"You look wonderful."

George's words of affirmation just about manage to evoke a small smile from his husband. Levi turns to his side, taking in his appearance in the full-length mirror perched in the corner of the bedroom the men share. His greying ebony hair is combed back neatly; a charcoal suit is fitted near-perfectly to his slender frame; and the white button-up beneath his jacket pulls the sophisticated look together. He heaves a defeated sigh, unsure of where today will lead.

"Am I wrong to be nervous about this?" Levi finally asks, as he adjusts the cuff of his sleeve. "Therapy didn't quite cover facing him again in the flesh."

"You have every right to feel however you need to feel," George assures him, placing a caring hand against his partner's arm. "But remember, I'll be right there, watching everything. You aren't alone with this."

"Doesn't it just feel as though life is one major catastrophe after another?" Levi questions, shaking his head in disapproval. "Maybe once this is over, we'll finally catch a break from everything life wants to throw at us."

"Well, when has life ever run straight for us?" George chuckles. "Excuse the pun."

"You may have a solid point there." Levi joins in George's quiet laughter; it serves as a minor distraction and a means to make the situation more lighthearted. He glances at the digital clock on the bedside table. "Well, I guess we should start making tracks. We have to be there in two hours, and it's a fair drive to London."

"You're right." George grabs hold of his own jacket, slinging it carelessly over his shoulder in order to transport it to the car with him. "Let's go and get justice."

• • •

"I call Mister Levi Panayiotou-Jones, as main witness for the prosecution, to the stand."

In the Witness Service waiting room, Levi stands awaiting his time to give his evidence. He knows that George is sat in the public gallery, and that George has seen more of the trial unfold than he himself has. The door to the room opens, revealing a court clerk. Levi's eyes snap up, falling onto the stranger.

"We are ready for you to take the stand," the man states, using his head to gesture for Levi to leave the room with him.

Levi swallows harshly, as anxiety sets in. For the last hour or so, he has been isolated with his mind; this has allowed for plenty of opportunity for him to overthink. Because he is the main witness, he has been unable to watch the trial up to this point; so now, he must face up to Mackenzie once and for all. He follows the court clerk to the courtroom, feeling his heart palpitating — as though it's physically thumping against his ribcage. At last, Levi arrives at the courtroom. The first thing he sees is George sitting, observing him. For a moment, they make eye contact; George uses this as a chance to flash a smile to his dear husband. Levi attempts to force one back, but his nerves prevent him from doing so. He takes the stand, avoiding looking at Mackenzie at all costs.

"Mister Panayiotou-Jones," the judge begins. "Do you solemnly swear that you will speak the truth; the whole truth; and nothing but the truth?"

Levi nods, as a nonverbal accompaniment to his answer. "I do."

"Thank you." The judge maintains his gaze on Levi as he continues. "First of all, Mister Panayiotou-Jones ... as the victim of the defendant — Mister Mackenzie Alwick's — alleged attempted murder and high culpability threat with a weapon, do you have prepared, a Victim Personal Statement?"

"Yes, Your Honour." Levi glances down at the paper before him, mentally preparing himself to read it aloud.

"Would you please share this with the rest of the room?"

"Of course." He lifts the paper up high enough to see the words clearly, before beginning to voice his account of the incident. "I met the defendant in a bar in central London, on the night of September twentieth, of this year. I was with my husband on a date. The defendant struck up a conversation, seeming to blatantly ignore my husband in favour of talking to myself. On account of my husband feeling uncomfortable with this exchange, we left the premises and returned to our hotel room for the night.

"The following morning, my family and I were at breakfast. The defendant was also there, staying in the same hotel as we were. He spoke with me once again, still barely acknowledging my husband's presence. As a family, we later headed to the London Eye, to find the defendant was in the same capsule as we were. He proceeded to ask me about my children, and he asked for my mobile number. Being naïve, and assuming he was just a lonely man searching for friends, I gave it to him.

"My daughter misplaced one of her teddies after we had visited the London Eye. Later on that evening, I received a text message from the defendant telling me he had located my daughter's teddy. He asked me to visit his hotel room to retrieve it, so I went there straightaway. When I arrived, I thanked him for finding the teddy; but when I made it evident I was leaving his room, he asked me to stay for a drink. I declined politely, reminding him that my family was waiting for me back in our hotel room. He then attempted to initiate a kiss, to which I rejected him. With a higher sense of urgency, I tried to leave him once again. H-He ... He, uh ... " Levi hesitates, as the familiar sensation of overwhelm hits him at once. He tries to overcome it and suppress it, not wanting to let himself or his family down. "He ... "

"Mister Panayiotou-Jones, I will remind you that you are entitled to request a break whenever you need to."

"Thank you, Your Honour," Levi answers. "But I would like to continue."

The judge nods. "Please continue."

Levi finds his place in the writing again. "He told me that he had, to paraphrase, a large track record of men who he had managed to seduce in the past. He didn't take my rejection well at all, and he admitted to me that he had been stalking my family and I since he first met us the night prior. The first threat came through the indirect insinuation, that those who do not respond to his advances in the way he wishes ... don't survive to see another day. Whether he was confessing to the murder of any other man in his past, I am unsure. But the words were enough to cause me to fear for my life. I somehow managed to send my husband a text message alerting him to come and help me, but in the time it took for him to arrive with a member of the hotel staff, the defendant had restrained me and had me held at knifepoint. I-I have never felt more terrified in my entire life. I was so convinced that I wouldn't make it out of that hotel room.

"In the nick of time, my husband arrived with a member of staff, and the defendant dropped the knife. He tried to flee the room, but my husband and some of the hotel guests worked together to keep him locked in his room until the police arrived. I vaguely remember making the call to emergency services, but I couldn't tell you what I said or how I was acting. I had become lightheaded, and reality was starting to hit me that I'd survived.

"The last thing I remember was my husband approaching me after I'd moved down the corridor, and he told me I was safe; that the defendant was gone. The police had taken him. But despite being safe in that moment, the truth was that it was the start of a gruelling mental journey to try and regain some normality in my life again. Since the incident, I have had to undergo therapy to try and find ways to cope with what happened. Regularly, I have vivid nightmares revolving around what happened that night. Because of my fantastic husband and my wonderful children, I am luckily able to function to an acceptable standard. But the mental scarring and the trauma I faced at the hands of the defendant is something that I cannot quite forgive. This statement serves as a recollection of the ordeals I faced, and provides only a feeble insight into how things have changed since."

"Thank you, Mister Panayiotou-Jones," the judge speaks, before turning his attention to the prosecution barrister. "Now, I am led to believe that there are some articles of evidence which have been provided by the witness and from other external sources?"

"That is correct, Your Honour," the prosecution barrister responds. "As we show these articles, I will invite my witness to talk through why each one is significant in providing evidence."

The judge nods in understanding. "Proceed."

"First of all, we have the records from the hotel in which the alleged victim stayed with his family. The records show that the defendant checked into the hotel the same evening — but not until almost midnight." The prosecution barrister provides screenshots from the hotel computer in printed form, and projected onto a large screen in the courtroom for everyone to read. "Now, Mister Panayiotou-Jones, can you tell us more about the significance of the time stamps for these bookings?"

"Of course," Levi obliges. "Um, I made the booking for the hotel a few days before we travelled to London to stay. Our stay was from the Friday evening, to the Sunday. If you notice on the screenshots, it actually states I made the booking earlier on in the week. And if you notice, Mack's booking was a walk-in, at almost midnight on the day my family arrived. My husband and I had already returned to the hotel room by the time he made his booking — it was after being out at the bar where we met him. This proves that he followed us there, so he could keep tabs on where I was all the time."

"Thank you." The barrister then changes the slide on the screen, to a photo of Levi and his family on the London Eye. "The next piece of evidence I present, is this image taken on the Saturday afternoon of their trip. Mister Panayiotou-Jones, could you please elaborate on this article?"

"Yes," Levi replies, glancing at the photograph. "If you notice, in the background of the family photo, you can see Mack. It's just to prove that he followed us to the London Eye, and made sure he got on the same capsule as we did."

"The next article I'd like to draw your attention to, is the screenshots of the text message exchange between the witness and the defendant," the barrister announces, switching the slide to said screenshots. "Mister Panayiotou-Jones, can I now ask for you to talk about this?"

"This was the conversation Mack and I had just before I went to his hotel room," Levi explains. "He messaged me to tell me he'd found my daughter's toy cat. This was the exchange we had which encouraged me to visit him. I mean, it's all pretty self-explanatory."

"Thank you." The prosecution barrister then switches the slide to a video clip. "This is the closed-circuit television footage from the hotel corridor from the time of the incident. Mister Panayiotou-Jones, could you please give some insight into what's happening as it plays?"

Levi exhales a shaky breath; he has seen this footage only once since the incident, but nothing can prepare him with any kind of effectiveness, to relive the fateful night. "Okay, so ... you see me arrive at the hotel room. And I knock on the door. Mack lets me in, but obviously you don't see what happens because the door is closed." He watches as the clip fast forwards to show later events. "Um, now this is around ten minutes later. That's my husband and that hotel staff member arriving outside the room. By this point, I was inside the hotel room being held at knifepoint. Um, and you can see George unlocking the door with the keycard. B-But then you see me running out the door with my daughter's teddy. And—And I guess I look pretty traumatised. And George is holding the door closed with the member of the hotel staff, to stop Mack from getting out." He briefly averts his eyes to George, who is still unfalteringly smiling at him in reassurance. "Uh, and then as you can see, I was on the phone with the police. And some hotel guests came out their rooms to see what the commotion was about. And—And um—" Watching the footage suddenly becomes too much for him, so he looks away completely, instead focusing his gaze onto the podium in front of him with teary eyes and trembling lips.

"Please provide the next article," the judge requests to the barrister, noticing Levi's distress.

"The final — and most important — article I wish to provide today, Your Honour, is the weapon the defendant had on his person to threaten my witness with." The barrister produces a clear zip-lock bag, with the knife inside it. An image of it is projected onto the large screen. "If my witness feels able, I invite him to elaborate."

"Y-Yeah. Th-That's the one," Levi stammers. "He held it to my neck, and he threatened to slit my throat. But he dropped it to the ground once my husband got to the hotel room."

"I'd also like to add that when the weapon was swab tested, the defendant's fingerprints were found to be on both the handle and the blade itself," the barrister comments. "Which, I'm sure you'll agree — Your Honour, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury — solidifies that the defendant had this weapon in his possession and used it to threaten the life of my witness on the evening of September twentieth, two-thousand-and-fourteen."

George diverts his attention to Mackenzie, who is sat silently listening to the questions Levi is answering. He notices that Mackenzie is almost looking uncomfortable with what is unfolding, which admittedly brings George just a little satisfaction — after all, this man caused his family a lot of anguish in just twenty-four hours. What he doesn't anticipate, however, is what Mackenzie does next.

"I just loved you!" Mackenzie suddenly shouts out, rising from his seat and grasping harshly at the handrails in front of him. "I didn't want to actually kill you, Levi! I just didn't want anybody else to have you!"

"Mister Alwick, please be seated," the judge demands.

"I deserve whatever comes to me!" Mack yells, slamming his hand against the wood of the dock he's enclosed in. "I'm fucked up!"

Mackenzie's words cause a commotion among all the spectators in the public gallery, as well as between the jury. Levi looks to George; the pair of them quickly swap bewildered expressions until their interaction is interrupted.

"Order! I demand silence in this courtroom!" the judge calls out, louder this time. "Mr Alwick, please be seated!"

Mackenzie lowers himself down into his chair, defeated. He daren't look up at anybody in the room, so he simply looks down at his feet. Knowing he's essentially confessed to the crime, he can no longer find any way to defend his actions.

"Mister Panayiotou-Jones, please be seated," the judge commands. "Due to the evidence we have seen and heard in this courtroom today, and also due to the unofficial testimony from the defendant, I am ruling that the jury now take the time to discuss all that they have seen today; and they must make a unanimous decision as to whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty of attempted murder and high culpability threat against the alleged victim."

Levi's attention falls onto the members of the jury, who have begun conversing to decide whether Mackenzie is to be sentenced or not. He hopes, with all his heart, that they make the right decision — as the fate of his and his family's future rests in their hands.

• • •

Fun fact — it took me seven hours to research and write this one ... Will they find Mackenzie guilty or not guilty? xx