Kurt climbed the stairs to his room, wiping tears from his eyes as he got changed to a Dalton hoodie and sweatpants, climbing into his bed and closing his eyes. The stress of the day drove him nuts. The day for the trial ran till eleven thirty, so he was exhausted. Blaine had followed him upstairs to his room and was holding him, lying on top of the blankets and stroking his hair gently.
"It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay," Blaine kept telling him over and over again.
Kurt, however, was not believing it one bit. He felt sick to his stomach after what happened in the trial. He didn't like the fact that Jenningson got up in his face like that and cursed him. He would be forever grateful to Mike's father for saving his ass. He shivered, despite being underneath two sets of blankets. Knowing he needed to go into school the next day made him nervous and scared about getting harassed. He fell into an uneasy sleep, but being asleep wasn't much easier.
He found himself tied up in the corner again, the gag tight against his lips, almost cutting off circulation in his mouth. He rocked back and forth, his ankles and wrists having no feeling in them. He could see Karofsky, Rick and Azimio all smiling at him evilly. He screamed as Karofsky backhanded him in the cheek. He felt himself getting slapped over and over and over, his face stinging.
Slap.
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Slop.
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He then felt himself being turned over and spanked hard on the ass, Azimio's hand making a burning contact on his butt cheeks.
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Every time he screamed, the harder he was spanked. He could feel the blade running along his butt cheeks, the blood pouring down his broken skin. He sobbed and screamed, trying to claw for freedom, struggling. He then felt himself being turned over onto his back violently. Rick pressed the butt of the gun against his head, hitting his temple very hard.
"If you scream one more time, I'll shoot. YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" Rick roared, right into his ear.
Kurt quieted, nodding as Karofsky slapped him hard across the face.
Kurt woke up with a loud scream, twisting in his blankets as the sweat poured down his neck. Blaine grabbed him by the shoulders to steady him.
"Kurt are you okay?" he demanded.
Kurt gasped for breath. "Bad dream!" he choked out.
Blaine just rubbed his arms comfortingly, however, they heard the crash of Kurt's window as a brick got thrown at it. Kurt screamed. Blaine grabbed him by the hand and pushed him to the floor, away from the shards of glass.
Finn rushed into the room and they got him into Finn's bedroom. They could hear Burt and Carol calling the police in their bedroom. This was the second time a brick was thrown at Kurt's window.
The next evening, Kurt found himself walking into the courtroom, however, he didn't know if he even wanted to be in the same room as the boys that tortured him. All they did the other day was give him dirty looks. He took his seat nervously as he noticed Karofsky, Rick and Azimio in jump suits.
Mike's father turned to Kurt, who began to tremble. "Kurt, if you do not want to be in the room when they are giving their statements, you can go into the green room and watch it from the flat screen in there if that would make you more comfortable."
Kurt nodded, feeling like he could lip kiss Mike Sr. right now. Slowly, Finn, Burt and Carol helped him out of his seat and into the green room. Burt turned on the TV and they could see the whole courtroom.
The judge went up onto the stand. "Okay, the defense will start today. However, we have Kurt Hummel and his family members in the green room for this part of the trial, because the prosecuting attorneys stated to me earlier that he is uncomfortable and doesn't want to be in the same room as the defendants due feeling trauma. The defense may call up it's first witness."
Callahan rose from his seat. "We call Rick Nelson to the stand."
Rick rose from his chair and sat in the witness stand, handcuffs around his wrists very tightly, the orange jumpsuit very bright against the light color of the courtroom. Burt kept an arm tightly around his son, kissing his head softly.
"Can you please state your name and address?"
"Rick Nelson. 13 George Street, Lima, Ohio," Rick said into the microphone.
"Do you remember what happened on the afternoon of October 5th?"
"Yes I do," Rick said.
"What happened?"
"That day, Dave came up to myself and Azimio. He looked creeped out and disgusted about something, and we both asked him about it. He told us that Kurt had followed him into the locker room, jumped on top of him and started to touch him. He said that Kurt kissed him on the mouth and began to pull his pants down, and he was angered that was why he told Kurt he'd kill him; he acted out of self-defense. When we learned of it, we decided to confront him on the topic. He told us to come with him to the auditorium, and demanded that we do things with him, and we thought he was going to start to sexually assault us, so we decided to get back at him and we needed to defend ourselves, so we took turns and hit him repeatedly and we had to tie him down to keep him from doing what he wanted," Rick lied.
Tears shot to Kurt's eyes. He could feel Carol wrapping her arms tightly around him, stroking his hair comfortingly.
"Did he ever touch you before?"
"Yes, he one time dragged me outside the the dumpsters and started to rub my chest and would touch my private parts. I slapped him in the face after that," Rick said, continuing to lie.
"That's a lie!" Kurt said. "I-I didn't! He dragged me behind the dumpster and slammed me up against it and slapped me in the face!"
Finn nodded. He believed that.
"Did you ever report it?"
"No I didn't because it would be like . . . . like . . . . cause I play hockey, and he much smaller than I am, and they would be raising eyebrows and assume that I did the things that he did to me! I mean, nobody would believe that, because I'm larger than he is. They'll probably think that because I am more dominant, I did that stuff to him," Rick said.
"This is bullshit!" Finn whispered.
"I know Finn. Just listen," Carol whispered. She continued to hold Kurt.
"So you are saying that Kurt demanded that you do all this to him and that he was asking for it?" Callahan asked.
"Yes. That is the truth," Rick said.
"Thank you Rick. No further questions."
Emmett rose from his seat to question Rick.
"Rick, did Kurt really ask for this to all happen?"
"Yes, he did. He asked us to do this to him. I mean he was always the type of person to ask for sexual favors. I mean, he intentionally set his step parents up just so that he could try and get close to his now step-brother, Finn, because he was in love with him. Why would somebody do that?" Rick asked.
"Well, did it ever occur to you that due to the fact that Kurt is the only openly gay student at school, that he was lonely? That he was looking for somebody that he could talk to openly and honestly about how he felt? That he needed support? That he needed an outlet to go to, but he didn't have that available to him?" Emmett asked.
"No, it never came across to me at all. Nothing ever gave me any clue," Rick said.
"Well, the way how it is that at least 80% of LGBT teenagers feel as though they have nobody to talk to about how they feel. I actually have a written statement from Kurt. Your Honor. May I use this statement as part of the evidence?" Emmett asked.
"Yes, I would allow that."
"Kurt wrote in this statement. He said in this statement, 'I stayed in the closet until I was fifteen years old. I didn't know how to express my feelings of depression. I told me therapist, but other than that, there was nobody I felt I had access to. My father is very butch and is a man's man and the type of traditional man-and-woman marriage type of man and I felt that if I told him, he would look at me differently and or feel ashamed of me. I feared being ostracized by every single one of my peers. I was and still terrified of getting gay bashed and beaten and harassed on the streets when I go out on dates with my boyfriend Blaine. I have fears that somebody would try to kill us or try to gang rape one of us. Sometimes I find myself in situations where I would lie in my bed and shake and cry in the night because I feel like I'm alone still to this day. I just sometimes feel like throwing up every time I get deep into thought. Sometimes I let it consume me and it eats me up every day of my life. I feel like my life is getting sucked out of me every day of my life. I feel as though it's like a parasite inside of me and causing me to die every little minute. Sometimes I turn to cutting myself to try and relieve the pain, because it distracts me from everything that is going on. It's a filthy habit, but it helps me cope with that feeling of not feeling good enough, of not feeling any sense of worth. I feel terrified that one of these days, I might get attacked on the streets and get beaten until I got into a coma. It scares me and it shakes me very badly. I know I don't deserve it, but sometimes I feel that I do, because I feel like I am worth nothing and nobody, and it just kills me inside and I feel like I am getting stabbed in the stomach repeatedly every time I think about it. Sometimes I feel like I will never get any closure, and I need that. I need that sense of feeling safe. But I do not feel safe and peaceful at all. I cannot remember the last time that I felt safe and peaceful. Sometimes I think about killing myself because what's the point is staying alive, when your life is made a living hell? I feel like I am in hell everyday in school. Every time I get slammed against a locker I feel ready to hide in the bathroom and cry. Nobody seems to understand how horrible it feels to have words like Faggot and Homo and Whore being shouted at you in the halls and having somebody laugh at the idea of you in pain. It is very heartless, and what did I do to deserve it? What did I do wrong? I want closure and I want to feel safe again. I just want somebody to love me.' You-You see, this is what I am talking about here," Emmett insisted. "He had, for so long, been feeling alone, and that was why he felt he could change Finn's sexuality by manipulating their parents, because he felt that he would never be wanted by anyone."
"But that shouldn't be an excuse to go stalking Finn and trying to change him," Rick said.
"And I agree with you on some level, but Kurt felt like he was alone. And the bullying he receives in school doesn't help. In fact it adds to that feeling of lacking self-worth and self-esteem and feeling as though you are not good enough," Emmett insisted again.
"Okay. But we felt we needed to take matters into our own hands. If we didn't take drastic measures, he probably would have went further," Rick said.
"No further questions," Emmett said.
"Okay, so we will continue tomorrow. It is eight o'clock right now. Everyone go home."
Kurt had tears shining down his face as the television was turned off. Mike Sr., Emmett and Blaine went into the room. Blaine just wrapped his arms tightly around Kurt. Kurt buried his face into Blaine's shoulders, the sobs coming out of his lips silently.
"Kurt, it'll be alright. We're gonna make sure that this is all taken care of," Mike Sr. whispered.
Kurt shook his head, his face crumpling up tightly. Blaine rocked him back and forth.
Mike Sr. sat down on the couch with Burt and started to discuss the rest of the trial, while Burt just held him tightly, squeezing him.
