Are You Real?

The courtroom was tense and hushed, all eyes fixed on Lucia St. Vivian as she rose from her seat with a look of determination.

Lucia was the defense attorney representing Mrs. Maria Roberts, whose 10-year-old son Tommy had been kidnapped in a harrowing ordeal.

Today, they would finally face the criminal in court.

Lucia smoothed her navy blue suit jacket, pulling her turtle neck up making sure her throat was covered, and addressed the room in a commanding voice.

"Your Honor, members of the jury, we are here because of a heinous crime - the kidnapping of an innocent young child by this man," she stated, pointing firmly at the defendant.

The defendant's lawyer stood up, wringing his hands nervously. "Your Honor, my client had a very difficult upbringing full of hardship. He was simply tempted by the possibility of easy money."

"Objection!" Lucia interjected sharply. "Trying to rationalize the unforgivable kidnapping of a child. There is no excuse for such a reprehensible act."

The judge, a stern-faced man, nodded at Lucia. "Sustained. The defendant's history is no justification for his crimes. Continue, Ms. St. Vivian."

Lucia addressed the jury once more, her voice taking on an impassioned tone.

"Mrs. Roberts experienced any parent's worst nightmare - having her child torn away by a greedy criminal. She lived in constant fear, tormented by thoughts of what might be happening to her precious son Tommy."

She paused to gather herself, clearly affected by the traumatic nature of the case. "This man shattered their family's sense of security and stole Tommy's very childhood. For what? A shameful ransom paid with a mother's anguish."

The defendant shrank in his seat, unable to meet Lucia's piercing gaze.

His lawyer could only stare at his hands, out of arguments.

After deliberations, the jury entered again. "We find the defendant guilty on all counts," the foreman announced solemnly.

The judge looked down at the convicted man with disdain.

"For your callous crimes against an innocent child and family, I sentence you to 10 years in state prison. You are also ordered to pay Mrs. Roberts $500,000 in restitution."

Her gavel struck the bench, sealing the judgment.

Lucia exhaled, exchanging a thankful look with Mrs. Roberts.

Justice had prevailed, and she had secured accountability for the unforgivable trauma inflicted on this family.

_________

-Lucia:

I'm happy today.

I'm happy every day I succeed in putting a new criminal behind bars where they belong.

Making bad people pay for their wrong-doings against innocent people.

This is the purpose of my life.

The only thing that keeps me happy in life.

Every day I wake up wanting to filter the world from criminals and give innocent people a chance to feel safe and happy, to live without having to worry about someone else trying to harm them.

I have been living like a robot for the past seven years.

Work, therapy, sleep, and repeat.

Since I ran away from my uncle's house after I graduated high school.

I inherited enough money from my late dad to pay for my college tuition and rent a studio apartment while studying.

I graduated college with a 4'8 GPA due to the number of advanced classes I used to take.

It did not take too long for me to get hired after graduation.

Due to how passionate and hard-working I am, I have my own fame in San Francisco.

I was at the news multiple times.

I indeed saw myself coming this far because I deserve it.

I deserve to be happy and have everything I want.

And this is all I want.

My career as a lawyer is my dream.

I made my dream come true and it was not luck or fate, it was me, my hard work, and the nights I didn't sleep just to study, it was all me.

I came to the top on my own.

After today's trial, my client thanked me a lot for agreeing to work on her son's case.

I saw the look on her face, she was helpless and a mother.

Although I had so much to work on, I accepted her request and worked on her son's case to give him justice.

I feel like a superhero each time I see gratitude in parents' eyes.

Right now, I'm drowning in paperwork.

Sitting in my office alone, at the law office, working on multiple cases at the same time.

It's almost midnight, each time I look at the clock I mentally note that I will leave after a little while.

When I looked at the clock and found 9:45, I decided to leave at 10:00, but I forgot and when I looked at the clock again it was 10:35, so I only found it suitable to leave at 11:00.

But once more I was too engrossed in my work when I looked at the clock and it was 11:41.

That's when I really realized that I needed to leave right now because if I didn't, I would just keep procrastinating and end up working until the sun rose.

I yawned, stretching my limbs, feeling my muscles relax and bones crack before quickly rearranging the papers back inside their files.

It's chilly today which is why I threw my jacket on, grabbed my purse, and locked my office.

The floor where my office is, is so silent, no person in sight.

I got used to it due to how late I usually leave my office.

While getting inside the elevator, I checked my phone to see if there was anything interesting in the news then I pushed it right back into my pocket when I heard the elevator's beep.

My breath hitched.

What are they doing here?

This is the closest the masked men have ever got to me.

We are only fifteen feet away.

There at the reception area, they stood by the dark corner I could only see their glowy masks staring at me.

"Who are you?" My raspy voice echoed in the empty space.

My voice was not always raspy, thanks to my uncle but this is a story for another day.

I was not scared I just wanted to know if they were real or if my messed-up mind was making things up.

" Are you real?" I asked again when I didn't receive any kind of answer or reaction.

This is my first time ever trying to communicate with those masked men.

The only hallucination that I used to suffer from all my life was that sorry excuse of an uncle.

I don't know why or even why I started seeing three glowy masked men following me around.

For what reason?

I walked two steps closer only for them to walk three steps backwards.

I sighed in frustration, lowered my head to pitch the bridge of my nose, and closed my eyes, I had a headache.

I'm so sleepy and tired, this is only adding more to me.

Making it worse.

As I lifted my head, and looked at the corner… The corner is back to dark and empty again, with no trace of the three masked men around.

This can not be real.

Those men are not real, I'm hallucinating again.