Overcoming Demons (G/t)

Chapter Sixteen

Todd's mouth was dry as he approached the bench and had a seat on the side opposite of the judge where Kenny and Alissa were. His eyes briefly scanned the crowd, and when they landed on Nova, she was staring at him. Her light blue eyes filled with a hatred towards him. But she looked away, unable to meet his gaze. This was his childhood friend. Though now he wondered if they were even that.

"Todd," the prosecutor began, "you called the police on the eighteenth. How many days after you visited Ms. Morgan's home was this?"

Todd cleared his throat, taking a deep breath. "About a week, sir."

"And why didn't you call sooner?"

"I didn't think...sh-she'd tried to ask me to not tell anyone. And I was at war with myself."

"But in the end you feel you did the right thing, calling the police and letting them know where Kenny was?"

"I do. I feel like the police needed to know where Kenny was. But I didn't tell them I thought he was in danger." Todd frowned, wringing his hands together. He was deeply regretting his decision now. He wished he'd have kept his mouth shut.

"Do you, Mr. Sherman, believe Kenny was in some sort of danger with Ms. Morgan? Do you believe she would have hurt him?" It was clear the man thought he'd get the answers he wanted out of Todd, simply because Todd had been the one to help find Kenny.

Todd closed his eyes and sighed heavily. "I've known Nova my entire life. She loves kids. She'd never ever hurt one intentionally. And I know that she wouldn't have hurt Kenny. I just called so that people could stop thinking he was missing, that's all."

The man stiffened, clearly upset now that he wasn't getting the answers he wanted. He surely thought Todd would help condemn Nova so he'd win this case. He glanced to the jury, who were watching closely, hanging on to every word spoken during this trial. "Then...that's all I need from you. If the defense has nothing to ask you, you can step down."

Mr. Grant shook his head to dismiss Todd, feeling like everything he would have asked was already answered.

Next was Alissa. Alissa was asked about how Kenny acted the first time they met, what his answers to her questions had been. When asked if she thought Nova was a danger to him or anybody else, she easily denied such an accusation. And when asked if she knew the foster parents had been the way they were, she responded with the fact that Kenny had told her. That she'd been told Nova had taken him to get him away from them.

There were few people involved in this case. Even fewer that had enough involvement to be questioned. And soon enough, it was Nova's turn to take the stand as the final person to be questioned. The trial itself was speeding by. It would no doubt be the jury reaching a unanimous decision that would take longer.

"Ms. Morgan," the prosecutor scoffed, looking disgusted to even be speaking with her. 

"Yes?" Nova responded, doing her best to stay as calm as possible. Getting too upset now would solve nothing.

"Let's start with something easy. Why did you kidnap Kenneth Rogers?"

Nova exhaled softly and put her words together as carefully as she could but knew to be entirely honest. "I will not call it kidnapping." She stated. "You witnessed yourself how terrible those people were. You can imagine what they did to him before. I call it rescuing. Something the police were not doing for the poor boy. The system was failing him."

"So you felt it was alright to...do whatever experiment you did on him to 'rescue' him?"

"I knew he'd be harder to find if he were like this. And it wasn't just an experiment. I-I'd...tested it before. On mice. Rats...I knew it would work before I ever even used it on him." Nova frowned, knowing how awful it sounded. "And an...'antidote' was never in my head because my first and foremost thoughts were keeping those people from killing that boy. Because they would have, in the end."

"But you have no proof of that."

"Look at his arms! The scars he's given himself!" Nova raised her voice now, though quieted back down after the judge quite loudly cleared his throat. A big enough gesture that he didn't entirely interrupt but he made sure she settled down. "He'd have killed himself if they didn't kill him first. H-he needed somebody. Anybody. He needed me."

"And is it true that you lost a baby to a premature birth? Are you sure you aren't making up excuses in your head to justify a selfish need for a child?"

Nova this time didn't respond, silently staring at the man in front of her with wide eyes. Stunned at such a rude, and heartbreaking question. She couldn't speak now as tears welled in her eyes, a soft sob forcing its way past her lips. 

Nova's lawyer stood now. "I'd like to ask that my client is able to return to her seat."

The judge, though needing to remain unbiased, felt the question was entirely unfair and unjust. He allowed Nova to return to her seat, which she did so very quickly, covering her mouth to muffle her soft cries.

Kenny was standing now, glaring at the man a few feet away from him. How could he ask her such a thing, when that was obviously not the case? He clenched his fists, glad the microphone was still down because he had a few things to say. "Y-You're a jerk." he spat, the courtroom suddenly growing quiet. Everyone's gazes turning to the eleven-inch-tall boy. 

The prosecutor glanced to the judge, as if asking if he was about to interfere, but the judge seemed quite interested in what Kenny had to say. Especially given the boy had been terrified the entire time. Only speaking when asked questions.

"Excuse me?" The man scoffed.

Kenneth grit his teeth, feeling the tears building once more. "Y-you don't get to talk to her like that. Nobody gets to talk to her like that. Sh-She lost a baby, y-yes. Sh-She told me about that. She was just as open with me about herself a-as she was kind to me! Sh-She was nicer to me than anybody has ever been! So you can't talk to her like that!"

He was shouting now. His little voice carried by the microphone. The raw emotion so clear in his voice, the anger behind it. it gave everyone a chance to see how much the woman on trial meant to him. What he meant to her. 

Alissa pulled him back now, just enough to calm him down and shush him. But before they could end everything, Mr. Grant asked permission to step up and ask Kenny one final question. 

"Kenny," he offered the young teen a kind smile, keeping his voice down. "I'd like to ask you to just tell the jury what you want. Tell them what you wish them to do, and what you think."

Kenny looked to Alissa, who gave him a nod to go ahead. She even turned the microphone just enough so that he could face the group that had been silently spectating the whole time.

Kenneth stood as straight as he could, staring at them and trying to read their expressions as they looked on with bated breath. Wanting to hear what the 'victim' had to say.

"I-I want to go home. I-I want to go back to my room, t-to my real bed. I-I don't want Nova to go to prison. I-I don't want her to get in trouble for being the only person to help me. I miss my puppy, and I-I want to be able to have him back too. I-I want...I-I want my mom back. Please." It was more like he was begging near the end, his words wavering as he found himself sobbing. "I-I want to be able to be hugged by her again, a-and I want to hear her say everything is gonna be okay a-and be able to mean it again."

Alissa hushed him now, sliding his little body towards her to give him a gentle hug. The young doctor may not have been Nova, but her gesture seemed to at least calm him down some, bring him a tiny bit of comfort. She glanced up towards the jury, able to see a few quickly wiping their eyes and straightening themselves out. She intended fully to have them win by playing on human emotion. And, hopefully, that did the trick.