Let the Words Free You

As a lawyer, Jerome was used to the pressure of speaking in court. Despite the usual presence of hostile faces snarling at him from the court’s gallery, he always relished dishing out his arguments to the judges presiding over his cases. And he was darn good at it, never lacking in the confident bravado of black boys brought up in the roughest parts of the city.

But Jerome could never be prepared for this day, a day where he was the one on trial. Never in his life could he have imagined to be accused of those allegations. ‘The Big Local One,’ the media had titled the case. Jerome had no one today: closing argument day. Not a lawyer to represent him, not his friends and not, even, his family — who didn’t want the attention of journalists around them.

Jerome was alone. Just him and his words, to face the jury. To face the world.