True Love (Camren)

Chapter 14 (part 2)

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Camila snaps out of her flashback, finished explaining the best she could to her lawyer. She looks around her in terror, reliving the moment and beginning to feel threatened by her father in the room.

"He hurt his own family... he hurt us and all we wanted from him was love and for him to protect us from danger, not to be the thing that was dangerous," Camila adds, her voice breaking.

She glances at Lauren through her tears, seeing that her girlfriend was very distraught and was trying not to cry herself.

"Thank you, no further questions," Mr. Malik says, giving her a slight nod. Camila sighs softly, wheeling back over to the table where her mother rubs her arm soothingly.

"Mrs. Cabello, please come up," the judge says to Sinuhe. She looks at Camila one last time before going up to the witness stand.

"Now, how long have you been married to Mr. Cabello?"

"We married twenty two years. The wedding in Cuba," Sinuhe says.

"And when did you come to the United States?"

"2003, when Camila was six."

"Was Alejandro anything like the man you see right over there," -he points to Alejandro.- "back then?"

"Of course not. Alejandro was wonderful man. So sweet and caring. The reason we come to America was for him to have good job, to have better life for Camila and then Sofi, a few years later."

"Is this the same job that he had lost last year?"

"No. The job he had when we come was nothing compared to his job last year. We had many more money," she says, glancing at her soon-to-be ex-husband.

"So he had his whole family relying on him for income, from the job he lost correct?"

"Yes. I am, how you say, 'stay-at-home' mom. He was the only one with job," she says, quoting the label of her work.

"So he had lost the only possible way to have an income for his wife and his children. You could've lost your house, with your bills not being payed for. And that was very stressful, and all that stress had really started to get to him." Mr. Malik turned to face the jury. "So Mr. Cabello turned to the easy way of forgetting your problems: alcohol. And with that alcohol, all of that anger he had towards his family came out, because he couldn't help it. He was under the influence all the time. But that does NOT. Excuse the fact that the way he handled things was not handling anything at all. He should've gotten help from the bank, or gone out looking for any job possible, or even asked family or friends for a few loans. He also should've gotten his stress under control. Instead, he drank, and drank, and drank some more, until he could forget the present, all of the problems with the money floating away and replaced with the only thing he could remember to be angry about. His family. And with that he hit his own wife and child, and emotionally abused a five year old girl," he practically spits out the last sentence.

The people of the jury give disapproving looks.

"Thank you, Sinuhe. I would now like to speak to Mr. Turner, the neighbor of the Cabellos."

((Flashback))

After Sinuhe tries desperately to get Alejandro off of their older daughter, he turns and suddenly starts hitting her as well, and Sofi backs out quietly so he doesn't notice her. She runs out the door once she's out of sight from the kitchen, running to her next door neighbors with tears streaming down her face. She rings the doorbell frantically and repeatedly until the middle aged man answers the door.