Flames of the Phoenix

Chapter 30: Life Goes On

"Okay, so now you need to sprinkle a little bit of water into the pan to check if it has heated up yet," Momo instructed and watched as I tried to learn how to cook. "Good. Now, you need to put some butter in the pan, and then those hashbrowns into the butter."

I nodded and did as she said, but my elbow knocked into a can of cooking spray, sending it into the flame from the stove. "God fucking damn it!" I didn't get the chance to try grabbing the can before it exploded and sent flames flying around the room. 

Luckily, before anything was damaged, a thin sheet of ice blanketed the flames. "Oh! What are you making?"

Momo scowled as she turned off the burner. "A disaster! Look, I don't know how you keep doing this, but I don't think I can teach you how to cook. Every time you step into a kitchen something catches fire, gets spilled everywhere, or both."

"Come on, I'm not that bad." 

She sank into a seat and rubbed her forehead. "Really? Cyra, do you really think that? I have tried to supervise and teach you to cook, so let me make a highlight reel. The first time, you got impatient and turned the temp up while my back was turned, which caught the grease on fire. Next, you didn't turn off the burner when we were done, even though I reminded you. Again, that caused a fire. Every time we have tried to cook together, you somehow manage to spill everything everywhere." She took another breath and pressed her hands together. "I have tried. That is all that I can say. I am sorry, but you really need to just stay out of the kitchen."

Shoto laid on my lap and looked up at me, making me crack a smile. "Grumpy about the cooking lessons?" I nodded. "Want me to continue reading out loud?" I nodded again and began playing with his hair as he grabbed the book we had left on the coffee table.

He propped the book up on his knees and picked up from where we had left off. "This is the land of Narnia,' said the Faun, 'where we are now; all that lies between the lamppost and the great castle of Cair Paravel on the eastern sea." My fingers combed his hair as he read. I marveled at how much his hair has grown since the start of the school year and gently massaged a tangle out. He weaved the story of three siblings adventuring through a magical land to save the fourth, his voice spinning the words into a beautiful image.

The scene broke when my phone buzzed. "Oh! My lawyer just messaged me!"

Shoto put the book down and looked up at me. "What did she say?"

"The jury has concluded, and we need to get to the courthouse to hear the result in an hour!"

My hair streamed behind me as I ran into the courthouse. I wiped the stray strands off my face, curled them, and tightened my ponytail before meeting my lawyer outside the courtroom. She gave me a small smile. "We've got this. There is no way he is getting away with what he did to you."

We waited for Mom and Harrison to show up before entering the courtroom. Mom held onto my hand, her palm sweating more than mine. Harrison put his hand on my shoulder, and it tightened the longer we sat.

After what felt like hours of waiting, the jury finally entered the room and sat down. A woman stepped forward and smiled at me as we all stood to hear the verdict. "I am speaking for the jury, and we came to the unanimous conclusion that Minoru Mineta is guilty of rape, and we suggest the maximum sentencing without parole."

The judge nodded and looked down at both me and Mineta. "I gave this case a lot of thought over the weekend. The minimum penalty is three years in prison, and the maximum penalty is twenty years. I decided that if the jury found Minoru Mineta guilty, I would sentence him to ten years with the possibility of parole. As a child, he shouldn't have to spend the rest of his life paying for a mistake he made once."