Even Through the Storm

35. The First Night

 "May the first witness please approach the stand," Judge Arnett says. We are at Asher's father's trial. Ash is the first witness. He gets up from next to me on the bench and sits down at the stand to get sworn in. "Mr. Reynolds, please tell the court what happened during the first night in question."

"Well ma'am, I was in my basement when I heard screaming. Just my mom and I live there, well, used to, so I knew something wasn't right. I ran upstairs to her room and I saw a man yelling at my mom and hitting her."

"Is that man in the room?"

"Yes."

"Can you please point to him?" Asher points to his father. "Please continue."

"He was hitting her. She dropped to the floor and he stopped. Then he looked at me. I ran, and he came after me. He said he was my father. I ran into the downstairs bathroom and called my girlfriend. It didn't even cross my mind to call the police. I told her what happened, and asked her to come over. The door opened, and it was him, my father. He grabbed my phone out of my hand and flushed it down the toilet before smacking my head. I ran out of the bathroom and closed the door. I locked it and pushed a chair under the knob. I was scared. I didn't know what to do." Tears are streaming down his face. "By the time Lola, my girlfriend, and her dad found me, I was curled up in a ball on the floor crying. I told them what happened, and they said to go with them. Her dad drove to Billy Bob's and parked in the parking lot before calling the police. I told them what happened, then we went back to my place. My dad came out in handcuffs, and my mom in a gurney, and then the police asked me a few questions. Then I went to my girlfriend's house and fell asleep the second my head touched the pillow."

"Did you check on your mother after she went unconscious?"

"No. I saw that she fell and I freaked out. I ran. I didn't go back upstairs. I couldn't. If I saw that she was dead I don't know what I would do."

"Okay, thank you. May the next witness please approach the stand?" Ash sits back down next to me, his face still red from the tears. Ms. Reynolds hugs him, then walks over to the stand and gets sworn in. "Please tell us what you know about the night in question," Judge Arnett says.

"Well, I was upstairs in my bedroom watching television when my ex-husband came into the room. I hadn't seen him since he left me over sixteen years ago. I paused the tv, I think a little bit of me was happy to see him again. He started cussing at me and he walked over and slapped me. I don't know what he said, exactly. It's all a blur. I screamed, and he dragged me off the bed. He kept yelling and hitting. He punched right here." Ms. Reynolds points to her left temple. The next thing I remember, it's the next day and I'm in the hospital."

"I know that you said you can't remember what he said, but do you have any idea why he was there?"

"I remember why he was yelling, just not individual sentences. I had emailed him about a week earlier about if he could send some money to help for my son, Asher, for college. He's leaving next summer, and I would rather, then not, that he have a little bit of money saved up beforehand."

"Does he not pay for Child Support?"

"No. During the divorce, I got everything, money and all included in return for none. Nick had another newborn at the time."

"I understand, thank you. May the next witness please approach?" Once Ms. Reynolds sits down, I get up and sit down at the stand. Nerves are running through my body, I've never been in a courtroom before, let alone as a witness. I look at Asher while being sworn in. "Ms. Stevens, in your own words, what happened during the night in question?"

"Well, your honor, I was at home when I got a phone call from my boyfriend, Asher Reynolds. I picked it up, and he told me that his father had showed up and his mother was unconscious. He sounded like he was crying the whole time. I heard a man's voice say Asher's name, and he sounded angry."

"Do you know who the man is?"

"It was his father, Nick Kingston."

"Please continue."

"So, Ash asked me to come over there, then the phone was hung up. I told my dad to call the police if I haven't checked in twenty minutes later. He told me that he was going with me. My dad drove to Ash's house and we ran inside. We heard yelling. It was the man's voice again, Asher's father's. When we got in, a chair was flipped over on its side, and Ash was in a ball near the refrigerator crying. Someone was pounding on the bathroom door from the inside, again his dad. We took Ash and drove to Billy Bob's where we called the police. They said to go back to the house so we did."

"Your's or Asher's?"

"Asher's. We saw his father come out in handcuffs, and his mom was on a gurney. The police asked my dad and Ash a few questions, then we went home."

"Okay, thank you, last witness?" I sit back down next to Asher, and he puts his head on my shoulder. His face is still wet. My dad sits down at the stand and gets sworn in. He tells pretty much the same thing I did, but in his perspective and without the phone call. After that, the judge calls for a fifteen minute recess.