It could have happened to anybody, he
told himself, it wasn’t my fault, I
couldn’t have stopped them in time. But in his heart he knew that he hadn’t
tried to stop them at all. There was time and he knew it. His life was to be
full of guilt from this point on. As he walked home that night with his head
down and shoulders slumped as to protect him from the burden of knowing he
could have stopped a murder. He heard the sirens approach him, and he froze. He
knew he was the prime suspect. He hadn’t called the police. He had left the
scene and he hadn’t been very inconspicuous about that. The police officers
told him his rights as they slapped the icy handcuffs around his trembling
wrists. This was it. His entire life meant nothing up until this point
At
the police station, he explained that the man was coming into his store being
disrespectful and disrupting his business, so he asked some of his friends to
rough him up a little bit.
“I
didn’t ask them to kill him,” he explained.
“
How do we know that?” the detective assigned to his case asked.
They
had offered him a cigarette and asked if he needed a lawyer, all the
formalities that come with being in trouble with the law. If this were in the old
west the sheriff wouldn’t have done anything to him. But it wasn’t, and he knew
that this would go on for months, maybe years. Everyone he knew would ignore
him, his business would go down the toilet and his life, as he knew it, would
be over. Everything he thought about went back to the thought of his life being
over. M aybe he would commit suicide. That way he wouldn’t have to deal with
his family leaving him or anything sad. But he knew that was the easy way out
and he needed to be a man and deal with the cards he was dealt.
The
detective left the room to confer with his superiors, and when he came back the
news he carried was devastating.
“We wont be able
to get you a court appearance until Tuesday. Unfortunately, we are packed so
you will have to stay here until then.”
“I
can’t, I have a business to run! Please, cant I just pay bail and get out of
here tonight?” the police officer could hardly understand him through his sobs.
“I’m
sorry. We will get you some food and the clothes you need to stay here. Good
luck,” the cop said as he left to gather John’s prison attire.
John
went to his cell and tried to sleep, but the loud noises made by the other
prisoners kept him awake. He viewed them as intoxicated scum that didn’t
deserve a life outside of jail. But he quickly realized that he was now a part
of this scum, and he didn’t deserve the life that he was given.
The
day of his court date had come and then went. He was sentenced to three years
for conspiracy to commit murder. The years had passed, and he was finally
released, a little early for turning in the man who committed the murder. The
fresh air was amazing against his nostrils and it wasn’t filled with the stench
that was created by his fellow inmates that he was used to. John had a chance
at a new life and he wouldn’t waste it like he did before.
