The Forgotten Child

32

"I DO!"

We all turned to see a very familar woman standing there with a few people beside her, a guy with a camera and a laptop. Oh my!

"CECILIA!", I jumped in joy when I saw her, she was so amazing to me as a child and was my only friends. She smiled when saw me and glared at her family. She walked down to me and gave me a huge hug and introduced herself to Lisa.

"And who might you be", The judge asked.

"Her aunty and I have proof of everything", She said with a smile directed at my family who were sat in confusion. I just stared at her in surprise. Proof?

"Well, then I call Cecilia Rushwood to the stand", Lisa called.

"Cecilia Gilmore", She corrected. My family gasped.

"You got married without my permission!", My grandpa asked enraged whilst Grandma has a slight smile on her face.

"Hey mum", She said to grandma gently with a big smile. Grandma has tears in her eyes and grinned back at her as the rest of them sat in shock.

"ENOUGH!", The Judge bellowed as we all quietened down. We all sat in our seats as Cecilia sat in the stand, taking the laptop and camera of the man next to her, and connecting it to the T.v in the corner.

"So, can you please provide us with the proof?", Lisa asked as Stones lawyers scoffed. Cecilia nodded and turned the camera on as the whole room gasped.

Holy shit!

They had been following me this whole time! There was a photo of me practically running into the car, those times where my brothers pulled on me or dragged me somewhere, the plane where I was desperate to get out Stone's arms and struggled and how he dropped me onto my head. There was even one when he backhanded me onto the sidewalk.

"I had my men follow Matilda since I left her a few years ago to sort some business out, to make sure she was safe and had everything she needed, they documented everything but I told them specifically not toe get involved. Please refrain your eyes if you don't like blood", She said. clicking once more.

It made me put my head down in shame. It was a photo of my dad carving his knife into my arm, with me on the floor, desperate to get away. There was an audio with it. Cecilia pressed play and all what could be heard was my screaming. It made my grandma and some of the others in the family cover their ears. Grandpa looked shocked whereas my father looked anaywhere but someones eyes.

"What the actual FUCK DAD!", Stone screamed at my father. I just sat their with a straight face.

"ME! It was you too! Look she is bleeding on the sidewalk there because of your ANGER!", MY father yelled back. I just sat there watching them yell at eachother. I could feel my chest tightening and it was getting harder and harder to breath. My vision was going inverted every now and again and I started to pull my legs into my chest trying to have a sense of security.

I felt someone pulling their hands around me, cuddling me so I was safe. I regonised that scent anywhere. It took me a few minutes to be able to breath again before I went back to normal. I looked up to Mike with a look of gratitude and he smiled back at me.

"Thank you Mikey", I whispered to him and he smiled. Whether his father killed my mother didn't matter in that tiny moment, as we both put it aside just so I would feel alright. He just nodded with a small smile and went back to sitting with his friends.

"What was that?", The judge asked. I just put my head down in shame.

"It was a panic attack", Stone said, in confusion as my family were also staring at me as I stared down at my feet.