Broken

Chapter 7 - Human Again

"Order. All rise."

I saw the door at the front of the court room open, the judge walking out.

"This is case number 354 on account of the matter of Smith testifying against Smith. Parties have been sworn in, you may be seated. Sir, have a seat."

He signalled for Tom to sit.

I was sitting next to my lawyer behind a desk. The courtroom was full. People were standing at the back.

I could see Steve. He looked awful. He had a scruffy looking beard. Bags beneath his eyes. He had lost weight. I felt no sympathy for him.

"Mr Abbott? Your opening statement, please."

My lawyer, Mr Abbott, made a wonderful lawyer. He knew what he was doing, and bloody hell he did it well.

He knew how to turn my story from one that was not only horrifying, but would pull at the judge's heart strings. He pulled a pen from his pocket, and pointed towards a board.

"Here, I have photographic evidence of the injuries inflicted on Miss Smith. These were inflicted on her by Mr Smith."

I had no idea these photos even existed. How did they get them?

"Where the hell did you get these?"

I could sense the anger in Tom.

"The three times you went to the hospital, they had to take pictures, but they knew you wouldn't do it, so when you were knocked out, they took them, and stored them should this matter come to court." Mr Abbott explained.

I felt violated. If they were taking pictures of me whilst I was out, what else were they doing? The thoughts began to spin in my head, making me feel dizzy.

As Mr Abbott went through them, I could feel each and every one of them on me. I knew where they were, when I had them, how long I had them.

By the time he got to the end of his statement, most of the courtroom and the jury had tears in their eyes.

"And with that, I'd like to call my first witness. Mr Holland?"

I looked up from the ground when I heard his name. He was a witness?

He took his place in the box. He was sworn in by the court official.

"Mr Holland, you've been accquainted with Miss Smith for some time now, haven't you?"

"Sixteen years to the day, sir. We've been best friends." He smiled over at me encouragingly.

"Sixteen years is a long time. And you know most of what happened to Miss Smith, am I correct?" Mr Abbott was pacing the floor, a hand in his pocket, the other stroking his beard as if in thought.

"Yes sir."

"Could you describe some of these things to the jury, please?"

My head snapped to Tom, his eyes wide in horror. He knew how private I was about what happened. He mouthed to me that he was sorry. What the hell was Mr Abbott trying to do to me?

"Ok." He was hesitant, I could tell, but he had a job to do.

"She had countless black eyes, broken ribs, bruised vocal chords, her collarbones and shoulders shattered when she was younger due to the pressure of his hands holding her down, countless scars all over her body due to cuts he had caused with his nails, and uh-"

I looked at him with tears streaming down my face, shaking my head, begging him not to carry on.

"uh...he raped her whilst she slept, whilst she was awake, from the age of four, and carried on until the day she ran away from home."