Grow Up Jack

I fix my tie and fix my hair a bit, I let out a deep breath and stare at my reflection in the small bathroom mirror. "Jack, its time," I hear Alex say. "Okay." I walk out of the bathroom and walk with Alex down the hallway to the court room. "Its going to be fine Jack, whatever happens, Adison will be okay." I walk into the court room, people were sitting, the jury is here, and I see Sarah with her lawyer. I knew I should have gotten one. I go to my table and sit down. I look over at Sarah, she avoided eye contact with me when she looked at me. "All rise," I hear a guy say. We stand up and a older woman walks in, the judge. "Please sit everyone," she says. We sit back down and she takes her place. "I'm judge Tessa, lets begin."
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"Your honor, Adison belongs to be with her aunt, the person she has been raised by after her mother died." "What was the agreement between you and the child's mother before she passed away?" "That she did not want Jack to know about Adison, for him to never know." The judge nods, "I see. Why did she want that?" "Because she didn't want Jack to drop his future for a unplanned child." "Mr. Barakat did you know that Alli was pregnant?" "No I did not. Alli did not tell me." "What happened between you two?" "She broke up with me." "When was that?" "I believe it was around the time she founded that she was pregnant." The judge writes down something and looks back at us.

"Mr. Barakat, here it says that the child came to you, you never pursued to finding her." "No I did not, I never knew she existed until she came into my life." "How did she come into your life Mr. Barakat?" "She found where I lived." "Tell me Mr. Barakat, how did she find where you lived?" "I believe that is a question for my opponent." The judge stares at Sarah, she was trying to avoid eye contact. "Mam, how did she find Mr. Barakat?" "Adison was supposed to be going to camp. I had her flights and rides all set up." "Why were you not with her?" "My job told me I had to leave early. I had everything set up for Adison to arrive at camp safely." "So what happened between the time you two were separated." "Adison told us that when she got to the airport, she had snuck away from the flight attendant that she had flown with. She remembered that Jack lives in Towson, which is where the airport was." "How did she know that Mr. Barakat lives in Towson." Sarah goes quiet and the judge writes down something.

"...I told her." "I see. Keep going." "She had snuck away and asked someone at a desk where Jack lives because he's famous, so it was easier for them to find his address." "And how did she end up at Mr. Barakat's home." "...She walked there." The judge writes down something. "I have another question for you, how did Adison know about Mr. Barakat." "...I told her." "Why." "She wanted to know who her father was, I promised my sister that Adison could know about Jack." "But Mr. Barakat couldn't know about her." "Yes." The judge writes down something and looks at me. "Mr. Barakat it says that while the child was in your custody, she had a visit to the emergency room due to a allergic reaction." "That is true." "How was the allergic reaction caused." "Fans have been giving me candy to give to Adison, but I don't allow Adison to eat candy, I usually throw it away. But one night I forgot to, and left the candy in the room that Adison was in." "I see," I take a gulp, that didn't sound good.

"What happened after?" "I had to go play the show, I had one of my crew members be with Adison while I was away. I always made sure someone was with her. When I play I have Adison go to bed as well because the shows can go late." "And what happened that night?" "While I was playing I got a message from one of my crew members telling me something was wrong with Adison. Adison had got into the candy and ate some peanut M&M's." "Now how did that happen when Adison was being watched?" "My crew member used the bathroom that was in the room. I'm guessing Adison wanted some candy while no one was watching her." "I see." The judge writes down some more notes and looks up at us.

"I need some time for the juries and for me. We'll have a recess for 30 minutes."
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I pace back in forth in the hallway, "Jack calm down." "How can I calm down when I might lose Adison forever." "You just need to, your over thinking everything." I see Sarah walk past me and she gives me a small grin. "Sarah." "What is it Jack." "Don't act nice, I know what your up to." "What am I up to?" "I heard how you twisted the story about me, making me look like the bad guy." "I'm not the one who neglected a child Jack, you did." "You know that's not true." "Tell the judge that."
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"I would like to ask some questions to the child," the judge says. Adison is here? Adison walks in with a woman, Adison seemed scared. Adison looks up at me, "daddy!!" Adison tries to run over to me but the woman stops her. The woman brings her up to the stand and has her sit down. "Hi sweetie," the judge smiles down at her. Adison shyly waves and looks down. "Adison, when you were living with your daddy, were you happy?" "Yeah! Daddy and I had a lot of fun, he sang to me at night before bed, we played monkeys a lot." "And what about his friends? Did you feel safe with them?" Adison nods fast, "I love daddy's friends." "What's your favorite thing about your daddy?" "Daddy helped monsters go away." "What were the monsters?" "Bad dreams... Of mommy leaving.." I want to hug Adison so bad right now. "Do you love your daddy?" "I love daddy lots." "And what about your aunt?" "I love aunt Sarah too."
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"The jury have reached our decision that Jack and Sarah will have equal custody of Adison Barakat."

Notes