Daniel

When morning came, I couldn't stop biting my nails. Anxiety filled me to the brim, and it had started showing more and more as time flew by. Ev had somewhat tried to calm my nerves, saying that his friend was to be trusted and that he was in no way judgmental, and I believed him, but his friend wasn't exactly the cause of my anxiety.

As a knock came from the front door, I shrunk in myself on the chair I was sitting on and shuddered, the knot in my stomach twisting and almost bringing me to tears. Ev gave me a sympathetic look and then went to answer the door.

"Hey," Ev greeted and hug his friend.

As Colin greeted him back, I couldn't help but note how much deeper his voice sounded compared to what I had heard from over the phone. He stepped inside, his eyes falling immediately on Omen who had gone to greet him as well. He crouched down, smiling at her and showing off his incredible pearly white teeth.

"I didn't know you got a cat," Colin noted and looked over his shoulder at Ev. Ev smiled back and closed the door behind him.

"Yeah, I found her in the street and couldn't leave her there," Ev replied and then his eyes moved to me.

Following Ev's line of sight, Colin moved his head from Omen to me and stood up again, with a kind smile on his lips. He took a few steps closer to me, keeping them small and cautious and then reached out one hand.

"Hello, I'm Colin," he introduced himself.

"I- uh, I'm Daniel," I replied slowly taking his hand and shaking it lightly. His dark eyes didn't leave me and after eyeing the chair next to me he finally sat on it.

"I'm guessing you are the person Ev told me about..." he started. My eyes briefly moved to Ev, who took Omen in his arms and came to rest against the counter. "So, before we start, I want to say that everything you say to me is in confidentiality, meaning I cannot repeat anything to a third person," he took a break and shed a quick glance over at Ev. "That confidentiality does not include Ev, so if you want to share something only with me you are free to..."

"I don't mind Ev knowing," I cut him off and lowered my gaze for a moment. "I trust him," I added with a low voice. My eyes flickered to Ev's and I stared at him for a moment before taking a long breath and looking back at Colin. "My full name is Adam Daniel Maxwell. My parents are Joseph Maxwell and Marianna Maxwell and they... they raped me."

He stayed silent for a moment, processing my words before recognition glimmered in his eyes and he pulled back just a hair's breadth away. His dark brown eyes momentarily moved to Ev, almost as if to make sure he had heard correctly.

"Joseph and Marianna... the politicians?" he asked, shock in his tone. I nodded ever-so-slightly and heard Ev move. Looking up, I noticed him reaching into his leather jacket's pocket and taking out a packet of cigarettes. I only frowned for a second, partially surprised at the fact that he had cigarettes. I hadn't seen any in the apartment nor had I smelled any smoke on him ever since he had seen my burns.

"It... um, it started when I was eleven... I think. I'm not sure if they ever touched me before that, but when I was eleven, they... they took me to the basement and my mother recorded my dad as he... did things to me," I went on. "One of the videos I took before leaving was of that first time..." I added, looking at the CDs that rested on the table before me. Colin's eyes moved to them and he cleared his throat. "I switched them with some empty CDs when I took them so that if anyone ever found these, they wouldn't have destroyed the other evidence," I noted, saying the little lie Ev had come up with.

"That was smart of you but," he paused to frown and look between me and Ev, "what do you mean if anyone ever found these?" he asked. I also looked over that Ev, who had moved to the open window and let out a puff of smoke.

"It's okay," he assured me. "You can tell him," he added with a sad smile. I lowered my head with partial shame and let out a small breath.

"The night I ran away... the night I met Ev, I was about to jump off a bridge," I told him.

"Well, for the record, I'm really glad you didn't. As you are considered a missing person, I will have to contact the judge who is handling your case and provide them with the evidence of your abuse and we'll-"

"Colin," Ev interrupted letting out another cloud of smoke, "that's not the whole story." Colin looked back at me and I bit my lower lip.

"I had a tutor because I was home-schooled, who would now and then brush his hands over me. It wasn't ever as bad as what they had done to me when I was eleven, until the night before my thirteenth birthday. They took me to the basement, and they let other people force themselves on me. My parents recorded everything, and they held these parties every year on that same day," I paused and shifted on where I sat. I cleared my throat preparing myself for the next words that I wanted to utter. "I remember some of the other people they invited over. I remember seeing them sometimes on the news or at events... I remember they always seemed so nice..."

"Yeah, and I bet if you ask some people, I seem like a druggie pillow-biter. Image means literally nothing," Ev said drawing my attention.

"Pillow-biter...?" I echoed, bringing my eyebrows together.

"Never mind that," Colin cut in, interrupting us. "You were saying that there are a lot of high-profile people involved in this case..."

"Yes, but I don't know if... I don't know if any of them are visible in the videos."

"Wait, your parents are though, right?" Ev asked me, leaning a little forward. I turned my gaze to him a nodded.

"They made me watch some... you can see them," I told him and turned to Colin. "Will... will coming forward put me in danger?" I asked him softly.

"Sharing your story and trying to get justice will only help you," Colin said.

"And it will also help the other victims as well. I bet it sucks seeing your abuser be elected as a Mayor or a Councilor," Ev added.

"There are other victims?" Colin asked, his head quickly moving between me and Ev.

"My dad once told me that I felt better than others had," I said with a low tone. "But I never met anyone else," I quickly went on. "I think I was the only one they had until I ran away."

"Well, whether you met anyone else or not, doesn't really affect our case. Coming forward could inspire other victims to also come forward and that will only help us. But even without them coming forward, your testimony, as well as those videos, are enough for us to build a case..." Colin started saying.

He stayed over for a few more hours and talked everything out with us, before eventually leaving and taking the CDs with him, saying something about handing them over to a judge. To be honest, everything felt weird to me after I had said all that stuff to him. The first person I had been able to talk to this about had been Ev and I had actually been surprised with how much I had said to Colin. Maybe having Ev in the room had helped, but even if Ev hadn't been there, Colin just had this air surrounding him that had made me trust him. He just made me feel like he wanted to help me.

"Um, Ev...?" I muttered a little after Colin had left as Ev was quickly fixing up something for lunch. He hummed back, letting me know he was paying attention and I cleared my throat before going on. "Won't I have to pay Colin for being my lawyer?"

"Don't worry about the money," he softly said, his eyes not leaving the food he was making.

"Ev, I can't just-"

"Do you know why Teo calls me moneybags?" he cut me off and looked at me from over his shoulder. I shook my head negatively and he returned to his cooking.

"You see, the family that had adopted me was quite wealthy... well, no, actually my Mum is one of the richest people in the UK," he said and let out a small laugh. I blinked at the back of his head. "I'm dead serious. She inherited a hell of a lot of money and provided her children, whether they were biological or adopted, with some pretty fucking comfortable bank accounts. I-" he paused to stop what he was doing and look at me- "I sort of refused to use any of that money after my Dad died and I ran, but using that money to help you..." he paused again to shake his head, "I don't feel guilty about that."

"Ev, I honestly don't know how to thank you..." I managed to say a couple of moments later. He smiled at me and his eyes flickered to Omen, who nuzzled even closer to my forearm on the table.

"You seriously don't need to thank me for this. Helping other people- helping you, if you ask me, is just me being fucking human." He turned back towards the stove and let out a heavy exhale. "I'm just trying to be the person I'd want to have by my side."

I looked at the back of his purple-coloured head and smiled at him, even though I knew he couldn't see it. For a moment I wondered whether I had indeed jumped off the bridge that night and this -Ev- was just some kind of dream I had come up with while half-dead in that river that ran under it. I wondered. But then the pain and the laughs and the memories of my time with Ev came flashing back and I was just sure it wasn't a dream. I just couldn't have come up with something like this. I couldn't have come up with someone like him.