case 7. the Child vs the Commonwealth

[OPENING — COURTROOM / SPOKEN] THE CHILD vs. THE COMMONWEALTH CHARGES: Failure to Protect Dereliction of Duty Abuse of Process Plead. [THE COURT] The Commonwealth pleads: We followed due process. The law was followed. The procedures were followed. The matter was heard. Then let's hear from me shall we? Case Seven. I know you remember the number. Not the name. You've heard worse. I know. But human to human—fuck you. I was still a child. And “alive” was never supposed to be the fucking finish line. [VERSE I — THE RECORD] Five years. Pages and pages. Adults fighting old wars and calling it evidence. Things I never did written down like fact. Fires beneath my bed. Fights. A child invented to make someone else's story fit. I kept thinking: How is this allowed? I thought a court was where the truth mattered. Instead, I watched my life become another weapon adults could wield. [PRE-CHORUS] You called it evidence. I called it my life. You called it procedure. I called it five years. You called it the best interests of the child. I was the child. [CHORUS] You asked me where I wanted to go— I told you where. You said you heard me— you just didn't care. You fought over me, you fought through me, you fought until there was nothing left. Five years, no verdict, no end— I didn't lose the case. I just aged out instead. [VERSE II — THE LAWYER] Two meetings. That's what I got. Five years in court, two meetings, never alone. And I told you everything. The abuse. The family I didn't know. The family I didn't want. Where I wanted to live. You said: I'm here for your voice. I've got your back. Then you let them send me to strangers. And I knew. You hadn't heard me at all. [VERSE III — BEST INTERESTS] “Best interests.” Explain that one. How was it best to send a child to strangers? How was it best to ignore the person she begged to go home to? You asked what I wanted. I answered. Again. Never wavering. Answer unchanged. Until my answer became: Fine. I'll live with my boyfriend. Fine. I'll live alone. Fine. I'll trust nobody. I've seen how that goes [CHORUS] You asked me where I wanted to go— I told you where. You said you heard me— you just didn't care. You fought over me, you fought through me, you fought until there was nothing left. Five years, no verdict, no end— I didn't lose the case. I just aged out instead. [BREAKDOWN — BARE / SPOKEN] What did you think your job was? Honestly. What did you think you were doing? You had the paperwork. You had the laws. You had the title. You had the courtroom. You had every word for what you were supposed to do. So tell me— what did you have to tell yourself when what you were doing didn't look anything like it? What mental gymnastics did it take to call this justice? Because I was there. And I remember. [BRIDGE — THE JUDGE] I know I'm Case Seven. I know there was a Case Six. I know there was a Case Eight. I know you've heard things I'll never hear. Mothers. Fathers. Children who didn't survive. I understand why you learned to dissociate. I understand why you can't carry every tragedy home. But I wasn't asking you to feel everything. I was asking you to notice me. I didn't need to be the worst thing you'd ever seen to deserve protection. I didn't need to be dying. I didn't need broken bones. I didn't need a body bag. I was a child. And alive is not the same thing as alright. [BREAKDOWN — THE CHILD] I told you— If you keep fighting over me, I'm going to kill myself. There won't be a child left to fight over. And still— you argued. [FINAL CHORUS] You asked me where I wanted to go— I told you where. You said you heard me— you just didn't care. You fought over me, you fought through me, you fought until there was nothing left. Five years, no verdict, no end— I didn't lose the case. I just aged out instead. [OUTRO — QUIET] So, little girl— you weren't crazy. You weren't imagining it. You were right. They're not gods. They're adults. Adults don't always know what they're doing. Sometimes they're just following a system. And systems have cracks. I know that's frightening. Because what do you do when the people you're supposed to trust don't know how to protect you? You keep going. Not because you should have had to. You keep going because you were there. And I'm sorry there wasn't justice the way they taught you justice was supposed to be. I'm sorry you had to learn that the hard way. But you were never Case Seven. You were a fucking child.