Unbelievable Pt. 10

I'm sure you all have heard of Raven Dale and the cruel treatments that happened in that so-called hospital. What you don't know is the whole truth that took place behind those closed, lock doors. What the media would never truly cover other than their thirty-second sound bit of it. Yet, that could never ever truly detail the horrific acts that took place there. Not sensational enough for them, I would guess, given this news climate of ours. No, just like the State, they, too, swept the truth under the rug since it wouldn't give them the ratings they were after. So, now we must pry back that rug and truly shine a light on the events that happened in that corrupted place of healing. Once you hear the truth like my client did, I'm sure you all will make the right choice," Mrs. Hicks said, closing out her opening statement.

"Mr. McGee, is it not true that your daughter was taking bribes from one Dr. Mott, who was in charge of your granddaughter's care?" Mrs. Hicks asked once the prosecutor was done questioning Julia's grandfather, whom he used as a character witness against Jared.

"What? I don't know what you're talking about. My daughter would never do such a thing. She loved Julia; we all did," the man huffed, looking around Mrs. Hicks when he heard someone snort.

"If you loved her as much as you claim you did, then why do we have records of a massive influx of deposits into her account from Dr. Mott's own," walking over to the defense table and plucking exhibit 'A' off of it, "as you can see Mr. McGee, every two weeks your daughter's account was credited three thousand dollars. We have records of the payments stretching back to a month and a half after your granddaughter's placement in that hospital. Did you never wonder how someone working as a waitress could afford a half-million-dollar home? If you claim that your daughter loved your granddaughter, then why would she ever leave Julia in their care? Surely, you must have known what they were doing to her?"

"Objection, leading the witness!" the prosecutor shouted.

"Sustained," the judge spoke, banging her gavel. "Mrs. Hicks, reword your question or move on."

"No further questions, your honor," Mrs. Hicks spoke, taking the sheet of paper that was encased in a sheet of plastic off the railing. For the next hour and a half, John watched as people came and went. He personally thought Jared's lawyer was doing a good job, yet this was the first time he'd ever been in a courtroom. So he couldn't truly say if she was swaying the jury or not.

"Your honor, I would like to call Roland Goosman to the stand," Mrs. Hicks stated, her fingers pressing down on the table's surface. All turned as the man was led into the courtroom by two policemen when he thought to skip town. She had thought he might, so she had a bench warrant put out for the man for violating a subpoena. She knew it wasn't done, yet she couldn't let the man skip town. He had to pay for his crimes. She was determined to make sure the man did. "Is your name Roland Goosman? The State's health inspector that covered hospitals like Raven Dale before it was shut down?" she asked, treating the man like a hostile witness.

"Yes," the man grumbled after being sworn in.

John felt himself tensing up at the sight of the man. It might have been five years, yet he would never forget that man's face. How could he ever forget the face of one of Julia's rapists? Shinedown's 'Monsters' played in his head as his anger began to burn his blood. Feeling hands on his body when they noted how his demeanor had changed at the sight of the man. All he wanted to do was leap over that barricade and strangle the man with his own hands?!

"Was it not your job to insure that said facility was operating within the State's guidelines?"

"Yes."

"Then tell me, Mr. Goosman, what went wrong? Why did you turn a blind eye to the suffering of the patients there? Could it be your in on it just like one Mrs. Atwater, my client's ex-wife? Could it be you were swayed into ignoring the pain and suffering those people were enduring in bribes and rape?"

"That's absurd!" Roland barked. Growing uneasy as he sat in the witness box, noting the burning anger in the man's eyes as he glared at him. However, that wasn't what made him nervous; no, it was the murderous glare from the young man behind the defendant. He knew that look knew the face it belonged to. It was the same face in that window whenever he was done with his little fun.

"Is it Mr. Goosman?" Mrs. Hicks spoke, walking over to her table, taking exhibit 'L' off of it. "Is this not your bank records from five years ago and your current one?"

"That's illegal!"

"Not when I had a warrant to obtain them," Mrs. Hicks retorted. "I must remind you, Mr. Goosman, you are under oath. Did you or did you not take bribes from one Dr. Mott to overlook the horrific conditions of Raven Dale?"

"What?! Never!"

"Then why was Dr. Mott depositing large sums of money into your bank account? Even now, you're still getting kickbacks from other hospitals, as evident by your current bank statements. Are we to assume they just gave you all this money out of the goodness of their hearts? Or are we to assume you spoke to them, telling if they did this, you'd look the other way for their gross violations of the State's health code? Did Dr. Mott watch as you raped Julia Anders, who was a fifteen-year-old girl?" She was waiting for the prosecutor to object to her line of questioning. Yet nothing came from the man's lips. She wondered if the man had examined the evidence of Mr. Goosman's crimes and only waiting for the man to put his foot in his mouth.

"I would never! Judge, I'm being slandered here!" Roland pleaded, trying not to let the truth out.

"Are you saying the eye witness we have to you taking money from Dr. Mott's hands and witnessing you rape a girl who was not legally of age to give consent or in the wherewithal to have sex with anyone is lying?!"

"Of course he is; that boy is crazy!" Roland shouted, pointing right at John.

"Odd, Mr. Goosman, I never mentioned his name. How is it that you can pick the person out if you weren't there? How is it you can point so emphatically at him if he never saw you raping his friend, my client's daughter? Tell me, Mr. Goosman, there has to be some logical explanation for this?"

"The little bitch wanted it!" Roland growled, surging from his seat. All hell broke out as the bailiffs fought to restrain Jared from rushing the witness stand. While John's family battled to restrain John as he snarled in hate.

"I will end you! You hear me! I will see you dead for what you did!" Johnny howled as his rage-filled limbs tried to wiggle out of his father's and brothers' hold on him. "You will pay for what you did to Julia! Lie all you want; I know the truth!"

"Order! Order in this court!" Judge Blackwell shouted over the noise. It took ten minutes to get the courtroom back under control. Another ten to get John calmed down enough to listen to reason. "One more outburst like that, and I will empty this courtroom." Pointing her gavel right at John, with the look on her face that she wasn't to be tested. She was not prepared for the burning glare he returned to her, not realizing that in his mind, he was thinking she was going to let the man walk. Turning her attention to the prosecutor as he walked up to her bench.

"Your honor, we have a warrant for the witness' arrest," laying the warrant down onto her bench, "we have ample evidence of Mr. Goosman's bribery while under the employment of the State," he said. "The State request you take Mr. Goosman into custody, now."

"Very well," the judge grumbled, knowing this was unorthodox. "Bailiff, take Mr. Goosman into custody," she ordered, folding up the warrant and setting it aside.

"You can't do this to me! The cunt wanted it! I'm telling you she wanted it!" The man screamed as he thrashed and kicked as two police officers, the very same two that brought the man to court, dragged him to the holding cells as they read him his rights. The prosecutor sharded a nod with Mrs. Hicks; just because they were on opposite sides did not mean they didn't want to see justice meted out.

"Mrs. Hicks, do you have any more witnesses to call?" the judge side, knowing this was not how she thought her day would go.

"Yes, your honor, I call Johnathan Evan Masters to the stand," Mrs. Hicks stated, hearing the murmuring happening behind her. Peering behind her, seeing him nodding as his family was whispering to him before walking towards the witness stand. Walking tentatively towards the stand once John was sworn in. Hoping that outburst was the last of it, she didn't want to push John too hard, yet she knew she had too, to get the whole truth about Raven Dale out there. "Hello, Johnny; how are you feeling today?"

"Better now that man is going to get what he deserves," Johnny answered.

"Now, Johnny, I'm going to have to ask you some tough questions, and I know how hard it will be for you to answer them. Know I'm not trying to push you, but these questions must be asked, you understand?" Mrs. Hicks spoke in a kind tone.

"I understand," Johnny nodded, knowing this was what she had told him she was going to say.

"I'll try to make this as painless as possible for you, okay?" Seeing him nod once again, "Now, Mr. Masters, tell this court why you were sent to Raven Dale in the first place."

"I can't."

"Why can't you, Mr. Masters?"

"Because all my memories up until my stay there have been taken from me," Johnny said truthfully. Hearing the few gasps from the jury when he said that.

"And why is that, Mr. Masters?"

"Because Dr. Mott was a sadistic man," Johnny said, trying not to curse on the stand.

"And how did Dr. Mott take your memories from you?"

"Through the six very painful ECT sessions, I was dragged kicking and screaming to. Where I was abused by the orderlies when I wouldn't comply with their commands to not have my brain fried." His eyes followed after her as she walked over to her table, grabbing an easel and a large canvas bag from behind it. Watching her set it up and place a blown-up copy of his MRI scan with the label exhibit 'M' on the bottom right corner.

"Mr. Masters, please, tell this court what this picture is of?" Mrs. Hicks spoke, gesturing to it.              

"An enlargement of the MRI scan taken when I had my last seizure," Johnny stated truthfully.

"And please explain to us what these dark spots represent."

"That is the damage to my brain caused by the four hundred and fifty volts Dr. Mott enjoyed using on us. That is why I cannot remember anything past the day I woke up in Raven Dale. As my doctor tells me, the damage he caused to me cut my frontal lobe off from my long-term memory. So any time my mind tries to remember my past that was taken from me, I have a seizure due to how the electrical signals in my brain goes haywire when they try to cross the damaged sections of it."

"And this Mr. Masters," putting up the enlarged photo of his body, showing the scars that marred his body, "please, explain to us what this photo shows."

"Those... those are the scars from the torture from the orderlies."

"And why didn't you fight back?" Mrs. Hicks asked, seeing how John's hands balled into a fist that sat on top of his legs that she could see through the slits of the witness stand.

"What can a thirteen-year-old boy do against grown men?" Johnny asked darkly. "How can one fight against his abusers when they chain him to the ceiling?" The sound of the snippers cutting through the wire hanger filled his mind as it sent him back into the depths of his torment. "How can a boy fight when they strip him of his clothes and whip him with a wire coat hanger? Oh, I kicked and bit, but that only fueled them on and made my torment worse than what it would have been if I wasn't a dirty boy."

"Johnny, explain what you meant by that?" Mrs. Hicks instructed that was not a phrase that came up during their preparation. Glancing over at the jury, seeing empathy in the women's eyes as John's chin quivered.

"That's... that's..."

"It's okay, Johnny, no one can hurt you here; you're safe here. Please, continue the best that you can," Mrs. Hicks encouraged him.

"I still smell his foul breath; I still hear his voice in my ear every night. No matter what I do, I'm haunted by it."

"Haunted by what?"

"The sound of my rapist's voice. It's the reason I don't go by John any longer. Would you want to be reminded of it every time someone says that name when he would always whisper: 'You're a dirty boy, John. Wanting an old man's cock in your ass.'"

"How often were you raped by this man or men?" Mrs. Hicks asked, stepping up to the witness box.

"The third day I was there until the police finally got off their asses two years later," Johnny muttered, his nails scraped along the fabric of his dress pants.

"And at any time did you see my client's daughter suffering like you were?" Waving towards Jared, who had a sympathetic look on his face as he stared at John.

"Yes, every night, the orderlies loved to visit them, abusing them, raping them. I can never unhear their screams as they took them over and over again."

"What was the youngest girl there?"

"Eleven," Johnny answered truthfully. His eyes glanced to the right as the women's hands flew to their mouths, noting how the men's lips were pressed tightly together.

"Was she too raped?"

"Of course, no one was safe in ward E. It didn't matter if you were a boy or a girl. They took pleasure in... raping us. Putting us in straitjackets, watching us dance around for twelve hours a day, unable to use the bathroom until we soiled ourselves. Which they made us sleep in."

"At any time did you or Ms. Julia Anders try to shed light on the horrors you were facing? Why didn't any one see the conditions you all were living in?"

"I tried repeatedly to make them see, to make them listen. Yet what can a thirteen-year-old do when the so-called adults don't listen to the pleas of children they supposedly love? What could I have done when I was locked in my cell, powerless to stop them from inflicting their cruelty on my friend? What do you do when those people who claim to love you," glaring at Julia's grandparents, "turn their backs on you? What can you do when no one believes the things you tell them? As for why they didn't see the filth we were living in, those of us that had parents or people that visited us. Dr. Mott and his cronies made sure they could only visit us on certain days at certain times, all so they could ensure we had been thoroughly hosed down; by that, I mean with a firehose. Then they would throw delousing powder on us, no matter the open wounds we had from their treatments," Johnny sneered in hate that still burned within him.

"Surely, the parents of the patients could visit them in their wing?"

"I can't speak of the other wards in Raven Dale. I just know what happened on mine since ward E was always on lockdown."

"Okay, explain to us why couldn't the parents at least observe that their children, who they place their greatest gifts into their hands, couldn't make sure they were properly taken care of?"

"I can only speculate since I rather not crawl into that man's head. I can only assume that they didn't want the parents to know the filth and the atrocities they were committing against us. For you see, even while whosever parents came, they were still torturing us, still raping us, all the while, people like those here sat in their comfortable homes, went on their fancy vacations. Ignoring the plight of those like my friends and me."

"Are you saying even while the parents were visiting their children, they were still raping those within ward E under their noses?"

"Yes. They got a kick out of it. They would gloat and gloat about how no one could stop them. How the parents were too stupid to realize what they were doing, or they just didn't care what happened to their mentally ill children. You have to believe me; I tried everything to get them to see. To get them to believe me. To get someone to understand they were hurting us. But... no one did," hanging his head as tears streaked down his cheeks, "no, no one believes a dirty boy like me. I had to watch, had to listen as they tortured my friend. Had to listen to her cries every night as they raped the girl I fell in love with. A part of me died that day; sometimes, I wish that place just swallowed me up and took me with her. Then I wouldn't have to learn to live every day without her."

How her heart went out to him, wanting to comfort him, yet she had a job to do. Nevertheless, that didn't mean she failed to notice the tears in the juror's eyes or the judge's. "Mr. Masters, where you there on the day of my client's daughter's death?"

"Yes."

"Tell us, how did you find her?"

"Broken."

"Elaborate for us," Mrs. Hicks spoke, rolling her hand.

"She jumped off the roof and landed in the courtyard. I found her there, broken and lifeless, as her blood pooled out around her. It took another four deaths for people to finally take notice that all was not well in Raven Dale."

"And tell us, what was the significance of ward E?"

"That was the children's ward," Johnny said truthfully.

"Now, let's move forward shall we," Mrs. Hicks spoke, smiling at him, silently telling him they were all most done, just to hang in there just a bit longer. "On the day in question, did you at any time speak with my client, Mr. Anders?"

"Yes."

"Explain to this court how you came in contact with my client if you would," Mrs. Hicks said, gesturing for him to speak.

"I didn't speak to him directly at first. We correspond through email."

"And what did my client wish to speak with you about?"

"Julia."

"What about his daughter was he searching for?"

"The truth."

"And what truth would that be?"

"How she really died, since no one, not the State, not the hospital administration that took over after Raven Dale was raided, would give him a straight answer. As he told me, they were always giving him the round about."

"And what happened next?"

"He asked to meet; it took me a bit to decide if I wanted to or not."

"Why did you?"

"For Julia, I owed it to her to tell him the truth of what really happened there, what really happened to us," Johnny answered.

"And what did you and my client speak about?"

"The whole unbridled truth; he needed to know why she was driven to kill herself."

"And what you have disclosed to this court was the same thing you spoke to my client?"

"Partially."

"Explain?"

"What I have spoken here is only the tip of the horrors we faced at their hands. This room can barely stomach what I have spoken about. Do you think they could still sit there if I spoke the whole dark truth? I don't think this court would appreciate it if the whole courtroom was vomiting in disgust if I told this court everything," Johnny said indifferently.

"Just give us an example of your experience, so this court can relate to this dark truth of yours."

"Do you remember the pictures of the concentration camps after the second World War?" Johnny asked in a monotone voice.

"Yes, of course. Are you saying the conditions, the treatment of the patients in Raven Dale was on par with those that survive those camps?" Mrs. Hicks asked with a pointed look.

"A little less, but close enough to it," Johnny nodded sternly.

"Thank you, Johnny; I know this was hard on you. No further questions, your honor," Mrs. Hicks said, looking at the judge as she backed away.

"Mr. Masters, may I call you Johnny?"

"I guess," Johnny answered with a shrug.

"Please, know I am not trying to belittle what you perceive might have happened..."

"I don't need to perceive anything; I know what happened," Johnny said, trying to keep his anger from his voice. "You weren't there; none of you were. I don't have the luxury of closing my eyes every night with puppies and rainbows dancing before them. I. Am. Always. There! I am always that helpless boy trapped in that hellhole your government failed to properly oversee. The same government that gave those that survived the raid a light sentence for their crimes against us. No, your government was more concerned with getting your quota than seeing that the victims of Raven Dale got the justice we deserved."