Last time...
"Your honor, I believe there is a bit more to this recording that might help to clear things up for everyone." Mr. Darvin said. The judge gave him the go ahead to play the rest of the recording. Aunt Karen looked smug, probably figuring she'd won. She even glared at me with a smile, which was a weird combination if you ask me. But the smile went away fast!

On the recording I was watching aunt Karen leave the room. I waited for a few seconds and then dropped the doll and ran up to the camera, "If anybody sees this, please help me! She made me say all that stuff, and wear these clothes. I don't want to be a girl, I like being a guy! Look what she did!" In the recording I pulled my dress up so you could see all the bruises on my stomach and chest. They were pretty ugly looking, worse than I realized, really. I pulled it down real quick and look to make sure aunt Karen wasn't there before continuing.

"My aunt is crazy! Please, if anybody sees this, GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I said in the recording.

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I didn't yell the last words, aunt Karen would have heard that, but there was a lot of emphasis on them. The video went to static after that and I looked at aunt Karen on the witness stand. She looked stunned. Mr. Darvin asked her what she had to say about that and it took like, three times for her to even catch what he was saying! When she finally did talk, it wasn't to him. She shot to her feet and started running over towards me screaming, "You miserable boy, I'll kill you!"

There were several cops in the audience who had been witnesses and between them and the bailiff she never got close to me, thankfully! There was a lot of noise and confusion after that and the judge had to bang his gavel a bunch to get people to quiet down. Marcie had grabbed onto me kind of hard when aunt Karen started running towards me, and Mom was holding on a little hard, too. Once aunt Karen was dragged out they both relaxed a little.

"So, was that your big surprise?" Mom asked.

I nodded, "Yep! Mr. Darvin did it pretty good, don't you think? It really showed how unstable aunt Karen really is. Mr. Darvin figured it would be real easy to get her some help if she reacted the way we thought. Though she was more violent than we thought she would be."

"I'm very proud of you honey, but please don't scare me like that again, okay?" Mom said. "I really thought Karen was going to be found innocent for a moment there."

"Sorry Mom, Mr. Darvin thought it would be best if everyone reacted naturally to the video, otherwise Mr. Parkins might take another look at it." I said.

She ruffled my hair, "That's okay. I'm just glad this is almost over and it looks like it's going the way you wanted. I'm still really impressed with how you're thinking about what's best for Karen."

Marcie hugged me and said, "Yeah, me too. You're the best John!"

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just waited for things to calm down. Not that they really did, all the way at least, while we were in the courtroom. We had to take a break so Mr. Parkins could talk to aunt Karen and figure out what they were going to do. Once the judge left Mr. Darvin came over and told us Mr. Parkins would probably try to make a deal, but he didn't feel the need to do so. We'd already won and everybody knew it!

When we went back in aunt Karen had calmed down, though she stared daggers at me! But she was handcuffed so I wasn't too worried. Both lawyers talked for a while each and then the jury had to go and decide. Mr. Parkins looked unhappy and Mr. Darvin told us it was because aunt Karen refused to change her plea for any reason. That and he was feeling pretty stupid for not taking a closer look at the video.

We went out for lunch while we were waiting for the verdict. Mom was really quiet. "Hey Mom, what's wrong?" I asked. "You're not still worried she'll get off, are you?"

Mom shook her head, "No, I'm sure she won't now. It just bothers me that she could get this bad without me realizing it. What drove her over the edge? Why does she seem to hate you so much? I just don't understand."

"Yeah, it is weird, isn't it? But that's why she needs help, right? So they can find out what caused this so she can get better?" I said.

Mom smiled, "Yes, you're quite right. When did you get so wise?"

I shrugged, or started to anyway. It still hurt to do that, though not nearly as bad as it had! "I just take after you, I guess."

She shook her head, "I don't know about that. I think you're much wiser than I."

I didn't know what to say to that so I concentrated on my food. Marcie and her parents were with us and the adults all started talking about the trial, and especially the video.

"John?" Marcie said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"How did you know anybody would ever see that recording?" she asked.

"Well, from what she had me say it seemed pretty clear she was planning on showing it to Mom to try and convince her that I wanted to be a girl. Or maybe somebody else? Anyway, why make it if nobody was ever going to see it? But I didn't really know that anybody would ever see it, I just took a shot." I said.

We were just finishing up our lunch when Mr. Donner got a phone call. It was Mr. Darvin saying that the jury was back already!

"That was fast." he said.

"It's pretty obvious what happened after that video and Karen's reaction." Mom said.

"True." he agreed. We tossed our garbage and headed back to the courtroom.

Once there we had to wait for a bit for everybody else to get there. Then the jury came in and they came up with the expected answer; guilty! Then Mr. Darvin made the request that aunt Karen get help instead of just being locked up. Aunt Karen didn't like that too much, but the judge thought it was a good idea and basically told her to sit down and shut up. She didn't like that much, either!

There was a bunch of lawyer talk after that. I didn't understand all of it but Mr. Darvin explained afterward that aunt Karen would be appealing, which meant she would try to get the verdict changed. But he assured me that wouldn't work with all the evidence he has, especially the video. I sure hoped he was right!

Finally it was all done and we could go home. I was kind of tired, so I ended up taking a nap as soon as we got there. When I woke up I heard our parents in the kitchen talking. I was lying on the couch with my head up on something soft, but it wasn't a pillow. Looking up I realized it was Marcie's lap!

"Hey John, I hope you don't mind?" she said, sounding uncertain.

I just shrugged, not sure why she'd do that. Must be a girl thing?

Anyway, it was comfortable so I wasn't going to complain. Now that I was awake she put the TV on and we watched a movie. Halfway through she started talking about this big shopping spree she'd gone on the other day with her mother. She'd finally gotten the rest of Mark's things out of her room and gotten lots of new clothes and stuff. It sounded like Mrs. Donner was getting a lot more comfortable with Marcie.

She also told me she had an appointment with a specialist doctor, can't remember the name, but he would hopefully be prescribing a medicine that would block the testosterone in her body so she wouldn't get a deeper voice or anything like that. She wanted estrogen, but figured she'd probably have to wait a while. It kind of sucked that I got forced to take the stuff, but she had to wait for it and she actually wanted it!

We talked about what electives were available this year, which wasn't much! She was a little anxious about PE because of the whole locker room thing. She was also worried someone would recognize her and cause her trouble.

"I told you Marcie," I said when that came out, "you don't have to worry about that. I'll take care of you."

Marcie smiled, "Thanks John, you really are a great guy."

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The End... For Now...