okay with, for I knew that the sentence would be far more severe. Going to the electric chair would be the thrill of my life.

However, through the whole thing, I could never get Ava out of my mind. After the trial, would I ever even see her again? Or would everything I had done in my life been for nothing? If I did end up getting the death penalty, then I wanted to see her at least once more before I died. Then, I could go to hell in peace. I never bothered to ask. For I knew no one would answer my questions truthfully.

The day of the trial came much faster than I thought it would. They had me chained up and escorted me to a large, black van, with bars on the doors and windows. Guards surrounded me, guns and tasers at the ready. We drove to the courthouse, where they then brought me out of the van and into the building, and down the hallway to the courtroom. The double doors swung open as I approached, making me feel like an important King. I spotted Ava from across the room and tried to make eye contact with her. Her orange hair covered her eyes, but Nate sat next to her as well. I groaned.

Ava's arm was in a sling, similar to mine. I smiled to myself, realizing that we were somewhat matching.

My lawyer said a few words to me before we began the trial. A female judge walked out, who looked quite agitated and frankly, rather unhappy with her life. I figured she was divorced with three, annoying toddlers who drained the life out of her. I couldn't blame her for being unhappy if that was the case. Kids. I hate kids so much. Capable of so little and do nothing but complain. I didn't need my parents, so much so, to the point where I simply eliminated them from my life.

The judge made us all do an oath before the trial began. We sat down and she droned on and on and on about the offenses. I looked around at the jury and tried to look at Ava, failing all the while. Family members of victims came and went from the podiums, screaming and crying at me about what I had done. Finally, the time had come for all of my confessions.

"Luther Victor White," The judge began drowsily. She took a sip of her water and looked back towards her files. "Your accusations: 38 counts of murder in the first degree, one count of attempted murder in the first degree, one count of attempted murder in the second degree, rape, and abduction." She looked up at us over her glasses. "Is there anything that I have missed?"

"No, your honor," my scrawny little lawyer spoke for me. "That is all."

"And his plea?"

"Guilty," he replied.

The judge nodded. "Luther will you please stand?" she requested in a monotone voice. I stood up, my hands cuffed in front of me and the chain around my waist jingling. "I'm going to list off the names of the victims and you will say yes if you have committed the crime, do you understand?" I nodded my head. She swallowed and looked at a piece of paper with a list of names on it. She began naming them one right after the other, to all of which I responded with a monotone "yes". I grew tired of it after a very long while, but still kept myself going at it. "For the attempted murder in the first degree of Nathaniel Hawkins?"

"Yes."

"For the attempted murder in the second degree, rape and abduction of Ava Lane?"

I glanced over at her. She still had her hair covering her face, but looked up through it. We made eye contact for a split second, her eyes wide but the innocence gone. "Luther?" The judge snapped.

"Yes." I replied.

She nodded and put the piece of paper down. She crossed her hands together onto her desk and looked up. "I understand that your lawyer has some paper work that needs to be brought up to the podium. Please do so now."

My lawyer quickly pulled out some pieces of paper from his brief case and scurried up to the judge. He handed them to a cop, who then passed them to the judge. She pushed her glasses up her nose and looked at the paperwork. "So I see that the night that they arrested you, they ran a few personality and brain tests?" My lawyer nodded. "It says here that on defects, Luther is what is classified as a Distempered Psychopath. Now, what that means, for the jury, is that these individuals often burst into a fit more easily than regular people, or even other psychopaths. They have strong sexual urges, apparent in their habits of pedophilia, illegal indulgence of drug addiction, among many others. They love the 'high' associated with risky activities." The members of the jury all nodded, taking mental notes of what the judge had just said.

A Distempered Psychopath? I had never heard of that phrase before. But it seemed to accurately describe my actions and desires, so that must be what I was. The questions that they asked me were so bizarre, I still don't know how they concluded to what they had. The judge continued speaking.

"Also that Luther White, as it says on here, has a mild case of Asperger's Syndrome. This may have contributed to what Ava Lane has written on her witness report that he continued to claim that he loved her, repeatedly, at the same time he raped her. The teachers at Olympus High School claimed that he never talked much and didn't have many, if any, friends." The jury all hummed in amusement as they continued with their mental notes.

I felt like a bug under a microscope. I wished I could just kiss Ava again. And more than anything, I wish that Gomez would've gone down with me. Where was he going to go, after all? Back to his old town, haunted by memories of Taco and his deceased mother?

After a few minutes of the jury's absence, they returned with what their final statement was. The cop handed a piece of paper to the judge. The judge unfolded it and took a look at it through her thick glasses.

"Luther White," she began, lifting her gravel and preparing to strike it. "Is not guilty based on reason of insanity. He will be sent to live in a Psychiatric Hospital until the day of his death." She slammed the gravel down as all eyes, glaring eyes, landed on me.

The guards around me immediately made me get up before I even noticed what Ava's reaction was to my sentence. I was innocent? I wasn't going to be condemned to a life of prison, or...the electric chair? I smirked to myself as I trudged out of the court room and into the back of a black van, while news reporters and photographers all stood around, waiting to hear what my sentence was. We ignored them as they hauled me into the back of the van, locked the doors, and sped off, driving down the road to wherever fate decided to take me.

Perhaps I hadn't quite won this round. Perhaps I would go to a new place to clear my head for a while. Perhaps I wouldn't see Ava for a bit. Perhaps my Outlawry was over. Well, for now.

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