chapter 3

JESSICA POV

The door swinging open took the villagers by surprise, they were so shocked they even made way for me to run, until someone in the crowd put two and two together.

"That's our murderer! Get her, she's getting away!"

And all hell broke loose. Every single soul on Harrison lane went after me; the girl running with a stick in her hand, though to them, a murderous psychopath running away from her sentence. They charged after me like mad dogs, screaming at the top of their lungs. They threw everything possible in my direction; sand, pebbles, rocks, water, pots and pans. I dodged. Jumped. Ducked and ran. I ran as fast as my feet could carry. My head was aching, my throat had gone dry and my feet were extremely sore as I was now barefoot but I didn't care, I'd rather pass out from exhaustion and pain than willingly step into the path of an angry, bloodthirsty mob.

If I was being chased by three or five people, I might have had a shot but you don't really get a chance when you're running against almost a hundred people. People who thought you had a hand or even orchestrated the cold-blooded murder of kids. Deep down I knew I was fucked, but I wasn't the kind of girl who'd quit without a fight. I looked behind my shoulders and screamed inwardly at the amount of people chasing me. I faced forward just in time to see a soldier swing a baton straight at me. I ducked in time to avoid the hit but I had been running at full speed and bending down wasn't a good idea, I lost balance and fell. Right into the arms of another soldier.

I cursed loudly. They must have called for reinforcement. I had been caught. I struggled to break free from the arms of the tall, bulky man but he had a very strong grip around my shoulders and I was literally almost out of breath. The sounds of the crowd grew louder as they approached but they seemed to be as exhausted as I was. Nobody spoke anything for about two minutes while they all caught their breath, but after that I was dragged back towards Patrick's cottage.

"Let's kill her right here, she deserves it!" A woman screamed from the crowd.

"Yes! Yes!" They echoed.

"You thought you could murder those boys and just run away? You deserve to be punished!" A deep voice echoed.

The soldiers kept the people at bay, then handcuffed me. As he was doing this a girl stepped forward and slapped me hard in the face and the crowd jeered. "That's for making everyone run after you when you could've just come clean, you witch!" She hissed.

I looked her square in the face, angered, not just because she slapped me, but because I was already in cuffs. I would have bitch slapped that whore all the way back to her fucking house. But I wasn't one to just let things like this slide without retaliation, I spat at her face immediately before she could take a step back.

The crowd roared in shock and started coming forward, but the sheriff, who was treated with great respect by the villagers, broke it up and sent the girl back before she could do anymore to me. She stared at me, embarrassment marked around her face then slowly turned back and disappeared into the crowd.

The chief cleared his throat loudly and looked at me in disgust, "Jessica Malik, you are under arrest for homicide. Anything you do or say will surely be used against you." He said in a strangled voice then turned to the crowd, "Jungle justice will not be the case today but you are free to state your opinions in court."

The villagers roared, "She deserves to die! She deserves to die!" They said, stomping their feet in the dust. "She killed our boys, Innocent kids, for no reason whatsoever!" A woman cried bitterly.

"At least tell us why you did it!" Someone yelled and they all jeered in unison, "Confess! Confess! Confess!"

The sheriff looked at me, as if to say I was free to talk.

"I didn't do anything!" I screamed.

The crowd gasped. As if surprised that I could speak. "Liar, liar!" They exclaimed as the soldiers dragged me on. With the sheriff by my side, they people didn't dare try to spit or throw anything in my direction but it didn't stop their insults.

We were close to the van near Harrison when someone called everyone's attention, "Wait, wait! There's someone else in the house, an accomplice, Sheriff!" Someone said pointing towards the now-broken front door of Patrick's cottage. The villagers must have been so intent on chasing after me that they had failed to notice Patrick's unconscious body in the house.

The sheriff beaconed the other soldiers and they went inside and dragged Patrick out. He had a small cut on the right side of his head but apart from that he was okay.

"Isn't that Patrick Baker, the bartender?" One of the villagers asked.

They're were a few grunts of affirmation from the crowd.

"He's an accomplice?"

My stomach clenched at those words. That was exactly why I did what I did to him. To prevent this stupid people from thinking he was my friend, now the opposite was about to happen. I swallowed hard.

"I don't get it. A female voice snapped. "If he's an accomplice, then why the fuck was he knocked out?" The crowd murmured at this remark. Patrick was awake now, looking at the crowd and the cops confusedly.

"That psycho probably broke into his home and knocked him unconscious so he wouldn't rat her out. It makes sense, isn't that right?" The same woman asked Patrick and the entire crowd, including the sheriff, turned to face him.

"I uh… ow!" He winced, rubbing his forehead in a bid to avoid answering.

"Take him to the clinic to have that cleaned up." The sheriff said and pushed me toward the van.

Regardless of everything that had happened today, I sighed in relief. The last thing I wanted was to drag someone into any of this… drama.

The door of the rusty van opened and I was shoved into it. The crowd watched on. Never taking their eyes off me. The sheriff wiped the sweat off his face and turned to address the people, "I'll need the parents of the victims to follow up in the second van." He said, pointing to a particular set of people in the crowd. "You can come with your family but I specifically need the parents, understand?"

They nodded simultaneously.

"Soldiers?!"

"Yes sir!" The men in uniform saluted

"Let's move!"

They all hurried into each of the two vans along with some of the villagers and they started the vehicle and started moving.

"Where are we going?" I asked one of the soldiers opposite me.

"To decide your sentence." He sneered.

I shuddered. Wondering what that even meant, because I was very sure there wasn't a court in the village. Wherever we were headed, I prayed they would find that this was all just a misunderstanding because they obviously had no evidence that I did anything. Or did they? I swallowed hard, trying not to overthink as the van drove on towards the east side of the village. I had never been this far away from home before. It was very lonely and awfully quiet.

The van finally stopped in front of a building. We all alighted and I was taken inside. This place was no court. I recognized the four old men inside, they were called the elders of the community, because they were literally the oldest people alive in the village and because their words were considered to be very wise. We'll see about that.

When the people called by the sheriff arrived in the second van along with other villagers, we sat down in front of the elders.

The sheriff stated the case to the elders. About how I was accused of murder and resisted arrest and even assaulted a citizen. Of course he had to add that just to make the sentence more gruesome.

They asked to speak to the parents of the victims and they came forward, stating how their sons had not come home last night. The mother's were all crying. It was the men who answered all the questions in choked voices.

I looked out the windows of the building, where the forest on the other side of the village was located. Going anywhere near that area was forbidden. Some believed it was cursed, others said it was haunted but I knew the truth. That there were monsters there, something more dangerous than wild animals; werewolves. Legend had it that those same creatures had attacked this village around fifty years ago and massacred more than half of their population. The only way to prevent them from attacking again was to offer a sacrifice to them, mostly someone convicted of a serious crime was chosen. But still all of this was a myth. To be honest, no one in the village was even sure if there were other humans apart from those in the village because the only way to leave was to cross through the forbidden forest and no one had ever crossed these borders and lived to tell the tale.

"Get up! Are you deaf?" One of the soldiers screamed, glaring at me. I looked around noticing everyone was on their feet, then obeyed.

"We have come to a decision for her sentence." The elders declared to the sheriff as they all turned in my direction.