Clutching the wooden railing with all his might with trembling hands, Kimon squeezed his eyes shut. This was just a nightmare. Yes. It had to be a nightmare. Otherwise, how could he be in a courtroom, facing a judge as a murder suspect? His tightly closed eyes would open any moment to his mother's sweet voice in his warm bed, and he would start another cheerful day as usual. Suddenly, a warm hand covered his trembling hands and squeezed them. Then, a voice invaded his mind.
"Kimon" (Kimon~)
"Kimon" (Where are you~)
"My son" (B.ue ...terfly~)
Kimon immediately opened his eyes in terror. A shiver of fear ran through his body as he looked at his mother. It was her in front of him. His beautiful mother. The voice from just now, along with a few echoes, had been his sweet mother's voice. She had woken him, but the signs of sleeplessness under his mother's eyes and the stern faces of the adults in the tense room told him that this nightmare wasn't over.
"Kimon, I know this is hard for you. So, whenever you feel calm, can you tell us what happened?"
The judge's softened voice echoed again in the silent courtroom. These words were like a rustling in a dark night for Kimon. It was the sound of this nightmare. Kimon flinched again and looked at his mother. His mother, Merida, rubbed Kimon's shoulders a little firmly.
"Come on, honey. Tell them what Uncle Jack told you. It's just a little longer, and we'll go home soon. Okay?"
His mother's action and words calmed Kimon down a bit, and he looked around. To his right, his mother stood tall beside him, as if she could withstand any storm. To his left, Uncle Jack nodded at him with a look of encouragement in his eyes. He could hear a girl crying from behind. But he didn't have the courage to look back. The gazes of those people were the most terrifying thing in this nightmare. Even though he knew his father was there, fear still outweighed everything.
Wanting this to end quickly, Kimon looked at his trembling hands again. His blood-red hands looked like a monster's. He closed his eyes again and took a deep breath. He wanted everything to be over. He knew that the sooner he spoke, the faster everything would end. He exhaled as he opened his eyes. Looking at the judge, he began to speak in a trembling voice.
"I decided to visit my cousin Sarah after breakfast on Monday. Her family was out of town, and she was home alone. I wanted to go and hang out with her. When I got there, Sarah and her boyfriend Ethan greeted me. They were both really nice to me. We did a lot of fun stuff together. Everything was going well, but then suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door."
Kimon said these things quickly in a trembling voice, then took a deep breath and paused briefly. The room was silent. A stifling silence. Merida noticed it too.
"My little one, I'm here. I'll always be by your side."
Comforted by this voice, Kimon continued in a more shaky voice.
"None of us were expecting anyone. So, we went to open the door together. He was at the door."
Taking another deep breath, he said a name in a tearful voice,
"Ry..Ryan. Sarah and Ethan's classmate. He was really angry. Especially when he saw Ethan, he seemed to go crazy. I didn't know him personally. But I had heard a lot about him from Sarah. He was the school bully. A violent psychopath. He had put a few people in the hospital before, and he was obsessed with Sarah."
"He started insulting Ethan and asking things like, 'Didn't I tell you to stay away from Sarah?' We were all scared. So, Sarah tried to calm things down and told us all to go home. But even though Ethan was scared, he decided to protect his girlfriend from the bully and talked back. This made Ryan even angrier. He raised his fist and tried to punch Ethan. We ran inside and went to the kitchen, trying to close the door, but we couldn't. Ryan burst in and started punching Ethan. I froze with fear. Then, Sarah pushed Ryan to save Ethan. Ryan hit the counter and grabbed a knife. He looked insane. He cut Ethan's hand with the knife. Seeing this, Sarah hit Ryan on the head with a rolling pin, grabbed Ethan's arm, and they ran out of the kitchen."
Kimon was trying to explain with deep breaths. Tears were streaming down his face. It was painful to talk about this. It was torture. But he had to get these words out. One last time. He needed to shout them out. He squeezed his mother's hands tighter as he continued.
"When I saw the blood, I got scared. So scared. Sarah and Ethan's dead bodies kept flashing in my mind. If it had continued like that, they would have died. Luckily, after Sarah hit him, Ryan fell backward. He dropped the knife. I don't know what happened, my vision went black. When I came to, I had the knife in my hand, and I had stabbed him in the chest."
Kimon was sobbing uncontrollably. Now, every word felt like a mountain. And with each word, it was like a weight was being lifted off him.
"Yes! I stabbed him. Then, in shock, I pulled the knife out of the wound, and blood started gushing out. There was blood everywhere. Everything was red. It wouldn't stop. I was covered in blood."
"I... I didn't want to kill him. I didn't want to be a murderer. But I did. I... I'm not a normal person anymore. I'm a monster now."
Kimon's heartbreaking sobs and cries filled the whole living room. His mother immediately hugged him tightly.
"It's over, baby. It's all over."