Forever - Christian Yelich

Justice.

(TW - last one about sexual assault)

Brooklyn~

"Welcome back. Brooklyn, starting this off right away. When did you and my client first begin sexually active?" Jesus christ, he wasn't kidding. "Almost two months of us being together."

"Did you consent on that day?" he asks and I squint, "Yes."

"Did you consent any time after the incident?" 

"Yes."

"So why just say no this one time?" He's seriously gonna play that whole card. 

I scoff at his question, "Just because I consented before and after this particular day, doesn't mean I consented on that day. Would you like me to tell you the entire story?" I ask because clearly, he didn't go over my testimony very well. 

"If you could that would be great," he replies with a slight attitude. 

"Gladly. I'm assuming you want detail?" I ask because I'm not putting up with his shit anymore. 

He nods, "I went back to his place after a long day of classes, work, and then my internship through Marquette. This was about a week and a half after I was feeling like crap and he thought I was pregnant. He wasn't at home so I showered, and ate before he came back from wherever. I ended up falling asleep on the couch around 8 or 9. He came back at around 11:30 because he woke me up. Now I figured he was waking me up to tell me to go to bed instead of sleeping on the couch. But, he led me to his room and immediately started kissing me. I pushed him away because I was tired, I had a long day and I didn't feel like having sex."

I look behind Tony and lock eyes with Christian and he smiles at me. One that I needed so much. "After I pushed him away he immediately grabbed my wrists and held me down on the bed," I say trying not to cry. "I repeated no so many times, and he didn't listen to me. I remember thinking like does he not get it. I am saying no yet he isn't stopping."

"Did you not try to fi-" 

"Don't finish that question. If you are seriously going to ask why I didn't fight back, maybe you should compare our body sizes. He has a good 80 pounds on me. What the hell was I supposed to do? There was no way I could even try to get away. Maybe your client should've listened to me in the first place," I say looking at him in complete disgust. 

"He finally let go of my wrists and I tried to cover myself but at that point, I was completely helpless and went numb. I don't remember ever saying yes. The only reason it happened, is because I gave in. Because I knew at that moment I couldn't get away. Because I knew that if I didn't, the fighting would get worse. The domestic violence would get worse," I say letting out a breath. 

"Moving on from that," he says and I scoff. He knows it now, right? He knows that everything I have said is more than enough information to get him prosecuted. He knows that there is nothing he can do to save Liam. 

"When was the last time you saw Liam when you were still in your relationship?" 

"The day he left for Florida in June of 2019. He was going down there for a couple of weeks and I decided to move all of my stuff back to my apartment. I told my parents what had been happening. I changed everything before he got back. In those few weeks, he was gone, I was free. I was living again."

"No further questions, your honor," Tony says and they let me back down to Christian and my parents. 

I sit down next to Christian and my mom as both of them grab my hands and squeeze them. I watch as Liam stands and holds his hand on the Bible and recites what the judge says to him.