The Player Next Door

#26- Court

We walk into the courthouse and are greeted by our attorney. The one that got our rights severed from our mother and helped our mom adopt us. She played a very important role in putting us in the position that we are today. But it has been a while since I've seen her. She stands next to Doctor Karie.

"Hello" Our lawyer greets us.

"Hi" Chris says to her while I walk up and engulf Karie in a hug.

"How are you adjusting in Washington?" Karie asks me.

"Okay"

We both pull away from the hug.

"Are you seeing the therapist that I recommended?"

"Not really" I tell her truthfully. I've never been able to lie to her, not even when I was a kid.

"You really should"

I nod my head, I'll try harder.

"I'm just going to kind of go over what our plan is today" Our lawyer starts, "We will have the doctor that first examined you guys go over everything that was found right after you both were removed from your birth mother's house. Then we will have Doctor Karie take the stand and go over all of the psychological injuries that you both sustained. Then we will have Madelyn take the stand. She will also be cross-examined my her team of lawyers. Okay?"

We all nod in response.

I let out a shaky breath.

"Are you ready to go in?" Karie asks.

"It's now or never" I respond.

***

We walk past all the other people in the room, find our seats at the front and sit down.

There are a lot more people than I expected. But I don't bother to look at any of them.

As soon as the trial starts they bring out her. In and orange jumpsuit with her hands cuffed to her waist.

Chris grabs my hand in his and gives me a weak smile.

Her eyes scan the room until she finds us, giving us a wicked smile.

The nerves start to surface, causing my heart to pound in my chest.

"All rise. The court is now in session"

We all stand and walk at the judge walks into the court room and has a seat.

"You may be seated" he says.

The room collectively sits.

"Hello everyone. Today we are here for the parole hearing of Stacey Peterson. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison about 10 years ago for the child abuse and neglect of her two children. We will be deciding if she gets out on parole or has to serve 10 more years until her next parole hearing. We will first call to the stand Doctor Margaret Clooney to review the physical injuries that the children endured while under the care of their mother."

A women stands from beside us and walks to the stand, she swears in before our lawyer begins to ask her questions. 

"Could you please tell us the injuries that Christopher Foster endure?" She says. 

"When Christopher came to me he 6 years old. He had various bruises around his body, and a broken arm that didn't heal properly. He also had a mild cast of hypothermia and some water in his lungs."

"Do you know what the water in his lungs was from?" Our lawyer asks. 

"I would have to guess from being submerged in water long enough to where he needed to take a breath."