“Ms. Melvy, your defense has made it clear you want to give a statement.”

“Yes your honor.”

The woman with her rosy blond hair tied back to just her shoulder steadys herself with a long breath. Sitting up out of the uncomfortable wooden chair.

Thanks to her lawyers Sofia was able to get out of her orange jumpsuit and into a tight burgundy colored knit dress. It was never a good color for her, washed her right out. So did her favorite shade of yellow, dandelion, she wore it that night too.

“Hello, I’m Sofia Marie Melvy. I was a lot of things, editor chief of the school newspaper, militant vegetarian, and most importantly a sister. If I had to give up any of those other things, I wouldn’t be me. But I especially wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t a sister. A protector, a herder, a wrangler, a shoulder to cry on and everything in between. This was a role thrown at me, but one I’d grown to love fiercely. One that has pushed me to do strange and wild things,dress up as a fairy princess for a birthday party, travel to every toy store in the county to buy a model train. Yet, I regret none of it.” The woman begins in a steely tone.

The eyes of the jury held an equal focus. The knife edge of her words held her own life in balance.

And yet, the woman bristled on with a reckless determination.

“In fact, I have no regret for anything. I can imagine the sorrow the family may feel, but it will never, ever, hold a candle to my own. To the lives of two innocent 7 year olds, compared to the life of one girl who didn’t even value her own to get sober enough to drive. To a girls life that has proved to me forever that karma doesn’t exist…. That innocence is a matter of finance!” The woman exclaimed slamming her hands on the oak table.

The portly bailiff slowly starts over to the desk.

Sofia’s steel melts for a second as a panicked look knits her eyebrows closer. With a frentic look she stares at the Judge. The tan middle aged woman lifts her hand up to wave off the portly bailiff.

“I’d advise against loosing your decorum. Despite being the subject of this trial I can still put you under contempt.”

Sofia began again, looking at her hands with a demure anxiety.

“Sorry… your honor… jury, As I was saying. I couldn’t care less if she was a star runner, I don’t CARE if she volunteered with the homeless once. All the details and victim impacts could not convince me that right to the BITTER END! ….. That Anne wasn’t a reckless, stupid girl, who never showed a tear of remorse for killing my siblings. Anne Perlman got a clean record and we all know deep down… she always has a clear conscious.”

Sofia looked back up at the jury her steely gaze refocused. The woman doesn’t care that their faces are white with shock and shame.

With a small smile she turns to the portly bailiff, holding her hands out. Her lawyer lets out a long sigh. But Sofia knows in all her sorrow, what she doesn’t feel, is remorse.