Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2003 23:12:04 +0100
From: Angela Mynah <angela_mynah@msn.com>
Subject: A Victim of Learning
A Victim of Learning
A short story by Angela Mynah
Angela_mynah@msn.com
This story refers to cross generational sex of a homosexual nature.
If this story is illegal in your area or you are offended by such material,
leave now.
This is the third part of a Trilogy (Ok, so there could be a fourth part).
Whilst this story can be free standing, you will get far more of an
understanding from it if you read `For the love of a Bigot' first, followed
by `The Martyr to Ignorance'. Both may be found on the link / URL below.
http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/ravages-of-hope/
This story is fictional, however the issues that are raised in it, are not.
This story deals with two very disturbing subjects. However, it is meant to
educate, enlighten and entertain rather than frighten the reader. Although
descriptions are based on case history, care should be taken to remember
that this is a fictional story. Take the time to read and reflect, for you
could save a life."
I would also like to thank Charlie, the author of `Donny' for his assistance
and support in the writing of this story. His research into teen suicide has
saved me a great deal of time and effort. Without his help this story would
never have been completed.
http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/donny/
Lastly I would like to thank two people for posting up messages on the
notice board of Boytales. ( www.boytales.com ) regarding the tragedy of
Teen Suicide. They know who they are. The Psychiatrist in this tale uses a
lot of what they posted.
*******************************************************************
A Victim of Learning
This was different and Peter didn't like it. Normally he loved to have
his hair stroked, but this wasn't right. He was by nature a tactile boy and
loved to be touched, but not like this. This was very different and he did
not like it at all.
Feeling a hand gently stroking his blonde hair was one of those
sensations that Peter had enjoyed for as long as he could remember, the
touch so gentle that it would send goose bumps all over his body. Often his
adopted father would do it when standing behind him, at the table, where
Peter was doing his homework. Arthur Davis and his wife Alice had gone
through the adoption procedures and officially Peter was now `Peter Davis'
and not `Peter Rhodes' as he had been born.
But this was quite different. The hand massaging his small chest was
gentle enough, but the other hand had pulled his trousers and underpants to
the floor. He was pulled back slightly causing him to step out of his
clothes, as that happened the other hand started to massage his most private
parts, something he had never had done to him before. Peter was not enjoying
this experience at all, This was all very different from anything he had
ever known.
One of the differences was that he was in a small locked room, but the
biggest difference was that the touch was not from one whom he loved or
trusted, it was not from Arthur or Alice, no, it was from Ralph Leatherhood,
Peter's form teacher.
Peter worried about how he had got himself into this mess. He was now a
very frightened boy with nobody to turn to. Oh yes, he had the goose bumps
alright but they were from fear, not enjoyment. A tear ran down his cheek as
the fondling continued. Peter thought back as to how he had landed in this
situation.
It had been fourteen months since the death of both his parents. His
mother from alcohol induced liver failure, and his father from a heart
attack the following day. He had enjoyed two birthdays since those
tragedies. He was now an eleven year old, and he had started at his new
school. He had been going there for three weeks.
Only a week or so back, Peter had committed a minor misdemeanour. He
had misbehaved in class by talking during the lesson and had been told to
stay behind. He was alone in the room with Mr Leatherhood, who told him
would have to stay there until an appropriate punishment had been decided
on. The teacher moved over to the frightened boy, looking down on the small
frame sat before him.
Ralph Leatherhood passed the back of his hand softly over the boys
hair, it felt wonderful to him. So soft and the trace of the smell of
shampoo wafted up to his nose. He was standing behind the lad, looking down
on the crisp white shirt he was wearing and the tie, so well tied for a
youngster. The dark blue woollen v-neck jersey the boy wore was pure lambs
wool and still smelled new. His school trousers were just a little bit too
long for him allowing `room for growth'. All in all, to a paedophile, there
were few things more attractive in life than this little boy, and Ralph was
a paedophile and he was attracted. Very attracted.
"Its really not acceptable to have you talking to somebody while I am
trying to teach you all, you know, there are some boys and girls who want to
learn and they can't if all they can hear is you, can they?"
"No sir, I am sorry sir, really I am. Please don't cane me sir, I
promise never to talk in class again, honestly I won't."
This completely wrong footed Ralph, He had never caned anybody in his
life, yet here was this child, terrified at the prospect, and seemingly
expecting it. This put Ralph into the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand he
wanted to put any record straight and tell the boy that he was one of the
teachers opposed to corporal punishment. However, on the other, the child
was in a position where Ralph could take advantage of the boys beliefs and
perhaps bargain some pleasure out of him. It was not an easy choice for him
and it was his call.
"If you sit still and don't make a fuss, I shall think about what I can
do instead of caning you. You do realise that you have been very naughty
don't you"
"Yes sir I do, but please don't hit me"
"I am not going to hit you, here now, let me prove it to you"
With that Ralph bent down to the boy and kissed the top of his head.
Moving round in front of him Ralph Gently took the boys chin and lifted it
up so he could look at those deep blue tearful eyes. He kissed the boys nose
then both eyes, then gently he kissed the boys lips. Ralph made no attempt
to push his tongue into the lad's mouth, as he thought that would have been
a step too far. He stood up again.
"Now do you believe I am not going to hurt you? I would hardly kiss
somebody I was about to cane would I?"
Peter shook his head and relaxed a little. Ralph was starting to wonder
a few things about the lad, only one of which was what the boy looked like
naked. He decided to find the answers to all his questions though not
necessarily all at once.
"I am going to ask you some questions. If you answer me honestly and
promise not to tell anyone about our little chat I will forget any physical
punishment that is due to you. Is that a deal?"
Peter nodded his head and quietly said yes, He was worried about being
told not to tell anyone about this chat, as Arthur had repeatedly told him
that if any grownup ever said that to him, he was to tell Arthur
immediately. Still this was different wasn't it? Mr Leatherhood was his
teacher wasn't he? This would be alright wouldn't it?
Peter realised that what his dad had really meant, was that if any
*`stranger'* said that to him he was to tell immediately. This chat had to
be kept a secret because it would be telling his dad that he had been a very
naughty boy. Mr Leatherhood was doing him a favour telling him to keep it a
secret.
Ralph took a chair and sat in front of Peter. He had the back of the
chair to Peter and was using the back as an arm rest as he sat facing the
boy. He could see that the kid had relaxed a lot so reckoned that the first
step was to get the boys trust. He started by asking some questions.
"You are very frightened of being smacked with the cane, Does your dad
hit you with anything if you are naughty"
"No sir, he never hits me he says he doesn't like it. If I have been
naughty I get sent to my room, then dad will come in and tell me off. If I
have been really bad I am sent to bed"
"Do you wear pyjamas in bed or do you sleep in your underpants?"
"I wear pyjamas"
"Does your dad often come into your room and kiss you good night?"
"Yes sir, every night. He always kisses me goodnight, so does Mum."
"Does your dad touch you on your private parts?"
Peter looked a little confused. He wondered what Mr Leatherhood was
getting at. Why would his dad touch his thingy? It seemed such an odd
question. Still he had agreed to answer all Mr Leatherhood's questions.
"No sir, he doesn't touch my private parts"
"Ok then Peter you may go home now, I will not keep you here any
longer but I would like to have another private chat soon. Do you know what
I mean by private? I mean a talk that is secret between you and me. I will
have a few chats with you like this, and I may have one or two things I will
ask you to do. Then we will say that you will have had your punishment for
talking in the classroom. Do you understand? This is all private between you
and me."
"Yes sir, I understand. I won't tell anyone about our chats."
"Good boy. Run along home now, I will see you tomorrow."
Peter ran home as he was now late. He didn't want to have to explain
why to his father. Luckily his mother taught at a different school so he was
in the clear there. By the time he reached the gate he was only ten minutes
late but he was seriously out of breath. Arthur could see at once. Well it
was hard to miss! Peter was unable to talk for some moments before he
finally strung some words together.
"Sorry hhhh hhhh hhhh I am hhhh hhhh hhhh late I was hhhh hhhh
talking to Simon hhhh hhhh and I didn't see what the time hhhh hhhh
was"
"It's alright Peter, don't struggle like that, you're home now. I think
we will have to get you a mobile phone. It would just be for things like
this, just so you can keep us informed of what's going on. We do worry for
you, you know."
"OH KEWL, some of my mates have got mobiles, I would like one Dad
Please, That would be really neat."
Arthur realised what he had said and that there was no turning back
now. He had said the lad needed one and received the reply that the lad
wanted one. There was no way now he could say no. Knowing from the horror
stories that he had heard, there was the risk of some horrendous phone
bills, still there were conditions that could be enforced and the bargaining
power would be held by the model selected. All was not lost. It was agreed
that they would go and buy one that weekend.
"Can I be late back from school tomorrow please? I was talking with my
friends and they all stayed on a bit after I left. Can I stay with them
tomorrow?"
"How late do you think you will be?"
Peter guessed that he was unlikely to be delayed by Mr Leatherhood for
more than half an hour or so.
"About three quarters of an hour I reckon, an hour tops. Please?"
"Yes that'll be fine, but make sure you come straight home afterwards"
Peter was delighted, he could do what ever it was that Mr Leatherhood
wanted and his dad would be none the wiser. He reckoned he had got away
clear and free.
Arthur wondered what Peter had done to get detention. He remembered
pulling the same line when he was young and also remembered Andrew doing
exactly the same. Meeting with friends was never an hour, detention could be
though. Still it was not a matter that warranted Arthur's intervention.
Peter was taking his punishment and not whingeing about it. The level of
dishonesty was not reaching the slap down mark so he decided to leave the
matter alone.
The following school day was a good one for Peter, all his favourite
subjects were on The Foreign Languages class was a pet favourite of his as
he had been learning French, German and Spanish for years. He was well in
advance of the rest of his year. His old father had been teaching him maths
for ages too, only he had called the problems `Puzzles' and kept the boys
attention that way. English Language was also way ahead of his class.
There were only four subjects that Peter was weak in. They were
History, Geography, General Science and Art. Mr Leatherhood taught General
Science in Peter's year, and could see the boy was struggling slightly.
Perhaps more to the point, Mr Leatherhood was looking forwards to teaching
Peter biology, on a one to one basis.
The following afternoon, after the school day was done, Peter went to
Mr Leatherhood and asked what the teacher wanted him to do. Ralph was ready
for this. He sat the boy down and started asking him more questions, some
general but some very personal ones too.
"Well Peter, what subjects do you think are hard for you, do you
think?"
"I am not good at science or geography, and I don't like history much
either. I like drawing but I ruin what I draw as soon as I paint it, so art
is another thing I am not good at"
"Do you have a girl friend?"
"No sir"
"What I will talk about now, you may not know all the words for, but
never mind. Use the words that you know and I will understand. What's your
name for your private part that you Pee with?"
Peter went quite pink as he answered,
"I call it my willy sir"
"And does it ever go hard, all sort of stiff?"
"Yes sir it does go stiff lots of times."
The chat went on for nearly forty minutes, getting more personal as it
went on. Peter had been pretty embarrassed for most of the time as Ralph
interrogated him about his little body
Well that was all a week or so ago now, Ralph had enjoyed his little
question and answer sessions with the boy, and had now talked him into going
into the science labs store room, a room always locked because of the
chemicals and such like stored there. He removed the boys neck tie and undid
the top button of Peter's shirt under the pretence that it would be safer
like that, Peter stood quite still, surprised at this action. Ralph then
removed Peter's school pullover, Peter froze. Ralph finished undressing the
lad.
It was forty minutes later that Ralph emerged from the store room
looking a little warm but very satisfied with himself. There was the sound
of sobbing coming from the store, but Ralph was used to that, it didn't
alarm him unduly. Five minutes later out came Peter wiping the last of his
tears away and promising Ralph that no one would ever hear of what a dirty
boy he was and how wicked he had been.
Ralph had explained to the boy that as he was too young to be
responsible for his actions. Because of that, Peter would not go to prison
for doing what he had done. However, as his adopted father was responsible
for Peter, he most certainly would. That was why Peter must never tell
anyone, and if he ever told his mother or father what a filthy little shit
he was, they would both hate him anyway.
"It will be much better for everyone if this little secret of yours is
kept between just the two of us. I can use you for one or two experiments,
and if you let me do that I will say nothing to anyone either."
Peter agreed and ran from the room, stopping only at the boy's toilets
to try to clean himself up a little, before running home. His underpants
were a mess but he had put some toilet paper in them and that had caught
most of what Leatherhood had put in him, plus some blood. No blood had
reached his underwear, so Peter was able to leave it in the laundry basket.
He felt dirty and smelly. Hoping a shower would take it all away, he
stripped off and stood under the hot water lathering himself thoroughly.
Twice he had to leave the shower and sit on the toilet but nothing came out.
He washed himself yet again and eventually dressed and went down stairs for
his evening meal.
Arthur and Alice both noticed how quiet Peter was over the dinner table
but said nothing at the time. Later that evening, when Peter had gone to
bed, they discussed the boy's behaviour. They wanted to tread carefully as
they were determined not to be paranoid but sudden quiet behaviour was one
of the early signs of depression, a road they never wanted to go down, ever
again. Arthur put forward a suggestion.
"I will see how he behaves tomorrow, if he is down about something, I
will get to the bottom of it. I'll be here when he gets back from school
anyway. Lets just hope for now that this is something trivial. It'll be
alright as long as we monitor him"
Arthur didn't say anything about the detention the previous week,
partly because he didn't think there was any link, but mainly because he was
concerned that the problem was more likely to be bullying. A lot of the boys
from Peter's old school had moved up with him and Peter's history was far
from secret.
Peters last father being in prison and his mother being a drunk, was
ammunition enough for a cruel child, but add to that the bonus that his new
mum and dad had failed to stop their last sons suicide and any self
respecting bully would think that all his Christmases had come at once.
Bullying. That was going to be the bottom line. That was something that
Arthur was sure of and he knew that with his wife's assistance, they could
knock it on the head without any worry to the lad whatsoever.
While all this was going on, unknown to either Arthur or Alice, Peter
was quietly crying himself to sleep, certain in the knowledge that if either
of his new parents found out his secret, they would hate him and throw him
out of the house.
Breakfast was a dire meal that morning. Peter could not bring himself
to look either of his parents in the face, such was the burden of shame he
was secretly carrying. Arthur, now having convinced himself that bullying
was the cause of the problem was not going to broach the subject. He wanted
to deal with it in such a way that Peter would believe that it was he who
sorted it out, rather than his father, thereby giving a boost to his
confidence. Alice had agreed with Arthur's plan and had advised that they
pick just one teacher to confide in, to help Peter through all this.
At last the meal was over and Peter was able to pick up his books and
head off to school. He was relieved to be out of the house but now the
prospect of what awaited him at the school loomed dark on his horizon. He
wondered what sort of experiments Leatherhood had in mind, and whether they
all required him to be undressed. In his heart of hearts he knew that they
would. He had heard of what some men liked to do with little boys and now,
he'd been subjected to some of it.
Throughout the day Peter tried to work out why his father would go to
prison for the things that Leatherhood was doing. He understood the rough
idea of the age of legal responsibility as it had been explained to him. He
thought about what he had been told.
Because he had let these things happen. He had broken the law. He was
too young to go to prison, therefore his dad would be arrested because Peter
had let it happen. That's when he would be told of what Peter had been
doing, and not only would he go to prison but he would hate Peter for being
a dirty, rude little boy. Alice would hate him too. Partly for being dirty
and partly because he had made it so his dad went to prison leaving Alice
all alone. To an eleven year old boy it all made frightening sense.
Yes it all had to be true, well Mr. Leatherhood told him and he was a
teacher so it had to be true. He didn't want his new dad to go to prison
like his other dad had done and he knew that when his mum knew she would
hate him too, so she would throw him out and then he would be taken in as an
orphan into a home. Mr Leatherhood had told him what care homes were like
too. Peter knew he didn't want to go to one of those.
It was all too late now for anyone to help him. He had let things
happen and now all he could do was to let Mr Leatherhood do what ever he
wanted, and keep it all a secret. That was the only way he could stay at
home and keep his dad from going to prison. He managed not to cry as he
tried to concentrate on the last ten minutes of the lesson, having heard
nothing of the previous forty minutes.
The day dragged on, all the time Peter was expecting to hear from Mr
Leatherhood that he was to attend the science lab after school or during the
lunch break. The call didn't come so as soon as Peter had finished his lunch
he went to the Labs to see if he was to be `experimented on'.
The door to the store room in the lab was locked as Peter tried the
handle. This didn't really surprise him as the door was normally locked. He
was just about to leave when he heard a muffled whimper from inside the
room. He put his ear to the door and heard quite clearly Mr Leatherhood
whisper to someone to keep very quiet. Peter wondered who else was in the
store room as he left the laboratory.
Oddly enough, finding out that he was not the only dirty, rude boy in
the school eased Peter's feelings of guilt, he was also burning with
curiosity as to who the other rude boy was. He waited a short distance from
the laboratory so he could see who came out, he didn't have to wait very
long.
Mark was a good looking lad three years older than Peter. He left the
lab and walked straight towards Peter. As their eyes met Peter could see
that Mark was very upset. Not crying, no. This was the resigned look of
defeat that Peter had only ever seen once before. This look had left its
scar on Peter's mind as it was the look Andrew had given him three weeks
before he took his own life. Although Peter had no idea what those tired
beaten eyes meant, he knew that this boy was as sad and as trapped as he
was. What he did not know was that Mark had started to think along the same
lines that Andrew had thought on. Mark wanted an escape route and could
think of only one.
He wanted to talk to Mark, to compare notes and to have an ally in all
these troubles but was too scared to. He didn't want to let out his secret
in case Mark was not trustworthy. It was just too dangerous. They passed
each other in the corridor as Peter went back into the lab. As he opened the
door and looked in he saw Mark was looking back at him. They attempted a
smile at each other but smiles were not really on the agenda so a weak nod
was all that was exchanged.
"Hello Peter, What can I do for you young man? Have you come to see me?
Lets go in the store room, and you can tell me why you have come here"
As they walked into the store, Leatherhood locked the door. It was only
twenty minutes later that Leatherhood came out congratulating himself for
being able to do two boys in one lunch hour, and it was five minutes after
that when a tearful Peter came out still straightening his clothes and
heading for the boys toilets to clean himself up again.
He was in one of the cubicles lining his underpants with toilet paper
when he heard the door open and steps come into the toilet. He froze for a
moment then sat on the toilet as he continued to wipe away the semen that
was still oozing from between his cheeks. He heard a whisper from outside
the cubical door.
"Hello, are you the boy I saw going into the Lab a little while ago"
"I might be, why?"
"If you are, are you one of Leatherhood's lab helpers or are you like
me?"
"I am not saying ... What's one of Leatherhood's lab helpers?"
"There's nobody else here, come out please, I want to talk"
Peter finished his cleaning up and unlocked the door. He walked out
where, as he expected, he found the boy he had seen coming out of
Leatherhood's lab. After introducing themselves to each other, they skirted
round the subject, both too scared to give the secret away. Eventually Mark
broke through the barrier.
"Do you let Mr Leatherhood do very rude things to you? I am sure you
do. I let him do things to me too and I can't stop it. My dad will go to
jail if I tell anybody but I had to ask you because I think you are doing
the same thing. Please don't tell anyone I told you all this, Well are you?
Do you?"
"Yes, I let him do things to me, and my dad will be put in prison too
if I tell, so I won't tell anyone about you if you don't tell about me"
They looked at each other for a moment wondering what to say next when
the bell sounded to call the pupils to the afternoons classes. They parted
and for a short moment, each boy was feeling some relief having found
another sufferer. The relief was short lived however, as the responsibility
of keeping two peoples secrets, and the worry about whether the other lad
would be reliable in this started to grind them both down. Mark's defeated
look returned and Peter put all his efforts into not crying. Again he heard
only a little of the lesson he was attending.
When school finished that day, Peter walked home feeling that his feet
were made of lead. There was no joy in his heart as he opened the front
door, All he could think of was that he was going to send his new dad to
prison because he was a nasty dirty boy who let men do rude things to him.
He went to the toilet and took all the padding out of his briefs. It was
quite badly soiled with a mixture of Leatherhood's sperm and his own
excrement. Peter vomited into the toilet then flushed the evidence away,
then once again cleaned himself up.
Arthur saw that Peter was still in the doldrums and decided to take the
head on approach to start with.
"Hello my little soldier, What's wrong?"
He snuggled Peter up to him, partly to have the cuddle but also to see
if there were any bruises or other marks from bullying, When Peter pulled
away from the embrace Arthur was devastated. It was as if suddenly, all the
love had fallen out of the boy. It dawned on Arthur that maybe the bruising
was on Peter's body.
"Come on then Peter, What ever's the matter? You know you can tell me
what's wrong. If you are being hurt at school, tell me. I can do something
about it. What ever the matter is, tell me and we can sort it out. It
doesn't matter what the problem is, we can work it through. I'm your dad,
that's what dads are for, that's why we love our little soldiers."
That did it. Whatever resolve Peter had clung to, staying calm and
trying not to cry, disintegrated to dust. No sooner had the fist tear
started to trickle down his cheek than the second followed. He heard those
words echo round his young mind `that's why we love our little soldiers' the
third tear was the last countable one. The flood gates opened and a wail of
childhood pain was finally released. He threw his face into his dads chest
and totally broke down.
This time he did not break from his fathers arms, instead he clung to
Arthur as if his very life depended on it, which in his mind, it did. Arthur
rocked this ball of sorrow in his lap trying to give comfort but when ever
he spoke the wailing started again.
It was an hour later that Peter, now quite weak from crying fell silent.
For the first time in nearly a year, he put his thumb in his mouth and clung
to Arthur with his other hand. Arthur was terrified. He tried to imagine
what on earth could have happened to distress the boy so deeply.
He could see that this was no time to ask Peter any questions, even
talking was enough to start tears running again. He took the boy upstairs to
his bedroom and laid him on his bed. Arthur thought that bed was the best
place for him. He started to undress his little soldier and noticed him
stiffen up. As Arthur removed Peter's underpants, the boy winced slightly
and sprung an erection. Arthur looked at the half rigid penis, slightly
discoloured by bruising, now displayed to him.
"My god so that's where the bastards have been hitting him" Arthur
muttered to himself.
He reckoned that Peter had been so shy about talking about it, the
bullying and where he was being hit, it was that which had stopped the poor
soul from talking about it and that was also the reason he was cautious of
being undressed.
When Alice came home Arthur put her in the picture, describing both the
breakdown and the bruising. Action had to be taken immediately. This was all
far too distressing for Peter to endure for any longer.
Only two people needed to be contacted, Mr Schreider the headmaster,
and Ralph Leatherhood. It had taken them no time at all to decide which
teacher to chat with. Ralph Leatherhood was the obvious choice. Apart from
being Peters form teacher, he had been to Andrew's funeral, and was even
giving Peter a little help with his science lessons. He was obviously a
devoted teacher and liked by his pupils. Who better could there be?
They had phoned Ralph that evening and although he had sounded rather
defensive at first, they put that down to the unreasonable demands and
remonstrations that all teachers get from parents. Alice had been subjected
to the same herself from time to time. They apologised for phoning him at
home and explained how Peter had broken down.
"Hmmm yes that does sound like bullying to me too. You say he has said
nothing about who it is who is assaulting him. That's odd, I would have
expected him to say whom. On the other hand its more than likely that he
will be frightened about any reprisals that would occur should he tell us
who is harming him. Leave this with me and the headmaster. I will find out
who, how and where. The headmaster will take it from there."
"Oh thank you so much Ralph, that is a real weight off our minds. There
is another thing I wanted to ask. It seems that he is a little behind in
some of his studies, science is one of those. He is a bright kid and I am
sure that with a little extra coaching he would catch up. Would you be
interested in doing a little work outside the school, if Peter were to visit
you at your house say twice a week for a couple of hours"
"I do that already with another boy, a lad called Mark. He comes round
on Wednesdays and Fridays. If Peter came round on Mondays and Wednesdays, I
could do one to one coaching on Mondays and the two of them on Wednesdays."
"Thank you, yes that would be marvellous. I know Peter will be happy to
hear that you will help him"
"My pleasure. Just one thing, would you be so kind as to put your
requirements in writing, and give the envelope to Peter to give to me. Its
just so I can keep the headmaster informed and that will sort out things
like insurance and such like."
"Certainly we will, you will have the letter tomorrow"
Goodbyes said and pleasantries exchanged the telephone call was over.
Arthur was happy, The bullying would soon come to an end. Alice was happy,
Peter would soon make up ground with his education, Science was such an
important subject. Ralph was beside himself with glee. He was going to have
the time of his life.
"You don't seem very happy about this Peter but I will tell you that it
was very kind of Mr Leatherhood to take you on and give you lessons in his
house. You will learn a lot there"
Peter was trying to eat his breakfast when Arthur was telling him how
much he should thank Leatherhood for being so kind. The news had come like a
hammer blow to him. He wondered if his dad knew what was going on and if he
already hated him for letting it start. He wondered if Alice knew and was
doing this to punish him for being so dirty. He didn't cry, he was passed
that. He knew that there was only one person to blame for all this and that
was himself. He was just a nasty dirty rude boy and he was to blame for
everything.
He wondered if there was anyone in the world who liked him or could
help him, but after thinking of all the people he had known, he knew there
was nobody who could or more to the point would. That's what being a low
life meant. He was on his own. He walked to school, the letter to
Leatherhood that was in his bag of books. Mr Leatherhood was the only person
now who would still be nice to him and that's because he liked nasty dirty
rude boys. If nothing else he could live there with him.
Peter hadn't realised it but all the time he was thinking , he was
crying too. As he approached the school entrance, he dried his eyes and
prepared himself for the day and the inevitable pain that he was going to
endure from his form teacher. It was Friday so this would be the last time
before the weekend.
He wondered if his dad was still going to buy him the mobile phone but
soon realised that it didn't really matter if he had one or not. Who could
he phone? Nobody would want to talk to him. People didn't much care for
filth. He walked into his classroom and went to his desk. Putting his bag
down and getting the letter from it he walked over to Mr Leatherhood.
"Dad has asked me to give this to you sir"
It was as much as the boy could say. The teacher took the note, opened
it and a smile decorated his face. He could not have had it better if he had
planned it. Peter was being delivered to him on a plate.
This was a day not of just one letter to affect Peter's life, but two.
While he was giving Leatherhood the letter from his father, his father was
opening a letter from Greythorne prison. It was where Gerry, Peter's blood
father had been held. Arthur was a little surprised to receive a letter from
there as the only link he still had with the place was with a psychiatrist
called Keith Hobbes. Who was serving time there for reasons that Arthur was
unaware of. He was of course aware that Hobbes was mentioned in Gerry's will
and that as executor of that will, Arthur had been to see him. It was a
simple bequest but could not be paid to Keith until certain promises had
been fulfilled. The letter took Arthur's breath away.
Dear Mr Davis,
I am writing to you to inform you that my release from Greythorne
prison is imminent, in fact it is scheduled now for this coming Monday at
10:00 am. I would have written sooner but I have been indisposed and only
had the facts explained to me yesterday.
I find myself in the embarrassing situation where I am not
welcome in my own house or even the town where I lived. Also I have to
inform you that I will be obliged to sign on to the sexual offenders
register for the next five years.
In view of what I have to ask you, it is only right that you are
aware of why I was subject to a custodial sentence in the first place. I was
guilty of taking, possessing and distributing photographs of children
participating in unlawful sexual acts. As my profession was that of a child
psychiatrist, and therefore in a position of trust, I was given a heavy
punishment for my crime.
I am obliged to furnish you with this information owing to the
nature of my request and knowing that you are the legal custodian of a
minor.
Although I am no longer allowed to practice Psychiatric medicine,
or have any other medical practice, I do intend to carry on with my work
that I started here, being to confront the tragedy of the suicide of young
people and I would like to start in your area.
I have nowhere to stay or live so my question is simple. Would
you be prepared to give temporary accommodation to a convicted paedophile
until such time as I can make other arrangements. The only positive
information I can give you is that in all the time I was committing these
crimes, I never once touched or wanted to touch the children, my desires
were satisfied purely by voyeurism.
I realise fully the implications of what I ask and should you
choose to tear up this letter and forget about me I will understand. I shall
assume the answer to my request is `no' unless I hear from you to the
contrary.
Yours sincerely.
Keith Hobbes.
Arthur read the letter several times, each time not believing what he
was reading. He wondered if Gerry had known what Hobbes' crime had been. His
immediate feeling was to do as the letter suggested, tear it up and forget
all about the man, but he couldn't. There was this ...this something.
It wasn't a voice from within him, it wasn't a feeling. It was like a
compulsion to read the letter again, and each time he did, he wondered if he
should do as Hobbes was asking. When he thought like that, he felt relaxed
and sort of warm. Then the doubts came back and he could see no reason why
he should take the risk. As soon as he started thinking like that, he had
this compulsion to read the letter again. After reading it for the eighth or
ninth time he put it down and decided to wait for Alice to come home.
Arthur concentrated on wondering how Peter was getting on. Were those
boys whoever they were still attacking Peter and hitting him in the
privates, He reckoned that there had to be more than one of then and he
wondered exactly what they were doing to the poor lad to bruise his little
dick like that. Still the teachers were on the case now so it would all be
sorted soon enough.
That lunchtime saw Peter leaving the science lab, his clothes slightly
dishevelled and some sperm on his chin. He had never experienced anything
like Leatherhood had subjected him to that session. He made his way to the
boy's toilets, and after adjusting his clothes and washing his face, he went
into one of the cubicles and was violently sick. The flavour of semen was
still on his tongue as he threw up again.
His first lesson of the afternoon was art and the theme was crime and
punishment. He drew a very passably cowboy being hanged for rustling. Had
anybody looked carefully they may have recognised several likenesses in the
picture. The sheriff had a slight similarity to the headmaster, the
executioner could have been a little like Leatherhood. The man and the woman
in the crowd were not entirely unlike Arthur and Alice with the hapless
cowboy looking strikingly like an older version of Peter.
There was an embryonic idea starting to form in his mind, so new that
even Peter did not understand what he was thinking of or why. It was just
that he thought there may be a way out of all this where his dad would not
go to prison, and just might not hate him. As he walked down the corridor he
passed a mirror. He looked at himself. He had the same defeated look that he
had seen in Mark so recently and Andrew so long ago.
Peter was home fairly early that day as Ralph Leatherhood was going to
be at home giving private coaching to Mark. As he arrived home he went
straight upstairs to the toilet and was sick once more. That had been the
fourth time and only bile was coming out. It was the very idea of what he
had let Leatherhood do to him this time that made him feel sick. Every time
he remembered the flavour of the teachers semen he retched. Cleaning his
teeth was some help as the strong peppermint flavour of the toothpaste took
away the last vestiges of the previous liquid in his mouth.
He managed to go down stairs and sit at the table to do his homework.
Arthur, seeing the boy there went to him and stood behind, watching him
writing out various sentences in German, Absentmindedly he stroked Peter's
hair. Peters back straightened and stiffened, he froze. Arthur was
desperately sad at this reaction but said nothing. He just kissed the top of
Peters head and walked out of the room, silently but in tears.
Arthur remembered that day when the nine year old boy had thrown
himself at him, giving him one of the warmest cuddles Arthur had had in some
time. He thought back on how happy the ten year old was when he saw the new
bike he was given for his birthday. He recollected how this happy loving
boy, only 6 weeks ago was cuddling Arthur on the beach at Florida while they
were on holiday, snuggling up to him thanking him for taking him there.
Now he looked into the dining room and saw the empty shell of a boy,
empty of love, empty of happiness, empty of life. If Arthur could get hold
of whoever the boys were who were hurting Peter, he would kill them. He
would take them in his bare hands and throttle the life out of them.
He picked up Keith Hobbes' letter and read it again. Sitting down he
started to write a reply inviting the man to stay. A psychiatrist would be
very handy right now, struck off or not. Although still distraught at
Peter's reaction to the affection offered, Arthur had that warm glow again.
His eyes were, for no accountable reason, drawn to the photographs of Andrew
and Derek.
"Why is it I am getting the uncanny feeling that you two are here
telling me something? Why do I feel you are making me do something that
common sense is screaming out to me not to do? You are aren't you? You are
telling me to get Hobbes here for Peter. Well you had better tell your
mother as well `cos she will need one hell of a lot of convincing."
"Talking to yourself sweetheart? Hmmm thought so. I thought you were
losing the plot the other day, when you promised Peter a mobile phone!"
Arthur nearly jumped out of his skin. He hadn't heard the door open and
close when Alice came in. He handed her the letter from Hobbes.
"Yes I suppose I was talking to myself. Here, you had better read this.
I have read it I don't know how many times but before I tell you what I
think I want to hear your point of view."
Alice read the letter, and turned ashen at first then pink with anger.
She glared at Arthur but before she replied she took the letter and read it
again. A little calmer she looked to Arthur. She went to say something but
to Arthur's astonishment, she stopped and read the letter yet again. And
again.
"I take it you want to invite him to stay, I can tell that, otherwise
you would have come straight out with your objections. So you want to invite
a paedophile to stay with an eleven year old boy who is being bullied at the
moment and who has within the last eighteen months lost both parents. Yes
that seems totally reasonable. I can see nothing wrong with that at all. YOU
STUPID THOUGHTLESS PILLOCK ! ! ! What the hell can you be thinking of?"
"OK OK OK, before you say any more, go into the dining room and say
hello to Peter. When you come back, shut the door and we will discuss this
like adults."
Alice thought that calming down was a good idea, so she did as Arthur
suggested, and went in to see Peter. When she returned she was ashen faced.
"When do you think the psychiatrist would like to move in? I cant
believe Peter has gone downhill so fast. The boy is without any emotion
whatsoever. Oh Arthur, get that man here. Tell him that if he so much as
looks at Peter in the wrong way he will have me to deal with, but get him
here."
Arthur looked at Alice carefully. She seemed to relax a little after
saying yes to inviting Hobbes, no she had relaxed a lot.
"How do you feel about it now we have agreed to let the man stay here?
Do you have a sort of warm feeling?"
It was the first time Arthur had ever seen his wife really surprised,
almost frightened. They both looked at the photographs on the mantelpiece
then the both looked at each other. They both felt good about the decision.
They said nothing but they both knew. They both felt good about that too.
Arthur handed Alice the letter he had written, for her seal of
approval. She read it and nodded. He walked to the letter box and posted it
there and then. It was just in time for the last collection. It was Friday,
Keith Hobbes would be reading it by Saturday lunchtime. It was going to be a
nice day for Mr Hobbes.
Sitting in the rest area, Prisoner 759645 Hobbes was staring at an
envelope. To receive a reply was more that he had dare hope for, but here it
was. Twice he had tried to open it and twice he wondered if it was to be an
abusive ranting, like most of the rest of his mail, finishing off with a
blunt refusal or could it be possible that the Davis family were of a type
`above and beyond the call of duty'. He was frightened to open it.
He had only met Arthur once before, and that was when the man visited
him about Gerry's will and the bequest, conditional on his doing two
seminars on Teen Suicide. He had liked Arthur immediately he saw him, an
obviously kind man. That was before Arthur had known the crime or even the
nature of the crime that Hobbes was serving time for. Lots of people were
nice until they found out that he had paedophile tendencies. They tended not
to be nice after that.
He reached once more for the envelope. It had of course been opened by
the prison authorities. They always opened all the mail just to make sure
that there were no files or hack saws in it, oh and of course drugs. Rarely
was anything censored but the possibility was always there. He stared at the
envelope again. He opened it and started to read. His hand was starting to
tremble before he was half way down the page.
Dear Keith.
I find myself writing one of the hardest letters of my life.
Now I understand the crimes you committed and the trust you betrayed I
wonder how you can raise your face in public ever again. However a Judge has
said that you owe society a debt and has determined how long that debt to
be.
Your Release from Greythorne will be the end of that debt and
you will be considered to have paid the price for your crime. It is not my
place to make your life harder than it undoubtedly will be, nor to increase
the penalty a British Judge has set.
With thoughts of Andrew in our minds every day it is obvious
that we would look at your situation sympathetically, as any teenager's life
you save will be a joy forever. However as you know, we have a young boy
living with us now, so we also look at your request with some trepidation.
Although the risks are high, we have decided that so are the
rewards. We can and will control the risks simply by reminding you that
should you in any way interfere with young Peter, the penalties will be
dire. I am sure that I have no need to illustrate my point to an intelligent
man like yourself.
We consider it best if we say nothing to anybody about the
nature of your crimes, or even that you have been in prison, we leave it to
you as to what you say and to whom.
There are other issues that need to be discussed but they can
wait till you have settled in a little. I will collect you on Monday at
10:00 am.
Finally let me remind you that you will be staying at our
house on a probationary basis. It will be difficult for you as we would
like, no, we need, your expert view in the mental condition of our ward,
Peter. But should we deem your actions or looks inappropriate, you will be
homeless within half an hour. You will do well to bear that in mind at all
times.
Yours sincerely
Arthur.
Keith read re-read and re-read the letter again. There was no way he
was going to let the Davis's down, he was good at what his job had been and
he knew he would be able to help Peter, whilst not becoming in any other way
involved. He would, when the moment seemed right, remind Arthur that his
sexual interest in youngsters was purely as a voyeur. He had no sexual
interest in close contact. He loved to give a child affection but only
perhaps slightly more than the average person does.
There were reasons for this, and Keith decided that when the time was
right he would probably put Arthur and Alice fully in the picture. Not yet
though, he wanted to start afresh on his merits and with his criminal
history known about. He did not want to rely on a `sympathy vote' one which
he could have achieved with Arthur, and possibly Alice. There was something
they did not, and for the moment need not, know about Keith Hobbes, Child
Psychiatrist.
Arthur was convinced that he could get a smile from Peter today. After
much discussion about the rules that would be imposed, today they were to
get Peter a mobile phone. Alice had been doing some research on the subject
at her school and had found out which ones were thought `Kewl' and those
that were `Pants', an English expression which really annoyed her. Why
should `Pants' be so bad? She wondered. However she had a list of the top
five `Kewl to be seen with' mobiles. Those would be the options for Peter.
Anything to take his mind off the bullying, he seemed still to be subjected
to.
Dear Mr Leatherhood was doing his best to get to the bottom of Peter's
problems and had offered Peter a weekend away, to see if there was anything
else he could discover about the lad. Arthur and Alice were so grateful to
him. Not everybody would take such pains over the boy.
Alice agreed with Arthur that they would not say anything to Ralph
Leatherhood about the psychiatrist coming to stay, they both thought it
could be taken as an ungrateful action, and as they were the only two at
that time who knew his profession, best keep it that way.
The three of them stood in the shop looking at the top five mobile
phones. Arthur had just about recovered from the shock of finding out how
much they cost and realised that he was going to have to perform some `open
wallet surgery' It would be a small price to pay to get even the trace of a
smile on Peters lips. Peter looked at the most expensive one as the salesman
talked him through all its functions and its specifications. Peter had been
looking all round the shop before the salesman had approached them and had
studied each and every phone there. He looked at the salesman.
"Can it make and take phone calls?"
"What? Err well yes of course it can, but its also capable of holding
one hundred games in memory, downloading the latest ring tones plus taking,
sending and receiving photographs. Naturally it will hook up on the
internet, and can be used for all your e-mail functions"
"That one over there, can that make and take phone calls?"
"Ha.. That one, Yes it can but that's just about all it can do. Its
only got a few ring tones and I think it has about five games."
"I would like that one from over there please, Guys don't get beaten up
to get those stolen. All my mates have got those."
Whilst the shop assistant was licking his wounds seeing his commission
being reduced by nine tenths, Arthur once again was amazed at the `Old head
on young shoulders' attitude being displayed by Peter. The phone bought and
paid for was given to Peter who for the first time in a long while, smiled
as he thanked his mum and dad.
"Well as I have got away with that so lightly, I thing we can treat you
to something else. How would you like a PlayStation?"
"Thank you but I already have one, It was..."
Peter faltered and stopped speaking. He had been just about to say
something that he had kept secret from his new mum and dad for well over a
year now, something he was sure would be upsetting. Arthur thinking this may
lead to the bully gently asked,
"It was what Peter? Tell me, you know you can"
"It belonged to a friend of mine, he gave it to me"
"Who was that friend Peter? That was a very expensive thing for a
friend to give you"
"Andrew gave it to me dad, Your Andrew. He said it wasn't fair that I
had lost my daddy and that it was all his fault and that he was not going to
be using it any more and that I could have it and that..."
Arthur never got to hear the last `and that' Peter had buried his head
into Arthur's chest and sobbed that he was sorry he hadn't known what to do.
Alice drove back to the house, Peter was in the back seat with Arthur
still cuddling Peter up to him. When they arrived at the house, Peter took
Arthur up stairs and took the PlayStation down from the top shelf in the
wardrobe. The box still had the message of love addressed to Andrew from
Arthur and Alice. It still had the house Post Code etched on the back.
Arthur managed to hold back the tears and said to Peter,
"Andrew wanted you to have this so I want you to have it. You don't
need to hide it any more. You never need to hide anything at all from us.
You can always talk to us whatever it is you are worried about. We will
always be here for you"
Arthur cuddled Peter to him and kissed the top of his head. This time
Peter did not pull away from the embrace but let Arthur continue kissing his
head. He thought about the escape he was starting to think about more and
more often. He might just as well let anybody do anything they wanted to
till then, that is if anybody wanted to do anything to a dirty rude little
boy. It really didn't matter any more. He cuddled his dad even tighter.
The contents of Peter's school bag was becoming more and more full of
the strangest of items. Sweets were a natural thing to find, but a
Toothbrush and toothpaste less so. The considerable length of toilet paper
with a wash cloth were also unusual things to find, but nobody saw. Nobody
found. Not for the first time in that school, people looked but didn't see,
people listened but didn't hear. The signs were all there to be noticed, not
from one but two boys, both slowly walking down the same tragic path that
had been walked before.
There was however, a good reason why the teachers in that school were
blind to the situation, the matter was in hand. Although they had been told
about Peter being bullied, nobody had actually seen anything, but that
didn't matter anyway, Good old Ralph Leatherhood had stepped into the breach
as it were, he was taking personal responsibility for Peter's well being and
that was alright. The staff at the school knew that he was looking after
another lad as well. Another depressed little lad. Ralph was a hero. Ralph
could do no wrong. Hell, he was even planning on taking one of the two boys
away for a weekend and the other later. Was there no end to the help he
would give those boys?
Peter walked to school that Monday morning wondering if the man who was
coming to stay with them would want his body. He was starting to want people
who wanted to play with dirty rude boys. They would be the only ones who
wouldn't hate him. As he reached the assembly room, he saw Ralph Leatherhood
look at him and wink. It was not going to be a good lunch hour for him
today.
The `Man who was coming to stay' was waiting as Arthur drove up to
Greythorne's gates.
"Sorry, have you been waiting long? I was held up in some heavy
traffic. I think it may be a good idea if we have a chat before we head for
home. Sort out a few things. A couple of changes have happened since I wrote
to you."
"Sure thing Arthur. Firstly I have not been waiting long, well about 3
years for this moment. Sorry you got caught in traffic, its bloody kind of
you to come here anyway. Its more than I deserve, and lastly, What are the
changes?"
"Well after all the worry, Peter has suddenly really calmed down. He is
back to his old loving self. Not as lively as he used to be but I put that
down to his being a teenager, if eleven is considered a teenager."
Keith looked at Arthur and started to ask a series of questions that
suddenly had Arthur quivering in his shoes.
"You say Peter has calmed down. Has he gone back to how he was or has
he just become calm again?
"You say that his attitude has improved dramatically in the last day or
so. Is that like the improvement in attitude Andrew showed, shortly before
he took his own life?
"You demonstrated how he was so adult in picking the cheapest mobile
phone available, Did he suggest that he wouldn't need anything better?
`Cheap and cheerful would do'.
"When you suggested other treats did he stop you?
"Did he then become more emotional than you would normally expect"
BANG BANG BANG BANG. The questions thudded home like artillery fire.
Suddenly Arthur knew that Peter was in great danger. Not from any damned
bully but from himself. He saw the likenesses of Peter's behaviour to
Andrew's and could not imagine how on earth he had managed to miss all those
signs a second time.
"Arthur, I am not going to fuck about here. When we get to your house I
am going to cuddle your boy. I will, over the next few days, Kiss Cuddle
Caress and if need be dammit I will even fondle the kid. I will convince the
boy to love me if necessary, but I will stop him doing what he is thinking
of doing, and if I fail, I will go back to prison for life. You will have
all the evidence you will need that I seduced him. However Arthur, I will
not fail. I promise you that above all else, I will not fail."
The rest of the journey home was in almost total silence as Arthur
wondered just what it was he had invited to his home and Keith worked out a
plan to save Peter's life. They reached the house but before they got out of
the car Keith looked at Arthur and said,
"Things start now, not later, not after discussion with Alice but now.
You tell Alice as soon as you possibly can, about the conversation we have
had but I need your support, and it starts now"
"You have that Keith, I will talk to Alice immediately. Your job starts
as of this second. If I have misjudged you and you are using Andrew's
history to get to Peter, I will kill you with my own hands, but I don't
believe that is the case, so as of now, you have free reign to do as you see
fit. Please help the mite, he is so young and has had so much hurt already.
OH God please help him."
It was Monday however, and Arthur had forgotten that Peter was in the
safe hands of Ralph Leatherhood. The hour or so that this gave Arthur, Alice
and Keith to talk together was invaluable. Although at first having
reservations as to what Keith was saying, she only too soon recognised the
symptoms that he described to them both. It was his repeated assertion that
the fastest way to the bottom of Peters problems was to become emotionally
involved with the boy that still worried Alice.
Much sooner than Keith had planned, he found that it would be necessary
to demonstrate that he was not all people Imagined he was.
"I have to ask the pair of you something, I suppose you may call it a
favour I want to ask but it is important. There are several ways I could go
about this but I want to hit it with the greatest of impact. I would now
like to take all my clothes off in front of the two of you"
Both Arthur and Alice looked at each other then looked at the still
packed suitcase in the doorway. Under any other circumstances, Keith would
have been shown the door having it slammed behind him. However, there was
Peter's life at stake and that overruled all other considerations. Although
slightly embarrassed, Arthur nodded and the pair of them watched as Keith
stripped totally naked.
Keith was a well built fellow, not much fat on him at all. A good chest
showing that famous six pack that Arthur dreamed of having. Good legs built
for both speed and strength and dammit a good pair of biceps. Arthur was
just starting to feel a little jealous when he glanced at the area that he
and Alice had been avoiding glancing at. There was nothing there! Some scar
tissue yes, but no balls and only the remains of a badly damaged penis.
Keith was able to boast of only something not quite an inch long and showing
no helmet, just a hole that the surgeons had left him.
"Well Alice, Arthur. Now you know. I couldn't do anything with Peter
even if I wanted to. If Peter ever shows an interest in Motor Cycles, warn
him never to ride carrying carpentry tools between his legs. I lost all my
bits and pieces when I was seventeen, that's when I had the accident. A
nasty combination of a Honda 250, A bag of chisels and a Ford transit van ."
He presented Arthur and Alice with his up turned wrists. The scars were
feint but they glared to the pair of spectators sitting there. Then he
showed a bad scar to his neck. That was done by a fast tightening noose.
"I tried to kill myself three times after I lost my penis and
testicles, then I passed my exams and started to go into medicine. Well
medical training anyway. I took up psychiatric medicine and it was but a
short jump to go to child psychiatry. Now I want to teach youngsters that
what ever the problems they face, things are never as bad as they seem.
"That's why I believe I can help youngsters, that's why I believe I can
help Peter and that's why I believe I can help you."
As he dressed Arthur and Alice looked at each other. Here was a man who
had literally bared everything to them. He wanted to help Peter. They had to
let him.
"We will not interfere with what ever you think you need to do. We do
ask that you keep us informed, if possible, of any actions or methods you
intend to use, just so we are not taken completely by surprise."
The timing was faultless. Keith had just dressed and adjusted his
clothes when in through the door walked Peter, after having had his two hour
tuition from Mr Leatherhood.
"Come in here Peter. This Is Keith Hobbes, he will be staying here for
a few weeks. He knew your father, they were friends"
Peter shook hands with Keith and normal pleasantries were exchanged.
The smile Peter wore was as fake as it was friendly. He had tried, bless
him, but the taste of semen lingering on his tongue was too strong and his
bottom was more sore than he could ever remember it being. Had he lifted his
jersey, the stains that were left on his shirt, where Ralph had used it to
wipe his own penis after anal sex, would have shown up badly. Peter could
still taste his own shit from sucking it off Leatherhood's penis. The boy
was a wreck and Keith could see it, though not why.
Tuesday saw no activity on Peter's side but plenty on Keith's. While
Arthur was writing his book Keith was putting the finishing touches to his
presentation on Teen Suicide. The local church hall was booked for the
Friday evening in ten days time. The lecture would be well practiced by
then.
When Peter came home on that Tuesday afternoon, he seemed to everybody
to be in slightly better spirits than he had been the day before. Arthur put
this down to a little shyness on Peter's part. Keith made no such
assumption. Keith's trained eye showed him that it was just that today had
been a good day. No bullying had taken place. Keith had recognised the signs
of abuse as had Arthur, but Keith was not so sure that bullying was the
answer, or at least not physical bullying.
And so the week went on. Wednesday was bad and Keith heard Peter being
repeatedly sick and frequently brushing his teeth. Most boys of that age
have to be told to clean their teeth, Peter was almost addicted to
toothpaste. Whilst still too early to come to conclusions, Keith thought he
was getting an idea.
Leatherhood was helping another boy, an older one than Peter. There was
a good chance that this older boy was a bully. Times and dates tied up. Soon
Ralph Leatherhood would be taking Peter away for a weekend, the other boy
would go another weekend. Keith would be able to see how Peter was when this
other boy was taken out of the equation.
Thursday was bad. Peter was very withdrawn and, on his return from
school, went straight upstairs to the shower, and was in there for a very
long time. This obsession with cleaning himself up all the time spelled out
sexual abuse to Keith in letters ten feet high. That's when he knew he had
to be careful.
With his criminal record he knew that if anybody else suspected that
sort of abuse, he would be investigated right away, and how ever innocent he
was, nobody would be looking for anybody else. That was the price he would
pay for his previous crimes.
Yet Sexual abuse it was, and it was sexual abuse that was taking this
poor child nearer and nearer to the act of suicide. Somehow he needed to
take Peter away from this boy. All he had actually achieved so far was
getting from Peter this boys name. Mark Reynolds.
Keith's presence in the house had given Peter something else to think
about from time to time and just that small amount of preoccupation had
bought Keith some time. There would be more respite. The evening that Keith
was to give his lecture was the weekend that Peter would be taken away from
Reynolds by Leatherhood. If either the boy or his parents attended the
lecture, Keith would be able to assess them and maybe even have a subtle
word in Marks ear.
The weekend was good and Keith was able to get quite close to Peter,
chatting about this and that. Peter was happier then than he had been for
ages. Alice and Arthur were delighted. Keith was terrified.
Had Peter made his decision? To ask would plant the idea if that idea
was not already there. Thank God for all those years of training. Peter was
to be monitored constantly for a while, and Keith was doing the monitoring.
He warned Arthur that he was about to try to get closer to Peter. Much
closer. What he did not tell Arthur was that he was about to play a
dangerous game, and he was very unsure of the outcome. Arthur and Alice
reluctantly agreed.
It was Sunday evening when after dinner Peter announced that ha was
going to have a bath. Keith chuckled, winked at Peter and asked,
"Would you like someone to scrub your back?"
Peter seemed unaware that the room had gone totally silent as he
replied,
"Yes please, If that is what you would like to do, I would like that"
Peter left the room and went upstairs. Keith looked at Arthur and Alice
and unintentionally uttered the immortal words,
"Trust me. I'm a doctor"
In no way and under no circumstances was this a time for laughter, but
the three of them fell about. Tears of laughter were running down Alice's
face while Arthur was holding his ribs they hurt so. Keith was leaning up
against the door frame quire unable to move. It was all a much needed
release of tension. That's when it occurred to Keith, they did trust him.
They both trusted him totally. He went to scrub a little boy's back.
Upstairs Peter was waiting for Keith. He stood in the bathroom, the
bath now full of hot water. Only when Keith was in the bathroom too and
Peter was sure he had Keith's full attention did he start to take off all
his clothes. The strip had been intended to excite and when completed Peter
stood naked in front of Keith flaccid but awaiting the sexual assault. It
never happened. Keith lifted the boy into the bath lathered him up and
thoroughly washed him down. He was after all, a doctor!
Peter had surrendered himself to Keith but had not been taken advantage
of. Peter was confused. He wanted to ask questions but didn't know what
questions to ask. Keith, now back on firmer ground knew exactly what Peter
was going through but would not pre-empt any question. He selected a soft
towel and dried the boy. He would wait for Peter to ask. He knew that this
may take days but as long as those questions were there Peter was safe. He
would do nothing until he had sorted out the answers in his own mind.
There was something else that Peter didn't know. A trained doctor knows
what a sexually used body looks like. After Keith had cleaned every inch of
Peters body, even to the extent of getting the boy to say "AHHH" to check
the oral hygiene, Keith knew every detail of what the lad had endured. The
enlarged sphincter, the bruised penis and testicles not to mention the fine
lacerations at the back of the throat, they all told Keith the story, there
were some small bruises just behind his ears too where his head had been
held.
Even his display of undressing had told Keith another truth. Had the
boy done that in the hope of sexual gratification, he would have had an
erection in anticipation of the pleasure to follow. Only a boy doing that in
the expectation of pain to follow, would look coldly at you and remain
flaccid.
It was a standard Text book response from an abused boy who had been
asked if he wanted help in the bath by a relative stranger. It was time to
stand back and take stock of what he had found out so far.
Keith had started to write a journal of Peter's behaviour, he updated
it with a description of Peter's undressing for him and his assessment of
the marks he had found. The journal read as follows:-
"Peter has over the last few weeks been systematically raped by one or,
as I suspect, more people. He has been forced to give oral sex to a person
of adult proportions, I suspect one of the senior pupils in the school. The
name we keep hearing is Mark Reynolds. I think he is too young and
physically too small to be committing these attacks on his own but I am
certain he is involved. I have been informed that the victim has been
bullied at school and I suspect that was the start of the abuse.
"We must say nothing to anyone for the moment, this must be solved very
discretely to avoid Peter becoming more mentally scarred than he is already.
I reluctantly have to admit that he will be better off having a couple more
days of the abuse but our stopping it in the right manner, than he would be
if we charged in. The fewer in his school who get to hear of this the better
for Peter. He is not as close to taking drastic action as he was. My giving
him a bath has done that much good at least. It has confused him and people
who take their own lives do not do it when they are confused."
After putting the journal away in a safe place, he went down stairs.
Peter in his dressing gown was coming back up, having said goodnight to
Arthur and Alice. They said goodnight at the top of the stairs and Keith
kissed the top of Peters head in the same way his father did. Peter paused
for a moment then went to his room, still wondering if this visitor to the
house wanted to play with a rude dirty boy.
"Well did you find anything out? Did Peter open up and tell you
anything?"
It was not really surprising that Alice was on edge wondering if there
had been a breakthrough.
"Peter said almost nothing to me, and what he did say told me even
less"
"Oh come on Keith, apart from giving him a bath what did you do? What
did you learn?"
"I learned that I need to bring in a practicing Child Psychiatrist. I
will discuss any theories I develop with him. I am struck off, remember, I
cannot go very much further without the threat of going back into prison.
Peter is in need of help and whilst I can support the measures a mental
health doctor recommends, I cannot instigate them.
"It is in everybody's interests that we do this in the correct way. I
shall contact somebody tomorrow. There are people I know professionally who,
amazingly, are still talking to me"
"Ok, Keith. Alice and I will play it your way, you know best, but
please confirm something for us. Is Peter in any danger?"
"He was, but not so now. I have to ask you to trust me. I am trying to
sort this while causing as little trauma to Peter as possible. To wade in
now mob handed will upset him terribly, upset him in a way that could scar
him mentally for a very long time. Treat the cause, thereby removing the
source of Peter's problems and he will shrug off the whole incident in a
much shorter time. That's why I want to call in one of my friends."
"So we have not been a couple of paranoid parents overreacting to
normal boy's problems then, I was a bit worried about that."
Keith breathed out a long sigh. It was what he used to hear so often.
The parents saying that, had they known what was going on they would have
acted sooner.
"No you did not over react. He has all the tell tale signs of a
distressed little boy who is out of his depth. All we, my friend and I, will
do is to guide him back to a situation he can handle."
Once again Arthur was upset and confused, He couldn't understand why
Peter had been keeping all these problems to himself. Arthur had on so many
occasions told Peter that he was always there to support the lad, why did he
have to keep the big secret?
"I don't know yet for sure Arthur, but I will find out and quite soon.
There is usually a very good reason why a boy will not confide in his
parents for this type of thing, A good reason in the boys mind that is. When
I know and we have started the healing process, we will tell you, I promise
that."
Although Keith had made that promise, he was already pretty sure that
he knew the answer. Generally speaking, secrets like that were held back by
the victim because they had been convinced that to tell anybody would have
dire consequences. Fear was the major weapon in the abusers arsenal, and
very effective it was too. It was that fear that Keith was hoping to
confront head on, with the perpetrator, and draw its teeth. That would
normally have the abuser on the run, and the victim safe and able to start
rebuilding their lives. This was the proposed route Keith was hoping to
take.
Arthur was not really aware of just how anxious Keith was to see the
return of Peter from school. He was desperate to find out how the boy had
stood up to the day. The answer to his worries walked through the doorway at
the normal time of half past four. Peter had come in to get his books and
the things he needed for his Tutor session with Ralph. Peter was back down,
the resigned look, back on his face. Somehow he was different though. He
seemed to be oddly content. It was a very worried Keith who asked him about
his day
Peter was a little surprised at the friendly barrage of questions he
was being asked. The `good day at school' question was normal enough but
when the questions got on to `was your friend Mark there?' it threw him. Yes
he was, Yes Peter saw him, and so on and so forth.
Peter was alarmed at this line of questioning. He was frightened that
somehow people were onto Mark and were trying to find out if he was a dirty
nasty boy. Peter had promised that he would keep Marks secret, so he said
nothing and clammed up when the questions started to lead that way. This was
interpreted as `Peter not wanting to talk about his abuser' so still Ralph
Leatherhood was held out to be the `Saint' in all these troubles.
Five minutes later and Peter was walking down the road to Ralph's
house. In the bag he was carrying were his books, some spare clothes and a
large vibrator that Ralph had given him. He strolled to a home where he knew
that pain would be his only companion. Ralph waited at the gate, for what he
had started to call his `dirty little fuck hole' to arrive. He had thought
up some new games for them to play. It was going to be another nice evening
for Ralph.
There was something else in his bag. Something that only Peter knew
about. It was a small bottle holding fifty Paracetamol tablets. Ten would
have been a lethal dose for a child his age, but he was going to be certain.
No mistakes, he would nod off to sleep and that would be the end of his
pain. He had decided that he would take them with him on the weekend and do
it away from home. He was trying to make the most of his last few days with
his Mum, Dad and the new person, Keith. He had arranged with Mark that they
would take the pills on the same evening. Friday.
Friday evening was the evening when Marks parents would be out at some
speech thing that Keith was doing at the local church hall. Mark would take
them about an hour before his parents were due to return, he reckoned about
nine o'clock. Peter would take his as near to that time as Ralph's
attentions would allow. The pact had been settled. They had agreed to meet
in the next world if there was such a thing. The boys hugged each other as
they gently sobbed in fear.
The rest of the week was a time of mixed feelings. Peter had shown a
calmness and improvement in attitude that seemed to be well received by
Arthur and Alice. There little boy was getting back to normal. Peters
feelings were no longer concerned about how long he could keep the secret,
he knew exactly how long he needed to keep it. The only worry he had was
that of physical pain as inflicted by Ralph, and even that was becoming less
intense.
Keith was very concerned. He was almost certain that, not only had
Peter made his decision but had also worked out a date. Keith still had some
tricks left up his sleeve, he wasn't beaten yet.
He had hacked into Peter's computer and found his diary, It had turned
out to be a gold mine of information. Although not naming the abusers, it
did show the planned weekend with Ralph and a few dates after. The
indication was that he was looking forwards to the weekend, and had been for
some time. Peters chosen date therefore had to be after he returned from
this break.
Once again he was letting previously formed ideas shape his opinions.
His time in Prison had dulled the edge of his thinking. Keith was certain
that one short chat with this Mark Reynolds boy, and Peters abuse would be
over. Then the other issues could be put in perspective, and the depression
would start to fade, quite rapidly, and the danger would pass. Keith had
noticed that there were no entries in the diary for any date after the
weekend after next.
Time enough to do all that was required. He wrote to one of his
Psychiatrist friends and, with the Davis' blessing, invited him to stay from
this Saturday. He explained a lot in the letter, and hoped the man would be
prompt.
Friday afternoon, after school, Peter was packed and ready, waiting to
be picked up by Leatherhood. He had packed a few clothes, and a lot of
equipment that Ralph had given him. The Paracetamol and a letter to Arthur
and Alice were also safely tucked away.
The affection he showed to his parents as he left was put down to this
being the first time he had really been away from them since he had moved
in. Keith had not witnessed it or he would have stopped the trip there and
then. The parents waved their boy off, happy that he was going to have a
rest from the bullying. There was a piece of paper with the hotel address on
it for emergencies. It showed the wrong hotel in the wrong town.
The Westmount hotel in Seamouth was a seedy joint. It was a place that
Ralph had found on the internet. He had been in a chatroom when the owner
had told him about it. The chatroom was known in the circles that Ralph
moved in. Young boys or sometimes girls were often the guests of people who
stayed there. Rooms had been set aside for such visits. It was nearly twenty
miles from the Cliffhead Hotel, a three star place who's details Ralph had
left with Arthur, and where no booking had been made. They had never even
heard of Ralph Leatherhood. The staff in Westmount knew Ralph well. He was a
regular there.
Doug Rathbone, Owner and proprietor of Westmount licked his lips as he
saw Ralph and Peter check in, a formality that would be destroyed if all
went smoothly. He took the two of them to their room. Peter saw the double
bed and resigned himself to it being the last bed he would ever sleep on.
Doug whispered something to Ralph and they left the room, locking the door
behind them. It was seven o'clock. Peter was calm. Five minutes later, Ralph
unlocked the door and told Peter to follow him. He had some new toys to play
with and wanted Peter to have a look. They went to the cellar and opened the
door. Peter nearly feinted with what he saw, plus there were two other men
in there.
The Church hall was busier than it had been for some time. Andrew's and
Derek's memories were still alive in that town and most of the parents in
the town had come to listen. There was a large poster on the back wall of
the stage with the three words `Listen, Hear and Understand'. At seven
thirty Keith Hobbes stood up.
"Suicide is not chosen, it happens when the pain exceeds resources for
coping with it, and that's all it's about. The suicidal person is not a bad
person, or crazy, or weak, or flawed, because he, or she, feels suicidal. It
doesn't even mean that they really want to die.
"It only means that they have more pain than you can cope with right
now. If I start piling weights on your shoulders, you will eventually
collapse if I add enough weights... no matter how much you want to remain
standing."
"That's why it's useless for someone to tell the person to "cheer up!",
of course they would, if they could. and they cant accept it if someone
tells them, "that's not enough to be suicidal about", it is for them."
"There are many kinds of pain that may lead to suicide. Whether or not
the pain is bearable may differ from person to person. What might be
bearable to you, may not be bearable to someone else. The point at which the
pain becomes unbearable depends on what kinds of coping resources you have.
Individuals vary greatly in their capacity to withstand pain."
"When pain exceeds pain coping resources, suicidal feelings are the
result. Suicide is neither wrong nor right; it is not a defect of character;
it is morally neutral. It is simply an imbalance of pain versus coping
resources."
"Any person can survive suicidal feelings if they do one of two things.
Either find a way to reduce the pain, or, find a way to increase their
coping resources. Both are possible."
"I look at your faces and see the message `Oh its easy for you to say,
you're a psychiatrist'. Well you can do it too. But you have to find the
victims real motive, and it may not be the obvious one. I give you an
example. A shoplifter is contemplating suicide, Why? Is it because he will
have to go to court. Probably not. Is it because he thinks people will think
he could not afford the stolen items? That's unlikely too. The most likely
reason is the shame he thinks those who love him will feel."
"He may think it better to kill himself than put them through the
shame. This is of course rarely if ever true. Just supporting him will help"
"A man was taking money from his friends for a lottery syndicate. He
was spending the money knowing that the odds of their numbers coming up were
fourteen million to one against. He was wrong, those numbers did come up. He
killed himself rather than face his friends. Whilst they admitted that they
would have been angry with him, they would have forgiven him in time, and
not that long either. They were far more upset at the death of their friend,
than the money they didn't win If only they could have told him that."
"I must, before I finish and we start the question and answer session,
remind you of all of the `Signs' that you have heard about so often.
Remember that early warning signs are also the classic signs of clinical
depression. Difficulties in school, depression and mood swings, either sad
or angry, drug or alcohol abuse, sleep disturbance, eating disturbances,
disinterest in usual activities. Those are the primary ones to look for, but
add to them, restlessness and agitation, feelings of failure, hopelessness
and helplessness, pessimism, moodiness, more often or for longer periods."
"The victim will be overly self critical, and may well have persistent
physical complaints, difficulty on concentration, and a preoccupation with
death."
"Now we come to the late warning signs, which require immediate
invention in order to prevent the attempt. Some are obvious such as talk of
suicide, neglect of appearance, dropping out of activities, self isolation,
feeling life is meaningless, or giving away favourite personal possessions.
"Probably the most dangerous and meaningful, and most ignored or
unnoticed, is a sudden unexplained improvement in attitude and behaviour
because it signals that the person has come to a decision to end the pain
finally."
"The first three months after a period of deep depression is the most
likely time that someone will attempt to end their life. They make take the
extra time, once the decision is made, to prepare the scene so to speak. In
other words, determine how, when, where to do the deed, set their life in
order by writing wills or notes of explanation; and to mentally prepare
themselves to carry out the deed."
"Some verbal cues here. The direct ones, 'I wish I were dead', 'I'm
going to end it all', 'I've decided to kill myself', 'I believe in suicide'
and 'If such and such doesn't happen, I'll kill myself'. Then you have the
indirect ones. 'You will be better off without me', 'I'm so tired of it
all', 'What's the point of living?' and ' Here, take this. I won't be
needing it anymore'. There are of course many others but they are all based
on the same thing. 'Pretty soon you won't have to worry about me'. is
another one to listen out for"
"Now I will be doing three types of Question and Answer sessions,
Firstly we will stop and have refreshments, I will mingle and you may ask me
what you wish. After that I will come back on to this stage and take
questions from the floor and lastly there is a box at the back of the room,
put a contact name in that and I will get back to you. Meanwhile, I need a
cup of tea. Its eight thirty, lets say half an hour break"
Keith left the stage to quite a touching display of applause. There was
a couple looking worried and not waiting for him to mingle, asked if they
may speak to him. He was happy to take their question as they collected
their teas.
"Thank you sir. My name is Alan. My wife and I are very worried about
our boy. He is fourteen and for some months we have been worried. All the
symptoms you talk of are there, those signs. Hell I don't know, I thought I
had worked out what was going on but suddenly the Davis boy proved me wrong,
I nearly messed up big time there!"
"The Davis boy? Do you mean Peter Davis, the son of the people I am
staying with? What was his part in all this?"
"Yes that's the lad, young Peter Davis. I had been under the impression
that my boy was being beaten up or something. Then I read about the signs to
look for to show if your kid is being sexually abused, Mark fitted right in
with them. I reckoned I had worked out who was doing it, when suddenly Peter
messes up my theory. Now I am back to square one"
"Just how did Peter mess up your theory then? What did he do?"
"Well Peter's form teacher is Ralph Leatherhood. I figured he was the
sicko, but then I heard that Peter's parents were sending Peter to him for
tutoring, and that they even let the boy stay weekends away with the man, I
realised that it could not be him. Anyway, Mark is getting worse and tonight
he was almost in tears when we left to come here. We nearly didn't come"
"Who is with him now?"
"Well nobody, He is fourteen years old you know"
"Right. Go home. Go home now. Don't even finish that tea. Tell me your
address and I will be there as soon as I have done here. I am not joking, GO
NOW"
Alan gave Keith a business card with his home address on it, as the two
of them scurried to the door and their car. Seconds later saw them driving
off. Keith looked at the card and muttered `Oh shit' to himself. The name on
the card was as he feared. Alan Reynolds. Keith went to the private changing
rooms and phoned for the police and ambulance to ask them to attend a
probable suicide attempt. It was 5 minutes to nine.
"YOU STUPID STUPID STUPID BOY. How many have you taken? MARK TELL ME,
how many."
Not finding Mark down stairs Alan had rushed up the stairs and into
Marks bedroom, only to find the boy with tears in his eyes and a hand full
of tablets. Alan knocked them out of his hand and sent them flying. He
forced open Marks mouth which looked empty, and stuck his finger down the
boys throat, causing him to vomit. By this time Marks mother had come into
the room.
She gathered up the pills and looked at the bottle, there were twenty
eight in it, and it had held fifty. She quickly picked up eighteen more that
had been knocked to the floor. That meant that there were four more out. She
could see two on the carpet. Two missing. Well if he had taken them, two was
not that dangerous. She stroked his hair as he broke down completely wailing
that he was so sorry and he didn't mean to do it. The crying only
intensified as the police and ambulance arrived.
"I am terribly sorry ladies and gentlemen, but I am afraid that
something very important has been relayed to me and I must leave
immediately. If you have any questions at all, leave them in the box. I will
answer all of them very soon, but as I say, I must go to an incident now"
Keith was putting his mobile phone away as he made this announcement.
He had received a call from the local police informing him that, thanks to
his reading the situation, a young lad would live to see another day.
However they would be grateful if he would attend the address as he was the
nearest person qualified to do so and they needed his help. Oh and yes, they
did know who he was.
He arrived at the Reynolds house only five minutes later. It was nine
fifteen. Mark was still crying and had said nothing. Keith had a terrible
thought. He knew now that Leatherhood was the abuser and that the two boys
were sometimes being tutored together, it was logical that the two were
abused together occasionally. Given the fact that Keith was expecting a
suicide attempt from Peter, and that Mark had made his attempt, Keith had to
wonder if the boys had a suicide pact? This was no time to pussyfoot about.
"You and Peter, did you agree to do this together? Were you going to do
this at the same time?"
All mark could do was to nod yes. He knew he was failing his friend but
he couldn't help himself any more.
The police were still at the house. Now sexual child abuse was
involved, a senior officer had arrived. He had heard what Mark had said but
had not as yet been made aware of the full situation. Keith decided to give
the sergeant a shortened version of the story.
"Ok, the position is this. There is a teacher from the local school
here who is a child molester. He has with him an eleven year old boy, and
they have gone away together. They are somewhere around the Reyport area on
the south coast.
"The boy is involved in a suicide pact and if he has stuck to the
schedule, he will have taken an unspecified number of Paracetamol tablets.
He was due to take them at nine o'clock this evening. That was twenty
minutes ago. He is unlikely to have taken them early so knowing what I do
about that drug, you still have about twenty minutes before liver damage
results and a further twenty minutes before death. He may have been delayed
so there could yet be more time."
"I have the address of the hotel the man claims to have booked into but
I have little doubt that it is false. Any questions?... No?... good. You do
what you can there, I will start work on this little laddie here."
Credit where it's due, the police force swung into action. Using the
Reynolds' phone, all the information that the local branch had was passed
down to the police station at Reyport. Only a short while was spent
contacting the Cliffhead Hotel. As was suspected, the booking was not there.
It was not time wasted though, The manager of the Cliffhead had heard
rumours about a very low grade place, less than thirty miles from them. He
couldn't remember what the hotel was called but thought it was in Seaford.
It had a reputation!
The Seaford police were contacted and they were informed as to what was
going on. They knew the place and had raided it twice but never caught
anyone doing anything unlawful. It did indeed have a reputation. The entire
uniform branch and the C.I.D. all jumped into the Range Rover and sped off
to the Hotel.
"What do you think you are doing? Do you have a warrant for this? Where
do you think you are going?"
Doug Rathbone was furious. Normally if there was going to be a raid, it
was planned in advance and he would hear about it. He had friends in low
places. This time without warning he had six policemen, five uniforms and
one C.I.D, crawling all over the place. One was reading the register.
"Guys, checkout Room 27. Mr. Parker and son, that's the only Man + Boy
room booked."
Geoff Hall had been on the force for over twenty years. He was a
policeman of the old school and proud of his uniform. He thought he had seen
most of the nasties that life can throw at you, but in no way was he ready
for the sight that was to behold him.
The door of room 27 was locked, but British bobbies are famously
blessed with big feet, just right to `accidentally' fall heavily against a
door, rendering its lock ineffective. Geoff had big feet, and it was a small
door. No contest.
He and three other officers rushed into the darkened room. It was ten
o'clock. On the bed was a naked boy, he was not moving. He was lying still,
in the foetal position. The window was open and nobody else was there.
Geoff hated to see kids getting hurt, and he had been told of the
timescale. It was the hour that, if the lad had taken the pills at nine,
would see the boy dead. He went to feel the boys neck for a pulse, the boy
very slightly flinched. Geoff couldn't see clearly in that light so he shone
his torch on the boy, he was confused. Geoff almost screamed at his
colleagues.
"Get some bloody light in here now"
A new bulb was taken from the hallway and put in the socket in this
room. Yes now they could see. Unlike as first thought, he was not
completely naked, there was a leather collar and cuffs, all leather bondage
gear. the boy was trussed up like a chicken and completely unable to move.
Further he was gagged with a vicious looking device and blindfolded.
Removing the gag allowed the child to sob freely. Geoff was stroking
the lads hair as he undid the blindfold. Peter managed to speak.
"There's something in my bottom, and it hurts"
Peter sobbed. He saw that the men in the room were policemen. Geoff saw
the end of the butt plug and carefully removed it. The amount of semen that
flowed out of Peter's bowels came as a shock to everybody. Geoff estimated
that it had to take more than six men to put that much in. the injuries to
Peters anal gland pretty much confirmed it. Unknown to the other officers in
the room, Geoff was homosexual. He knew a lot about butt plugs and this was
one designed for an adult, A large adult at that. He knew it had been
inserted to hurt.
"How long have you been tied up like that Peter?"
"Mr Leatherhood put those things on me at half past seven. I have been
tied up since then"
"Hmmm, Dear old Mr Leatherhood has a lot to answer for, but I have
things to tell you. Firstly and most importantly, your friend Mark is
alright. He tried to do a very silly thing but he was a lucky boy, His Daddy
found him, and stopped him. Now a little birdy has told us that you might
have thought of doing something the same. It was the same little birdy that
told us about Mark, and he was right then. Was he right this time too? Did
you take any pills at all?"
"No sir, I was tied up, I couldn't. Does that mean that my daddy and
Marks daddy are going to go to prison?"
"Now why do you think that either of your daddies will be going to
prison?"
Within that hotel room and in Marks bedroom the same conversation was
coming out from two very tearful boys. The explained about the age of
criminal responsibility as it had been explained to them by Leatherhood.
By now an ambulance had arrived at the hotel to take Peter to the
hospital to be checked over. Geoff, Peters self appointed hero and rescuer,
went with him while he explained to the boy that he was safe and so were his
daddy and mummy. No way would they hate him for what he had done. By now
Peter was sitting on Geoff's lap, his head resting on the policeman's chest,
What was falling out of his bottom and onto Geoff's trousers was something
Geoff didn't want to dwell on.
In Marks bedroom however it was Alan Reynolds who was crying now,
realising that his boy had been doing all those things to stop Leatherhood
from sending his daddy to prison.
Now everybody was safe it was time for Keith to go home and tell Arthur
and Alice the results of the nights work. They were in the living room
waiting for him. They knew that something had happened but were unaware of
Peters involvement.
Their reaction was totally predictable. They freaked as detail after
detail was revealed, they could not believe that they could have missed so
much. They wondered about their fitness to bring up children. It took Keith
a long time to persuade them that the reason so much went un-noticed was
that one does not think the unthinkable. It becomes invisible. That's how
these things happen.
There was another call on Keith's mobile from the Seamouth Police
station informing him that although a warrant was out for Leatherhood's
arrest, it would not be necessary. The teacher was found hanging by the neck
from the ironwork under Seamouth's pier. Somehow his loss would not be
mourned. The landlord of the hotel was also in custody, as were five or six
people who regularly drank in the hotel bar, all under suspicion of unlawful
sex with a minor.
Arthur contacted the hospital to find out when Peter could be
discharged, he was informed that the lad was just in for observation and
could leave the following morning. Arthur and Alice set off right then,
leaving Keith to look after the house.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Epilogue.
It was after nearly a year of counselling that Peter finally started
not blaming himself for all that had happened, after which his grades
started to get back on track. He started to study for his exams and
progressed wonderfully. He was a credit to his school and family, finally
putting his own history behind him.
There was one side effect from all that had happened and they do say
that it is an ill wind that blows no good. The responsibility of all that
had happened, trying to keep confidences and such like caused Peter to adopt
a very much more mature outlook on life, and although he had taken up karate
for self defence He was a very passive boy, slow to anger and fast to
forgive. His karate was, like most things he did, above any grade that
should have been expected, he was soon helping the teacher, and training the
junior league.
It was three months before his sixteenth birthday when he was walking
out of school when he heard a rumpus going on. Just outside the school gate
there was a fight that had broken out. Peter hated fights and would have
ignored it, but this one was different.
Something was badly wrong. Peter could see what very quickly. There
were seven boys in the fight, but it was six against one, and the one was
losing out badly. He was also the smallest. Peter waded in, his Karate and
judo training meant he was flicking these boys to one side, not hurting them
badly but enough to show he meant business. They recognised him and ran, not
wanting to take on somebody of his calibre.
A small bloodied mound was crying on the grass. Peter knelt down beside
him. He tried to help him to his feet, but the child was a little unsteady
so Peter took him and sat him on a low wall. He sat next to the boy, and as
best as he could he cleaned the little fellow up.
The boy was tiny, easily the smallest in the school and he was still
sniffing as the last of the tears subsided. Peter hugged the small creature
to him, calming him and telling him that it was all over, those boys
wouldn't touch him again.
As he pulled the lad gently to him the boy surprised him by climbing on
his lap. Although it had taken Peter off guard for a moment, he liked the
experience and felt a sort of honour that this young one trusted him that
much. He was amazed at how light the boy was.
"So what's your name and what was all the fight about"
"My name is Simon, and those boys beat me up because they hate me"
"I can't believe that. Why do they hate you? You're too small to hate,
there isn't enough of you. All the hate bits would fall off"
Simon giggled at that. These were the kindest words he had heard for a
very long time.
"You're funny"
"Hmm well maybe. Tell me why you think the boys hate you then"
"Cos my sister told them that I don't like girls I like boys better,
I'm a thingy, I cant remember what it was, A homey or something. I suppose
you hate me now unless you are a homey too"
Peter looked at the little bundle sitting on his lap and wondered how
on earth any one could hate him. Peter cuddled him a little closer.
"No I'm not a Homey, but I don't hate you at all. I know this is going
to sound funny but the best friend I never actually met was a homey, and I
love him"
He took the boys hand and walked him home.
---------------------------------------------------------------
That was `A Victim of Learning' A short story by Angela Mynah
angela_mynah@msn.com
All comments welcome, even flamers. Its being ignored I can't stand.
I think that this is the end of the trilogy, unless you think otherwise !