Storymania - The Whole Truth by Ted

The Whole Truth
Ted

2002

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had been in a horrible accident five years ago, losing all my memory. The last thing I can remember is waking up in a hospital room. I cannot remember any thing from my life before the accident. Two years after the accident, I went back to college and became a Crime Scene Investigator. Now, three years since I started the job, I was looking at something horrible. I had never seen anything this awful in my entire life (well, at least from the part of my life I can remember).
Peering through the microscope at the DNA, I saw it matched my own DNA! It was DNA found where a murder had been committed. The site had been found just a week ago in a family’s backyard. A little girl found some bones when she was digging in the dirt. We found out that the murder had been committed about four or five years ago. That was all we knew so far.
“This can’t be right.” I said to myself.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw it was Paul Gere, who was working the case with me.
“John, did you find anything?” he asked.
Beads of warm sticky sweat began to crawl down my face. The room began to spin around me. After that, everything went black.

1997
John Campbell was twenty-five years old. He was an elementary school teacher. It was the last day of school and he was walking home (since he only lived two blocks away from the school he taught at). It was a perfect evening; the sun was still shining bright even though it was 5:oo, children were playing in their front yards, and the smell of backyard barbeques hung in the warm breezy air. He loved everything about summer.
He was only a block away from his house when he saw a beautiful young woman about his age looking under the open hood of her somewhat beat up black corvette. The woman had shimmering blonde hair just a couple inches down past her shoulders and was wearing tight blue jeans and a sparkly black tank top.
“Need some help?” he asked her.
She smiled and said, “That would be great, thanks.”
“No problem” He replied “So what’s wrong with your car?”
“Oh, it won’t start.”
“Well my house is two minutes away, I could run home and drive back with some jumper-cables and start your car up.”
“Thanks, as long as you don’t mind.”
“No problem, I’ll be back in a second.”
He ran home, ran inside his garage, started up his car, and drove to where she was. He hooked everything up and that was that.
“Thank you again.” She said, “By the way, what’s your name, I’m April Laport.” She held out her hand.
He shook her hand, “My name’s John Campbell.”

2002
Now, I was sitting in a cold, hard metal chair across from my attorney Bruce Summerville. I had been arrested and was now in the visiting room of the jail I was in. Bruce was gathering as much information as possible (tape-recording it so he could go back over it later.
“John,” Bruce started “you know you are being charged with a murder committed five years ago, right?”
I nodded my head.
“And I know you cannot remember anything since the day you woke up in that hospital room.”
I nodded again.
“I need something to prove you didn’t do it, but it doesn’t look good. For God’s sakes, John, you don’t even know if you committed the murder!”
“Look, I know I didn’t do it, I can feel…”
Bruce cut me off, “How the hell can you know or not?”
“I can feel it.”
“Look, I can’t go stick up for you in court based on ‘feelings’ you have. We need hard evidence!”
“Then find some damn hard evidence, it’s your job to prove I didn’t do this!”
“Okay, calm down.” Bruce said. “There has to be something we can find, maybe on your record, maybe you were doing something else that night. Hell, even if you got a speeding ticket at the time of the murder.”
“We haven’t found out the time the person was murdered, last time I was there they didn’t know if it was a male or a female. We have no idea who this person is!”
“Who knows, maybe they found out something while you were locked up in here. As soon as I leave I’ll find out as much as I can.” Bruce said.
“Then leave!” I exclaimed.

1997
John and April had been dating for about a month or so. It was now July and John was picking her up for a date. It was another warm evening. John got out of his car and knocked on the front door of April’s small but homey house. April opened the door. A big smile spread across her face when he hugged her and handed her the bouquet of red roses he brought for her.
“Oh, I love them.” She said and kissed him on the cheek.
“Ready to go?” He asked her.
“Yah just let me grab my coat.”

After they ate, they walked around for a while. The sun was beginning to set. They walked back to the car and John drove her home.
“Bye John, thank you so much.” She kissed him.
“Bye.” He said.
John got back into his car, drove home and walked inside.

A few minutes later there was a knock on John’s door. He opened it.
April stood on his front porch, smiling, she held out two airplane tickets.
“I forgot to give you these.” She said, handing the tickets to him. “Their tickets to Hawaii for the two of us!”
He scooped her up into his arms and gently pushed her against the hallway wall and kissed her. He kissed her lips, neck, and then whispered in her ear “ I love you.”
“I love you too.” She whispered back.

2002

I walked in chains to the visiting room. There were guards on each of my sides. When I got into the room the guards took off my chains and sat me down across from Bruce. It had been three days since our last meeting.
“Did you find out anything?” I asked him.
“Not a thing, there is nothing on your record. The only thing I found out was that the victim was female.” He replied.
“Are the trying to find out who it was?”
“As we speak.”
I was silent.
“Though, finding out who it is won’t help you in court. I really don’t know what to do.”
“Well, you better do something, I’m not freaking paying you to say how hopeless this is! Maybe, you should do something instead of just sit on your as…”
“Jesus, calm down.” Bruce said, cutting me off. “We’re not going to get anywhere with you yelling at me all day.”
“What are we going to do, I don’t want to be locked up in this hole for the rest of my life!”
“I’ll find something, I’ll get you out of here.”

1997

Later that night, after April left, John got the horrible news. April had been in a car accident! She was in the hospital in critical condition. Her car had been totaled. Apparently, so was her head, she had lost her memory.
He rushed to the hospital and to the front desk. They told him where to go and he ran as fast as he could to the room. She was lying on a bed. She didn’t look too bad, just some cuts and an ugly black bump on her forehead just above her right eye. A nurse walked up to John.
“It appears she has lost all her memory.” Said the nurse. “She can talk though.”
His eyes began to water as he leaned over her.
“April.” He whispered.
She opened her eyes.
“Who are you?” She asked.
He began to cry.

John visited her every day. It wasn’t the same; it would never be the same. He kept on trying to get closer and closer to her, though. She seemed to have no interest in him at all. He explained their old relationship to her. She didn’t seem to care. His whole world was crashing down around him. Instead of her becoming closer to him, she was drifting away, further and further….

2002

Once again I met Bruce in the small, cramped jail visiting room.
“They found out who it was.” Bruce said solemnly.
“Who?” I asked.
“A girl named Laport.” Said Bruce “Dose that mean anything to you?”
I shook my head.
“Are you sure?”
“How the hell could I be sure!? Number one, I lost my damn memory, and number two I didn’t freaking kill April!” I yelled.
He nodded. “Well, there are no records linking you to her, which is good. But that is about all I can show in court. Another thing is, there is almost no way you can get the death penalty because of your memory loss and you could now be considered non-dangerous.”
“Oh, well that is so much better, instead of rotting away in a grave, I’ll be rotting away in a cell for the rest of my life!” I exclaimed and jumped out of my chair. A guard grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back down in my chair.
“I’m sorry, that’s all I can do, the trial is in two days. There’s nothing I can do.” Said Bruce.
“Thanks for the help.” I mumbled under my breath.

1997

April was released from the hospital almost a month after the accident. She could live by herself as long as a nurse checked in on her once a day. The nurse came at noon and stayed for an hour or so.
Summer was almost over, the sun wasn’t out as late, children were not playing in their front yards as much, and the smell of barbeques was dying out. Soon, summer would be dead.
It was about five-thirty in the evening. John decided to visit April. He got in his car and picked up some flowers and a box of chocolates. He had to win her back.
John knocked on the front door of her house. She opened it.
“Hello John.” She said “There was no smile this time.
“Hi, I brought you some things.” He handed her the flowers and candy.
“Oh, thanks.” She said, almost coldly.
“Can I come in for a minute?”
She seemed to think for a moment and then said, “Yah, I guess.”
He followed her inside and closed the door behind him. He walked behind her into the kitchen where she set the stuff on the counter.
“John, we need to talk.” She said.
“What about?” He asked.
“About us.”
“What about us?”
“Well, there is no ‘us’ and there never will be ‘us’. John, I’m so sorry, I mean I don’t remember anything at all.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“I think it would be better if you didn’t come and see me anymore.”
He was silent.
“I’m so sorry, I wish there was something to make this easier for you.”
“Well, how about a hug?”
“Sure.”
They hugged each other. Then John raised his hands until they were hugging her neck, tightly. She began to gasp for air. She reached out and grabbed a carving knife off the counter and plunged it into his shoulder. Blood splattered onto her and a sharp pain shot up his arm. He just gripped tighter on her neck. Her face was turning blue. He began to cry, not because of the pain in his arm, but because of the pain in his heart. Her face was now turning purple. He couldn’t stop; he couldn’t let go. She began slapping and punching him. His grip got tighter and tighter.
Suddenly, she grabbed the knife out of his shoulder and was about to stab him in the chest when he turned her and slammed her into the refrigerator. The knife dropped from her hand and clattered to the floor. Her eyes began to bulge outward. Then her hands dropped to her sides and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. He let go of her and she fell to the ground. He dropped down beside her, tears streaming down his face. He picked up her lifeless body and hugged it.

John began to dig a deep hole in her back yard. Then he buried the body, ran to his car, and began to drive home. He drove fast, tears running from his eyes, blurring his vision. He didn’t see the stop sign. As he sped past it, a truck smashed into the right side of his car.

2002

Bruce Summerville met me for the last time, not in the jail visiting room, but my prison cell. I was sentenced to fifty years in prison.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything.” Said Bruce.
“I didn’t do it, I don’t even know who the hell the girl was!” I exclaimed.
“Maybe you did before the truck hit you.”
“Well, I probably didn’t know her very well because I didn’t kill her!”
“Look, I believe you, but it’s too late I mean, maybe I can go back over the voice recordings and see if there is anything huge that could re-open the case. It’s highly unlikely I’ll find anything though.”
I didn’t reply, a couple minutes later, Bruce left.

About five minutes later Bruce came back in, a guard opened my cell, and Bruce walked in.
“I was just listening to the tapes.” He said, “I know you killed her and I know you don’t have memory loss.”
“What!” I exclaimed.
“You were hit by the truck, but you faked the memory loss to keep you from the death penalty.”
I just stared at him.
“When you woke up in the hospital that day you remembered what you did and faked memory loss.”
“Why the hell would you say that?”
“Because the day I told you who you killed you said you didn’t kill April, but I only told you her last name which was Laport.”
He knew!
“I must admit, it was a pretty good plan, till you screwed your self with one word.” He said, grinning at me.
“You have no proof!”
“Right here on this tape. You knew I was recording the sessions!”
“Well good job, you got me. What are you gonna do now?”
“Go show this to whoever I need to, make sure you get life.”
“I’m paying you to help me damn it!”
“Hey, I am helping you, like you said yourself, instead of rotting away in a grave you’ll be rotting away in a cell. Now, it’s the other way around.” He smiled at me “And by the way, I’ll make more money letting the world here this tape the you could ever give me.”
“I’ll kill you for this!” I rasped.
“You know, I am taping this session right now.”
I lunged at him and grabbed his neck. A guard quickly opened my cell and pulled me off of him. Bruce left the cell and the guard locked it. Bruce walked up to the bars.
“You see John, the truth is, I won.” He grinned at me “See you in hell.”