Ev

To say that I was able to focus at work the next day would be an outright lie. Thankfully, my day wasn't completely booked, but even with the three appointments that I had, I felt overwhelmed. Forcing down my thoughts in order to focus on the tattoo I was working on was one thing that I seriously hated.

I would be going to Daniel's old house a little after midnight, so I had the chance to go back home before and change clothes. I didn't want to break into two politicians house while wearing a tee-shirt with the biohazard symbol on it. Sure, it looked cool, but it wasn't exactly the stealth get-up I needed.

A little after I finished my second appointment, I started to get really anxious about it. I had talked about it again with Danny after waking up this morning and he had reluctantly agreed to tell me security password to his house. According to him, his parents used three different passwords that they rotated as an extra security measure, so he had given me those three and pointed out the one that was more likely to be it. The other thing I had been able to get out of him had been the location on the videos. I had been ecstatic when he had said that his parents were apparently old school and had transferred the videos on CDs. It made what I had to do way easier. Their actual location would end up haunting me till the day I died, but it was honestly worth it.

After I was done with my second appointment I went to the front of the shop and heavily sat on one of the free chairs, right by Marcie and Theo and checked my phone for the time once again. I couldn't wait till I was done with work. I wanted to go check up on Daniel. Despite being too caught up in my thoughts I did manage to notice the look Theo and Marcie shared.

"So..." Marcie started slowly. I turned my head to them, still not that focused. "What's up?" she asked with an awkward hint in her voice that didn't really suit her.

I frowned and watched as Theo rolled his eyes. Before I could open my mouth and brush off her question Theo cleared his throat and leaned closer to me.

"What's going on between you and that twink you tattooed last night?" he asked dryly. At once, I went rigid and my expression darkened. Surprise struck both of my friends as I all but growled at them.

"He's not a twink. And it ain't like that!" I snapped. My friends shared a look of disbelief and I almost went off at them again, but my phone that started vibrating cut me off. I looked down and almost immediately shot up and went to the back room again. "Danny?" I asked as soon as I picked up, worry lacing my voice. He hadn't used the phone I had gotten him yet and the fact that he had seemed so reluctant made me think he never would. So my worry wasn't that unjustified. 

"Hey," he muttered back. There was a certain huskiness in his tone that I now could recognize as his just-woke-up voice. It didn't surprise me that he had taken a nap after I left, considering that he had not really slept the previous night. Not that I had.

"Is everything okay?" I asked, keeping in mind that my friends were in the other room.

"Yes... I was just thinking... I don't want it to define me," he replied. I frowned and was about to ask him to elaborate but then I didn't as he kept going. "I don't want the pain they caused me to define me. I know you said it won't be needed, but I want to come forward."

I froze up for a moment, trying to wrap my mind around what Daniel had told me. I ended up at a loss for words and had to pace around a bit in order for my brain to start working.

"I'm proud of you. I- I'll be there. For you. If you want me to, I'll be there," I managed to say, my heart throbbing so loudly I could heart it. I heard a knock on the door and understood that Marcie was letting me know my next client was here. "Um, look I have to do a tattoo now, but I'll be there in a couple of hours and we'll talk more then, okay?"

"Yeah... okay," he said and sniffled his nose.

He hung up before I could make sure he wasn't crying. Part of me, a hopeful part, wanted the sniffling to have been just him waking up and having a runny nose, but I knew that was unlikely. I went to the front to greet the client and never once stopped thinking about Danny up until I was standing by my front door.

I got inside and smiled at him, receiving a small smile in return. He was sitting by the table with Omen curled up on his lap, loudly purring, and watching something on the laptop.

"Hey, how was your day?" he asked me before I could ask him. I let out a small snicker and rolled my shoulders with a heavy exhaled.

"Tiring, but fine. I had to tattoo a pirate on someone's arse today. I don't even know why anyone would want something like that..." I said shrugging off my jacket and walking up to him. He frowned and laughed, pausing the video he had been watching and leaned back in his chair. As he stopped petting Omen, she sat up stretching while on his legs and then jumping on the table to greet me. "So..." I slowly started, looking at where my fingertips disappeared in Omen's fur, "about what you told me on the phone..." I dragged and with the corner of my eye saw him tense up. "Are you sure about it?"

"If you don't think I should..." he started muttering, lowering his eyes to look down at his lap.

"No!" I exclaimed, making him flinch and then clearing my throat. "I didn't mean that... speaking up will only help, I just meant that I don't want you to feel forced to speak. When I thought about getting the videos and sending them in, I figured it was the best thing I could do without telling your story myself. I don't want to do that. It's not my story to tell. But at the same time, I find it impossible not to do something about it."

He stayed quiet for a few moments, mulling over what I had told him. As I had been speaking, he had looked up at me again and now bore an expression I couldn't immediately place. At last, he sighed and let out a pained laugh.

"So... are we going to go to the police or...?" he asked softly. I let out a heavy exhale.

"I guess... I mean, I haven't really been in a situation like this before. I don't know exactly know what to do... I guess maybe we should talk to Colin first?" I saw the panic that flashed in his eyes and quickly tried to calm him down. "He's a lawyer and knows how to deal with legal procedures and whatnot. And technically you are a missing person... I don't know how that will affect everything. It will be better if we talked with Colin first."

"Will I have to tell him... everything?" he asked under his breath and I went to sit down next to him.

"You will be his client. His job will be to help you. Yes, you will have to tell him what has happened, but he won't use it against you, and he will definitely not judge you for it," I told him with reassurance in my tone. "Should I call him? And ask if he can come over so you can meet? Tomorrow?" I slowly asked. He looked at me with some surprise in his features and then finally nodded.

I pulled out my phone and found Colin's number. As it rang I put the call on speaker so that Danny could also hear Colin speak and then waited for my friend to answer.

"Hello," Colin said as soon as he picked up after the fourth ring.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Nothing much, still in the office," he replied, and I could practically hear him shrug. "Did something happen?"

"Yeah... I guess you could say that," I started, "Do you remember the hypothetical question I asked you last night?"

"Oh, the one about the recorded child sexual abuse. Yeah, I don't think I'll forget it any time soon," he replied. "What about it?"

"Could you come over to my place at some point tomorrow?" I asked him.

"Well, tomorrow is Saturday so yeah I can. Why?" he asked cautiously. I eyed Danny intensely as the next words left my mouth.

"The victim wants to come forward."

"Ah... okay... sure, I'll be there at noon then," Colin said. "Say, does the victim have the recording?"

"Uh, why?" I asked back with a frown.

"We can use it as evidence and if we have it, we know it won't be tampered with..." Colin answered. "So, do they have it?"

"Yes," I immediately replied, my eyes never once leaving Danny.

"Alright, great. Then I'll see you tomorrow," he muttered.

"Great, yeah. Bye," I said and hung up.

"Eh... Ev, I don't have the recording...?" Daniel said under his breath.

"I know that, but didn't you hear Colin? Having it will help us. So, I'll just go get it," I told him.

He seemed sceptical but then eventually he nodded, probably as he figured out, I was not about to back down from this. If having the video helped sent his parents to prison, then I simply couldn't back down.

I left my apartment about an hour after midnight. I had put on an all-black outfit, complete with thick, latex-free gloves and a neck gaiter, neither of which I was wearing on my way to Danny's old house. Alongside the gloves and gaiter, I had taken some empty old CDs and a waterproof marker, in order to replace the ones, I would take with me. There was no reason to alert Danny's parents, right?

I had decided to first pass before the house with my motorcycle just to quickly check everything, not slowing down or stopping for a moment. From what Danny had told me there was always a police car in front of their house, but there was one blind spot in the back garden where he had escaped from.

I parked my bike a few blocks away and then walked to where the house was but one street parallel to the front door. According to Danny, the house where the blind spot was accessible from was between two houses that owned dogs. So, slightly glad that this household wasn't into owning dogs, I snuck in and found the blind spot Danny had directed me to. It was right by some hydrangeas where I could easily climb over the fence and get into their back garden.

It would have been a lie to say I was surprised that everything in the garden was in pristine shape. Despite it being night, I could tell that it was very well taken care off, with grass covering the whole area and flowers going around it by the fence of the suburban house of the two politicians.

I sneaked closer to the kitchen window, from where Danny had told me he had gotten out. Apparently, this window wasn't as good as the others and with a little tweaking and gentle shaking, it could be opened. And it eventually did.

I smiled to myself underneath the neck gaiter and quickly got inside the house, as even though all the lights in the surrounding houses were off, I didn't want to be noticed. I ended up on the kitchen table and then quickly had to go to disable the security system. I hurriedly typed in the first code Danny had given me, the most probable one, and actually sighed with relief as I realised it worked. The hard part was over... almost.

Danny had told me the videos were kept in the basement, which honestly should have made things better -at least, they weren't in his parents' bedroom- but it didn't. The basement was the room they raped him in. I stared at the wooden door that would lead me down to it and was tempted to lockpick it -the fuckers kept it locked- but then I didn't.

I was not exactly sure what possessed me, but I headed up the stairs on the opposite of the basement, where Danny had told me their bedroom was. The lights had been off when I had passed the house and I seriously prayed that they would be asleep, as I lowered myself to a crouch. I sneaked around the hallway passing two rooms opposite each other that were their offices and then stopped short by their door. It had been ajar leaving me enough space to look inside and yet be hidden by the darkness of the night.

They had been asleep, Joseph hugging his wife both with content looks plastered on their fucking faces. It took all my fucking self-control not to barge right in and beat them both bloody. Disgusting fucks. I closed my eyes momentarily, thinking of all the ways they'd get fucked up in prison when they finally got convicted and quietly turned around to the door opposite theirs. Danny's room.

Slowly I opened it, cringing when it let out a small squeak and then waited to hear whether that had woken them up. Judging by their loud snores, it hadn't. I walked inside and then finally let myself straighten up.

My eyes immediately landed on the giant monitor at the end up the room alongside all the consoles and video games neatly placed on the wooden entertainment system surrounding the monitor. To the side, next to a window was a desk, that had two other smaller monitors that were connected to a PC. They definitely had gone all out in giving him gifts.

At last, I noticed the twin bed that was closest to me and I couldn't help myself when I neared it. I softly got down on my knees and looked underneath it. The moonlight provided little lighting, but I did manage to notice the few plushies that were stuffed under it. The image of a twelve-year-old Daniel hiding under the bed and suppressing his sobs formed before me and at once I stood up and crept out of the room.

I checked once more at the two sleeping politicians as I passed their room and then went downstairs again to go in the basement and be done with it. I was sure I would end up having nightmares after what I was about to do, but it was honestly so much worth it. I managed to unlock it some seconds later, hating how the lock had clicked to be unlocked and wishing his parents wouldn't have heard the sound. I had to be quick about it.

I walked down the wooden stairs, my heart throbbing loudly in my chest as I braced myself for the sight. Checking once more that I had drawn the door at the top of the stairs almost closed I fumbled on the wall and let out a small exhale as I found the light switch. A dim light filled the room, my breath was cut short and I almost gagged. Most of the walls were covered in photographs of Daniel. Photographs in which he was naked and crying and clearly in pain. Photographs in which he was being taken advantage of in the worst possible way.

My eyes fixated on one of the biggest photographs. Daniel was looking at the camera with watering and pleading eyes. His lips were swollen and there was a small cut on his lower lip that looked rather deep. For a moment I wondered how old he was in that picture. He didn't look that much younger than he had when I found him at the bridge. It had to have been recent. The almost translucent substance that was dripping from the corner of his mouth made me look away the moment I noticed it and as I did my attention was caught by the two boxes that sat by one corner of the room.

I moved closer to them and opened the top one... only to immediately close it up again. I did not need to look at the sex toys they owned. Definitely not something I needed in my life. Especially since some of them were also in the photographs on the walls. I moved the box to the side and opened the one that had been beneath it only to smile under my face cover.

Bingo.

I didn't waste a second pulling out some of the CDs cases and going over their titles. Adam's Seventeenth Party caught my eye and I swapped it with an empty CD I had brought with me, glad that I didn't have to copy the titles as the case had them and not the actual CD.

I thought about it for a moment and then decided against swapping all the videos. Daniel having taken some with him made sense and I felt like it would end up going over in court better than him having all of them. Besides, since Danny was going to talk to Colin tomorrow then perhaps by the start of next week this place would be searched. So, the rest would end up being found as well.

I swapped some other CDs as well, taking one with me that had the title Monthly Body Examination and another one with the title Waterproof Toy Testing, biting down my revulsion over what those titles implied. And then my eyes went over the second to last CD and I felt my blood boil. Adam's First Time was written with big, bold letters, a date from seven years ago right next to it. I didn't even blink before I swapped it and went to the final CD.

Taking Lucas' Virginity.

"Who the fuck is Lucas?" I muttered so low I was sure it hadn't been audible.

Danny's words echoed in my mind and I shivered as I remembered he hadn't been the only one. I didn't even want to think about it. I put the CDs and the boxes in the exact same way as I had found them and sat up. I had to leave. I had been in here for way too long.

As I turned around and headed to the stairs again, I froze up. My eyes landed on the mattress at the other end of the room. It was sitting there uncovered and stained, with sweat and blood and semen. The little plushie of a tiger that sat by one of its corners immediately made me tear up.

"Fuck," I rasped and tried to wipe away the tears that wouldn't stop flowing down my face.

"You like tigers?"

"They are strong..."

Daniel's answer from so many weeks ago echoed in my mind and I felt like an idiot for not realising. How could I have?

I had to get out of here.

I took a couple of deep breaths and stopped crying and then quickly left the basement after shutting off the light. Nothing appeared to have changed upstairs so without missing a beat I went to the kitchen, got on the table and jumped out the window. A dog started barking in one of the neighbouring houses and I felt my blood run cold. Suddenly, I couldn't walk fast enough. I crossed the garden and jumped over the fence into the garden of the house I had first crossed. Then, maybe one minute later, I was on my motorcycle ready to start up and leave this goddamn neighbourhood.

I took off my gloves and the neck gaiter and let out a heavy exhale in order to collect myself. I had done it. I had gotten the videos and I was out. I started driving, making sure I wasn't going over the speed limit. I doubted I would get stopped at the moment, but I didn't really want to chance it while I was carrying child pornography on me.

Everything was a haze until I reached my apartment, as adrenaline had kicked in and making me almost shake with its intensity. Danny had managed to fall asleep and after I took a quick shower and changed clothes -just going into that house had made me feel dirty- I neared his side of the bed and crouched down next to where he slept. He seemed absolutely peaceful, with a smile ghosting over his face and Omen sleeping in his arms. He didn't seem to be seeing a nightmare for once and I had to smile at that; at the progress he had made.

Without thinking it, I reached out and very softly brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen on his one eye.

"You are so fucking strong..." I said sweetly and went back to my side of the bed.

The adrenaline alongside this mess of a day had left me exhausted and I was honestly looking forward to some good sleep. Tomorrow would be just as exhausting, if not more...