. 08

Author's note:

This is, in all its seven parts and their many chapters, one very,

very

long story. If long stories bother you, I suggest you read something else.

No part of this story is written so as to stand on its own. I strongly suggest that you start with

the beginning of Part 1

and read sequentially—giving up at any point you choose, of course.

All sexual activity portrayed anywhere in this story involves only people at least eighteen years old.

This entire story is posted only on literotica.com. Any other public posting without my permission in writing is a violation of my copyright.

All of the classes for the first three days of the week had a very surreal feel, to me. It just seemed eerie to be discussing math or history with this hanging over us. And the first study time on Monday was very strange, in a different way. Rosa and Moira were there at the beginning, with no study materials, but it was clear that sexual activity wasn't on the immediate agenda.

Jenny said, "Phil, is this what all that about Brown was about?"

I said, "I'm not supposed to discuss anything at all, but I can't see any harm in answering that. Yes. But I won't give you any details, and please, all of you, keep your mouths shut to everyone else. Completely. It's possible that after the trial I'll be able to fill in a few things that may not get said there, but I'm not sure I'll be willing to. I wish I hadn't wound up getting involved. Except that it's a very good thing I did. And you'll probably hear all about that on Thursday."

"But four counts each? And what's this about Bruja?"

"Didn't you hear me? I'm not supposed to discuss it, and for good reasons. I'm not going to discuss it. You'll have to wait for the trial, like everyone else. Do I need to go to my own room and study by myself? For the next three days?"

Jenny came over and put her arms around me and hugged me. "Phil, you're right, and I apologize. I'm sure you understand why I'm curious—why we're all curious—but if you shouldn't talk, don't. I won't apologize for the first question, but I should have dropped it as soon as you said you wouldn't say more. I heard the announcement, same as everyone, and I knew better. I'm sorry."

"I understand that you're all disappointed, but everyone else has to wait, too. I admit that I'm surprised that no one else seems to have connected me to it. I wonder how Maggie is faring."

I learned later that Maggie had drawn some attention, and more as time went on. She finally wound up shutting herself in her room and refusing to answer her door, outside of class times and meal times. At meal times, she started sitting by herself. I checked with my girls, and then went to her at breakfast on Tuesday. At least she didn't just tell me flatly that she had nothing to say and to go away, which I heard her saying to others who approached her.

"Maggie, would you like to come sit with me for meals for a couple of days? My friends understand that I'm not talking about what happened or what's going to happen, period, and we're all willing to help chase people away."

"Phil, are you sure it's OK?" She sounded like she was near tears. Given everything she had been through, and what she was going to have to go through soon, that seemed perfectly reasonable to me.

"It's more than OK. We'd love for you to."

She put her dishes onto her tray and went with me. Jenny made room for her to sit between us, even though the table was already overcrowded. For the benefit of those other than my four, I said, "Listen up, everyone. The topic of what's ahead on Thursday and what's behind it all is off limits at this table. Those who know anything aren't supposed to discuss it, so if you want to talk about that, go sit somewhere else."

We had very interesting discussions of lots of other things, though, from topics in our classes to what we thought we wanted to do next year to things from the news we got, for the next two days. Maggie was soon on first-name terms with everyone there. And we did chase a number of people away, when they came up and tried to question Maggie. One time I had to stand up and get in someone's face about it. At the end of Wednesday's supper, Maggie hugged them all, Jenny, Barbara, Claire, Ellen, and a few others who had sat with us, thanking us for letting her sit there and protecting her.

"I don't know what things will be like starting tomorrow, so I may be back. I hope I won't have to impose on you any longer, but you've meant a lot to me. Thank you so much!"

Thursday morning, Jenny and I ran, but more briefly than usual. The running course was nearly empty. We went in and went off to our separate wings to shower. We, and an awful lot of other people, were sitting in the cafeteria quite a while before serving began. It really wasn't unusual for some people to arrive that early, but not so many by a long shot, and normally most studied while they waited. I'm pretty sure no one was studying there, that morning. I got myself some day-old breadstuffs when I arrived, to eat while I waited.

About five minutes before serving began, a couple of people went and stood where the line formed. That caused others to start getting in line right away. We just sat. Once the serving started, the lines got shorter fairly quickly, and we went and got food.

I made sure that I ate well, even more than I usually did. I had butterflies in my stomach from nervousness, and I knew from experience that this would cause me to feel hungry and sick to my stomach later if I didn't have a fairly full stomach.

Before the signal for the end of breakfast, they started gathering us by the doors, and at the signal we started going out. I thought some instructors were checking to make sure that the whole class went out. At the auditorium, we were definitely being checked off as we went in. I was called aside and told to sit near one end of the front row. Otherwise, seating seemed to be left up to the students. There was a section closed off, besides the front row, and as all of our class was seated some others were escorted in and led to that section. I was pretty sure that most of them were parents or guardians of the accused, but there may well have been some others as well. At any rate, most if not all of them were quite a lot older than the students. The instructors also had a section to themselves.

One of the school administrators, Mr. Kelly, stood up and addressed us all. One advantage of using this space was that there was a PA system. Mr. Kelly spoke from a podium. There were also some chairs, in fact quite a few, and three tables with chairs on the stage.

Mr. Kelly did not wish us all good morning. He thanked us all for being there. He said, "I am the chief administrator for this school, but this is not a school function. This is a trial under the authority of the government of this island." He used its name. "We are in effect an independent nation, but we are small enough that we do not need very much of a government, and most of us almost never encounter a case involving serious legal infractions. We do however have a criminal code. Our legal system is derived from that of the United States, much simplified, but there are some important differences, and I am going to mention two related ones that are important to what is going to happen here now.

"Anyone who observes the criminal justice system of the United States, particularly for the past half century and more, can hardly fail to be struck by one point. It has ceased to be a system of justice. As it actually functions, it is no longer designed to determine facts and apportion guilt and innocence. It has become an elaborate game, in which prosecutors attempt to gain convictions and defense attorneys attempt to prevent them, and following procedural rules is more important than anything else. There are many, many cases in which trials establish, far beyond any reasonable doubt, that a defendant is guilty, and yet he is declared innocent because of procedural errors.

"This is not the way we do things here. If procedural errors are found, the evidence is reviewed to see whether a previous determination of guilt is called into question. It cannot automatically void a conviction. Similarly, evidence cannot be ruled inadmissible for procedural reasons, or generally for any reasons at all. Attempts are made to determine relevance or irrelevance of any facts brought forth, as well as to determine the truth of any assertions made. Again, the purpose of a trial is not to convict, but to ascertain the truth of a matter and thereby to determine guilt or innocence. We hope that this will be evident in our proceedings today.

"Judgment is by a panel of five judges. Again, prosecutors and defense attorneys are not adversaries in the way that most of you probably expect. Both bear the responsibility of seeing to it that the facts are correctly established and that the evidence is correctly weighed. The prosecutors have a greater responsibility of bringing to light evidence tending to show guilt. The defense has a greater responsibility of bringing to light evidence tending to show innocence, and to protection of the defendants' rights. But both, as well as the judges, are responsible for ensuring that evidence is neither fabricated nor suppressed. The prosecutors and defense attorneys have chief responsibility for calling and questioning witnesses, but the judges may do so as well, giving their reasons if they do this.

"We do not address judges as 'Your Honor,' but as 'Sir' or 'Ma'am.'

"In this particular matter, it does not appear that there is any serious question as to the meaning of legal terms. If this should become important, one of the judges will explain, with the others allowed to comment or question if appropriate.

"Having given this background, I will introduce the judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys."

He proceeded to do so. The presiding judge was named Mr. Peters, and two of the five judges were women. One of them I knew to teach classes in law. The rest were unfamiliar to me. The prosecutors were Mr. Anderson and Miss Williams. The defense attorneys were Mrs. Church and Mr. Carson.

From that point, Mr. Kelly left the podium, and Mr. Peters presided.

The charges were read in the terms that they had already been given to us. Further explanation was given, however. On the specific evening—September 20—these six boys—identified individually by name—had met by previous agreement, along with Rich Wagner, now deceased, also a senior student, for the specific purpose of kidnapping and raping a specific girl, namely Maggie Brown. They were accompanied by Samantha Bruja, who had suggested Miss Brown as a suitable victim and provided information as to an opportunity to carry this out. In the course of the event, Miss Bruja was also seized and repeatedly raped. On a later evening—October 8—the same boys had met and again agreed to kidnap and rape Miss Brown. They did in fact kidnap her on this occasion, but were prevented from raping her by members of the school staff, who took them into custody.

The accused were asked to stand, and each, by name, was asked how he or she pled. They were at the other end of the first row from me, with Mr. Robbins and three other large instructors standing by them. The boys all pled not guilty. Bruja said, very firmly but sounding near tears, "Sir, I am guilty. Every word of that is true." Evidently, there was a microphone in somewhere there, though I couldn't see one. Not surprisingly, Bruja's statement caused quite a stir in the audience.

After a minute or so, Mr. Peters rapped his gavel and asked that everyone be quiet so that the trial might proceed.

Mr. Anderson asked Maggie Brown to come up on stage and take the stand. She went up the stairs. She looked completely woebegone, and my heart just went out to her. However, when she spoke, her voice was clear and firm.

She was asked whether she would testify truly, neither adding to the truth nor willfully omitting anything relevant to the events at hand, speaking only of matters which she knew firsthand. She said, "Yes, sir."

Mr. Anderson asked her, "Miss Brown, please describe the events of the evening of September 20."

She gave essentially the same account she had given me. The wording was different, of course, and a little more formal—for example, saying "penis" where I remembered that she had said "dick"—but I couldn't think of any important differences as to the facts she gave, except that she didn't repeat what Bruja had said to her in detail, and she left out Wagner's reference to me. She took the events to the same point, when she untied Bruja, summarizing what Bruja had told her then, that she had confessed and apologized. She didn't add that she believed Bruja, of course.

And, of course, she said the same things she had told me about recognizing voices. She said she definitely recognized Wagner's voice and that of one other boy, as well as Bruja's. She named the other boy. And she spoke of losing track of how many times she was raped, either vaginally or anally.

Mr. Anderson asked, "And did you bring the matter to anyone's attention?"

"Not immediately—I was afraid to. The next day, in the game in gym, my partner was Phil Morris."

Mr. Peters interrupted her. "Miss Brown, I know that all the students here understand what you mean by that, but others who are present do not. Will you please very briefly describe this game for us?"

Maggie looked alarmed, and hesitated for a moment. She finally said, "It was presented to us as providing motivation for becoming more fit. Boys are partnered, by lot, with girls on a given day. The goal for the boys is to catch their partners, and the goal for the girls is to escape being caught. There are penalties for the boys for failing to catch their partners, and for the girls if they are caught. I'm sorry, it is played on a running course we have, with marked start and finish lines. There are stiffer penalties for interfering with another player or for cheating by leaving the marked course.

"I should have said earlier, I am one of the slower runners in my group, so the reason I was out on the course evenings was to try to become faster and be less likely to be caught."

"Thank you. Please continue with your testimony."

"Well, as I said, my partner was Morris. He runs a lot faster, and caught me with no difficulty. I was feeling depressed and hopeless and dirty, and Morris recognized this—not in detail, of course. He has a reputation for being an extremely gentle and caring person, and he recognized that something was wrong. We had a little time to talk, and he pressed me to tell him what was wrong.

"I was afraid to, of course—I had been threatened—but I felt so hopeless that I just told him about it. I barely knew him personally, but I knew his reputation very well, and he lived up to it completely. He comforted me as best he could—and it helped amazingly—but then he said that this needed to be brought to someone who could deal with the situation. He said he was concerned that they would similarly rape someone else if nothing was done about it.

"He told me that he would speak to someone who would pass the information on, doing it in a way that would appear to be a discussion of something else. I don't know how he managed this, but he did. He warned me that I would probably be called in as having committed some offense, and that's just what happened. At the end of that gym class, he and I were both told to report later to be spoken to about things we had supposedly said, separately—derogatory things, about one of the instructors. I was asked about what had happened, and said the same things I've told you now."

"With whom did you speak, at that point?"

"First with Ms. Miller, then with her and Mr. Miles together. They are the main gym instructors for our class. And I told them what I have told you. They also sent me to the infirmary to be examined."

"Please remain on the stand for a moment. We will call Mr. Morris for a number of questions, later, and we will ask him about this then. But Dr. Kathryn Deniro, please come up here now."

She went up the steps and sat next to Maggie. I hadn't previously seen her, and I was surprised that she appeard to be middle-aged. She was sworn in—if that's a good description—in the same way Maggie had been.

"Dr. Deniro, I'm told that you examined Miss Brown the evening after the day she described at length. Is that correct?"

"It is."

"Please tell us what you found."

"By her own statement to me, Miss Brown had taken a long shower the night before, because she felt defiled by her treatment, and she had routinely taken a shower the next day after gym class, before she came to me. So there were no bodily fluids present from any rapes. But I examined her, and both her anus and her vulva showed clear signs of trauma consistent with repeated, forcible rapes of the sort she described, even after more than a day. And her hymen had indeed been torn recently. There was quite a bit of residual soreness, but it did not appear that there was any damage done which would not recover by itself over time—other than the shredding of the hymen, of course. Everything I saw corroborated what she said at the time, and what she has said today."

"Does anyone else here have further questions for Dr. Deniro? Then thank you, Dr. Deniro. Please return to your seat." She did so.

"Miss Brown, do you have any other information, either about the events of that first evening or about the transmission of this information to the school staff? Anything related to these charges?"

"I can't think of anything."

"Thank you. Does anyone else wish to question Miss Brown about anything?

Mrs. Church, one of the defense attorneys, said she had a question. "How sure can you really be about recognizing voices? And about how many of them there were?"

"Wagner's voice, and the other one—" using the name "—I'm very sure of. And Bruja's, and I was right about her, I know that independently. But I'm not an expert, of course. As far as how many, there were at least six, of the boys I mean. I could hear the two who were raping me talking to two more, or I should say I could hear two more making comments to them. And at the same time I could hear two holding Bruja and then raping her talking to each other."

"How do you know that Miss Bruja was raped? Do you know this of your own knowledge?"

"I heard them say that they might as well use her while they waited their turns with me. I heard her start to scream, and one of them hit her, hard. I heard that. And I saw the bruises on her face beginning to form, when I untied her. I heard what they all said to each other as they went back and forth between her and me, and between, between vagina and anus on each of us. And when I untied her, I could see the semen running from her vagina and her anus. And I think that everyone here, all the students and most of the instructors too, had good opportunities to see the bruises on her face during the next few days. They were very hard to miss."

No one said anything for a minute or so. Mr. Anderson said, "Miss Brown, thank you. You may take your seat. You will be called later to discuss the events of last week."

She quickly returned to her own seat.

Ms. Miller and Mr. Miles were then called, separately, Ms. Miller first. Ms. Miller also took most of the time. She reported on what I had told her, as a very brief summary of what Maggie had now testified there, and on Maggie's own report to her. She emphasized that what Maggie had told her matched what she had testified in court. She explained that Mr. Miles had then come in, and she reported the parts of Maggie's testimony that went beyond the summary I had given her earlier. They had asked Maggie to go to the infirmary so that Dr. Deniro could examine her.