My mom stood from her seat once again. I was getting tired of the routine of sitting, standing and then sitting and standing again. When would this be over? When would my father be sat behind bars?
"Miss Meztil, how could you remember Nina Watson?"
"It's a small town and we do not get many patients there aren't old people, so it becomes easier to remember people when they are young. Their faces stand out a bit more. And also since her X-rays was kind of different I remembered her better."
"Okay, and you're sure that the girl who is sitting there is the one who came in with the mark on her skin and with the broken leg?"
"Yes, look," Lara zoomed in on the picture, so you could see the name on the top. And as predicted, my name stood cleary. "Isn't that the victim's name?"
"Indeed it is. Thank you, I'm done." My mom returned to her chair, slamming her fists down on the table. I followed her close as she leaned over and whispered something in my father's ear, which he for a moment thought about before he answered.
Lara walked down from the stand and back to her place in the back of the court. After her testimony, my heart felt a little lighter and I could finally breathe naturally, but still not become totally calm. My nerves was still playing with me and keeping me on the edge.
"Your honor, I have something I would like to say," my mom said.
"Please tell us, Mrs. Watson." We all sat on the edge of our seat to hear what she had to say, 'cause we could feel the bomb was about to explode, at least I could.
"As you can see, it is the Martinez family, trying to persecute my client for child abuse against his own child. They want to put him away and take his daughter away from him-"
"That is not true, my client and his family do only wish to put a guilty man behind bars," Antonio interrupted and shoot up from his seat.
"That's a lie, Mr. Martinez, why else would his own daughter turn against him, if not under influence of the most powerful family in the whole city and maybe even state," my mom argued back, standing herself.
"She is not turning against him, she is deciding to break free of his abusive prison and that has been hard for and it has been even harder for her to sit here today and speak freely about it. Think about that for a second, will you."
"I can assure you that that is not the case. My client hasn't raised a single hand to his daughter, which he and I have repeated many times throughout this trial and I cannot believe that you're still trying to persecute this man. Haven't your family taken enough for us... for him already." And what I believed to be a tear slowly dripped down my mother's cheek as she stared at Antonio like he was a ghost. My mom crying was a rare sight and as quickly as the tears had begun to drip, they were ripped away.
"I do not understand, Mrs. Watson, I can assure you that the Martinez family has taken nothing from you nor your client and surely this doesn't have anything to do with the case I presume." Antonio tilted his head, regaining the calm and natural voice of a lawyer. He believed he had the advantage.
"This has everything to do with the case, I can assure you, Mr. Martinez. Your client may not be the one behind it, but you and him are talking for your whole family-"
"And Nina, we're also talking for Nina, who if I may add, is the victim in this case and last time I checked, it had nothing to do with something the Martinez family stole from you, if they stole anything at all."
"You're good with words, just like your mother." Everyone's heads snapped towards my father, there calmly sat in his chair, with his hands folded on the table.
"I beg your pardon!" Antonio snapped.
"My client was only giving you a compliment, saying how much you're like your mother," my mother said as a little smile grew on her lips, but dripped away again.
"I'm glad, but this has nothing to do with the case either, nothing at all!"
"This has everything to do with the case, 'cause that's the reason behind me hitting my own daughter."
"John!"
Gasps ran out into the trial, whispering following right after together with exclamations. He admitted it, he admitted it all and just like that. Sitting calmly and looking straight forward, like nothing bothered him at all. Like this was normal and that it had been his plan all along.
"Silen-"
"What do you mean that it is the cause of you hurting your own daughter that much? Please do enlighten us," Antonio said, cutting off the judge as she tried to calm everyone down. However, Antonio did the job pretty well, since everybody started to follow the conversation again, even the judge didn't want to cut in.
Me, I was the most interested watcher. This was maybe the answer I had been looking for the last five years. Maybe this would finally be day I would know why I had to suffer such terrible fate. Maybe the answer about what they had lost so many years ago would come up to the surface and the reason for their huge hatred towards the Martinez family.
This was maybe it. Maybe.
"Twenty-six years ago, something amazing happened to me and my wife, we had our first child," my father began but got cut off by Antonio pretty fast.
"Last time I checked, your oldest child has only just turned twenty-three, do you not remember your own children's age?"
Wait... they said they had lost something twenty-six years ago, something they loved very much and something there had changed them. They called the Martinez family thieves and hated them much more than anyone could ever hate anyone. The conversation my mom and dad had had after my mother had gotten fired. They had talked about a 'he' who had gotten stolen from them a long time ago.
Both my parent's eyes were focused on Antonio, none of them saying anything, just looking at him like they were in some kind of trance. My eyes glided over to look at Antonio and my eyes went wide.
Weren't Antonio twenty-six years old?
Oh fuck, he is.
No... this can't be.
My gaze kept changing between my parents and Antonio, it even took some time to watch Liam for a bit.
"No, that's not correct, Mr. Martinez, we had a son twenty-six years ago and he got taken away from us too soon after his birth." My mom had decided to join in on the conversation, only making me want to jump up from my seat and run away. Apparently, I was the only one who had already cracked the code. And to be honest, it didn't surprise me.
I should have seen it long ago, the clear clues there had laid in our looks and blood. It was so clearly, right now everything made sense. It all made sense and the last puzzle had found it's place.
The reason my father became like he is, was because he lost a son. He lost his first son.
"I'm sorry for your loss, but this has nothing to do with the ca-"
"This trial is over! The jury is to vote in a private place. We'll be back in thirty minutes, you can all take this outside, but do not disturb others, thank you." The judge trailed off as quickly as she could, while I shoot up from my seat and jumped over the ones who blocked my way to come out.
"Nina!" My brother yelled at me, but I was already on my way. Before the police had gotten to my father, I placed myself in front of him.
"He's my brother, isn't he?" I asked, though I probably already knew the answer. I just needed him to confirm it. I needed it.
He glanced up at my mother, who was surprisingly silent. "Check for yourself," he answered coldly and gave me an envelope before the police surrounded us and took my father away. My mother trailed after him like a doll there did everything her master said. I was left alone with a envelope I recognized.
That was the one Jane had given to my father the day she had found me on the bench.
A hand was laid on my shoulder and as I winched I also turned around to face Anthony. He smiled, but I knew it was only to assure me that everything was fine, even though it wasn't. This had taken a turn we had not predicted, or I had predicted a turn would occur, just not this one.
"Anthony," I mumbled under my breath, looking down at the floor.
"Let's get out of here," he said and sneaked his arms around my waist and pulled me into him, before we took off and followed the others out of the door. While he was looking away I took the chance to hide the envelope under my shirt and keep it there. I rested my head on Anthony, closing my eyes for a moment.
When I opened them again, we were out of the courtroom and where all gathering, talking about what had just happened. It had left everyone with unanswered questions and I really couldn't take anything in they said. I only thought about the envelope under my shirt and that I needed to open it as fast as possible.
"Excuse me, but I have to use the restroom," I told Anthony and wriggled myself out of his grip. I turned my back on him before he could answer and sneaked out of the room in a hurry, finding the envelope under my shirt.
I looked for some time before I finally found the restroom, where I could be alone for a minute or two. The restroom was clean, with marble all over and cleaned mirrors. There was no other than me and the fresh smell of cleaning remedies boomed throughout the room and told me that a cleaning lady or two had been visiting not too long ago.
I placed myself at the edge of the sink, laying down the envelope in front of me. My hands found their way to the sink and gripped tightly around it, turning my knuckles pure white. I took a deep breath and looked at myself in the mirror. A copy of me stared back, not a word was said, but still, my emotions told so much more than words could ever describe. I was a mess and in front of me the answer to that mess laid and I was scared. Oh God, I was fucking scared. And worst of all, I didn't know if I was scared if it was true or false.
I took another deep breath, letting the need to know the answer take control and pick up the envelope. My fingers lightly pulled it open and as they trailed over the edge of the paper, they finally decided to pull it the whole way out.
The paper was nicely folded and pure white. I felt as if my fingers dirtied it and that I should be feeling ashamed, but this was my family and you shouldn't feel ashamed for wanting to know about your family. That was your birthright.
The paper was a birth certificate. The first line I read was the name; Mason Watson. After that, I read the other details. He was born on June 20th, 1991 at 8:32 AM. And the name of the father was John Watson. Everything looked right, this was a real birth certificate. My older brothers. My oldest brother; Mason.
I had another brother.
...
Wow, that's what I call family drama.
Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and be sure to show me by hitting that star. I appreciate it:)
(And do you like the new cover. It's my favorite!)
-Houzza<3