Faith, Hope, Trust

A Lot At Once.

After a couple days Janae got used to the new school routine. Janae started making friends and coming out of her shell a little bit. Then one night a dreaded phone call comes.

Chris: Hello who is this?

Court: Hello this is the Nashville Supreme Court is this the legal guardian of Janae Reali.

Chris: Yes, this is Christina Cimorelli.

Court: We need you guys to go into your local police station and give the reference number 8927.

Chris: What is this for?

Chris: Can you give us any more details? 

Court: The sentencing for Andrew Scott is coming up soon and we want to get Janae to testify against him.

Court: You'll find out all the details when you go to your local police station and quote the reference number 8927.

Chris: Okay thank you bye.

While Chris was on the phone Nick and Janae crowds around her at the house phone and when she hangs up Nick and Janae look at her. Nick looking interested and Janae looking scared. 

'They want us to go to the police station to talk to us about you testifying against your dad,' Chris mumbles.

'A-Are you serious,' Janae stutters 'You know I can't do that.'

'Look, Janae I don't want to make you do something but you might be the only person who could get him a really long sentence,' I say hoping Janae won't take it the wrong way. 

'Can we go to the police station tonight,' Janae asks 

'Yeah sure, we may as well,' Nick says grabbing his boots.

In 10 minutes the family are sitting in a room in the police station. Then an officer walks in and we all sit up straighter.

Officer Stephens: Hello guys so we're here to talk about Janae testifying in court.

Janae: Yeah, but I don't know if I can do that, if I even go up to testify I'll have a panic attack and not be able to talk.

Officer Stephens: Lets talk about concrete details of the court date first and then we can talk about you testifying or not okay?

*all nodding in agreement*

Officer Stephens: So the court date is set for the 15th of December in the Nashville Supreme Court starting at 11 am. 

Nick: 2 weeks?

Officer Stephens: Yes we wanted to set it as soon as possible so all people involved could start to fully heal from this horrendous experience. 

Chris: It makes sense. What other people are testifying.

Officer Stephens: It's all girls testifying because he only abused girls. If Janae testifies there will be 3 girls testifying. The other girls' names are Lauren Brandon and Elise Thompson.

Janae: I remember them, they lived on my road but moved away years ago.

Officer Stephens:. They'll be digging deep into what happened, mentally and physically. There are other girls who were abused and molested by Andrew but their too young to go through the court process.

They all sit back and let what the officer said sink in. After what feels like an eternity the conversation continues.

Janae: I'll do it, I'll testify, but  I don't know how I'll be able to stop myself from panicking. I have panic attacks daily as it is when nothing is even going on.