Forever Haunted

~ C H A P T E R 3 ~

I was now at the police station giving my statement to them and telling them what I went through. People's eyes widened as they heard my story. I didn't leave one detail out. Before long, Officer King's son came to meet and talk with me. His name was Ben. He was my age and was really tall. I tried to learn more about him so I wouldn't have to use my sore throat too much. We talked back and forth for about 2 and a half hours.

Getting around the station in the wheelchair was difficult, but the doctor's said it was necessary if my legs were going to heal. Ben helped me a lot with getting around, and we got to know each other pretty well.

Four times a week I had to go talk to a therapist. Apparently being constantly tortured while you're 16 can cause permanent mental issues. The doctor I go to see is named Julie. When I first met her, she said she was Doctor Blake but I should call her Julie.

I honestly thought I was going to hate going to the therapist so much, but I really like it! She's really good at helping me work through some of the fears or habits I've developed over the past few years. The hardest one to get over was my fear of men. It took two weeks, but we eventually got it.

Now it's been 4 weeks since the fire-tub incident. I still refuse to go near anything hot, and I don't think I'll ever take a bath again, but this is still a paradise.

"Dylan Michelle please come to Doctor Blake's office." I hear over the speakers. That's something else I had to work on. Being called my real name. I hadn't been called by the name Dylan in over half a decade, and it took me forever to get used to the idea. I couldn't remember the last time I had been treated like an equal, so the kindness of everyone here still surprised me.

Ben came into the room. He grabbed the back of my wheelchair and started running me down the hall.

"Why are you going so fast?" I laughed.

"Because I want to." He replied happily.

We raced down the hall with Ben pushing me for quite some time. It was some of the most fun I had ever had. We eventually got stopped by Officer King.

"Cut it out you two!" he exclaimed.

"Sorry, dad." Ben muttered.

"I'm sorry officer." I said right after Ben.

Ben pushed me the rest of the way to Julie's office, and closed the door behind me.

"Hi!" Julie said. "How've you been?"

"Pretty good I guess. How about you?"

"Wonderfully." She paused. "So, obviously we didn't have a scheduled meeting today, so you probably don't know anything about what I need to talk to you about." I shook my head. "Good. Anyway, we thought it was important that you know. Sean Ferrel is dead."
"Sean who?"

"Ferrel. That was the name of your kidnapper. We found his body just last night."
"How'd he die?" I asked. I secretly hoped it was excruciating and painful, but I didn't mention this.

"We don't know. We just got a call about a dead body, showed up, and it was there." Julie replied. I didn't speak. After a while she said, "Are you alright."

I waited... "I don't know." I said.

"What's wrong?" Julie asked.

"I don't know"

"Are you sad?"

I thought about it to myself. Was I sad? The man I hated most in the world had just died. I should be ecstatic! However, I was having feelings of what I thought was grief. I nodded.

"I thought that might happen?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You said your father walked out on you right?" I nodded. "That means you've never really had a father figure in your life. When he came around, and stayed for six years, he kinda became that figure for you. It was a strange relationship, but it was still the closest one you had."

I sat thinking. Julie had the incredible power to realize things about me before even I did. She could really get me thinking. In fact, she had become almost like a mother figure for me.

I didn't know much about families, but I was glad to see that I was learning. I was glad that I was developing new relationships to replace the ones that I never had.