Sentence

Seraphina

“You have been sentenced to twenty years imprisonment”

My heart dropped to my toes, bitter laughter slowly escaping my lips as tears slowly filled up my eyes. Twenty years imprisonment for a murder that I didn’t commit.

But that evidence was damning! When Sophia died, I was in the garden, watering the plants but somehow, new footage was released of me entering the house secretly.

According to the investigation, it turned out that Sophia didn’t commit suicide as claimed. She was forced into consuming poison and the suicide letter was my handwriting. The housekeeper who was also in the vacation house told lies about how she witnessed me forcing Sophia to consume poison and she was scared to speak.

All of this didn’t just make sense and it all proved that the one behind all of this was no one other than Lucia, my twin sister.

Clenching my fist, I turned to look at her while she was in Mason’s arms, crying. “I can’t believe that she did that” She choked out between sobs.

The more I stared at her, the more anger pulsed through my veins but it wasn’t her fault, the fault was mine.

If I had never made my grandfather grant that wish of adopting her from the orphanage, then all of this would have never happened in the first place.

Lucia and I grew up in the orphanage and she was my best friend then because she always tried to protect me when all the other kids tried picking on me. But things took a different turn when the Henderson family came to the orphanage house for a charity event and my parents picked interest in me after a presentation that made them adopt me.

I never wanted to leave without my twin sister but after being convinced by the orphanage administrator and my now parents, I agreed on the condition that Lucia would also be adopted.

Lucia was excited that the Henderson family would be coming back for her as soon as they put things in place like they promised. They changed my name from Lily to Seraphina while I patiently waited for when my sister would come in.

However, my parents went back on their word and seven years became thirteen years. When it became obvious that they had no plans of taking Lucia in, I pleaded with my grandfather to please bring her into the house before my thirteenth birthday which he did much to the displeasure of my parents.

Lucia got adopted just like I had wanted and we had celebrated our thirteenth birthday together but what I didn’t know was that it was the beginning of my misery. Lucia wasn’t the same seven-year-old that I knew because when she came into the Henderson house, she would do horrible things and lie against me.

She would cause trouble in school by using my name. She would steal from our parents and make me get grounded in her stead and no matter, how much I tried to exonerate myself, it never worked!

It was scary that everything that happened then was happening over and over again.

Maybe I was the fool who believed that she had changed when in a real sense, a leopard never changes its spots.

Regret coiled in my heart and slowly, the reality of the dilemma that I had found myself in began to dawn on me as my head hung low in despair. “20 years for a crime that I didn’t commit…

Tears cascaded down my cheeks as my body trembled in fear. My parents had disowned me because to them I was a disappointment that tried to sever the ties that they had with the Thompson family.

“No, I didn’t kill Sophia” My lips wobbled and a scream rippled from my chest. “I didn’t kill Sophia so why should I go to jail for something that I didn’t do”

Everyone was appalled by my outbursts while they made snide remarks, calling me a shameless murderer who deserved to spend the rest of her life in jail.

The murderer who was supposed to spend the rest of her life behind bars was in their midst so why…

Sniffling, I wiped off my tears with the back of my hands when it soon hit me that I never told Mason something important since he never honored my request to see him when I was held in detention.

My lips wobbled as my words came out as stutters. “M-Mason…”

Mason never responded as I was being led away by the officers. I couldn’t let this be the end even though we were now divorced. He deserved to know this

When it was evident that he had no plans of listening to me, I broke free from the officer’s grip, shouting. “Mason, I have something to tell you”

Lucia raised her head while Mason fixed his gaze on me, his eyes burning with nothing but hate for me as he raised a brow. “What does the murderer have to say?”

His horrible remark didn’t bother me. “I have been wanting to tell you this. I am pregnant”

Mason had a blank expression on his face before he laughed hysterically. “So why are you telling me? It is not like I am the father…”

“What?” I was dazed for a second, my voice trembling.

How could he say that he wasn’t the father?

The officers tightened their grip around my arm, pulling me away. “I swear that you are the father…”

Mason huffed. “Bullshit!”

Before I could respond, the officers dragged me away and that was when it hit me that my life had surely ended.

Or was it the beginning?

Five years passed and it seemed more like God was on my side. The housekeeper who testified against me suddenly went back on her words about how she was forced to tell a lie against me. Although she never mentioned who it was, she had recorded a video, apologizing to me before she killed herself.

Like that, I was released from prison and all that mattered right now was searching for my daughter, Chloe, and taking her to a faraway place where we would be starting life afresh. Since no one claimed responsibility for her when I was in jail, Chloe stayed in a government-funded orphanage but things worsened when they went on a trip to the beach.

A storm happened, some kids were found dead and the remaining were rescued but out of this, my baby’s body was never found.

So I believed that she was still alive somewhere, waiting for me to come pick her up.

I was going to find my baby no matter what it takes.

The heavy door creaked open while I stepped into the blinding lights as fresh air brushed through my skin, slowly blowing my hair to the back.

Tears brimmed in my eyes as I tossed my head to the back. “I thought I was going to spend forever here”

Families stood outside the gate ready to receive their loved ones but in my case, no one was there. Maybe I was expecting too much from the people who had abandoned me.

Putting on my sunglasses, I was about to take a step when I caught sight of someone leaning against a black car, his eyes boring holes into my face.

There was this aura that he exuded. An aura that left me speechless.

My mouth parted in shock, goosebumps spilling over me as cold shivers ran down my spine.

The man dressed in a black shirt and black pleated pants stared at me so much that it felt like he could read the depths of my soul. I froze, watching as he ran his hands through his dark tousled hair.

Why did he remind me of a devil that I knew?

Slowly, the more I stared at him, the more it hit me that I knew this man!

I knew him. Rowan Whitmore.

Mason’s distant relative, my high school bully, and most importantly, the man whom I was supposed to get married to before Mason swayed my heart away.