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Mac didn't know what happened, he didn't see it coming. First he was arguing with his wife, next he was holding Stella when she began crying. His paternal instincts took form as he temporarily forgot about the frat house next door. But the moment he sat down on the sofa with Stella he literally flew across the living room into the kitchen. Kelly screamed as she rushed over to her husband's side to check on him and the baby.
"Mac!" Kelly exclaimed as he sat up awkwardly with the baby in his arms. They didn't hear any sound coming from their daughter. "Stella?" They looked down at the now frighteningly silent unmoving baby. "Stella? Baby girl?" Kelly shook her slightly to get a reaction, but the baby was limp in Mac's arms. All color drained from their faces as terror gripped their souls. "Mac! She's not moving!" Kelly cried as she tried and failed to get a reaction out of their daughter.
Teddy from next door dropped his cup when he heard his neighbors scream before the Radner family bolted out the door, carrying the silent unmoving baby in their arms. The sound of tires screeching on the asphalt echoed throughout the neighborhood as they drove away. He was shocked for a moment then shrugged before returning to his frat brothers.
Close to late evening, multiple police cars arrived in the neighborhood and officers got out and knocked on the door. One of the fraternity brothers, dressed in a toga clearly drunk. "What's up?"
"Are you one of the Delta Psi members?" One of the officers with a hard displeased look asked.
"Mmmm, yep, I am." He slurred as the officer glared at him.
"Thank you." Was all he said before he barged in followed by a squad of thirty or so cops.
Teddy stopped smoking when people in uniforms rushed in and started to violently arrest his frat brothers. "Whoa, whoa! Hey, what are you doing?!" Teddy demanded, sobering up as one of the officers in charge marched up to him.
"Theodore Sanders?"
"Depends on who's asking." Teddy said, as he saw some of the frat boys get roughly escorted out of the house. "What is going on?"
"You're under arrest for murder." The officer informed as he roughly turned Teddy around and handcuffed him.
"Ow! What are you talking about, I didn't kill anyone! This is a joke!" Teddy said indignantly as he was suddenly slammed face first onto the table.
"Well, that joke you pulled on the Radners next door." The officer seethed, twisting Teddy's arms painfully, "Mac Radner was holding his infant daughter when he sat on one of those airbags you planted. You killed her."
Teddy felt his body go cold at what he just heard. "What? No, nononono, that can't be. It wasn't my fault." He began to hyperventilate before he was lurched back by his hair by an angry cop.
"You shut up. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do will be held in the court of law. You have a right to an attorney..." The officer read Teddy his Miranda Rights as he dragged the Delta Psi president out of the house and into the van with all his brothers.
Teddy couldn't hear anything, he felt like his entire world has shifted and he is being swallowed by a black hole.
Teddy sat in the courtroom beside his lawyer, his hands shaking as he fought to maintain his cool and not breakdown as witnesses came onto the stand.
The one who now sat on the stand is the Dean of the university, Carol Gladstone.
The prosecutor, William Sheridan, stood up and began to question the Dean.
"Ms. Gladstone, were you aware of their criminal activities and their blatant harassment of the Radners?"
"Yes, they came to complain to me themselves, they wanted me to remove the frat house from their neighborhood." She answered in her calm and professional tone.
"Can you describe what their complaint was about?"
"I could, but we'd be here all day. They finally came to me when their infant daughter had to be rushed to the hospital when she put one of the open condoms in her mouth. Apparently, the Delta Psi members threw trash all over the Radners lawn and the parents were cleaning up the mess when baby Stella grabbed the condom. Luckily, the baby was safe." Gladstone explained, looking uncomfortable as she caught the eyes of the Radners.
"And you didn't try to dissuade them? You never took any action at all?" Sheridan asked, giving the Dean a pointed look.
"No, we had a three-strike rule policy. Delta Psi got their first strike when they burned their last frat house down." The Dean explained as she chafed under the glare of the jury and prosecutor. "The second strike came when they injured an economics professor during one of their parties."
"I saw the headline for that incident, and the one for the house fire. So, you didn't think Delta Psi harassing the Radners didn't warrant a strike." Sheridan stated, "You just let them off the hook. You blatantly ignored someone coming to you for help." He got closer to the stand and gave her a judgmental glare, "Tell me something, Ms. Gladstone, and think carefully, if you had actually done your job, maybe Stella Radner would not have been killed. If anything, you gave them permission to kill a helpless baby."
"Objection, Your Honor, Mr. Sheridan is being out of line." Teddy's lawyer stood up.
"Sustained."
"No more questions, Your Honor." Sheridan stepped away, feeling mildly pleased when he saw the slight tremble in the Dean's frame.
It was now Ted's defense attorney's turn to ask the questions. Michael Condell, presented his questions, "Ms. Gladstone, you said you gave Delta Psi a strike when their previous frat house caught fire."
"That's right."
"How did it catch fire?"
"It was an accident, one of the frat boys spilled their drinks on the electrical wiring, and everything caught fire. But it did warrant a strike." Dean explained to the defense attorney.
"In other words, they never meant any malicious intent." Condell stated.
"That's correct."
"They also never meant any harm when baby Stella died. It was all just an accident."
The Dean swallowed and was silent at the statement, "I'm not sure if it was accidental. I wasn't there for either incident. I didn't consider them a danger to society, just a bunch of dumb drunks enjoying a party."
Condell nodded, looking grim, "No further questions." Then he took a step back.
Peter Regazoli was the next to take the stand, after being sworn in, he sat in his seat before the scrutiny of the courtroom, looking nervous and terrified.
"Mr. Regazoli, how exactly can you describe your relationship with Theodore Sanders, about your role in your fraternity house." Sheridan began his questions.
"I've known Ted since we were college freshmen, four years now. I consider him my best friend, my bro. He made me VP of Delta Psi when he took over." Peter answered, glancing at Ted who nodded at him slightly, with a look of trust and sadness on his face.
"Made you VP, his second-in-command. You must really trust each other, tell each other everything." Sheridan paced around the courtroom, looking decisive in his statements.
"Well, not everything, there are some things you just can't tell your bro. You know what it's like, you became a lawyer." Peter said, trying to show he's being friendly and nonthreatening.
Sheridan smiled lightly, but the humor didn't reach his eyes. "You're right about that. Which, begs the question, did he tell you what he was going to do to the Radners with those airbags and where he was getting them?"
"I wasn't there when they did it. After the airbags were installed, Teddy told me what he and our brothers did." Peter swallowed, "I didn't think it would cause any harm, just surprise them a little." Peter took a shuddering breath, "But then I heard screaming in their house, how their baby wasn't breathing. I was sitting beside Ted when the Radners ran for their car and drove away with their baby. She wasn't moving, she..." He clenched his eyes shut and shook his head.
"And how did Theodore react during that incident?" Sheridan asked, looking a little sympathetic towards the young man.
Peter glanced at Ted who shook his head pleadingly.
"He was shocked, but then he shrugged, and... didn't do anything else." Peter said, knowing he can't lie on the stand, not even for his best friend.
Sheridan nodded, "No further questions." He went back to his seat as Condell began his questions.
"Mr. Regazoli, you said you weren't there when they installed those airbags."
"I was at my psychology class. You can ask my professor." Peter answered as he couldn't meet his best friend's gaze.
"Yet you were also arrested at the same time as Theodore Sanders. Both of you on the same charges."
"Yes, but they let me go when they found no evidence of my involvement with that incident."
"You agreed to stand as a witness in the murder of Stella Radner, why is that?"
"Ted's my friend, I owed it to him, he always looks out for his brothers. He's not a bad person, he just made a stupid decision." Peter stated, finally glancing at Ted, "He wasn't trying to hurt anyone, none of us were. We were just trying to make the most of our last remaining college years. We knew once it was over, we'd never get it back."
"No further questions." Condell stepped away and returned to his seat.
Mac Radner sat on the stand after being sworn in. His jovial face held a deep frown as he stared at Ted with so much pain that it actually twisted the younger man's insides.
"I never had a problem with them at first. My wife and I welcomed them into the neighborhood while we pushed Stella in her carriage. We politely asked them to keep their party volumes down to a minimum." Mac swallowed, "But the first night they had their party, they had the bass up way too loud. Stella kept crying and we couldn't get to sleep at all. We called the police on them, but they didn't do a thing to stop them. That's when the harassment began." Mac then began to list all the moronic and criminal actions Delta Psi committed against the Radners.
"Mr. Radner, can you tell us all what happened on the day of the incident?" Sheridan asked, watching Mac with compassion and sympathy, he heard this story himself, and was heartbroken for the man who lost his daughter.
Mac nodded silently, "I had just come home from work after I received a head injury from one of their airbag pranks in my office chair. My wife and I were arguing, trying to figure out how to handle this situation with the frat house. We wanted them gone, to stop bothering us, but no one even cared to help us." His eyes caught the Dean and the officer who stood in the gallery. "Stella began to cry, so I picked her up and tried to soothe her." He took a deep breath and fought to control his voice from cracking, "But when I sat down, my whole body was thrown into the kitchen. When I looked down at Stella..." Mac started to lose control of his composure, "...she wasn't moving anymore." He inhaled sharply as his face became red with tears as he remembered the exact moment that tore him and Kelly apart. "I tried to wake her up, but she didn't open her eyes. She wasn't breathing anymore. We didn't know what else to do, so we took her to the hospital! But the doctors couldn't do anything...she was already dead! She died in my arms!" Mac was full on crying and sobbing now, he could no longer fight the pain he's suffering or hide the pain he's in after losing his baby.
Everyone in the courtroom felt their hearts break for the father, the jury, the judge, everyone in the gallery, even Ted. His own tears fell when he pictured what happened to baby Stella.
But Mac wasn't done, what he said next was directed at Ted. "Are you happy now Ted? Was that joke really funny to you?"
"Objection." Condell spoke, turning to the judge.
"Overruled." The judge shot him down without looking at him as he watched Ted's expression.
"All we asked, is that you keep it down. But you took it too far. You took Stella from me and Kelly. I want to hear her first words, watch her take her first steps, and walk her down the aisle." Mac shook his head, "But I'll never get to do any of that. All those moments we were supposed to have with her will never happen. It's all because of you. Even if you never meant to, you still killed my baby."
Ted's body shook as he listened to the scathing words that pierced his soul, he was trying really hard not to cry, but it hurts so much. He bit his lips and bowed his head to hide his tears, wanting so bad for the Earth to swallow him whole.
Teddy was now on the stand, but to him, he felt like he was on the execution block ready to lose his head.
"Theodore Sanders, you said you wanted to come to the stand. Was there something you wanted to say to defend your actions?" The judge asked, giving him a stony stare.
Teddy took a deep breath to steel himself, summoning his courage before he spoke, "I won't try to defend my actions your honor." He swallowed, "I knew the moment the cops told me what happened that there would be no escape from this. Even if I'm let go, everyone will have already known about what I've done." He said, knowing that if by some miracle he is saved, the people who know him by name and face will shun or kill him for his part in Stella's death. "I won't make any excuses for my stupid actions. Even if I say it was only a prank, it won't change what I did." He turned to the Radners who sat close to each other, their faces filled with grief and sadness for the loss of their baby. "Mac, Kelly, I am so sorry. If I could take it all back, I would. I won't ask you to forgive me, because I can't forgive myself. It should've been me that died, not her." Tears flowed from his eyes as he struggled to speak, "I'm so sorry."
Teddy kept his head down as he obediently allowed the guard to escort him to his cell. The inmates who saw him grinned at the "fresh meat" that entered their territory.
The now former president of Delta Psi felt empty. He never expected a light sentence or sympathy. He knew his life was over whether he was guilty or innocent. His parents decided to disown him for his actions. The shame in their eyes after hearing what has become of their only son and how he ended the life of a helpless baby twisted his guts and made him feel even worse about himself.
The guard opened the prison cell, one he quietly entered as the sound of the creak and slam filled his ears. Now alone, Teddy finally broke down. He will spend the next twenty years within these concrete walls to pay for his sins. The pain he caused the Radners, the shame he brought upon Delta Psi, for dragging his brothers who were now slapped with an irreversible criminal record that paints them as child killers. Actions that will never be reversed no matter how much he wished it. Anytime he closes his eyes, all he sees is baby Stella in her stroller, happily smiling with her mom and dad. The memory of that innocent child tormented him to the very core. The guilt he will have to live with every single minute for the rest of his life.