"And then what happened, Miss Weber?" The attorneys prodding voice snapped me from my horrific and foggy memory. My eyes burned with unholy fire, my throat closing and opening making me feel like I was suffocating. All eyes were on me, sitting in the witness stand and surrounded by as much judgement as I was by stained hardwood. The jury was looking at me with a mixture of sympathy, and caution as if they felt bad for me but didn't believe me. The worst look was the one given to me by the defendant as his lawyer whispered to him. His floppy hair barely kept despite his social standing, and his dimpled cheeks and thin mouth turned into a scowl. He didn't even look like he was remorseful for what he had done, more so annoyed by the inconvenience the trial was costing him. That alone sent fire into my veins and thunder into my skull as it pounded with rage and grief.
"When I woke up in the hospital, I was informed that my parents had died almost instantly on impact. My aunt was nearly--" I choked on the words as they flashed through my mind, "--nearly severed in half from the waist from the car pinning hit to her SUV. She remained alive until paramedics and firefighters freed her into which she died from blood loss and shock." The prosecutor looked at me with the upmost respect and empathy, while a lone scoffing laugh was heard in the almost dismal court. The middle aged judge whipped her head over to the young Dominic, stifling laughter at my sorrowful words. The sight of his grin behind suppressed and his body jumping from laughter made my rage and grief almost spill out from me like waves.
"Mister Bennett, do you want to tell the court what you find so funny?" All eyes pointed to the blond affluent young man. He is dimples and thin mouth screwed into a snarl like frown. His balding lawyer beside him looked like a ant stuck under a magnifying glass.
"My client has fallen ill with a cold, your honor. He apologizes for any interruption he may have caused." He shot a look of disappointment at the young man, but Dominic was unyielding. He pursed his lips smugly and blew me a mocking kiss. Before I could react from the rage boiling under my skin there was a sound of striking like thunder before lightning.
"Mister Bennett! Compose yourself before I find you in contempt of this court for badgering the witness!" Judge Hoover hissed, pounding her gavel. Some of her greying black hair fell out of her tight bun, and over her thin rimmed glasses and almond skin. Dominic rolled his eyes and sighed, two people behind him dressed to the nines expression a fierceness aura. The greying man dressed in a light blue Armani suit and a platinum blonde ageless women dresses from head to toe in blood red. Blood red tight dress, Louis Vuitton's and razor sharp nails against her fake tanned skin. Judge Hoover seemed taken aback from their fierce gaze and tried to gulp down a hard rock in her throat. The Bennett's were a large and influential family, basically holding complete power over the small town of Paracelport. They ran all the fishing canneries on the east coast and no one dared cross them.
Until today.
"Miss Weber," My attorney Bernard Thyne came over to me and leaned over. He rested his hands on the dark and glossy barrister of the witness stand, fiddling with the lock as I squirmed in place. His dark eyes caught my light ones, and his hazelnust skin was in contrast to my light olive. His presence was comforting, like a protector looming over me.
"Six years ago our, your family died. You've three years in foster care bouncing from house to house. Has any other trauma happened to you, that has been connected to mister Bennett's accident?" Before I could answer the heart wrenching question, he clicked open the lock to the witness stand and opened the thick door. There were murmurs in the jury stand as the defense attorney stood up like a spider was running up his legs.
"Objection your honor! This is an inappropriate line of question!" He barked, pointed to my wheelchair bound form. The judge just slammed her gavel on her podium until the tide of shouts calmed down. The Bennett's stared at me with bubbling anger, as if it was my fault their son ran me down, made me an orphan and paralyzed me from the waist down.
"Mister Thyne, where are you going with this?" Judge Hoover barked. Bernard just looked like an angry cat that ate the canary, shooting icicles at the affluent family only feet away. Dominic adjusted his black blazer and floppy hair, his long earring dangling violently as he did so.
"This has been a six year legal battle with no end. The prosecution has proven without reasonable doubt that Dominic Bennett was behind that wheel during that crash. He was found dazed behind the wheel by several eyewitnesses. His blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit and he was under the age to consume alcohol. Drawing this case out even more is a disrespect to the people lost, as well as the people still hurting from their loss." Silence fell over the jury, the audience and the defense. It was like everyone finally understood what horrors and hardships I had endured at the hands of this wretched family. I lost my legs, my life, my family, and my mind. I was now an empty husk of a being, sitting on the metal chair that bound me to this mortal coil. I was silent and nearly lifeless as I sat there, picking at my grey cowl neck shirt.
"I am going to speak out of turn," Judge Hoover spoke up, making everyone look to her with a startled expression, "I feel like we have all the necessary evidence to reach a verdict. I will schedule the trial three days from now for the jury to reach their final verdict. This trial is adjourned until then." She banged her gavel on the podium and stood up abruptly before fleeing to the backroom. It may seemed normal, but I could tell she was trying to flee from the cold gazes of the affluent. Bernard came over to me as everyone was on their way out, and helped wheel me out of the cramped witness stand.
"It's okay Ava, we are going to get them." He squeezed my shoulder firmly by gently, smiling down at me through his well kept beard. I was more hollow than his words, but I managed to smile back at him with a sad and sour smile. Having Dominic in jail wouldn't bring my parents back, I knew it would only make his parents find any reason to put a target on my back. It was a terrifying thought and I shuddered at the aspect of them after me for exposing his angel boys behavior.
It still wasn't a fraction of the horror and terror I felt that night.