Grace jumped from her seat at the sound of the school's bell. It was break time and she was excited for what was going to happen next. It was all she had anticipated all day and now that the time had come, she just couldn't wait to share her birthday cake Olivia had wrapped in her backpack, with all her friends that couldn't make it to her birthday party just as she and Olivia had planned to.

It was important that Grace was not made to feel like none of her friends could make it to her birthday because their parents had planned not to. Olivia wanted Grace to believe that they weren't able to make it because their excuses were true.

Grace got even more excited after she had got her teacher's permission to go ahead with her adorable plan. She let a huge smile remain on her face each time she walked away from a table after a child took the little plastic bag from her. She had just three left and she had specifically reserved them for three of her friends.

Her smile brightened when she sighted the small round table beside hers with two little girls and a boy, unpacking their lunch in front of them.

"Hello Chris, Hello Diana, hello Damilola." She said as they all raised their head to look at her while she snickered in excitement. "I noticed that you couldn't make it to my party on Friday so I asked my mother to pack some treats from my birthday for you all."

She said and started to drop the plastic bags in front of them one after the other. She saw how one of the girls and the boy picked up their bag and looked into them with excitement on their faces, but their excitement got cut short when the girl in their middle eyed them one after the other causing them to frown and drop their bags back on the table.

"We don't want it." The girl in the middle said as she reached for her bag, standing up on her feet. She threw it on the ground immediately, not caring if she threw it far enough towards Grace or not. Grace bent over quickly to pick it up, she was extremely confused and the look on her face gave the same expression even as she tried to dust off the cake crumbs from the large piece of cake that had fallen on the bare ground.

"My mother said I should never take anything from you."

Grace raised her head to look at her, a frown suddenly covering her entire lips.

"But why Diana? Did I do something wrong?"

The little girl folded her arms on her chest and pouted.

"It's because your mother is a witch, that's what my mother said."

Grace frowned, she took a step towards her and shook her head.

"That's not true. My mother is not a witch."

"Then why is she bothering my god father?" Diana asked her. "He doesn't let me visit anymore because she is trying to do something bad to him, she is trying to send him to a bad and scary place. Only bad people try to hurt other people, good people."

Grace shook her head, she couldn't believe all the words Diana was saying to her, she didn't want to believe it.

"Me too Grace." The boy added. "My mother said I can no longer be friends with you anymore. She said I couldn't attend your party either because your family isn't a good one."

"No," Grace shook her head. "That's a lie. My family is good. My mum is good, Aunty Amy is good, my dad-"

"My mum said that your mother killed your father." The last girl added, getting up too.
"And she sent your uncle to a bad place too."

Grace shook her head. Her eyes were already starting to get wet upon hearing the words the other kids said to her.

"Isn't it true? Isn't that why you don't have a father?" The first girl asked her. "Why do you think you don't have a father? It's because your mum did something terrible to him, and she was sent away for a long time because of it-"

"Stop saying that, it's not true, I have a father. Daddy Rafael is my father."

"Stop lying!" The first girl yelled at her.

"I'm not lying!" Grace yelled back. She was starting to get very angry now and lots of tears were already finding it's was down her face. "Stop saying all these mean things to me, my mother is not a bad person, she is a good person-"

The first girl walked away from the table and stomped her feet as she walked towards Grace just as the other children began to turn towards their direction too. She stopped in front of Grace with her hands still folded on her chest.

"We don't want to be friends with you anymore, no one wants to be your friend anymore because you're a bad person like your mother," she girl said as her other friends also made their way to Grace.

"Don't say that!" Grace yelled at her at the top of my lungs.

"It's true." She went on. "My mum says that children are just like their parents. It means you're just like your mum. A witch-"

"I said stop!" Grace yelled and pushed her as hard as she could, causing the girl to fall to the ground quickly, straining her wrist in the process. She started to cry loudly as her other friends rushed to her while Grace just stood there, shocked at what she had done, scared at what she had done.

She wouldn't stop crying but she felt so sorry for Diana at the same time and it even got worse when the other children started looking at her the way they did, like they were terrified of her. She started to cry harder too just as one of the teachers rushed into the classroom.

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"Do you swear upon this holy Bible to speak the truth in this courtroom, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?"

Olivia looked around the huge room as her déjà vu started to kick in. She was back at it again, back to being in a courtroom, back to listening to the loud clicking sound of the type writer and the flickering sound of camera and tapes recording. She was back to having many eyes look at her while she was being interrogated like a criminal. She knew she was never going to get used to being on a witness stand, let alone in a courtroom.

"I do." She answered immediately, looking away from the man in front of her and turning to the right side of the room, where her lawyers were sitting. Her eyes found his, Rafael and she could feel a sense of relief pass through her, causing her to let out a sigh to show it. He made it, he came and he was sitting right there, right behind her legal team.

It was her first trial since she got her freedom back and Rafael could see how tensed she was. He could tell the exact things that were running through her mind. He could see how she clenched her sweaty palms and could already tell that she was finding it hard to stop her legs from shaking so much from behind the box. He nodded his head once, encouraging her to be calm and not think too much about it. Even though he wasn't representing her in court, he was right there, and that was all then encouragement that she needed.

"Miss Olivia Kalu." She quickly let her eyes wander off, away from Rafael as it slowly settled on the man in a gown walking towards her with a huge frown on his face. He had his eyes glued to her and his frown got even worse when their eyes met. She could immediately tell that he was Randal's lawyer especially since she could notice how relaxed he was from the audience.

"Could you please tell this court what happened on the night your parents died?" The man asked her.

Very easy.

To other adults, it was going to be hard to remember what happened to them when they were seven years old but Olivia could still remember what happened that night, she couldn't remember all of it in detail but she remembered, especially since she was still haunted by her nightmares.

"It was a cold night." She started. "It was raining and My mother and father were having an argument in the car when we got hit by a truck that sent our car off the bridge, third mainland bridge if I remember correctly."

"And this happened where? In lagos?"

"Yes, in lagos, on the 24th of September 1997."

"And you were how old when this happened?"

"I was seven years old."

"You were seven years old?"

"Exactly."

It was surprising how she was able to stay calm for the first set of questions, but she wasn't surprised because she had managed to practice the breathing exercise Amy had thought her earlier.

"In your testimony Ms Kalu, you mentioned that your parents were arguing in the car at the time of the accident, can you remember what they were arguing about?"

Olivia thought for a while, she shook her head.

"I don't," how did he expect her to? She was seven years old back then, and had no idea why her father had yelled so much at her mother, there was no way she could remember what had happened to them. They never fought in front of her, ever. That night was the first.

"But I remember them saying some familiar names,"

The man raised a brow.

"Familiar names?"

Olivia slowly pushed her gaze back to Rafael, for some reason she wondered if it was okay for her to say what she was about to. In as much as she wanted to get justice for what happened, she was worried about him, worried about hurting his feelings. Rafael nodded, it didn't matter. He was not going to stop her from saying her truth.

"The Okonkwos; Sommadinah and Randal Okonkwo."
She slowly turned back to the man who still left his gaze on her.

"So you could remember the names that were called but you don't remember the argument?"

"Yes."
The man nodded in agreement, he wasn't going to push it.

"You also testified that your parents were having an argument before their car collided with a truck you described as a blue truck-"

"We didn't collide," she had to correct him. "It ran into us."

"But it was raining that night, a rain that you described as loud, and heavy, and intense in your statement. That's a very thorough description of a rainfall for a seven years old, talk more of one that claims to not not remember the nature of an argument that happened right in front of her-"

"Objection your honor," Olivia jerked in fright the moment her lawyer cut in from her seat. "Heresay."

She shut her eyes for a moment to take it in.

"Barrister Chike." The Judge called for the attorney's attention. "Did the witness really say any of this in her statement?"

"No your honor," he said turning to the little woman with round glasses on her nose bridge. "But her statement implied that-"

"Objection sustained." She told him. "Do not speak for the witness, please rephrase your question."

The round man forced a smile on his face and slowly lowered his gaze to Olivia who let out a weak exhale and opened her eyes.

"I didn't give a description of the rain." Olivia said. "All I said was that I remember it was raining heavily that night."

"My apologies Ms Kalu." He told her and then cleared his throat. "But then again, could it not be that your father got distracted by the rain and the argument and did not see the truck coming? could it not be that he ran into the truck by accident-"

"Objection your honor." Victoria interrupted him again, "leading question."

The round man rolled his eyes in frustration as he turned to the judge immediately.

"Your honor, my questions are not leading. I'm only trying to ask relevant questions that could help the court determine the nature and cause of the accident. For all we know your honor, what really happened could have been as a result of neglect from the driver in the car, proving the defendant to be innocent of all claims."

The woman nodded her head. She understood.

"Objection overruled." She said. "Please answer the question Ms Kalu." She turned to Olivia.

Rafael let out a weak exhale as he sat straight, biting his fingers nervously.

"Um, I don't think so." Olivia said. "My parents weren't arguing anymore when the accident happened."

"How did you know that?" He asked her. "How did they go from arguing one minute to smiling and driving into the horizon the next? That's too much detail for a seven year old to remember don't you think so?"

"My father did not run into the truck," she said. "It ran into us,"

"You were seven years old, what did you know about driving? How did you know?"

Olivia blinked, he was trying to corner her by asking her too many questions that she might not have had the best explanations for. She was starting to get so confused and doubt herself and the things that she knew and remembered.

"I just do."

That was probably not the best answer and she knew it. She could tell how crazy her answer was especially with the awkward silence that followed right after, followed by how a smirk found it's way to the man's face.

"You just do? Or you just want to believe that someone intentionally killed your parents? That my client, who is innocent, killed your parents? I mean, that's the only way any of your claims can be valid isn't it?"

"He caused that accident to happen, he killed my parents-"

"And yet you have no proof of this." He said. "No evidence, no witnesses, just your memory as a seven year old, as a child who doesn't even remember what they argued about. How can we take the words of a child to be valid in this situation?"

Olivia let out a frustrated exhale.
She could feel the beads of sweat that found it's way to her forehead even with all the cold air from the air conditioning.

"I am not lying," she said. "I am not making this up." She looked at the man.

"Randal Okonkwo killed my parents, he sent that truck after us, to stop us from going to the press or anyone because of what he did."

"And what did he do?" He asked her. "What did he do Ms Kalu? And how did you know that the accident happened in an attempt to stop you from going to the press? I thought your family was running to Johannesburg because your mother was caught having an affair with someone's else's husband while she was still married to your father."

Olivia narrowed her brows, she couldn't believe what she had just heard.

"What?"

"Didn't you know?" He asked her. "Come on, it's no news, it was in 1997, your mother was seen leaving a popular hotel with my client back then. She was having an affair with him and couldn't stand the heat when the news broke out,"

"Objection your honor-"

"So she tried to-"

"Objection your honor-"

"She tried to blackmail him-"

"Your honor, barrister Chike is battering my client-"

"Your mother had an affair with my client and your father found out and was not happy about it, they got into a car, trying to run away from the shame and got into an argument on the way, it was raining, and it was dark and your father was too engrossed in the argument that he lost control of his senses to drive, he lost control of the wheel and crashed into a truck that sent you all over the bridge-"

"Your honor, please stop the defendant's attorney from asking my clients all these absurd and leading questions-"

"Barrister Chike-"

The man turned to the judge.

"That's the only way I see it your honor, that's the truth."

"That's enough barrister Chike-"

He turned to Olivia who was extremely confused by what was going on. She had her thoughts everywhere and could barely understand anything that was going on anymore. Her anxiety was kicking in and she could feel her chest tightening from all those strange accusations. It was happening again, she was back to 2013 again."

"You promised under oath to speak the truth." The round man told her. "Speak the truth Ms Kalu." He told her. "That's the only way that you can be set free."

The entire courtroom was in an uproar after what had just happened and it didn't matter how many times the judge struck his gravel it didn't stop.

"Order!" The judge roared. And the court went quiet immediately. Olivia's breathing was dragged. Her heart was racing too . She turned to the audience and could see how Randal nodded his head in approval of his lawyer's performance. His excitement made her extremely uncomfortable and Rafael could see it.

She was never going to get used to being in a courtroom, she hated it, and she wanted it to end.