pov you have cookies in your pockets

Missing Chapter Twenty Seven

Note: This chapter is coming in a little later than I would have liked. Unfortunately my health is quite poor at the moment so I'm on extended bed rest for a while, which gives me limited time for updating fics.

As per usual, I'm going to spam the links to my novel so even if I do go silent for a while you can have something new to read until I come back.

US link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BGSPPBY

UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07BGSPPBY

…..

The gauntlet of reporters that Arnold and Ambrose had had to go through at the start of the trial dwindled as the trial itself progressed. Journalists had cottoned on that, childhood friend and potential adoptive father though they were, they were pretty boring and didn't have anything to say.

Not to mention, if they wanted a real story, that tended to happen at the courthouse itself.

Helga had been excused from testimony for a week after having a very dramatic nosebleed while on the stand. She had been explaining to Waring's lawyer for what must have been the tenth time at least what she was doing in the mountains, and the lawyer's repeated prodding brought him under fire for jeopardizing her health. A journo managed to catch a picture as she was being escorted out of the courthouse, clutching her forehead and a bloodstained handkerchief.

But the week was up, and one of the most crucial days evidence-wise was on the horizon. It was the day they'd reveal what had been found in the bunker, and Helga would be questioned about all the exhibits that related to her captivity. Arnold had no doubt that regardless of his reprimand, Waring's lawyer was going to rake her over the coals as much as he could.

I can't protect her from this. Nobody can.

He knew Ambrose was worried, as were Helga's doctors at the hospital. Even Plaskett, gung-ho as he was to get Waring sent down, was rambling nervously right up until they went inside the courtroom.

“The judge will stop it if it gets too much,” he assured them. “He's on the lookout for 'stunts' right now, he'll stop it before it gets out of hand. Don't forget to let him know if you need a break.”

Helga shrugged and smiled. She seemed confident enough, but as always it was hard to tell what she was really thinking. Her hands gripped the arms of her wheelchair hard enough to make the metal creak.

…..

“Could you explain what this thing is supposed to be?”

The lawyer held up a clear plastic bag delicately between his fingers, as though he didn't want to touch it even indirectly. The metal ring inside winked under the harsh lighting of the courtroom.

“That would be my collar.”

A few quiet gasps sounded from the stands and the jury. Waring smiled, as though he was thinking on a pleasant memory.

“A collar?” the lawyer scoffed. “Forgive me, it doesn't look quite big enough to be a collar, Ms. Pataki.”

“It was made with my measurements, I was a lot smaller then.”

“I see. And what was this collar used for, exactly?”

“It attached to a chain on the wall. It was to stop me from trying to escape or wander out of sight,” she explained.

Helga's hand was fiddling with her hair as she spoke, but if you looked close enough you could see her trace the scar the collar had left on her neck.

“Let me go back to some of your previous testimony....as I recall, you said my client had you locked in a dog crate, is that right?”

“That's right.”

“So why would he feel the need to fit you with a collar and chain? Seems a little bit like overkill, wouldn't you agree?”

“As I explained then,” Helga said with the iciest of tones, “the crate was only used at night. He didn't like me wandering around the bunker while he was sleeping, that's why he locked me up. The collar and chain was for the daytime so I could stretch my legs and do chores.”

“Ah, please pardon my forgetfulness,” the lawyer said flippantly. “I assume you were locked up in this contraption the day you claimed to escape?”

“Yes.”

“So how did you get out of this thing? Because I can hardly believe even back when you were a child you'd manage to slip this over your head....”

“I dug an old nail out of the floorboard and used it to unscrew the hinge,” she told him. “I always put it back on before he came back.”

“Once you had it off, why didn't you make a run for it then?”

“I was too big to fit through the hole in the roof. I had to buy time to make it wider.”

“Forgive me for thinking that sounds quite fantastical, Ms. Pataki. Am I to believe a starving child, as you have described, had enough strength to widen a hole in metal using a single nail?”

“The roof was already rusting badly. It didn't take much. And my weight at the time is in my medical files, I was getting smaller as the hole was getting bigger.”

“Sounds plausible,” the lawyer agreed with an air of sarcasm.

He was clearly playing one of two goals; either he was trying to rapid-fire his questions to confuse Helga and make her contradict herself, or he was trying to spur her on to have another medical issue so he could claim she wasn't fit to give evidence. The prosecutor had warned them about this.

Why can't the judge see what he's doing?

“Moving on to Exhibit D,” the lawyer began, dropping the collar and picking up another plastic bag. “Do you recognize this?”

“Yes,” she answered, and from the stand Arnold could see her waver a little.

“This would be a standard set of pliers,” the lawyer continued. “Tell us what Mr Waring used these for.”

“Mostly fixing things, but he also used them to pull out two of my teeth,” Helga answered.

Arnold heard the journalists scribbling furiously in their notepads. The jury exchanged shocked looks. Apparently they hadn't heard of this before now.

“Do you mean to tell me Mr Waring performed some sort of field orthodontia on you?”

“He said they were crowded, and they were permanent teeth so he thought they needed to go.”

The lawyer looked back at Waring. Two spots of red were blooming on his cheeks, by now it was a clear sign that he was frustrated that his client had kept things from him.

“That's in my medical file too,” Helga said smoothly.

…..

One of the back rooms in the courthouse was set aside for vulnerable people there to give evidence, and although Helga snorted when she heard the word 'vulnerable' she was clearly glad to be as far from Waring as possible when they adjourned.

Arnold braved the reporter gauntlet to pick up some sandwiches from a diner across the street. When he returned, she was tapping awkwardly on the phone she had yet to figure out (having gone missing before smartphones became an everyday thing).

“Phoebe's asking how it's going,” she explained as he placed her sandwich (turkey and swiss cheese, wholemeal) in front of her.

“I'd say it's going pretty well,” Arnold suggested. “What do you think?”

“I don't know,” she sighed. “It feels like I'm just answering the same question over and over and we're getting nowhere.”

“Yeah, that lawyer's like a dog with a bone. Maybe it's because he knows he can't win so he's trying to drag it out.”

“You're probably right.”

She sank a little in her wheelchair, unwrapped her sandwich but made no move to eat it. She looked exhausted.

“How are you feeling?” Arnold asked cautiously, knowing she hated to show any sign of weakness. “Remember, they said don't push yourself...”

“Everything counts as pushing myself right now,” she snapped. “I can't remember any of this without effort, especially the stuff that'll get him sent down.”

The silence dragged after her outburst. Ambrose had been called away, it was just the two of them. Arnold wanted to help her somehow, but there was absolutely no way to do it. He'd just have to watch her suffer through this endless questioning.

“Sorry,” she muttered at last. “I'm kinda crabby...my head hurts a bit.”

“Nothing to be sorry for,” he shrugged. “I think if you weren't crabby in these circumstances, you wouldn't be human.”

That got a wan chuckle out of her, at least.

…..

“He used that on deer carcasses.”

She was sounding bored, and the jury seemed to be just as bored. The lawyer insisted that she recognize every single knife and tool they had removed from the bunker, and Waring had a vast collection.

“Just deer?” the lawyer probed.

“He may have used it for other carcasses, I'm not sure. I mostly saw him butcher deer with it.”

The lawyer dropped the knife, and turned back towards the evidence table. There were only a few more items on it, soon the day's questioning would be over....

“This notebook, do you recognize it?”

Arnold saw Helga stiffen dramatically. The jury, and the reporters at the back, took notice and started paying attention again.”

“Yes,” she said, swallowing hard.

“On inspection, it seems to be a list of numbers. Can you tell the court what these numbers indicate?”

She took a deep, shaky breath.

“The numbers are my measurements. Were, I mean. He measured me every day,” she explained.

“To what end were these measurements taken?”

“He wanted me to grow a certain way,” she continued. “He put me on diets and gave me exercises to do while he was gone so I'd fit what he wanted. He said that's why he took a kid, he wanted to shape me into his perfect woman.”

“Perfect?”

“That's how he said it.”

“So he measured height, weight, waist, and so on? There are over fifty different number categories here.”

“He measured everything. Inside and out.”

“Do you mean to say that my client sexually molested you in the process of taking these measurements?”

“Yes, he did.”

Several members of the jury had gone noticeably pale. If Helga kept this up, it would be a slam dunk verdict. The nausea that Arnold felt listening to this was a small price to pay for taking Waring out of society and behind bars.

Even the lawyer was looking a little shaken as he dropped the notebook and unwrapped a long object from its dustcloth. It was a shotgun, covered in plastic wrap.

“Do you recognize this, Ms Pataki?” he asked.

Helga looked up at the judge, but she might as well have been looking at a statue for all the response she got from him.

“It's his shotgun,” she said.

“Do you know what type of gun this is?”

“No, I don't really know anything about guns.”

“Then how can you say without a doubt that this belongs to my client?”

“It's his deer gun,” Helga explained. “It has a smear of blue paint on the barrel and a crack in the base. The bullets come in a red and white box.”

“Did you handle this gun at any point yourself?”

“Sometimes he got me to polish it,” she said. “And sometimes he pointed it at me.”

“Any particular reason, do you think?”

“When I wasn't doing things fast enough for him, or if my measurements were wrong. He fired it at me twice, the first time he was aiming near my feet. The second time he got me.”

“This would be the alleged bullet wound on your head, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“The one that put you in a coma, am I right?”

“Coma isn't the right word. The doctors say it was a persistent vegetative state. But yes, that's the one.”

There was an air of finality when she confirmed the head wound, Arnold was sure she couldn't answer another question without collapsing. She was white as a sheet now and visibly trembling. But her job had been done, there was no way they wouldn't convict Waring.

Even if Waring hadn't opened his mouth again and shouted across the courtroom, ignoring everybody else, as if he and Helga were the only two people there.

“It worked, didn't it? You have to admit it worked!”

An apelike chattering laugh bubbled in his throat, he stretched his arms out towards her and suddenly lurched across the bench before he could be stopped.

“You're perfect now,” he bellowed. “If I'd known that was all it took, I'd have shot you sooner!”

Arnold was on his feet rushing to the stand as the bailiff tackled Waring to the ground, but it was far too late. Blood was gushing out of Helga's nose and she tried in vain to staunch the flow with her hands wrapped around her face. Just as Arnold reached her, her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out.

Interview with Hazeleyedleto

Your URL:

Hazeleyedleto: https://hazeleyedleto.tumblr.com

Echelon Fiction (fanfic account): https://echelonfiction.tumblr.com

Your name: Monique

Link to your Masterlist: https://echelonfiction.tumblr.com/mystores What was your first experience with 30 Seconds to Mars? The Kill, when I was an 18-year-old, how amazing was your first time seeing the Kill? Your Favorite Mars song? Attack Has anything ever happened to you solely because of being a 30STM fan? I met my best friend <3 What is your favorite thing about the fandom? Your least favorite? Fav: no matter what I know there is always going to be a place where I fit in, I’ve never had that before Least: The bitches who think they're better than other bitches, and the daddy kink Is there any advice you would give to someone who is new to the fandom? We’re obsessive, protective but not all that bad, the bad eggs are few and far between but they are loud, try to ignore them How long have you been writing? 18 years. Why did you start writing? (Either in general or for Mars specifically) When I was 12, I had so much stationary that I didn’t know what to do with so I started one story. . . then another then another. Still, have too much stationary but am a writer so its okay Do you write for other fandoms? If so, which ones? Depends, I Like writing the Linkin Park guys and Bucky Barnes, but whatever inspires me really Do you share everything you write? If not, is there a reason why? Hmm, no. I only really share mars stuff, my non- fanfic stuff will be turned in to novels and my non-mars related stuff I don’t really have a platform to do so on. Have you written things that aren't fanfic? If so, could you tell us about those works? Many, my writing is 50/50 fanfic vs Fiction. My latest novel that I finished a couple of weeks ago ended about 85k words is about angels and demons and a prophecy that will either unite or destroy them all Of all your works, which is your favorite and why? Iridescent – (mentioned in above question) because it’s the novel that took over my whole life and kept me hostage until I wrote it from beginning to end rendering me with Stockholm syndrome to the point that I still miss them Stand Tall, They’ll Break Your Heart – first novel I ever finished. and Bright Lights – I’ve never had such a positive response from anything I’ve ever written and get yelled at because I don’t update often enough Is there one that was particularly difficult to write? Why? They’re all difficult to write. I write very emotionally driven novels, they can be draining as I take on the characters at such a personal level that I live what they tell me in a way, I’m crazy, ignore me. What is the ideal writing environment for you? At your desk? Quiet? Music? Anywhere anytime, I usually write sitting on my bed, but can literally write anywhere in any environment. Prefer loud music and a comfy place for my butt What type of fanfic are you most comfortable writing (drama, fluff, angst, drabbles, series, etc.) Mushy series filled with drama What is your favorite fanfic trope? I don’t know what that is but I THINK my answer is dramatic chicks being involved with music or rock bands Is there any trope or subject that you won't write? Daddy kink? Are there any special tools that you use when creating or writing your story? My fingers!? My stories are often inspired by songs or video clips or something like that J Do you write your story in order or do you jump around and then string it together at the end? Sometimes, especially with fanfictions. Like with Bright Lights (my biggest Mars fanfic) I have four future versions, but the reason I do that is to better understand them in the ‘bright lights’ version. Do you outline, or do a great deal of prep work or do you 'fly by the seat of your pants'? Up until my novels Attack and Iridescent I ALWAYS prided myself about being a pantser, but I really enjoyed being a planner for those two novels. How do you usually get your inspiration? Music and Video clips, sometimes dreams and other places. Do you have ideas on the drawing board or in progress currently that you haven't shared yet? Yeah, Beautiful Disaster, my bff would kill me if I wrote it though, but I have another one in the holster I am thinking about starting April 1st If you have an unpublished work in progress, please pick two to three sentences and share them without context. “Armani,” Stephanie smiled, “I trust you are well?” Mike looked between the two Angels as the embraced in a slight hug and a kiss in the cheek. Stephanie stepping back between him and Chester. “Of course,” Armani smiled. “I’m betting this isn’t a social call?” the other angel asked. “No, Armani, this is Chester and Mike,” she said pointing to the demon who owned the names. “I’ve come to make a request,” Stephanie said looking to Armani from under her eyebrows, trying to gauge her reaction. Her face was poised, it always was, but the mood in the room changed, it was now tension filled. Armani was no fool, she knew this angel was standing before her with two demons. “You will need to-” “I am a direct crown descendant ” Stephanie said. “You are also standing her with two demons,” “And you are breaking the rules,” “yeah but” “If I was willing I could turn you into ash, right now,” Stephanie pointed out. “and I would be in the right,” she told. Armani held her gaze. “now, are you going to follow the rules and grant me my appearance for request, or am I going to have to take care of things another way?” Stephanie’s lips curl upward Armani’s lip curled downward as she turned slightly. Do you like requests? Would you like more or less of them? I haven’t had any, but would be happy to take them. Is there an upcoming project from you that you are excited about? Why, and what can you share about it? I can’t wait to edit and Publish Iridescent The best piece of writing advice you've ever received? Can never pick just one Put your butt in a chair and your hands on the keyboard and something will happiness. Writer's block is just an excuse, write anything even the crap, it can always be changed later And, Aim to write every day, even just for 15mins per day, get in that habit and you will find you self-finding 5 mins or 10 mins slots more often then you realise The worst piece of writing advice you've ever received? I don’t know. Wasn’t important, was it? What piece of advice would you give to someone just starting to write fanfic? Give it ago, see how if feels, you don’t have to share it, just try. Three (stories, series, scenes, etc) written by others that you really like or that inspire you? Closer – partcually Tomo in this story, even though the whole story is fucking amazing and Black Fuel and Bikes @fyeahproudglambert Provihitofics had a story about camping, it was great she doesn’t fic no more tho

Are any of your characters closer to being “you” than others? Any reason in particular? Hmmmmm, yes I guess. The characters are all like different parts of me, Phoebe is an angry psycho which is a part I never get to express often, but there are parts of her that are not like me. Same with Helena being independent to some extent.

One thing about me is I like to find things I have in common with people, if I look hard enough, it could become obsessive.

Are any of your characters based on someone you know? Hmm a lot of my male characters look like rock stars if that counts. Are any of your plots based on something that happened to you? No, but one day Favorite font for writing? Don’t have one Do you have a 'day job'? If so, what? I am a student studying Bachelor of Social Science (psychology) with hopes to get good enough scores to get into Psychology. I am Also an Author and a qualified Mental health peer worker. Do you consider yourself a reader outside of fanfic? Yup, Your favorite book? Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson Your favorite things to do when you're not writing? What does ‘not writing’ mean? .  . . nah I like to watch Safari live, see my niece and nephew, explore the wild and hate on frogs The strangest thing you've ever eaten? My brothers used to make me eat grass stalks, oh oh CAVIAR I got told it wasn’t Caviar, it was freaking caviar Looks at @Fyeahproudglambert Two truths and a lie? I hate frogs, I’ve never met my best friend, I love the feel of fallen out hair Five albums you'd want if stranded on a desert island? Cant I just take my Spotify? I actually don’t think I can answer this? I don’t just listen to albums all the way through, . .  . This is war (plus attack and the kill) LLFD Breakaway kelly Clarkson Hybrid theory A thousand suns Something surprising about you? I have a really good memory And I usually come off as pretentious and up myself, because I am highly critical of things and probably way too opinionated, but I am actually a really nice, loyal and caring person who just wants to do good and help as many people as I can Favorite food to enjoy while watching Netflix? Anything, maybe a packet of sea salt chippies. Favorite way to spend a Saturday night? Writing Blankets Tucked or Untucked? Right side untucked, left side tucked Do you have any pets? Would you like to tell us about them? Dog, Ella - She shares my birthday, Sasha – not my dog, my brother's dog but I grew up with her and am temporarily looking after her, Cats: Ollie, Angel, Sully. I got Ollie first (After my cat Joel died) and then my brother got Angel (she was being mistreated somewhere else) Ollie and Angel bonded n such a human love type way, and we decided they could not be separated, so I got Angel too, guess what though, 9 month old cats can have babies, Angel had three Kittens, Lucky, Sully and Heat, my brother kept heat, I kept sully and Lucky went to a loving home J Musicals, yes or no? If yes, what movie/show would you like to see made into a musical? No, thank you Tell us a joke. Mars fans who hate and bitch on everything the band does Are there any particular battles or struggles in your life you'd like to tell us about? Hmm, I mean I am an open book with the things I have been through, and am happy to talk about them at any time, there are many things from abuse, abandonment, isolation, major depression, self-harm, suicidal ideology, my brother was recently in a coma ,my mother’s cancer journey, my heart issues, social phobia, PTSD, horderism and crippling self-doubt and anxiety, to tell the short story. While some things still plague me, I find all of it also drives me to make my life better, and t do the best I can every day. Life struggles are hard, but they also enrich me to not only help people in my ‘day job’ but to help me write richer stories. Anything you'd like to add? You guys are doing a great job. When I started Echelon fiction, this is kinda what I wanted it to be but I never had the drive to pull it off, I love how innovative you guys are being and changing things up getting your followers involved, its really cool! Good job, keep going