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Edea and Headmaster Cid took the stand today. Edea described how Seifer was during childhood. Apparently he had a habit of attacking the other kids in the orphanage. She recalled one time when he attacked Selphie though Selphie would tell me later she remembered little about it. They questioned the receptionist, the investigators, and the girl at Garden who allegedly had a short term affair with Seifer. She accused me of attacking her but couldn't hold her story straight when questioned about it several times. Then Ms. Davidson was brought in. "You were friends with Rinoa's mother Julia, correct?" Mrs. Kitley started.
"Yes, that's right," Ms. Davidson answered.
"Did you ever notice any violence within the home?"
"Yes. Julia came over a few times with bruises on her face. She had me help with make up."
"Did you ever see any bruises on Rinoa?"
"When she was about three or four, Julia brought Rinoa over and she had an usual bruise on her knuckles. Julia said her father got mad at Rinoa and rapped her knuckles with a fork."
"Do you think Rinoa would intentionally lash out in a violent way?"
"No I don't believe so."
They questioned a few of my father's servants as well.
"Did you ever witness anything unusual in Mr. Caraway's house?" Mrs. Kitley asked.
"Yes," a servant said. "I remember quite a few times when the child was 'punished'. I was hired a long while after his wife passed on but I heard things from the others."
"What kind of punishments are we talking? Spankings? Grounding?"
"No, it was more severe than that. I remember one time she had bruises on her face and arms. She apparently embarrassed him in front of important guests. I remember seeing him drag her off to another room and hearing him yelling at her. She was crying in the corner when he left."
Something unexpected happened next. They brought my father in. He was questioned first by Mr. Riley. He asked what I was like as a child. My dad responded, "Disobedient, worthless, and weak." I don't know why he said I was disobedient. I don't remember ever refusing to do something. Oh well.
Mr. Riley said, "What made you decide to send her to Garden?"
"I didn't. She ran off. I sent people off to look for her but they didn't find her." This was another new thing to me. "If I would've know she was going to do something like this, we would've looked harder." I suppose they brought up the fact that I ran off so they could make me out to be a rebel. Even if I was-though I'm not- not all rebels are dangerous. There were a few more questions but I didn't listen. It was all lies to paint a bad picture of me anyways. Now it was our turn.
Mrs. Kitley started with a question about my mother, "Did you ever fight with your wife, Mr. Caraway?"
"We had ... arguments."
"And what do you mean by that exactly?"
"We had a few bad conversations, little fights."
"Did you ever hit your wife?"
"No," he lied.
She reminded him, "You are under oath, Mr. Caraway."
"Yes I know that."
"People have testified that she had bruises on her face from YOUR hands."
"Objection," Mr. Riley said loudly. "This is irrelevant to the case."
"Your honor this will lead up to it if you allow me to finish."
"Overruled," the judge said.
"Do you have any idea how your wife got those bruises on her face?"
"No," my dad answered calmly.
"Have you ever hit your daughter?"
"No."
"Do you realize that we've had three people tell us otherwise? Two of them say they witnessed it. Somebody is lying ... I'm going to ask you again. Did you ever hit your daughter?"
"Maybe once."
"Is it true that you burned all your wife's stuff in front of your daughter?" The scene replayed in my mind, I felt tears come to my eyes.
"Yes I DID burn it."
"You hit her and destroyed all her memories of her mother, wouldn't that give her good reason to leave home?"
"I didn't hit her."
"You didn't hit her? You just told me you might have hit her once. Mr. Caraway, I want you to look at your daughter and tell me you've never intentionally tried to hurt her and she left because she was disobedient." He looked at me and I couldn't hold back the tears. They came down silently. He looked old, tired, and sad. I really wanted to turn away but I couldn't force myself to do so. Inside my head I was asking why he was trying to get me thrown in jail. Did he hate me that much? Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me but I swear I saw the slight glint of a tear in his eye. I held his gaze until Mrs. Kitley said, "No further questions."
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Edea and Headmaster Cid took the stand today. Edea described how Seifer was during childhood. Apparently he had a habit of attacking the other kids in the orphanage. She recalled one time when he attacked Selphie though Selphie would tell me later she remembered little about it. They questioned the receptionist, the investigators, and the girl at Garden who allegedly had a short term affair with Seifer. She accused me of attacking her but couldn't hold her story straight when questioned about it several times. Then Ms. Davidson was brought in. "You were friends with Rinoa's mother Julia, correct?" Mrs. Kitley started.
"Yes, that's right," Ms. Davidson answered.
"Did you ever notice any violence within the home?"
"Yes. Julia came over a few times with bruises on her face. She had me help with make up."
"Did you ever see any bruises on Rinoa?"
"When she was about three or four, Julia brought Rinoa over and she had an usual bruise on her knuckles. Julia said her father got mad at Rinoa and rapped her knuckles with a fork."
"Do you think Rinoa would intentionally lash out in a violent way?"
"No I don't believe so."
They questioned a few of my father's servants as well.
"Did you ever witness anything unusual in Mr. Caraway's house?" Mrs. Kitley asked.
"Yes," a servant said. "I remember quite a few times when the child was 'punished'. I was hired a long while after his wife passed on but I heard things from the others."
"What kind of punishments are we talking? Spankings? Grounding?"
"No, it was more severe than that. I remember one time she had bruises on her face and arms. She apparently embarrassed him in front of important guests. I remember seeing him drag her off to another room and hearing him yelling at her. She was crying in the corner when he left."
Something unexpected happened next. They brought my father in. He was questioned first by Mr. Riley. He asked what I was like as a child. My dad responded, "Disobedient, worthless, and weak." I don't know why he said I was disobedient. I don't remember ever refusing to do something. Oh well.
Mr. Riley said, "What made you decide to send her to Garden?"
"I didn't. She ran off. I sent people off to look for her but they didn't find her." This was another new thing to me. "If I would've know she was going to do something like this, we would've looked harder." I suppose they brought up the fact that I ran off so they could make me out to be a rebel. Even if I was-though I'm not- not all rebels are dangerous. There were a few more questions but I didn't listen. It was all lies to paint a bad picture of me anyways. Now it was our turn.
Mrs. Kitley started with a question about my mother, "Did you ever fight with your wife, Mr. Caraway?"
"We had ... arguments."
"And what do you mean by that exactly?"
"We had a few bad conversations, little fights."
"Did you ever hit your wife?"
"No," he lied.
She reminded him, "You are under oath, Mr. Caraway."
"Yes I know that."
"People have testified that she had bruises on her face from YOUR hands."
"Objection," Mr. Riley said loudly. "This is irrelevant to the case."
"Your honor this will lead up to it if you allow me to finish."
"Overruled," the judge said.
"Do you have any idea how your wife got those bruises on her face?"
"No," my dad answered calmly.
"Have you ever hit your daughter?"
"No."
"Do you realize that we've had three people tell us otherwise? Two of them say they witnessed it. Somebody is lying ... I'm going to ask you again. Did you ever hit your daughter?"
"Maybe once."
"Is it true that you burned all your wife's stuff in front of your daughter?" The scene replayed in my mind, I felt tears come to my eyes.
"Yes I DID burn it."
"You hit her and destroyed all her memories of her mother, wouldn't that give her good reason to leave home?"
"I didn't hit her."
"You didn't hit her? You just told me you might have hit her once. Mr. Caraway, I want you to look at your daughter and tell me you've never intentionally tried to hurt her and she left because she was disobedient." He looked at me and I couldn't hold back the tears. They came down silently. He looked old, tired, and sad. I really wanted to turn away but I couldn't force myself to do so. Inside my head I was asking why he was trying to get me thrown in jail. Did he hate me that much? Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me but I swear I saw the slight glint of a tear in his eye. I held his gaze until Mrs. Kitley said, "No further questions."