tension

          The tension in the courtroom was unbearable. My palms are sweaty and clammy, hundreds and hundreds of thoughts are running through my head, like a flowing stream of water. Will he be convicted? Will he be let go? Will he get any punishment? What will happen after this is over?  These and many other thoughts were just some of the questions that made my palms sweat more. We all stood up silently and quietly as the judge came into the room, and sat in his chair.
       " Bring in the prisoner for the verdict." The judge instructed.
        Mark McClinton was brought into the courtroom. He was in his thirties if I had to guess, but just seeing his scraggly unshaven face made my stomach turn, and me feel nauseated. He sat down in his chair still shackled and chained with his new outfit of fluorescent orange, with the words Property of Sing Sing branded on his back. The door to let the jury in creaked open a tiny bit, everyone's attention was changed from him to the jury door.
      "Bring in the jury, so this court can be officially in session." The judge again instructed.
      The jury was brought in and no one looked at each other or us. My heart pounded and felt like it was going to be racing  in the marathon. Please God, I started praying, please let them come back with a guilty verdict for Jannah. Please God, what he did to her he deserves it. Tears were welling up in my eyes with almost a burning sensation filled with anger and hate.
        "Madam Foreperson, has the jury reached their verdict?" The judge's words seemed to stay on his lips forever. The jury foreman stood up and faced the judge handing a piece of paper to the bailiff. My heart stopped, her words were fruitless to my ears. My gaze was bonded to a small insignificant scrap of paper that was traveling at the pace of a snail toward the judge. He opened it and looked into the eyes of the man sitting before him, folded it back up and returned it to the bailiff. He in turn returned it to the foreman of the jury.
         "On the account of Rape in the first degree, and Murder in the first degree, how do you find the defendant?"
         "We the jury find the defendant-"



In this one, I tried to aim the tension, to the mother of the victim. It is a very tense and nerve wracking when you just have to sit there and wait for the jury or judge to come back with a verdict and you have to sit there and watch the defendant with his life and future hanging in the balance. Will he be let go or will they convict him? It all depends on twelve people with the fate of someone else's life in their hands. I do not know what I would do if I happened upon the situation where I realized that I have to power to kill someone, let then live out what life they have left in a 8x8 cell, or let them go to kill again possibly. That would be tense for me. When I was writing this I could feel my palms start to sweat and my heart began racing. I try to make them as real as I can for myself and the reader. I hope you were as tense as I was!