The Weight of Justice
Chapter One
Today is my 14th birthday. As I trace a cake with my finger over this chalky mirror I blow my candle dust away. The powder from my pointer quickly settled into the dust again. It is my first birthday on my own but my wish today is the same as it is every year; I wish my name wasn’t Justice. My grandmomma, Ms. Henrietta, told me I was born into a civil society, or at least what was deemed “civil” for back then. She said it was a cool evening in the fall and she was at my birth momma’s bedside as they both stared out the window holding hands. They saw two birds fly into a nest settled in this enormous and astoundingly beautiful oak tree. Supposedly, it was right there in that room that my momma said she wanted to name me Oakley. It must’ve been one marvelous tree. So why is my name Justice? Well, unfortunately for me, my real momma died shortly after giving birth to me. Something about a blood clot traveled to her brain that there wasn’t anything the doctors could do about it. Cue grandmomma being devastated and decided to change my momma’s wishes for my name in a twisted attempt to “honor her '' by naming me after her. Justina Rose Brooks was my momma. And my life purpose was bestowed upon me to bring JUSTICE to this world, as Ms. Henritetta would continue reminding me this over the course of my existence. Supposedly, I look just like my momma, too. It doesn’t make me too sad when I think about her since I never really knew her. Grandmomma told me plenty of stories about her but she did not like talking about my daddy though. She would get mad at me for even asking about him. Heck, I didn’t even find out who my daddy was until some time a year ago. I’ll get to that later…