"What Hurts the Most" is by Rascal Flatts. I think I spelled their name right. i speling and gramer iz gud
I understand that Callia sleeping with a judge to win favor seems evil, but nobody's perfect. Sorry if you don't like it. You can pretend it didn't happen if you want.
Oh, and "Lolita" is a reference to a story where a man falls in love with a much younger girl. In this case, Callia means "Does Dawn looked enough like an innocent little girl?" Sorry if it's upsetting.
Chapter VIII: What Hurts the Most
"Well, look. You wore a cream eyelet bodysuit with pearlescent buttons that scream sea urchin, a turquoise wrap skirt that complimented the whole 'prostitute,' theme, and if pleather boots with lace aren't suggestive, I haven't been a fashion designer long enough," Callia said. "You need a helpless, young look to get the jury to think you need to be protected. I'm aware that we're about to take shameless advantage people, but we don't really have a choice."
"How are we pulling off the damsel in distress look?" Dawn asked unhappily. She had just been her own hero; she didn't need someone to take that away.
"Easy—curls and pink clothing. And maybe lace. If the make-up artists here can make you look like a 7-year old when you're 15, then I can at least make you look 10 or 11," Callia looked determined.
Now, Dawn was absolutely frightened. She liked to play dress-up with her dolls sometimes, when she was afraid and needed something comfortably familiar, but never when she was the doll.
Callia took the sausage and orange juice with a tire yawn. "I had to draw the dress last night and make it. Does it look Lolita enough?"
The dress was a bubblegum pink with a lacy collar, lacy sleeves, and a lacy hem. Dawn hoped there would be a mistrial declared if she showed up wearing that, because surely she would be the laughingstock of the village.
"Now the curler," Callia grabbed it. "Mara, get the hair bow, the shoes, and the white tights. Thank you for listening to me and bleaching your hair last night, Dawn. The bleach makes your hair thinner. Less curling for me."
Callia was a strong soul with a moral code she would follow if it killed her. Mara wanted to be her someday, and that's why she obeyed.
After getting her hair done, Dawn had on a pink bow with a rhinestone heart at the center, polished white shoes with pink satin bows, a pair of white tights with a hem around mid-butt length (the tights weren't made for girls her age), and silky curls that cascaded past her shoulders like a waterfall of white gold.
"Hmm, a bit more dressy even," Callia said. "No eye makeup, Mara. That's just for whores. Maybe some lip gloss and nail polish, though," she grabbed tangerine lip gloss, an iridescent nail polish, and applied both expertly. The one ting one could never say to Callia was that she didn't do something right. If she was told to do anything, she'd do it perfectly. She just rarely ever obeyed if somebody told her to do something.
Whatever Dawn may have feared about her dress-up doll game, they were soothed as soon as she entered the courtroom. People looked a lot more sympathetic. The drug test came out clean except for high levels of prescription Ritalin, and Dawn excused that easily. Now there was only the breathless pre-trial to endure through.
"Why can't we take care of our own daughter?" Samantha demanded.
"Because I filed a complaint of child abuse before and she is now in the custody of the state. All I need is for the doctors to confirm what I know already, and Dawn will no longer have to be your daughter," Callia said viciously.
"You can't do that! We are churchgoing people!" Samantha argued.
"On the contrary, ma'am, I back her decision. Looking at her therapist's notes and comparing them to my notes, we have enough evidence to prove that Dawn is a textbook case of abuse. She's unsure, uncomfortable, and, most importantly, in desperate need of a new home," Jaunie said. ****
"Docket #4774, Dawn Silver vs. Samantha and Michael Silver," the judge droned, "on the indictments of physical, mental, and sexual abuse."
"Your Honor, given the disgusting nature of the crime, the prosecution sets bail at $100,000."
"Your Honor, my clients have never physically struck the prosecutor. Also, most of the Silvers' money belonged to Dawn as she was the sole family member who had a job and as all assets have been frozen-"
"Enough!" said the judge who was not Ratner. "Making a minor financially responsible for an entire family alone is abuse. Bail is set at $100,000." ****
"The prosecution calls for Dawn Silver's testimony before the court," Brenda said with some misgivings about the way the judge stared at her breasts.
Dawn was so pale that Brenda put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but relaxed quickly when she noticed it was Brenda.
"Just tell the truth," Brenda said. "Now, have your parents taken care of you?"
"What do you mean?" Dawn asked.
"Do they make you eat your veggies and get home by 10:00, things like that," Brenda said sweetly.
"Yes."
"Do they call for you to do something at home, like your chores or to answer a phone call?"
"Of course," Dawn reveled at saying "of."
"Do they refer to you by name or a pet name when they call for you?"
"Sometimes."
"Can you clarify?"
"Um, well," Dawn tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Usually at home, they call me 'you' or something like that. But at stuff like parties, they don't call me anything unless I'm being introduced, and then they'll say my full name."
"Have they ever referred to you as a 'freak' or something along that nature?"
"Yes," Dawn squirmed.
"Have you ever felt uncomfortable around your parents to the point where you feared for your safety?"
"Yes."
"How often?"
Dawn squirmed. She hated being on the stand. "Every now and then, you know?" she rotated her wrist in the gesture of helplessness.
"No, I don't know," Brenda said without any sort of emotion.
"Like, if I broke a dish or something, since I am really clumsy, or if I had a party and didn't clean up, then Mom might slap me or push me or something," Dawn met Samantha's eyes and faltered.
"Does your mother slap you often?" Brenda asked. She turned to where Dawn was looking and turned to Ratner. "Prosecution asks that the defense be moved outside the room for the duration of the interrogation."
"Objection!" Paul Robinette, the defense lawyer, injected. "Defense has a right to know the extent of the charges against them."
"That's why you can come back after you escort your clients away. Interrogation will resume after Samantha and Michael Silver are removed from the room," Ratner banged his gavel.
Paul had to argue.
"You won't let them take our daughter away, right? She means the world to Samantha. Sure, we've given her swats when she's deserved them, but-"
"But nothing, you liar. You told the court while we set bail that you have never struck Dawn in her life. Are you renouncing your statement now?" Ratner asked.
The Silvers were led out without any further complaint.
"Yes, she did slap me. A lot, I mean."
"Earlier, you said that your mother pushed you. Did she do that often, or hard, or into things?"
"Well, she didn't do it very often. I was usually shoved so that I'd slide on the carpet," Dawn said. "But like, when she slapped me, I'd fall and spin around because of the force."
"The jury should now be receiving copies of People's Exhibit C. These are Dawn's friction burns from sliding on the carpet," Brenda said to the court. To Dawn again, she asked, "Have they done anything else that you would consider unusual in the physical sense?"
"Well," Dawn squirmed and nodded almost imperceptibly. "Mom had me take nude naps with her. And Dad would sometimes rub his hands over my stomach, my back, my arms, my legs, my…"she swallowed. "My butt."
"Were there ever penetrations?" Brenda asked.
Dawn looked straight at her, panicked. "No! Never!"
"Have they ever beaten you?" asked Brenda.
"Only before they were my parents," Dawn said.
"Why did they beat you?" Brenda asked.
Dawn looked down. "I was in a-" she cleared her throat. "I was in their gang."
"And was beating a part of this gang?"
"No," Dawn shook her head vigorously. "We were all about peace. I never got hit except that one time, and I never saw anyone else get hit either."
"So no one beat you if they ever saw you do something against gang code?"
"There was no real gang code," Dawn looked confused.
"How did you get involved in this gang?"
"Objection! Relevance?" Paul asked.
"Maybe if you let her answer the question," Brenda glared at him with laser eyes, "she could give you some answers."
"Overruled. Witness will answer the question," Ratner said.
"I was walking through the park after school and felt my backpack was too heavy, so I sat down on an bench and decided to rest for a bit. And I guess I must have been asleep, because I woke up to the sound of gunshots. And this guy was running from a girl who was firing at him. He picked me up and carried me while he ran, and I was so unaware that I didn't even know that I was shot. But he brought me somewhere and fixed me up and since the girl had already seen me go with them, the boy knew that she would think I was a member and I would be targeted by that rival gang. So I was basically initiated for protection."
"Did the initiation involve violence?"
"No. It was just an 'okay, you're in now,' sort of thing."
"Why were you beaten?"
"Well, Samantha and Michael liked to…do things with some girls, and I tried to stop them, and they didn't like it."
"No more questions, Your Honor," Brenda left.
Paul came up. "Dawn, have either of your parents spanked you?"
"Yes."
"Do you count that as part of the alleged abuse?" Paul asked.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Objection, relevance?" Brenda stood up.
"I am determining the witness' competence in court, Your Honor," Paul said.
"Overruled," Judge Ratner said with a bang of his gavel.
"I don't believe corporal punishment is ever required to deal with a situation," Dawn's voice was stronger now.
"Are you qualified to make such an assumption, Miss Silver?" Paul asked.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that I needed a PhD in psychology before having an opinion on parenting," Dawn said without smiling, which made the audience laugh just a little bit. "Besides, I am one of many who agree with the ideas of doctors more qualified than you who make such assumptions, as you call them."
"But you are the one in contempt of court, Miss Silver. Not them," Paul said.
"Objection!" Brenda said. She walked up to the stand with Paul.
"I am trying to prove witness incompetency," said Paul.
"By trying to lie outright? Dawn has been extremely cooperative given that her life has just been turned upside-down, and the only one in contempt of court is you, Paul," Brenda hissed.
"Sustained. Jury will disregard that last remark and it will be struck from the record," Ratner banged his gavel and winked at Callia.
Dawn felt physically sick. If she lost, she would have let her sister make such a sacrifice for nothing.