Dysfunctional

T h r e e

Author's note: This chapter was written by me, so enjoy!

Neliah was scared.

Actually, scared was a total and complete understatment.

Neliah was ready to her pants terrified.

She has sat in the courtroom everyday for almost four days now awaiting the faith of the person she hates the most in the world.

Neliah's eyes darted around the courtroom. She looked everywhere but at the man on trial. She twisted her hair around her pointer finger as she tried hard to listen to what was going in the trial.

"Jury, what is your verdict?" the judge asked the group of 12 to his left. The 12 who have decided the faith of the monstrous man who ruined her life. 

The courtroom grew silent in anticipation of the jury's decision. The girl sat in the crowd grabbed her mother's hands and said a mini prayer.

'Please let this man be punished for what he did to me.' She kept her head down not wanting to look at anyone, especially the man that destroyed her.

The silence soon became deafening and it felt as if everything is moving in slow motion. Juror number 1 stood up.

"We find the defendant not guilty."

Her head shot up once the words left the juror's mouth. Suddenly Neliah felt as if all eyes were on her and her mother.

"No, no, no," She whispered, her voice laced with disbelief and sorrow, "This can't be happenning."

She dared to look over at 'innocent' man and immediately regretted it. The man was staring at her and smirked they locked eyes. She hastily turned her head away and squeezed her mother's hand.

Not guilty.

Those two words caused Neliah's heart to speed up as her vision started blackening.

Then she woke up.

She heard someone screaming. It took her a minute to realize the scream was in fact her own.

She quickly sat up, panting with her hand over her heart. She quickly assessed her surroundings and began to calm down. She had that nightmare again for the fourth time this week. 

Not guilty.

The two words that continue to haunt her thoughts.

Every. Second. Of. Every. Day.

She felt tears well up in her eyes at the thought of having to leave everything and everyone behind.

Her mother dashed into her room and instantly pulled Neliah into her arms.

"Hey, hey. Don't cry Sweetie. Now tell me, was it that dream again?" Neliah didn't respond as quiet sobs wracked through her body. But that told her mother that the answer is yes. Her mother started to rub Neliah's back to comfort her daughter. 

"I don't understand! How could they just let him walk free?" Neliah bawled, her voice a bit muffled by her mother's shoulder.

"I don't know baby, I don't know." Her mothergently rocked her and held on to her for what felt like hours but was actually 20 minutes.

"Now you gotta try to go back to sleep, you have school tomorrow morning." Her mother said as she let go of her daughter and stood up. 

"Good night." She whispered before kissing neliah on her forehead before quietly walking out of the room.

Tomorrow. The day she will be going to a new school in a new town. Just great.