Part 13

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People with fancy suits and freakishly good postures were taking their places in the room while I was observing from my spot within the crowd.

The judge hammered his weird little wooden hammer to get everyones attention and asked for silence to start the hearing. "We are gathered here once again to attempt to decide the future of this ex-couple's child." His authoritative voice rang loud in the hollow and empty room. Val and who I assumed to be her lawyer were on the left side, whereas a man that looked to be about 5'10, had a short and kept beard, a black suit and a slicked-back hairstyle was on the right side with his attorney. He looks...familiar?

I'm not sure how court works but from what I've heard from Val's story, this has been going on for a long time. She told me that there was a bunch of evidence that needed to be looked through, but it was all small pieces and barely enough to prove anything about him. I'm not sure what evidence she was talking about but all I can do is hope for the best.

"Mr Stone, you may present your case once more." The judge said, referring to Val's lawyer. He apparently has to showcase all evidence one by one, and he's now presenting some pictures that were projected on the wall in the front of the room for everyone to see. Were those bruises? Wait, on Val's arm? I looked at her to try to see a reaction but she was looking down, almost looking ashamed.

Maybe this is the only way she could tell me? By having someone else do it so she wouldn't have to hear any questions I may have? I'll try to process this so I don't spew it all out on her during breaktime, she clearly wanted me to have time to swallow this before I gave her a reaction and maybe that's why she isn't looking at me?

Mr Stone was talking about the pictures and how they should be enough to tear away his custody and maybe even convict him. The jury clearly wasn't sure though, as their faces showed no empathy. I admit, those picture didn't show Val's face so maybe they thought that it could've been faked?

The man's lawyer spoke up. "Objection! How do we know this is her arm? There is no face or any recognizable feature in this photo!" He yelled.
The judge didn't seem fazed and was holding a neutral face. "You may continue, Mr Stone." He allowed him.

"Why would this woman need to fake such an accusation? Are we really pretending that domestic violence is rare?" He tried to get the jury to empathize, seemingly to no avail. Some were moved, but the unfortunate majority weren't swayed by either side yet.

The hearing proceeded and I was struggling to keep up with a lot of the terms being used so I just tried my best and kept trying to gauge people's reactions.
My eyes wandered to this man every now and then, and everytime I looked at him I saw something that was telling me to think back in time. I swear I know him! I'll try to sneak a peak at his face clearly during the break.

I was lost in my thoughts until the judge's little hammer banged the table announcing the brake time. We were cleared from the court room and allowed to go into these special brake areas where there were snacks and bathrooms.
I kept my eyes on the mysterious man that seemed to have this magnetic hold on me. We locked eyes as he passed by my seat on his way to the braking area.

He's an old family friend of my mom's. I'm sure of it now. I haven't seen him since mom went away and now it makes sense why I couldn't remember him, it was so long ago! I remember how much I always hated him, he was a drunk just like her, on the bottom of the food pyramid of humanity. How the hell did he ever meet Val?

Mom would bring him over and his style was completely different to this whole 'fancy suit' thing he has going on in the court room. He would always have torn up clothes and he smelled like cigs, and I'm pretty sure mom cheated on dad with him. They were always all over each other when they drank, until one day he stopped showing up. I wonder what happened?

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