The Trial of Fallen Angels by Jr. James Kimmel

him.
    “Get back in that water, Lenny Basilio,” I warned him. “You’ve been sentenced to life.”
    Lenny stepped back obediently. He had just seen what I had done to Wally and wasn’t going to try his luck.
    I sat down beside Karen on a log. My knuckles ached from slamming into Wally’s teeth. Karen and I didn’t talk. What happened was too traumatic. We just looked at the river and Lenny.
    After about five minutes passed, Lenny got bored and fidgety. He started skimming rocks across the water and kicking and splashing around idly. When these activities no longer entertained him, he began inching his way down the river, hoping I wouldn’t see him. I ordered him back. He complied but turned right around and tried it again. Soon it turned into a sort of game. But when I ordered him back for the fourth time, he made a break for it. Unfortunately for Lenny, he slipped on the riverbank mud and gashed open his knee. I caught up with him and dragged him back into the water by his wrist. He tried to free himself, but my grip was too strong. I held him in place until he stopped squirming.
    “How long are you going to keep him in the river?” Karen called to me from the riverbank.
    “For the rest of his life,” I said, tightening my grip on him. “He’s got to pay for his crime. The crayfish deserve justice.”
    “Then you’re going to have to stay there the rest of your life too,” Karen said. “He’s just going to keep trying to get out.”
    She was right, of course, but I was determined that Lenny serve out his sentence. I was wearing a fabric belt with a sliding loop buckle. I looked around for something to tie him to, but there were no tree branches close enough to the water. Then I got an idea. I took off the belt, lashed it around my arm and Lenny’s, and cinched it tight with my teeth. Now we were bound together, prisoner and guard. He had no chance of escape. As long as I stayed in the river, Lenny would stay in the river. I looked back at Karen proudly. She shook her head, amused.
    There we stood in the water, Lenny and me. He struggled every once in a while to get free, but it was no use. When he whimpered or protested, I told him to shut up. When he splashed or caused me to stumble, I elbowed him in the side. He would receive no more mercy than he had shown the crayfish. This went on for nearly half an hour, but it felt like all afternoon. It was getting late. We would normally be heading back home. Karen finally got up and said she was leaving.
    “Wait,” I said. “You can’t go. You’ve got to stay here and keep me company.”
    “No thanks,” Karen replied, climbing up the riverbank.
    “But you’ve got to,” I said. I was furious. She had betrayed me during the trial, and now she was doing it again.
    “No, I don’t,” Karen replied. “I didn’t do anything to the crayfish, and it wasn’t my idea to put Lenny in the river. I’m going home.”
    “Well, what am I supposed to do?” I said. “Stay here all night with Lenny by myself?”
    Lenny looked mortified.
    “I guess so,” Karen replied. “If you want to keep him in the river for the rest of his life. Have fun.” She started walking away.
    “Wait,” I pleaded. “What am I supposed to do? I’ve got no choice. The crayfish deserve justice.”
    Karen stopped and gazed back at me in disbelief. I must have looked as miserable and pathetic as Lenny. Then she turned and waded out into the water. She seemed almost angelic coming toward us, her face glowing radiantly in the afternoon sun, her blue eyes sparkling from the reflection of the stream. When she reached us, she tugged on the belt that bound Lenny and me together.
    “You can’t bring the crayfish back, Brek,” she said tenderly. “But you can set yourself free. It’s not about Lenny anymore. It’s about you. How long do you want to wait in the water?”

9
    I inserted the golden key Luas had given me into the lock of the massive wooden doors leading into the