Faith, Hope, Trust

Court

*MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING*

*Chris's POV*

The next two weeks went by so quick. Janae has been going to the school's counselor to manage her anxiety and depression. Her panic attacks started to space out and lasted a shorter amount of time. She started making new friends and got to know someone enough to have an intense crush on someone who's family has a history with the Cimorelli's. Then the court date arrived.

Me, Janae and Nick all ate breakfast together and then I started helping Janae getting ready. I started curling her hair while she did her own makeup. Then she went off to get dressed while I braided my hair. I really quickly did my makeup and ran off to get dressed.

                                             Janae's Outfit

                                          Chris's Outfit

We then go downstairs with Nick all ready and go to the local court. When we get there we see -both sides of our family. We all say hi and then we go inside to the court. We find our seats and talk until the judge walks in. As our conversations continue Janae gets more and more nervous and panicky. I keep giving her hand a squeeze and letting her lie onto me but I know it doesn't completely stop the anxiousness. Finally Janae's turn comes and I go up to the stand with her. While Janae is talking she is drawing a figure 8 on her hand, a calming technique. She's reading, holding back tears and I'm behind her wiping tears from my face as she tells us in detail all the big things he did to her and let the court show photos of her injuries when they happened. She explains how he'd rape her at least once every week and hit her all the time. The pain in her voice is so evident and her eyes full with sorrow as she faces her father speaking directly to him saying 

'You took away my childhood, my innocence and so many other children's innocence. You did this. You ruined lives. I'll never get any of that back and neither will the other children. No sentence will be enough to compensate the pain and grief of your involvement in lives. I wouldn't have done this but I had to make sure you were put away for a long time. We are survivors, not victims and will never be.'

With this she smiled at the judge, turned around and we walked back to our seats. The courtroom erupted in claps and the next girl stands up to testify. When Janae gets back to our seats she leans he face into my shoulder and started bawling crying. I put my arm around her and pull her into my chest. I rub her back, looking down at her, seeing her strength and also her vulnerability. She just completely let down her guard and  showed everyone the part of her which brings her the most pain. I smile as she calms down sitting back up to listen attentively to Elise Thompson testifying, the last of the three girls testifying. When she finishes, there isn't a dry eye in the room and then the case goes to the jury and we're allowed to go out. We all give Janae a hug and get some food. Then we get a call that the jury have come to a decision and we  all go back to the court. We go in and sit down in our previous places and get ready to listen to the jury. Finally they start to speak

'We, the jury have come to a conclusion that Andrew Scott is guilty of 3 accounts of child sexual assault, 3 accounts of rape, 1 account of child neglect and 1 account of child abuse. Andrew Scott is sentenced to life in jail with no chance of parole.'

The court clap and cheer as Andrew Scott gets lead away by two guards. Janae goes up to the two other girls who are a couple years older than her and hug them. We walk over to their families and I start talking to their moms Leanne and Anna. Elise's mom Anna was first to speak. 

Anna: Your girls were amazing, their speeches were so touching.

Leanne: Thank you so was your daughters. I can't believe Janae lived with that man for so long, it's heartbreaking.

Chris: Yeah, I'm a teacher at her school and seeing her come in, I realized something was wrong probably two weeks before I adopted her. I saw bruises and gashes, I then told the school and they got people out there early one morning and by the end of that day, Nick and I adopted Janae.

Anna: That's incredible, her testimony so heart wrenching, did she write it herself?

Chris: Yeah, I came downstairs the morning after we went to the station to get the details about this and she had typed out the whole thing. This was only about a month after we adopted her. I felt so bad that she had to relive it.

Leanne: Lauren had a hard time writing hers, it took her a week because she'd write a part of it and then she'd get really triggered by a part of it and had to stop writing.

Anna: Yeah same happened with Elise but I'm glad they all testified, it was long awaited 

Chris: Yeah definitely. 

Then the girls came over, we said goodbye and we went home. On the way home Janae fell asleep in the car and Nick lifted her into bed. I went down and sat on the couch with my computer and went onto Youtube, reading the comments on the videos about the case. They all felt heartbroken for the girls and disgusted that this man could be so vile. Nick came downstairs and sat down next to me kissing my forehead. I turned to him and gave him a proper kiss before snuggling into him and we talked for hours, reflecting on today and talking about Janae and how well she seems to be doing.

*Janae's POV*

After Nick lifts me up to bed, I wait until he's downstairs before getting up and going into my bathroom. Ever since we left the courtroom the first time to get food, there's been a voice inside my head telling me to cut, just constantly shouting it. I get my razor and take out the blade. I slowly cut just under the bend of my elbow on the inside of my arm. I quickly clean up and run back to bed in case Chris or Nick came up to check on me. As I lay down I felt guilty for what I did but just closed my eyes and blocked it out. I quickly fell into a deep sleep.