SARAH

"What is your name?" The judge asked.
"I don't have one"
"What do people call you?" She asked again.
"Patient number 20651"
"Outside the walls of the asylum. That's what I mean-"
"No one calls me" The woman replied calmly.
The old judge took off her spectacles to wipe off the beads of perspiration on her forehead. This woman was impossible.
"There was a time before you were sent off to the asylum, right?" The judge probbed
She nodded, her gaze empty.
"What were you called then?"
"I don't remember" She replied. What was most striking about this woman was her calm. The fluidity with which she carried herself. Like this entire court affair was a red-carpet.
This was it. The accused didn't have a name so she was going to get one. Right away.
"What would you like to be called then?" The judge asked. She just stared back like she didn't understand.
"You realise everyone in this courtroom has a name, yeah? I'm asking you to pick one" The judge explained.
"Right here?" The woman asked. Her eyes lit with interest for the first time since she was called up before the court.
"Yes. Right now"
Her brows narrowed and she looked like she was going through options. "Raven" She whispered. Of course no one had heard her.
"The Raven" She said out loud.
The courtroom went wild with whisperings. Everyone was talking at once. The judge had to
slam the gavel to hush the whisperings.
"Raven what?" She asked.
"Raven Black" The woman replied gracefully.
The court clerks scribbled frantically.
"So, Ms. Raven Black, you have been accused of the murders of the 12 jurors of the Uzo Thomas case of 1999. What do you plead?"
"Not guilty" She replied.
The courtroom went very still.