Shattered Trust: Matilda's Redemption

Chapter13

Jenny and I sat on one side of the table while Mr Black and my family sat on the other side of the table. The mediator whose name was Judy sat at the head and went through the rules of mediation and how things would work. First, she would listen to my side seeing I was the applicant and then my family were able to respond. We could let her know if any of us required a break at any point. If she felt things were getting out of hand she would end the session and depending on why the session was stopped reschedule or send it back to the judge. At no time was anyone to be derogatory towards another or threatening. She explained that she would be taking notes as would both lawyers and if we reached an agreement today both parties would be given seven days to sign and file with the court. The entire time I kept watching Judy as I didn't want to look at my family. My hands were sweating and I was bouncing my legs under the table.

Mediation started with Jenny speaking for me. "My client Matilda filed a case to be legally emancipated from Mr Wilson and to have no further contact with her biological brothers. She believes it is in her best interest as she does not feel safe being in the presence of any of her biological family because of the abuse she endured while in their care after her mother was murdered" she said.

Mr Black jumped up from his seat interrupting Jenny causing me to flinch, he stated "alleged abuse, this has not been proven in a court of law. Are we supposed to accept the word of a 17-year-old who has spent 4 years in juvenile detention?". Judy responded, "Mr Black that is the first and only warning you will get before I end this session informing the court of your unwillingness to mediate. You will remain seated and wait your turn to speak".

I was trying to regulate my breathing by touching my fingers to my thumb and counting with Jenny telling me to match her breathing. My family sat watching me. Joshua was mouthing something to me but I couldn't focus "Are you ok Matty?" He asked. "My name is Matilda to you" I whispered. He looked hurt but I didn't want them using the name my mum had used for me. Judy asked me if I needed a break but I wanted to get this over with so I declined. Mr Black was glaring at me and it was making me uncomfortable. I looked down at the ground to escape his glare. I hated feeling like this, I wish I could control my emotions. "He is making me uncomfortable and I want to leave" I whispered to Jenny. She nodded and then began again.

"First off Mr Black stop trying to intimidate my client, this is a young woman who has been abused by several men who are sitting in this very room as well as several male guards while in juvenile detention for a crime she did not commit. Might I add you are the one who continued to block access to evidence which led to the release of my client proving her innocence for 4 years. You are impeding the progress of this mediation session. Secondly, as I was saying, my client fears for her safety if she is placed into the care of her fathers and brothers. She will be 18 in less than 6 months and thus is of an age where she can understand the implications of her actions by being legally emancipated. She is willing to accept full financial responsibility for herself and will not be seeking any financial aid from her biological family" Jenny stated.

Mr Black was still trying to stare me down and stood from his chair before he began to speak "Do you think an uneducated child would be able to be financially responsible for herself? She has no education and has been incarcerated for 4 years who would employ her?" He slammed his hands down on the table causing me to jump backwards in my chair. It was getting harder to breathe and I was trying to take a deep breath but couldn't. Jenny grabbed hold of my hand squeezing it. My father jumped up yelling "You are fired Black get out now". I began to shake and had tears run down my face, Judy stood and was ushering Mr Black out of the room who was screaming at my father but I couldn't hear what was being said, all I could hear was the pounding of my heart and a rushing sound. I couldn't pass out now I needed this to end today.

Judy closed the door in Mr Black's face and was helping Jenny attempt to calm me down. My family attempted to come over to assist but Jenny told them to stay away. I was still struggling to breathe when my father started to sing "You are my sunshine my only sunshine you make me happy when the skies are grey". I snapped my head towards him as I remembered Mum singing that song to me when I was younger, it was our song. Soon my brothers started singing with my dad too "You never know dear how much I love you so please don't take my sunshine away". My breathing started to calm down and I could focus on Jenny and Judy.

After a few minutes, my breathing returned to normal. "Right, Matilda would you like to reschedule this session?" Judy asked which I shook my head no to. "Mr Wilson now you don't have legal representation would you like to reschedule to obtain counsel?" Judy continued. "I am happy to proceed without counsel if Matilda is alright," my dad said with my brother's nodding. We all sat back at the table in our places and I took a tissue to wipe my face and had a drink of water. "Matilda I apologise for Mr Black's behaviour and I will personally be filing a complaint to the legal board for his conduct in this room, it was extremely inappropriate" Judy began. Jenny nodded and replied, "I too, will be filing a complaint for Mr Black's conduct".

"Judy, Miss Murphy and Matilda I would like to apologise for Black he was way out of line and was not acting on instruction from me" my father said. "I would never allow anyone to treat you like that Matilda". "You treated me like and so did all of them you all treated me much worse and yet you expect me to believe you wouldn't allow others to treat me like that. You had people beat me in juvie" I said while shaking my head. Lucas put his head down refusing to look at me while the others looked like they had tears in their eyes. "Matilda I am so sorry for how we treated you. There is no excuse for what we did and I will regret that for the rest of my life. I'm sure your brothers would agree. I wasn't aware of the beatings that were happening until I read your case" my father said. He looked over at Lucas and my eyes followed him.

Lucas was hunched over and his shoulders shaking, he looked like he was silently crying. "Lucas orchestrated the beatings while you were locked up and deeply regrets his actions. He will be held accountable for that" my father said. At this, Lucas looked up at me and reached his hands out to me but I pulled my hands off the table and hid them on my lap. Lucas had wanted me to suffer and paid people to hurt me I wasn't going to allow him to touch me. "I am so sorry Matty, I was so angry about what you did to Mum. I wanted you to hurt like I was hurting. Please Matty let me make it up to you" Lucas said. "I didn't do anything to mum. You paid people to hurt me and didn't care that I was hurting for Mum too. I was locked in segro for 3 months getting beaten by grown men every day and denied medical care. I was starved and had water withheld from me. All that after every one of my so-called family beat me for two months and wouldn't even listen to me when I tried to tell you what happened. You all broke me" I sobbed.