August [j.p]

039- And women like hunting witches too

Now I breathe flames each time I talk
My cannons all firin' at your yacht
They say, "Move on", but you know I won't
-
mad woman

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TW: sexual abuse, mentions of eating disorders.

The courtroom was cold but her hands, the right wrapped around Sadie's and the left holding Lori's, were warm.

"We're here for you. We'll always be here for you." Lori whispered in her ear as she hugged the girl fiercely.

Today, Lori was angry. Angry that a young girl had to tear her healing wounds open for the world to see. Angry that there was mo guarantee that she would be believed, that they could only hope.

Lori knew all about hope. At 12 she hoped for a petite form like the other girls at her school, but her already large breasts and supple stomach made it impossible.

Hope didn't get her anywhere, neither did watching what she ate and going on runs around the ground. It was how she was built, her genes and she couldn't change that. So instead of hoping she took it into her own hands.

Then she hoped for help because she couldn't stop, couldn't stop the demon raging inside if her telling her that she would never be perfect. Help didn't come, she had to help herself.

Then Lori hoped that her mother would get better, that the doctors would save her but hope did nothing to stop the tumor.

Lori had given up on hope but she was also one for second chances. And for August Williams she would give hope millions of chances if she had to.

Because when she was hoping to have a figure like her friend, August would always affirm how beautiful she was even on days when Lori shouted and cursed her. August dragged her to the nurse when she was protesting and shouting profanities. August held her as her mother slipped away day by day, told her that just because he was gone didn't mean that he wasn't there anymore.

When hope wasn't there, August was and when hope gave up on her, August never did.

"Thank you for being here." August mumbled as she stood between her friends.

"And we'll be here, through it all, until the very end." Sadie reaffirmed.

With a sad smile and shaking legs August turned her back and picked up her chin, walking to the table at which her attorney sat.

Adalet Marvella was the most unconventional attorney August could find.

She was informal in her addresses, cocky in her representation and had a shocking reputation.

But she was fierce. That was what August needed. And she had learned in her life that unconventional didn't mean unreliable.

The woman demanded attention. She was as tall as the heavens and her voice reverberated in the room as she made her introduction. Her piercing blue eyes saw right through every person called up to the stand.

How could you lie when it felt like someone was actively unraveling your words before they even left your mouth?

When August heard her own name, she felt her mouth go dry. Unable to swallow, unable to breathe.

She felt him in the room, felt his violating stare and the evil around him.

She felt like a little girl again and the wood of the stand under her palms felt like her desk and the splinters she'd pull out with shaking hands.

Her heart beat rapidly and she felt hot and cold at once.

Her eyes scanned the room frantically, hoping to calm herself down.