Laurens was lying down on the bunk in the cell, hands clasped across his belly, and was staring at the ceiling. The scratches on his back from yesterday's attack still hurt him, but he was a tough guy and wasn't going to lay on his stomach all the time. Even as a child, he experienced worse torture and pain than this. All in all, the good thing about being here was that he could finally drown calmly in his thoughts. Laurens remembered childhood, then adulthood and wondered how his fate would have turned out if he had a loving mother, a father or met a girl who would really love him. He knew very well that most people would not understand what he was doing. For them, Laurens was a dangerous psychopath who raped his victims, then mutilated and killed them. A 'Mad Dog' who bit off bits of their flesh. It did not matter what sentence the court will decide on, the public have already judged him and demanded the most severe punishment. But was the public so full of hatred in every case of

On September 29th, 2020, I had a dream. I remember standing in the dark, the only source of light falling directly on me like a spotlight. Then suddenly I heard the rustle of wings and saw scarlet-red feathers flying around me. They sparkled beautifully in the light of that 'spotlight' that fell on me. Then a man emerged from the darkness - first I saw his face, beautiful, perfectly proportioned, looking like carved in ivory. He had shoulder-length blonde hair, was at least two heads taller than me, and behind his back I could see two huge wings, of course with feathers in the color of scarlet. In the end I rose my eyes and met those dark blue eyes without pupils. Guess I paid attention to them last, because from the moment I saw those eyes in Laurens drawing, they scared me a bit. But now, seeing them up close in my dream, I was even more scared. It was as if his eyes were about to turn into black holes and pull me into their depths."Don't be afraid, Esther Moore. I'm no

As Esther pulled off her shoes and jacket, leaving them in the hall, she went to the bathroom for a moment to wash her hands and face. Then she stopped in the kitchen, taking a packet of chips from the cupboard. Esther didn't feel like making herself dinner, so that would have to be enough. With a packet of chips in her hand, Esther headed for her bedroom, where she sat on the bed, opening the packet and eating a few handfuls while her eyes focused on the laptop on the desk. Finally, Esther set aside the packet of chips as she slid off the bed, then went to the desk and sat down on the chair next to it. She turned on the laptop, immediately typing in her private e-mail box address, but didn't check it out right away. First, in subsequent browser tabs, Esther opened forums and pages about paranormal phenomena, where in threads she asked others for more info on the legend of the 'Scarlet Angels'. Unfortunately, she was disappointed because the small number of people who replied to her

On October 2nd, me and Leo managed to complete rest of the files and send them to the court. On that day, we also learned that the first hearing will be held on October 6, that we are both likely to be questioned at this hearing, and on top of that we heard a rumor about who became the defender of 'Mad Dog' and what line of defense he chose for his client.Alair Taylor - I knew this name very well and his line of defense made me a little panicked especially after the dream I had before. I knew very well that this lawyer had a somewhat scandalous, at least for the general public, worldview on crimes committed by people who had traumatic experiences in their childhood. In general, the point is that, according to him, people who are driven to crime by suffering in childhood should not be punished as severely as unemotional psychopaths, who commit crimes deliberately, without a specific motive or simply for fun. While partially this guy is kind of right, I don't think

The next day, on October 3rd, Leo woke up early in the morning, way before the time to get up. It was Saturday, but for him and Esther, no weekend was really free, unless they had a pre-arranged day off, but even then they had to keep their phones turned on, ready to be called to the police station at any moment. They had a day off on Sunday this week, and Leo thought to himself that he should take Esther out of town somewhere so she could rest for a while, and he prayed that nothing would happen on Sunday, so there would be no phone calls from the police station.Leo got up and sat on the couch, slightly rolling the blanket. His neck ached, so he massaged it while looking at the clock on the wall. Leo had about two more hours until they needed to leave to work, so decided to slowly get up and make breakfast for him and Esther. He wasn't some very talented cook, but could make very tasty cheese toast and pretty good scrambled eggs and bacon. Plus, Leo set the carton of orange j