A Way Back Home | Adopted by Gerard Way (Book Two)

Another Bad Dream (35)

*trigger warning: ???*

The judge struck the gavel three times and demanded order in the court.

On our side, stood me, Gerard, and our lawyer. We had Mikey, Frank, Ray, and Lindsey as our witnesses. The four told the judge the whole truth and nothing but the truth about how Gee had been clean and sober for years and that I had been in good hands.

Laura didn't have any witnesses to bring, only a lawyer that did his research.

Things were looking up for us and a bit of optimism sparked somewhere in me for the first time in much too long. No one could deny the years of abuse she'd put me through, or the ungodly amounts of alcohol she consumed, or the drugs she dealt all while I was in her care. If you can call it care.

What I didn't know, was that while all my life I thought my mother's sallow face and sickly figure were in result of the drugs that, looking back, it was natural to assume she was abusing, there was so much my naïve little self didn't know about yet. She was sick, she was skeletal, and she was suffering. That hit me hard. She sold drugs to keep me fed with a roof above my head. And as for all the time she spent with all the men she kept bringing home, during which she'd hide me away in my room... well, let's say she sold herself, too.

But she really, truly, got better. She got healthy, sober, she did community service, cleaned up her act, and got a job at a bookstore. It sounds odd. The woman who neglected to teach me how to read, working at a bookstore.

As the hearing drew on for a near-unbearable few hours, it was like getting a slap to the face over and over again.

Like I said, the lawyer Laura hired did his research. He knew about Gerard's past struggles with alcohol and drugs, he knew about the bullying I'd endured at the school I still attend, he knew about my hospitalization.

I felt sick.

The points they made gave me no indication of what direction this was going to go in or where I'd be by the end of the week.

"My client did not begin to develop her eating disorder under the care of Mr. Way. She likely would've fallen ill a lot quicker if it wasn't for the care she received after being adopted."

"Mr. Way and the gentlemen he brought as his witnesses are all in a successful band, yes? How, then, do they have enough time on their hands to care for the child? She needs a parent who will be present, not one who can be found across the country at any given moment at a concert."

That one was ridiculous, of course. They weren't always on tour. Of course, they dedicated a lot of time to their music and were working long hours most days. But, besides, if going on tour was really such a hassle, they could take me with them.

Taking me with them was not the right thing to mention, apparently.

"So, she's missing valuable education time to be paraded in a bus from city to city?"

"She's old enough now to keep up on her education outside of school. May I remind the court that taking classes online is an option, as well? A teacher doesn't have to be present in order for a student to be educated."

It was like watching a ping pong match. They went back and forth, all the while never calling me by my name, always "she" and "the child" and sometimes "the girl". It felt degrading, like they were talking about someone who wasn't even there.

It was when the words, "Recent report of abuse," were spoken, that I almost lost my composure. Out of everything that happened in the past, all the memories I was forced to relive, this was the point I was most scared would come up. I could've broken down in tears dozens of times, or fainted, or tried to straight up run away, and this was the moment all of those seemed like the most viable option.