I couldn’t watch anymore. Candice and Marcellus’ laughter rang in my ears as I crept around the house. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do now, but I was still going to check the layout.
I found what I assumed to be a storage room. It was mostly bare but for a few clothes strewn along the floor. It was dank and dingy. I wondered why it had a window.
I still assumed it was a storage room… until I saw Thomas creep inside, closing the door behind him and crawling into the corner of the room. He curled on a pile of clothes, shuddering.
I almost left right then and there. Just drove back home. My revenge would be to let this child suffer.
I’m glad I didn’t.
I won’t go into detail about what I saw next. You’ll probably be able to guess it. His father – if you can call him that – opened the door and descended upon him. He didn’t cry out… he seemed used to it. I covered my ears to keep out the awful panting sounds.
Thomas didn’t cry until after his father left the room. I watched him slowly pull his clothes back on, huddled in the corner. That was when I made my decision.
Tap tap tap. He looked up at me knocking on the window.
Maybe he could tell I didn’t mean to hurt him. Maybe he wasn’t afraid of being hurt anymore. He opened the window and stared at me with a guarded expression.
“What do you want?”
The voice was thin and shaky. It bore straight down to my heart.