A/N:
I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start off by giving my DEEPEST of apologies to everyone reading this fiction for my extreme lack of absence. I know how it feels when you're really into a story that just stops updating for no apparent reason at all. Especially if it's your favorite one. Haha, I'm NOT expecting my story to be your favorite one, but if there's someone out there who feels that way, then I'm even more sorry.
These last months have been hectic and just, honestly, really crazy for me and this year will probably be the same but I really really really will try my best to find a moment to write. I don't have a clue about how frequent the updates will be, and I will really do my best to finish this story 'cause really, I kind of like it and I want to see them together just as much as you do!
The only thing I can promise is that I will do my very best to finish this story. I can't say how long it will take, or when I'll be back again, but I just hope you hang in there if you like this stuff. If you just can't take the wait, I understand that too. I'm assuming many of you have already forgotten about this one and that's more than ok.
Before I let the story continue I want to give a huge thank you for everyone who kept reading, reviewing and cheering on me to continue this story. I love your appreciative words. They mean the world and a special shout out to Lily Ann and your inspiring review that actually forced me to write this update. Anything referring to "A Beautiful Mess" in a context that has to do with my writing is all to flattering for me to grasp. That story is so good it breaks my heart. And now there's a new one from ImagineAlex. Actually, my inbox just told me it's been updated. Which means that I can't sit still anymore.
Anyway. I am truly sorry for M.I.A. And, you guys are really the best.
As I watched Emily sit down after what felt like a excruciatingly long promise of honesty I still had that disturbing feeling in the pit of my stomach. I never wanted Emily involved in this. It was never supposed to come to this. It was just going to pass. That had been the plan all along. Eventually I'd move out and never see Tom again. That's what I thought would happen. That's what I wanted. I just wanted to push everything further and further away from me until there wasn't anything left to swallow. No Tom, no bruises, no quick excuses, no hiding body parts. Nothing. And nothing may seem empty to you. Nothing may seem hollow and excruciatingly painful for everyone else, but for me that would've been the relief I needed.
"Miss Fitch. Emily. May I call you Emily?" the solicitor asked kindly when she noticed Emily's nervousness. It was written all over her face. But she seemed nice, the solicitor. And that seemed to ease Emily as I watched the strict tension of her shoulders ease down a bit.
Emily just nodded at first but eventually stuttered out an "Uhm, yes of course" short thereafter when she realised that the testimonies were being recorded and that a nod probably didn't make that much of a sound.
"How long have you known the Campbell family?"
She was picking at her fingernails, a nervous habit she had developed throughout the last few years. I don't know why. I noticed it the first time a few years back when we were eating dinner and Jenna asked her about something that I assumed happened the night before. Emily, being the awfully bad liar that she is, started picking at her nails while trying to come up with an answer that would be sufficient enough for Jenna to stop pushing the subject.
"My whole life. They've been our neighbours for as long as I can remember", she replied.
"And Naomi, has she always been your friend?"
"Uhm.. I-.. Sh-..." she started. "She's my stepbrothers best friend. I mean, I know Naomi but she, Freddie and my sister Katie were in another class when we grew up. So, I guess.. no? Or I mean.. I've always known her. We all played together when were kids."
"I see what you mean. And... Tom. Did he ever seem violent to you?"
"I never saw much of him. He married Gina" she nodded towards my mother, "when I was pretty young and moved in with them next door. I only talked to him when he came by asking for Naomi, really. So I can't really judge him being violent based on those meetings. He drank a lot, though."
"And this you know?"
"Yes. Every year there's a Christmas Party at our street and Tom would always show up pretty intoxicated before the drinks were even handed out."
"Did you ever think of it as a problem?"
"Him drinking? Only for himself I guess. I didn't think that much about it. People drink. Some people drink more than others. Some may have problems with it. But it didn't feel like it was my place to say something."
"Did you know that Tom was abusing Naomi?"
Emily swallowed hard as she looked up at me with a look I would never forget. A look of pure betrayal, even though I'd never see this a a betrayal. She saved my life. I tried my very best to tell her with my eyes that it was okay. That if there ever was a time and a place where it was more than okay for her to share this, it would be now. Time to be honest. To tell the truth and not keep it locked up inside anymore. To finally come clean.
"I did." she said with a wobbly voice. She was breaking. I could see it and it physically hurt everywhere inside me.
"Why didn't you report it to anyone?"
Naomi remembered every look Emily has given her as if it was yesterday. Every time she'd seen a bruise and pretended with sorrowed eyes that they just weren't there. Because that was what Naomi had wanted.
"Naomi begged me not to."
"So you didn't, even though you knew that this was going on?"
Guilt was taking over Emily.
"I never knew the frequency of it. I knew that it had happened. At least once or twice. But I
never knew how often."
"Why did you go over to Naomi's house that night?"
She fidgeted in her chair, frowning as she spoke.
"Something just felt wrong. When Naomi left our house that day you could see that she was terrified. And since I knew about the abuse from before, I just wanted to make sure that everything was alright."
"Then why did you bring your father? Did you know that something was going to happen?"
Emily frowned even more and stared hard at the solicitor as she spat, "D'you think I had anything to do with that? Are you seriously trying to accuse me for being an accomplice or something?"
"Order! Answer the question, miss Fitch." The judge called out.
She huffed loudly.
"After seeing some bruises on Naomi a long time ago, I knew that Tom was capable of a lot of things. I didn't want to risk anything. I'm telling you, something didn't feel right. I don't know what it was that told me to go over, I just knew that I had to."
"Thank you, Emily. Mr. Robertson, go ahead."
Mr. Robertson looked like evil was pumping through his vains with every heart beat as he stood up and approached Emily. Just like Tom looked. No wonder. What other asshole could defend such a bastard as Tom if not someone exactly like him?
His voice was cold and distant when he spoke. A complete opposite to the previous solicitor.
"Miss Fitch. You never reported Naomi's abuse even though you knew about it all along, isn't that right?"
Pushing directly at the buttons that he knew would make her crack. All that she felt the most sorry about. Her biggest regret. Tears were starting to form in Emily's eyes. I wanted to punch the fucking lights out of him for making her upset.
"Yes." It was barely a whisper.
"Now, since Tom has a fairly clean record like most of us, it could even be seen as absurd that he, a hard working man and good husband, would do such a thing out of the blue, wouldn't it?"
"You don't have to have a record to be a fucking asshole."
"Language, Miss Fitch." The judge spoke again.
"..Sorry."
"But, kids.. they have a wild imagination. Here we have this hard working, honest man marrying a woman with a child who grew up without any kind of male role figure in here life. It is often common for girls to reject new men in their mothers lives. A fear of rejection or maybe being put aside. Naomi may might as well have lied about everything to break them up. Maybe she thought you'd actually tell someone and help her break them up."
"That's just absurd." She was getting more and more aggravated by the second. "I saw the bruises. You physically couldn't do that to yourself even if you tried."
"But you never really did see Tom lift a finger towards Naomi, did you?"
Silence.
"No."
"Then I guess we don't really have a problem here, do we?"
"I think we do." Her voice stronger now. And I couldn't really understand why because Mr. Robertson seemed to have the upper hand. I knew what he was getting at. What he was trying to do, and I couldn't believe it. I couldn't stand losing this. Thoughts about Tom being freed without charges took over and I clenched my jaw together to keep me from crying.
"There's no evidence. You never reported it. Earlier bruises were never checked up to prove otherwise. Tests are probably going to show that Naomi is emotionally disabled, making things up and severely self-destructive. Tom might even have tried to stop Naomi from hurting herself that night. Not the other way around. We don't really know the truth, do we?"
"Again, I think we do."
What was she doing? We were losing. This bastard was sticking up to Tom and the jury was starting to actually believe him instead of me. I could see it as they looked at me with their questioning eyes. His story seemed real. Like I really did imagine everything, and for a second I nearly believed it myself. And he was right, it wasn't uncommon for children to act that way. It wasn't impossible.
"How, do reckon?"
She tried to find her voice, coughing and clearing her throat every other second.
"Open the first pocket in Naomi's bag." She quietly said, not looking up. Especially not at me. I had no idea what was going on. I probably looked just as confused as Mr. Robertson at the moment.
Mr. Robertson started to frown as a security guard went to Naomi's seat and took her bag up from the floor. He raised it up towards Emily with a questioning look. She nodded back.
He started emptying the bag onto a table in front of him. A magazine, some coins and gums came flying out and then something that Naomi had never seen in her bag before. Something that certainly didn't belong to her.
A tape recorder.
Everyone turned their head from the table and looked back at Emily.
"I slipped it into her bag before she left the house. I just knew.. I don't know. I just knew something would happen. Of course I hoped and prayed that the tape would be empty and worthless but I had this unnerving feeling that it wouldn't be. That it isn't."
I was gobsmacked. Staring at her with eyes that refused to blink and a mouth hanging open. I couldn't believe it.
"Play the tape." The judge called out.
The security guard carefully unfolded the recorder and took out the tape. He walked over to the sound system and put the it inside. As he pressed play I heard a swift and almost unhearable "I'm sorry" and then immediately the crunchy noise of my own two feet getting nearer the bag and eventually walking down the stairs I knew that this, whatever this tape held, was going to be ugly. And secrets would come out. Secrets to why he was hitting me. Secrets about my undying love for the redhead in front of me. Secrets that wasn't meant for anyone else but me to know. Especially not Emily. Not now. Not ever.
I held my eyes closed the entire time. The whole room was silent except for the muffled and crunchy noises coming from the speakers. When the beating had started some people exited the room. Among them, my mother. She obviously couldn't stand the sound of my heart-wrenching screams and ribs cracking. I did think that I was going to die that night. And that's exactly how it sounded as well when I heard it all being played back to me.
"You never understand, do you? I'm not the one who's a sinner, Naomi. My brother got killed because.. because he's just like you. A filthy sinner. It goes against God. It goes against everything. He deserved it, and so do you."
I instantly remembered this. This part. And I knew what was coming next. The drawings of red. The drawings of her. I had to end this and I had to end it now.
"Turn it off." I said out loud. Everybody now looking at me.
"Please just, fucking turn it off now." I rushed out even louder. This made Emily frown. The look I was sporting must have been one of desperation because the security guard hastily looked towards the judge who just gave a simple nod back.
"I thought that you'd eventually understand. That you'd learn. I fucking tried to set you straight! But no, no. Just kept dra-"
And it stopped. It finally stopped. I let out the huge breath I didn't even know that I was holding.
"Could you please finish the tape later? I would prefer if only the jury and not everyone in this room have to listen to this."
"I think what we heard was enough." The judge said.
I looked at Emily with nothing but love. Hundreds of people had just heard my whole body take a beating that was out of this world really, but I couldn't care less. I couldn't care about anything else then telling this beautiful girl with tears streaming down her face that I loved her. For knowing when to listen and when to not listen to me. That I loved her for saving me. That I loved her for letting me love her. For letting me live. Even if she didn't have and never had a clue. With tears falling freely from my own face, I tried smiling at her. She bit her lip and started to wipe away the tears in her face, forming a smile mirroring my own. I don't really know what mine ended up looking like, but hers was the most beautiful I've ever seen and I knew in that moment that we had won. I knew that I was finally free.