mollypops23:Author’s Note: This was a request for a story about a woman who goes through a farcical
mollypops23: Author’s Note: This was a request for a story about a woman who goes through a farcical trial and the repercussions afterward. Enjoy! ***************************************** “Your honor, the jury has reached a unanimous decision. We find the defendant to be….not guilty.” A hushed silence fell over the courtroom. Eleanor’s jaw dropped, stunned at what she’d just heard. Not guilty!? How could this be? How could the jurors have come to such a decision? “Furthermore, the jury recommends that the court award the defendant the compensation his team has requested, to be paid in full within two days.” Eleanor only slightly comprehended what she was hearing. This whole trial had gone horribly wrong. Her friends had warned her, they had told her that Ralph Barnes was not someone to be entangled with. That his wealth, power, and influence was far too great for her to make a case against him. And now it seemed that her friends were correct; Eleanor should have listened to them. But, she had a case against that monster, a solid case in fact. It was absurd that events had played out the way they did. Eleanor had been enjoying a sunny day in the park when Mr. Barnes had forced himself into her life. He and a couple of goons had accosted her in public. The ordeal had escalated rather quickly, from them cat calling and and asking her to flash them, to them forcibly holding her down while Mr. Barnes molested her flesh against her will. There had been witnesses abound; Eleanor had cried out for help, but no one seemed to want to. Perhaps it was because the one upstanding gentleman that had stepped in was immediately beaten up by Barnes’s cronies. It was all a frightening and awful experience, and Eleanor was shocked when her friends told her to forget about it and move forward with her life. They told her that she was lucky that Mr. Barnes hadn’t gone further. “You don’t understand!” Eleanor had shouted at them. “He was grabbing me anywhere he wanted, and he kept humiliating me, saying what a pretty dog I’d make.” In the end, against her friends’ wishes, she’d taken Mr. Barnes to court. By the end of the first day, Eleanor knew she had made a mistake. The entire process was a complete sham. Mr. Barnes had clearly paid off the entire assembly; everyone from the judge to the jury seemed to be on his side, often showing sympathy toward him while scolding Eleanor for her inappropriate and rude behavior. She was forced to watch as witness after witness marched up to the stand and explained how Eleanor had come on to Mr. Barnes. That she’d practically begged him to fuck her right there in the park and that he take her in as his pet. They “remembered” how she’d insulted him when he had “refused” her propositions. Even the brave man who’d stood up for her at the park turned against Eleanor in the trial. He provided emotional testimony to the jury, about how Eleanor had attacked him when Mr. Barnes refused her, using him as bait to make him acquiesce to her demands. The farce of a trial had only lasted a few days, but that still didn’t make the finality of hearing the verdict any less jarring. It was simply impossible to believe what had transpired. “…..accuser must pay the defendant the sum of ten million dollars within 48 hours. If she is unable to do so, alternate compensation will be considered and approved by…” Ten million dollars! It was an outrageous sum of money. Eleanor was not poor by any means, in fact, she’d done quite well for herself at such a young age, but ten million dollars was insane. No one could gather that amount of money in two days. She was vaguely aware that people had begun filing out of the courtroom. Mr Barnes was grinning wickedly at her but she paid him no mind, still lost in her own head. Ten million dollars? ***************************************** Eleanor grabbed the newspaper between her teeth and turned around, crawling back toward the kitchen. She made her way to the table where Mr. Barnes was seated and sat back on her haunches at his feet, looking up at him expectantly. Mr. Barnes chuckled and took the paper from her mouth, patting her on the head as he did so. “Good girl Peaches,” he praised. “Are you ready for your morning routine?” Eleanor looked at him sullenly and nodded. “Go on then,” he instructed lazily. Eleanor sighed, “Good morning Sir. Peaches hopes you accept her humble apology, and she would also like to thank you.” “Apologize for what?” Mr. Barnes inquired. “Peaches is a bad dog, and has been a bad dog to Sir especially.” “Is that so?” he grinned as Eleanor hung her head. “In that case, I accept your apology.” He patted her on the head again and sipped his coffee before continuing. “Now, what was it that you were thanking me for?” he questioned mockingly. “For….for taking Peaches in and training her to be a good dog,” replied Eleanor, struggling to get the words out. “All Peaches wants is…to….to be a good dog for Sir.” Mr. Barnes smiled widely. “Well, you’re very welcome Peaches, and you’re right to be grateful. I’m taking an awful lot of time out of my busy schedule to train you, but I know you’ll be a good doggy by the end, won’t you?” Eleanor nodded her head. “Goooood dog,” he praised again. “I think one more month of the routine will suit you fine. After that, we can rid you of that silly voice, don’t you think? Dogs can’t talk after all, isn’t that right Peaches?” Eleanor knew what he wanted, it was too degrading the bear. Unfortunately, it was either this, or life in prison. “Woof!” This time Barnes laughed heartily, clearly enjoying her humiliation. It made her want to cry; she couldn’t imagine enduring nine more months of this psychological torture. It was only her third day of this hell. “Ok Peaches, go ahead and feed, go on now.” He indicated to the small plate on the floor near his chair. It looked like Eleanor would be dining on a breakfast of stale bread, bits of scorched bacon, and an apple core. She reached for the plate but Mr. Barnes slapped her hand sharply. “BAD dog! Bad!” he scolded harshly. Eleanor lowered her head in shame, of course, she was not permitted to use her hands to eat. She brought her mouth to the plate and nibbled on a piece of bread. It tasted awful, but she knew better than to complain. This was all she was going to get. She swallowed and moved on to the apple core. ***************************************** Mr. Barnes watched the animal beneath him feed on its breakfast. It was a shame really, that there had to have been a trial. A waste of everyone’s time really. If the silly little mutt had just listened to him the first time about what a good pet it would be, the transition would have been so much smoother. Everything had worked out in the end though. The nine months farce was still holding. Peaches didn’t realize how permanent this arrangement really was. First he would take its speech, then completely strip it of its dignity, and finally, erase all foolish notions Peaches had that it was actually a “person.” By the end of nine months, it wouldn’t even be able to form a coherent human thought, let alone one of protest or release. Peaches had taken the difficult route, but it didn’t matter. Mr. Barnes had still been able to rescue it. And he was sure of one thing. He would make Peaches into a very good dog. -- source link