Finding Me

Chapter 31

As the butterflies begin to flood my stomach once again, I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I try to move my thoughts away from what might happen and turn my thoughts to the festival. I think about Alli and Nicole and how I hope they're doing great at the festival.

I keep my thoughts distracted while we quickly eat something on the way to the courthouse and all the way until we enter the courthouse. I stand in front of the double doors that are the only things keeping me from seeing my father again after five years. I take a deep breath as Emma opens the doors, and I walk into a situation that's worse than I anticipated.

~•••••~

"Order in the court! Order in the court!" the judge is commanding when we walk inside.

Emma and I slip into seats toward the back since we're late. When I settle into my seat, I catch sight of my uncle and his lawyer. They both look angry. I look over to the other side and see my father for the first time in a long time. He looks almost the same as the image I have in my mind from the last time I saw him. The only different thing that I can tell about him is that his hair is beginning to gray. His stern expression is still on his face.

Suddenly, he turns his head and looks into the crowd. I fidget, since I'm on the end of one of the rows, and he sees me before I can move out of his sight line. He gives me a sickening grin, sending shivers down my spine. After he sees that I fidget even more, he gives me another grin and turns back around and begins whispering something into his lawyer's ear.

I sigh and take a deep breath as my uncle's lawyer stands up and says something. The judge interrupts him and tells him to take a seat. He sits down with a red face, and I see my father looking smug. I look over to my uncle and see him looking very discouraged.

"Now, Mr. Edwards," the judge says to my uncle's lawyer, "If you will continue on calmly and under the rules of my courtroom."

My uncle's lawyer stands and calmly says, "I call Maya Walker to the stand."

I hear a gasp from my father's corner of the room. My father quickly turns around and meets my eyes. He glares at me menacingly, and I cringe. Emma looks at me surprised, and I just stand up and begin to walk to the stand. I see my uncle looking at the lawyer with an irritated and confused look, but he catches my eye and mouths something. I can't tell what it is, so I just go to the stand and take the oath and sit down in the chair.

Butterflies have filled my stomach, and I look down and see my hands shaking. My heart feels like it's about to beat out of my chest at any moment. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I was not expecting to be a witness for my uncle, but it makes my process a little easier.

"Miss Walker, how are you related to these two men?" Mr. Edwards asks me.

I clear my throat and try to calmly reply, "My father is Tyler Walker, and my uncle is Samuel Erickson."

"Is it true that your uncle is your guardian?"

"Yes."

"And, why were you removed from your father's care?"

I take a deep breath and keep myself from looking at my father. "About five years ago, something happened at my house here in New York City. I ended up in the hospital, my mother died, and my father was put in prison. My uncle came to New York City and took me to his home in Clearwater Bay once I recovered from my injuries."