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"Will Mr. Bates Eckton please come and stand before the court."
I looked up, deep blue eyes peering from below strands of straight, black hair. The room was silent, expectant eyes all turned onto me, sitting there in an ugly orange jumpsuit reserved only for convicts who've committed some sort of crime. I didn't commit any crime. I was innocent, and yet no one seemed to believe me. They all thought I'd done it. They all thought I was a criminal. It just wasn't fair.
"Bates," my mother whispered, turning on the bench beside me and giving me hard, urging eyes, "what are you waiting for? Go up!"
I sighed, slowly standing up from the hard, wooden bench. On my other side, my lawyer stood as well, adjusting his tie briefly and setting a stern and serious look on his face. What a prick.
"Mr. Bates Eckton," the judge suddenly spoke, his eyes directed down at a small stack of papers held in his hands. It was my case he held, and he looked over it with serious eyes, skimming the information before looking back up at me again, "you have been brought in on charges of first degree murder. How do you pledge?"
It was silent for just the briefest of moments, and in that time I looked back on what had gotten me there. It wasn't my fault, really. It honesty wasn't. "Not guilty," my lawyer spoke up, directing a steady gaze up at the judge. I'd been told not to speak, and so I stayed silent, standing there in my prison uniform with my hair in my eyes, staring directly ahead and watching as my own life unraveled before me. The lawyer continued, finishing the sentence I dreaded more than anything, "on reason of insanity."
"Have you ever thought... that maybe you heard... voices... in your head?"
"Have you ever listened to them...? Obeyed...?"
"Did you let them take over...?"
"Do they control you?"
Bates Elliot Eckton was born on January 23rd, 1997 in a Massachusetts hospital near his parents' home in Worchester, Mass. He was raised as an openly child by both his parents and attended the local public school system. Life was basically normal for him, and nothing major really ever happened to him as a child.
Despite his normal upbringing, Bates was always quite different from all the other kids. He was quiet, and never really bothered with trying to make friends or participating in any activities. He was always just the type to sit on the sidelines and watch. Throughout his entire life, he never once had a friend. Not a single one.
Bates alwats had some slight anger issues. One second he would be quiet and calm, and then the next second he'd be screaming and throwing things. When he was fourteen, his parents finally took him to see someone about his issues, and he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. They put him on medication, but more often than not he would refuse to take it, do it didn't really help much.
Despite his normal upbringing, Bates was always quite different from all the other kids. He was quiet, and never really bothered with trying to make friends or participating in any activities. He was always just the type to sit on the sidelines and watch. Throughout his entire life, he never once had a friend. Not a single one.
Bates alwats had some slight anger issues. One second he would be quiet and calm, and then the next second he'd be screaming and throwing things. When he was fourteen, his parents finally took him to see someone about his issues, and he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. They put him on medication, but more often than not he would refuse to take it, do it didn't really help much.
Bates was fifteen when the voices started. He began to hear them in quiet whispers and mumbled phrases at first, but as time went in the voices grew clearer and more confident. The things they said also became progressively darker, going as far as telling him things such as killing his family. He fought the voices as best he could, but after awhile it just became too hard, and he eventually gave in, allowing the voices to control him. They slowly began to drive him insane to the point where now his emotions and even a large part of his humanity seem to ge locked away deep inside him.
At sixteen years old, the voices finally drive him to kill someone. He was brought to court to stand before a judge, and pledged not guilty on reason of insanity. He was released with no charges pressed, but is forced to attend therapy sessions each week. Still, though, the voices continue on in his head, and he tries his best to fight them, despite knowing his efforts are in vain. He's no longer in control.
