Especially Lauren, Bethany, and Abigail.
“Hello, hello. So sorry to keep you waiting, I wasn’t expecting you until later. Please take a seat,” an older gentleman with a gray goatee, bald head, and round spectacles that sat in the middle of his curved nose said. He extended his hand out to me.
Tentatively, I reached out and shook it, wishing I could crawl inside my own skin instead. His hands were damp and the sensation churned my stomach. Being alone with him had my already frayed nerves on edge, but I knew refusing would only land me in a world of punishment.
“Now, let’s see here,” he said, dropping into his chair behind the desk that was littered with folders and papers. He picked up a folder with my name on it and my eyes snagged on the one beneath. In large black letters, I read Cain’s name and swallowed hard.
There’d been no update about where he’d been taken or what theywere doing with him. I hoped he was able to prove his innocence. I’d testify to it. They couldn’t put him away for good without my statement, right?
I wasn’t sure.
The way that everyone had acted as if it couldn’t have been anyone but him was alarming. Not one adult would listen to me, so I didn’t have any hope that the justice system would either.
“Delilah, would you like to discuss how you’re feeling?”
Would I like to discuss how I was feeling? I didn’t even know where to begin. And if I’d learned anything over the last twenty-four hours, it was that my voice and thoughts weren’t of value here.
“Or maybe perhaps it would bring you comfort to know Cain has been arraigned without bail.”
That had my attention. My eyes slid over to his round spectacles, watching as he pushed them up the bridge of his nose. No bail. On top of getting arrested.
“Already?”
He nodded, hardly sparing me a glance. “Small town. Not a lot of cases.”
“Is there a way I can testify?”
He looked at me from over his glasses in a way that spoke of annoyance. “I’m sure they would have told you if you needed to do that.”
The dismissal curled around my middle and crawled up my throat. Why I thought that the counselor might be interested in what I had to say, was beyond me. These adults in places of power seemed to fail me at every turn. They weren’t interested in my words, my thoughts, or my desires. They were only interested in my obedience.
“Okay, well if that’s all, I think I’d like to head to class now,” I said, gathering my things in a hurry. I wasn’t about to let one more adult make me feel invalidated by what I went through.
“Nice to meet you, Dana,” he said.
I didn’t even stop to correct him.
Instead, I made a beeline for the bathrooms, thankful to avoid any monitors that enforced the strict bathroom hours and heaved into thetoilet. The bile burned the back of my throat and filled my mouth with a sick, acidic taste. Grabbing a wad of toilet paper, I wiped my mouth and let out a shudder. This place. These people. The unfairness of it all pressed down onto my sternum and made me want to scream.
But even if I did, it wouldn’t make any difference. This was my life and I was powerless to change it.
CHAPTER 13
CAIN
My knee shook,jangling the metal handcuffs that were clasped around my wrists as I waited for them to call my case. My toes twitched and cramped inside my shoes as the stress buzzed over my skin. They’d dressed me in an orange jumpsuit and hadn’t allowed me to shave. I’m sure I looked a wreck. Fatigue pressed into my bones and rage simmered low in my gut. I hadn’t slept. I couldn’t. Not with the images of what I saw plaguing me each time I closed my eyes. But I wondered if Delilah was here. If I’d see her angelic face waiting for me. Fuck knows my parents weren’t about to show up for me. Had anyone finally listened to her pleas?
“All rise,” a man to the right of the stuffy room said.
I did as I was told, standing to my full height. The judge was an older white man, who resembled a bulldog with his pronounced jowls and deeply ingrained wrinkles that puckered his forehead. There wasn’t one hair on his head, and his neck seemed situated a vertebra or two too close to his shoulders, giving the illusion that someone had whacked him on the head and he’d gotten stuck there.
One glance around the courtroom and I knew it’d been foolish to have that sliver of hope.
No one was coming to save me.
I bet they didn’t even allow Delilah to come, now that I thoughtabout it. I heard her cries as they took me away, how she tried to tell them the truth. They didn’t believe her then. Not sure why I hoped they would believe her now.
The only person who did show up to the hearing was none other than that smug prick, Pastor John in the fucking flesh. I took satisfaction in seeing his visibly bruised face and partially shut eye, though that would only make his case stronger. And if he was here, he wasn’t near Delilah, and I took comfort in that. I just hoped wherever she was, she was safe.
