A'roya

Chapter Thirty-Four

Hello

I'M HEREEEE

"All rise."

The court had commenced, and my mom and I stated our reasonings for coming to court. My mom started with the evidence. "As you can see in this video," my mother said. "Jericho had slapped me."

The edited video depicted Jericho slapping my mother for no reason.

The judge raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Belford, do you have a reason for this? Because this is assault."

Jericho stood up. "Yes, I do, your honor," Jericho cleared his throat. "She was hitting me with a pan for absolutely no reason; I defended myself by slapping her."

"Objection, your honor." My mother stood up. "I have a witness if I could...?"

"Yes, bring your witness, Mrs. Belford." The judge approved.

A'raya stood up and went to the stand; she took a deep breath as the judge turned to her. "Do you have a recount of what happened, young lady?"

"Yes, I do." She answered confidently. I could see my mother smirk, but she was not winning today.

"Please do, Ms. Belford."

A'raya nodded. "I was seven years old, but I could remember I was angry and sad. Jericho had said that he was moving out, and I wanted him to stay, but mom, she took it to another level. She was shouting and saying that Jericho couldn't do anything himself, and she grabbed a pan and hit him; she kept hitting him, trapping him in a corner, and then he slapped her and ran to his room. He grabbed his suitcase, and A'roya helped him escape through his window. I saw it all."

My mother's eyes widened.

"Is this true, Mrs. Belford?"

"N–no! I have no idea where this is coming from."

I scoffed. "Objection."

"Speak, Ms. Belford."

I nodded. "I was also there, and as A'raya said, our mother wants full control of us, and so she was angry that Jericho wanted to move, and the next week, Jericho's small apartment was bombarded with–I don't know, police, army men, people who forcefully took into the army. Mom told them he was a troubled child and was forced to spend two years in the navy."

"Yes, I was told I was doing community service and repeatedly berated for not respecting the woman who gave birth to me," Jericho added.

"Huh...." The judge spoke, going through the papers. "Ms. and Mr. Belford, your mother has sent proof of you beating your younger siblings."

"Your honor, if I may?" A'raya spoke up again.

"Go ahead."

"In our last court battle, my siblings and I testified against them because we were forced to. They were beaten by my mother and then forced to lie about it."

"Alright, let's bring the young girl and boy in."

Lucky and White walked up to the stand A'raya took a seat.

"Speak, young man."

"Um, my twin, King, had called A'roya to warn her that mom was putting a restraining order on them using A'raya's phone. She found out, and I took the blame, so my mom beat me bloody. White told mom that she didn't want to do this and that she wanted to live with A'roya or Jericho."

"Is this true, King?"

King stood up, watching his mother glare at him. "Y–yes, I told A'roya to watch out, but I didn't know mom had trackers on our phone."