The Consequence Of Us

Life Goes On, With Or Without Us.

 Matteo

I tap my fingers softly against the glossy wooden table waiting for the judge to make his ruling. My client, Claire Moore nervously chips at her purple nail polish looking down at her shoes as Judge Newton makes his final ruling. I hide my nerves well but I know the court will rule in my favor. I have dedicated my life to making sure I am the best damn lawyer I can be.

Judge Newton looks up as he places the stack of Manila folders on his podium. "Based on the evidence provided, I have come to the ruling that the accused, Joshua Kern is guilty and will be charged with statutory rape. I sentence him to 10 years. Court adjourned." He smacked his gavel on the podium and stood up.

Claire's faces lights up hearing the court order and whips her face grinning towards to me and extends her arms embracing me in a tight hug, "Thank you."

I nod politely giving her a side hug and pat on the shoulder, "I'm glad I could help and give you a piece of mind." I look over at her parents on the seats tearing up and eager to maul her with love, "Go on."

She rushes her to family and I turn to collect my things. Claire is just another one of cases. I take on cases like hers where I feel like I can make change. Cases her Claire are far too many. Assholes take advantage of a drunken girl or simply for saying no. The helpless that wouldn't have the means to get help or the oppressed. Too many girls like Claire have to go quiet out of shame or see their rapists or aggressors walk free without a damn claim. Some of these girls are lucky, others are not. Reminds me of a girl I knew in my childhood. The guilt never leaves, like a gnawing pit in my stomach. I could've helped her now. I'm too late. I was only twelve years old at Walton Preparatory that I met her. I was playing soccer with my friends when I saw her on the bench with her knees to her chest and sobbing like no one was watching. She looked a bit older than me. I really had no business walking up to her but I was always told by my mom to respect women and look out for them.

***

Matteo: Age 12

"Are you okay?" I approached her carefully.

"Go away kid!" She sniffled.

"Why are you crying? Do you want to play soccer with us?" Too innocent to understand the burden and grief she carried with her.

She smiled softly wiping her tears and looked at me, "You must be in the lower classes or you are just really skinny and short."

"I'm twelve." I nod.

She laughed softly, "I'm Lily. What's your name?"

"I'm Matteo but uh, you can call me Matt."

"I'm calling you Matty." She smiled

"So are you going to tell me why you were crying?" I pressed on but her smile quickly washed away when I mentioned it again.

"You don't want to know. You have better things to do than listen to me." She shrugged, "Your friends must be waiting for you."

"My mom says I should always help people and be nice to girls."

She smiled softly, "Your mom must be really nice. My mom isn't..."

"Is your mom mean to you?"

She simply nodded.

The bell rang and we rushed back to our classes but ever since that day we became friends. What I didn't realize how bad Lily's home life was. She would beg to stay over to play. She said how her girl friends were all mean and knew her mom so she wanted to be away from them. She lived a good thirty minutes away from me. I lived in the farming rural side of New York. My parents owned a dairy farm where they sold milk and dairy products to local markets and such. We weren't rich by any means but we got by. I always had food and clothes to wear. I got accepted into Walton based on my grades. I really didn't want to go because I would miss my friends and the uniform was so stuffy and itchy but my mom was so proud of me and said that it would be a chance for me to get a good education and then I made friends with Lily. The sad thing about Lily is how she pretended to be happy but one afternoon, we were playing outside and I grabbed her hand and she freaked out. I got scared and apologized over and over again. Her eyes were brimmed with tears and she finally told me everything. She hated being home because her uncle Barron would come over for dinner and stay and at night he would sneak into her room and make her... do things.