𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐏𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫! 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 @𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫@𝐩𝐞, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐲. 𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝.
𝐀𝐬𝐡'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕
I took Eiji, Charlie, and Josh to go see the mansion. Damn, I haven't stepped a foot on this property in 9 years.
"It still looks fine." I said.
"We still have to go inside." Charlie said. I looked at him,
"What?" I asked.
"It'll be fine Ash." Eiji said putting his hand on my shoulder. "Let's go." We walked inside.
"Pretty." Josh said when we walked inside. "And big. Did you live here?" He asked me,
"For a while yeah. I own it now." I said. "That's still a surprise."
"That's cool." Josh said.
"What room do you wanna look at first Charlie?" I asked.
"I was just gonna check out the parts you didn't want to look at like Dino's room, the lab, and the basement." Charlie said.
"Oh yeah, those rooms are a no no." I said shaking my head. "You can look at those rooms. I'll be staying clear of them."
"Why?" Josh asked.
"I lived a very rough life here." I told Josh.
"Okay I got it." He said. "No more questions."
"Eiji, you can talk and sit with Josh in the living room. I'll walk around the house." I said.
"Okay." Eiji said. "Come on Josh." He walked into the living room with Josh. I walked down one of the hallways that led to all the rooms. A rush of memories came back, I remembered the night I killed Shorter, me and Eiji were running around and I was shooting and killing every one of Dino's guys that I saw. Without realizing it I was standing in the lab, right above a surgical table. I turned around and vividly remembered shooting Abraham. I could even see his body laying in the corner. Without even knowing it, I started crying.
"Ash!" I heard Eiji's voice. "Aslan where are you?!" I was standing by the surgical table, Eiji ran down the stairs and turned me around.
"Are you okay?" He asked. "What's wrong." I didn't say anything. I didn't have to say anything for him to know, he stood on his toes and hugged me. I hugged him back and cried into his shoulder,
"Shorter." I whispered.
"I miss him too." Eiji said. "He was a great person and an even better friend."
"I can see his open skull on that table." I said. "I hate it, I hate this room."
"Let's go to the living room." Eiji said. Eiji led me up the stairs and to the living room again. I laid down on the couch and cried. I pushed a pillow into my face and yelled really loudly. Then proceeded to cry while hiccupping.
"Aslan calm down." Eiji kept repeating. It took a couple more minutes for me to calm down. I sat up and stared forward.
"Are you okay?" Josh asked me.
"Not really." I said. I held my arms out and did the grabby hands at Eiji. "Gives me cuddles." Eiji came over and gave me a hug, I wrapped my legs around his waist and buried my face in his shoulder.
"Ash?" He asked.
"Yeah." I responded not moving my face.
"Are you gonna let go." Eiji asked.
"No." I said. "I'm comfortable, you're cozy Eiji." I hugged him tighter. Eiji stood up, though I was hugging him and he was at full height and I wasn't I was still much taller than him.
"Hi." He said.
"Hey." I said smiling. Charlie walked into the room, we looked at him.
"Looks like none of the rooms are infested and are in perfect shape. You guys can move in if you're ready, I know this house brings back bad memories for both of you." Charlie said. I stared down at Eiji,
"So?" He asked. "I'm ready if you are."
"I guess. Living here be so bad, because the old shit is dead." I said. I looked at Josh,
"Sorry." I said to him.
"It's okay, I've heard worse." He said. I looked at Charlie,
"We'll pack our belongings that are in the apartment and move them over here." I said.
"I'm gonna live in a mansion!" Josh said and threw his hands in the air. Me and Eiji laughed.
𝐄𝐢𝐣𝐢'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕
The move wasn't difficult, since Ash has owned the place for 9 years we could move in immediately.
Me and Ash were helping the Police Force move in everything from our apartment. Josh was sitting in the living room watching us. He doesn't have any luggage so it makes sense.
"Do you guys need help." Josh asked as I carried a box of clothes into the living room. Aslan walked in after me,
"You could help us carry in boxes." He suggested.
"Where's that curly red-haired guy?" Josh asked.
"He's outside, on a call I'm pretty sure." Ash said. Josh ran outside, and as soon as he left Charlie came running in. Josh quickly came back.
"Aslan, Eiji." Charlie said. "I got a call from a woman living upstate, she thinks there's something going on with her neighbors."
"Does she want you to investigate?" I asked.
"She does want me to investigate, but I'm taking you guys with me because I have a hunch about what could be going on." Charlie said.
"Same." Aslan said. "We'll go over with you after we're done here."
"Got it. You guys will drive over right?" Charlie asked. "And are you gonna take Josh with you?" Aslan looked at Josh,
"Do you wanna come with us? Or would you rather stay here by yourself?" He asked.
"Can I come with you. There's a lot of people here." Josh said.
"Okay." Ash said. "We'll be right over Charlie, you can go." Charlie nodded and walked out of the living room and out the front door.
𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫
Aslan was driving to the address Charlie sent him. We've been riding for a while and we already reached the neighborhood. The lady probably lives on the edge of upstate New York.
𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧: 𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭. 𝐈 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧.
"There's Charlie's car." I pointed out to Ash. He pulled into the driveway and walked up to the door.
"Can I stay in the car?" Josh asked.
"Sure." I said. "Just lock all the doors and don't look anyone in the eye." Josh nodded and gave me a thumbs up. Me and Aslan stepped out of the car and walked up to the house, I knocked on the door and Charlie answered.
"Hey guys." He said. The woman who owned the house came to the door,
"Ms. Jenna, these are my partners." Charlie said to her. We were let inside and sat in the living room on a dirty couch.
"So we were talking about your neighbors." Charlie reminded her.
"Yes. As I was saying, they get loud at night and early in the morning." Ms. Jenna said.
"What do you hear?" Aslan asked.
"I hear a lot and I don't always know. Sometimes it's screaming and other times it's crashing of furniture and plates." Ms. Jenna told us.
"Do you know anything about the family that lives there?" Aslan asked.
"I know it's a married couple with a 9 year-old boy." Ms. Jenna said. "I have invited them over for dinner a couple times, their sons name is Evan and he's a small child. I'd say he's about 4'0 he has light brown hair and blue eyes. He's really shy, he doesn't talk a lot especially around people he doesn't know, he seems really uncomfortable even scared around his parents, and his parents are harsh, but try not to make it seem obvious." Ms Jenna said. "I think they're *busing him."
"Have you confronted them about what you think they're doing?" I asked. Ms. Jenna shook her head and started crying,
"No! No I haven't. I'm scared of what they might do!"
"We'll go investigate, ma'am." Aslan said and stood up. "Eiji Charlie, let's go." I stood up after Charlie. We walked 1 minute over to her neighbor's house.
"Ms. Jenna said that their family name was Derham." Charlie said and knocked on the door. I woman answered, assuming that was Evan's mom.
"Hello Mrs. Derham. We have been hearing noise complaints from scared neighbors, we have to search and investigate your house." Charlie said. She hesitantly let us inside. Charlie looked at me and Ash,
"Search all the rooms and find Evan." He told us. Me and Ash nodded and ran into a bunch of different rooms.
𝐀𝐬𝐡'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 (𝐆𝐮𝐲'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞)
I was searching all the rooms, when I heard the snapping of a belt and the screams of a child. I bust open the door holding a gun. What I saw hit me right in the heart. Evan's dad was right on top of him, Evan's hands were tied behind his back with the belt and he was only wearing a t-shirt. I pointed the gun at his dad who was holding up Evan's t-shirt and touching him inappropriately. I was barely holding it together
"Step away from your son! If you have the right to even say he's your son." I said with tears running down my face.
"Who are you?" Evan's dad asked me.
"I'm with the Police force, you're under arrest for child *buse, and s3xual *ssault. Evan will also be taken out of your custody." Charlie ran by,
"Aslan!" He said.
"Charlie, grab Mr. Derham. I'm not giving him a chance, if he resists I'm shooting." I said staring right at Mr. Derham. He stepped away from Evan who was crying more than me. I found a blanket that didn't smell awful and walked up to Evan wrapping him in the blanket. Evan was shaking, I hugged him softly. Evan buried his face in my chest knowing we were here to help. I picked him up and walked out of the room, Eiji was back in the living room and Mrs. Derham was yelling at him,
"Aslan!" Eiji said noticing me, he then saw I was holding Evan. "Oh my god." He swung his head back to look at Mrs. Derham.
"You were lying." Eiji said. "Ash, you can take Evan out to Josh." I started walking when Evan gripped onto my jacket,
"Please don't hurt me." He said in a small scared voice.
"I won't hurt you." I whispered back. I carried him out to Josh who rolled down the window of the car,
"Who's that?" He asked.
"His name's Evan. Evan, this is Josh. He's around your age." I opened the car door and put Evan next to Josh who hugged Evan. I really needed to talk to Charlie about getting this rehabilitation home up and running, there's a lot more broken kids here in New York than I thought.
𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧: 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗, 𝐨𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐝. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫