Once my wounds healed I was told one of the men responsible had been found and ratted the other two out. 10 days had passed since that June night. CPS had gotten involved but dropped the case when my parents legally disowned me. Making me an orphan. The nurses and doctors let me stay in the hospital until I healed since I was only a child.
I did find out the date for the trial was on July 12th, almost a whole month since the accident on June 14th. Luckily I healed in time. As soon as I figured out they were being out to trial, I wrote every single detail about that night down. What I remembered, saw, even felt....
Keeping that notebook hidden was the worst thing I had to do. I didn't want anyone labeling me as a liar for what I wrote. I didn't want to be thrown away again. The day of the trail came fast, I was sitting in the front row, watching it all unfold. But that's when I saw the judges face. He winked at the defendants, all three on trial at the same time for the same crime. The judge started falsely accusing the prosecutor for things he wasn't doing. Breathing too loud? Argumentative. Tapping your finger too loud? Disruption of court. My stomach slowly dropped as I realized it
I wouldn't be getting any closure for what happened. This judge wasn't taking it seriously. After all the evidence and testimony was through, the jury went back to discuss. Through the crack inbetween the judges desk and the witness stand, I saw what I only could describe as infuriating. My sisters attackers lawyer was handing money to the judge. A bribe.
I wasn't dumb enough to not know what a bribe was. The tears flowed instantly as the dread of my sister not getting her justice flooded my system. As I at there waiting for the jury to come out with the verdict, a lot of things crossed my mind. What if I would get blamed. What if they were never incarcerated. What if the jury was corrupt too....
These thoughts didn't help me calm down either. Once the jury came back out my heart started racing. My heart hopeful but my mind wary. And I was right to be wary and concerned. As soon as the jury came out they seemed.... different some how. They got to their place and the judge asked for the verdict. Within seconds, my world collapsed again.
"We find the defendants Howard Cory, ray Thomas, and Johnathan Herman. Not guilty on account of first degree murder, arson, and pedophila"
Everything came crashing down right there. Those three men would never get justice for what they had done. Where was my savior? Where was my hero. Where was the good in this situation. There wasn't any. I sat there and cried as these men celebrated. Not even a little guilty on what they did. That stung, not one person in this place was even a little sorry for me. Sorry for yuka.
As I stood up, they removed the cuffs on those three and they walked past me. The third guy pushed me down as they all laughed. Nobody helped me up either, like I was the gum on the bottom of their shoes. The scum of the earth. I had nowhere to go at his point anymore and nobody to care for me. I grabbed what little I had on me off the floor and ran out, not wanting to see those men brag about what happened.
I was never picked up by the orphanage that was supposed to take me either. They left me because of the accusations my parents threw around about me. I was 14, completely on my own, homeless and barely making minimum wage for a job illegally hiring minors. Life didn't seem that great at the moment but I knew if I wanted to prove them all wrong I couldn't just give up.
I wrote everything down in the notebook I had about court and everything else. Making sure I'd never forget the hurt I went through. The anger I felt along with the sadness. I never wanted to forget what happened. Luckily that fueled me to try and do better. Leaving that court house I knew I had to try my hardest to survive.....