“It takes a lot to shatter a person whose soul whispers,“I’ve been through worse.”
― Lidia Longorio

It's 1 AM. I can't sleep but I can write!! So like, you guys get a new chapter this morning! Yay!

Anywaaaaays, did you guys know that I also write poetry?? No???
Well, it would be awesome if you could check it out at my Tumblr! My username is:
eternalempires

Thank you if you do and I still love you if you don't!

chapter 48

Garnet had been right, Talmai and his lawyer used Bar's reputation against him.

Being seen as a boy beyond redemption, someone who is incapable of love, as a beast, is never easy on anyone.

Especially someone who has such a gentle and sensitive heart as Bar.

But he has been through too much, he has learned to love himself even in the slightest bit, and he no longer cares about what men like Talmai think of him.

The people who mattered loved and respected Bar, that's what counts.

The jury, however, had to have that proven to them. Which was fairly easy.

Bar looked intimidating with his tattoos and piercings but it was obvious to anyone with a pair of functioning eyes that he deeply cared about his loved ones.

When Clementine was called onto the stand, she momentarily panicked. It reminded her a bit too much of the trial that happened against her kidnapper but Bar helped.

The jury saw as he eased the little goddess into being able to breathe, as such a small thing like Clementine was completely relaxed around such a seeming to be brute.

Next, they were able to witness as Gwen had tripped in the middle of the courtroom heading back from testifying again her father, easily splitting her knees open.

Bar was up and out of his seat in a flash, going to his little sister's side to make sure she was okay.

While that happened, Talmai just scoffed-- which won him absolutely no brownie points.

Bar was kindhearted. The jury knew that.

Proving abuse was another thing altogether.

People liked to believe that abuse was... an abstract concept. That it wasn't common. Which, simply, wasn't true.

Abuse can be seen in every aspect of life, through every culture and every kind of society.

They liked to believe that it's something untouchable just because it makes them uneasy to think about or because it never happened to them.

But all over the world, people die from abuse every single day.

Garnet stood before everyone and told the jury and judge and anyone who would listen the horrors that Bar had to go through.

"Bartholomew, whose only eighteen, was beaten by Mr. Bianchi for his entire life." He stated, sad eyes gesturing between the defendant and the accuser. "Even after he had previously moved out of the abusive home, he came back to protect his little sister, Gwendolyn, from his father's fists all while suffering the consequences of love.

"When he was ten years old, Mr. Bianchi beat him with his baton and received the first of six concussions that have been caused by his father."

Most of the woman of the jury looked downright mad and the men shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

They were expecting this to be man against man.

Not man against child.

Not abuser against someone so defenseless, someone so innocent.

"Between the ages of twelve and eighteen Bartholomew had almost been killed three times, in two of those instances, his father had used a taser on the young boy," Garnet said and gasps of horror went around the room. "Mr. Bianchi is not only an abuser, but he is a monster. No child should suffer pain from the hands that were meant to protect them. Fathers are meant to keep their kids safe, not use weapons against them."

Bar knew, at that moment, that if he ever had children that he would do everything in his power to keep them safe and happy.

He would not be his father.

"Working in the same precinct for over twenty years, Mr. Bianchi has had thirty-three complaints against him, eight reports of police brutality, and five cases of exaggerated force resulting in the injury of an innocent bystander," Garner said, placing the reports on the judge's desk, backing up his words with ease. "This is a man that not only has no empathy for the people he works with, but this is a man who uses his job as an excuse to belittle and torture his son without consequence."

Bar glanced over at his father, who was red in the fact, had his fists clenched, and looked one more comment away from exploding.

He was grateful his father was in handcuffs.

"But he needs a consequence. Bartholomew deserves to be safe, like any other child. He deserves to get justice for the pain that was bestowed upon him." The lawyer continued, bringing pictures up to the judge and showing them on a board that had been previously brought into the courtroom. "All over his body is proof of the intolerable abuse that Bartholomew went through over the years."

Garnet put Quinn on the stand, she explained all his scars and how even Bar's very bones held infinite pain in them.

From where his arms and fingers and ribs had been broken and fractured over and over again showing the brute force that was used against Bar.

She explained that the way his bones healed would have taken years of excruciating breaks to create.

There were whip marks made from old belts across Bar's back.

Scars going from his sides to thighs where Talmai used his steel-toed boots to kick his son.

There were tiny, silver scars everywhere on his body from beer glasses scattering and things thrown at Bar.

Scars on his knees and shoulders and the back of his ankles where he was repeatedly kicked to the ground and fell, hitting things on the way down.

A large scar going across his abdomen made from a knife after one nasty, drunken night, and a burn mark in the shape of an X on his shoulder blade from hot things being pressed into his skin over and over again as punishment.

Scars on his cheekbones and forehead from brass knuckles, cigarette burns on the back of his arms and legs, marks made from endless amounts of household items turned into weapons.

And, horrifyingly, sphere-shaped, odd scars over his left bicep where Talmai had tied Bar down and used a cheese grater to create cuts-- the open wounds didn't stop bleeding for a week.

Bar went on the stand next, answering each and every question the best he could.

He flinched at some, paused at others, still trying to grasp the fact that he was sharing his abuse so openly.

Garnet even made Bar talk about his mother and how Talmai beat him after he confronted his father about the truth.

Maddie, Gus, and Law all testified as well, telling stories about the abuse and even some terrifying things that Bar didn't remember happening but had happened to him.

The video that one of the students took of Talmai attacking Bar at the school was also presented as evidence.

It had been the first time Bar saw it.

Bar watched himself as he stood in front of the little goddess-- he hadn't noticed how utterly terrified he had looked before. How truly scared he was of his father.

He watched as Talmai punched him but the chaos only starting after him being tackled to the ground.

He watched himself pass out, as Clementine begged and cried and as the others tried to help.

He watched as his father tried to kill him.

Bar watched to cry seeing that; seeing how easily it would have been to die.

He didn't, knowing he needed to stay strong but everyone could see the heartbreak in his dark eyes.

Talmai, on the other hand, was beyond mad, glaring at everyone who spoke-- even his own lawyer.

His father was able to argue his side as well but it didn't go well.

The evidence stacked against him was undeniable and there were too many people saying the same consecutive thing about him not to be true.

Talmai Bianchi was an abusive father. A monster.

And Bar? He was the victim.

His father's lawyer was unsuccessful in convincing the jury otherwise.

"People of the jury," Garnet started, standing before the jury in his last speech before they would decide the verdict. "If it was your own child, your own family, your daughter or son or niece or nephew, what would you allow to happen to them? What could you justify? Abuse is something that will forever be with Bartholomew. Abuse is something that he grew up with. It has ruined his life and it has almost taken it, too. So, I ask you but one question: how much is a life worth to you?"

With that, the judge excused everyone into a recess until a decision was made.

Bar and his entire group went to the small lounge area, sticking to themselves as they stayed relatively quiet.

All of them were anxious to know what would come of this.

All of them wanted Talmai to just go away for a long, long time.

Gus and Law played chopsticks with Gwen. Maddie talked lowly with Garnet, both of them looking stressed out.

Clementine stayed standing next to Bar, pressed into his side, tracing his tattoos with her finger as both of them kept silent, him occasionally pressing a kiss onto her hair or forehead.

No words were needed to pass between them to comfort each other.

Sometimes, touch was all that was needed.

Not even ten minutes later, all of them were called back into the courtroom and the judge was sitting back in her seat with a solemn look on her face.

Bar's anxiety had already been high for most of the day but he was starting to forget how to breathe.

What if his father doesn't get charged with anything?

What if all of them thought he was just making it up?

What if they just assume that his father was right, that fights and bad behavior had caused his scars?

The judge scans the jury with cold blue eyes, her lips pursed as she said, "You may read the verdict."

The jury foreperson stands and faces the crowd, speaking loudly.

"The people of the jury have found the defendant, Talmai Bianchi, guilty of child endangerment, domestic violence, assault, harassment, and attempted murder. A fine of three thousand dollars for decimation character and life in prison with no chance of parole."

Everyone around Bar let out harsh breaths.

Talmai started to roar in defiance, screaming at the jury as he lashed out but was quickly detained.

Bar's loved ones ignored the abuser, making happy noises and cheers of relief, Clementine squeezing Bar's hand but he was lost to it all.

His father... they believed him over his father.

Life in prison.

Talmai would spend the rest of his life rotting away in a prison cell.

Bar started to cry and this time he let his tears fall freely down his cheeks, choking on the feeling of happiness, of safety.

Of knowing that his father could never hurt him or Gwen or anyone else again.