There was a heavy knock at my door that instantly woke me up. My living room was drowning in bright sunlight which made it difficult for my eyes to adjust. I stood up groggily from my couch, rubbing my eyes and looking down at my watch - 8:15 AM.
It was my day off, so I wondered who could possibly be at my door. Whoever it was wouldn't stop banging. A pang of excitement hit my chest, as I hoped it would be my son, Benny.
When I stared out the window, the excitement deflated in my chest and filled with worry instead. I noticed Liv standing at my front porch anxiously. She was biting down on her lip while holding a box with a sheet draped over it.
I opened the door and stared down at her, "What's wrong? Is everything okay?"
She shoved her way into my house and sat down on my couch, holding the box in her lap. I followed her, confused, while sitting beside her.
"They found the evidence Cole told us about. Most of what we need to know about this case should be in here," Liv said, tearing the sheet off the top of the box. "You have to see this. It's disturbing, but it tells us a lot about her boyfriend."
She pulled a VHS tape out and walked over to my television, while I watched curiously.
She popped the tape in and knelt down to play the video. I stared at the screen, my heart racing in my chest.
A grainy video showed Cole sitting on the stained mattress again. He was wearing a tattered shirt and his hair was a mess - his eyes were drained with dark flesh surrounding them. His arms were tied behind his back, restricting them as he stared up at the camera.
I then noticed that there was an empty bottle of alcohol beside Cole, which sadly explained why he looked so out of it.
"Steven," Rose's voice sounded softly behind the camera. "Do you want some cocaine too?"
Cole was silent, slowly blinking.
"Steven, I asked you if you want cocaine too?" Rose said again, her voice stern as she sniffled. She brought the camera closer to Cole's face.
"No, I- I don't want..." Cole responded in a slurred voice, his eyes dropping which earned an immediate gasp from Rose.
Rose's wrinkled hand reached out to slap Cole across the face.
"Stop falling asleep," Rose said, before turning the camera towards the doorway to show a big figure standing by the door. "Hi, Sweetheart."
"Hi," the voice mumbled timidly, a dark hood over his face.
"Steven keeps falling asleep. Wake him up," Rose said, keeping the film on the man.
The man appeared visibly uncomfortable. "But that... isn't that your son?" he asked, his voice shaking.
"No," Rose chuckled. "This is Steven, Honey, I know you don't like to admit that you're sharing me with him," Rose showed Cole again, and Cole had his eyes closed again. "Wake the fuck up!" Rose shrieked, scaring Cole awake.
"I can't," Cole mumbled through his teeth. "I'm not Steven."
Rose shifted the camera towards her boyfriend who stood idly. "Well?" Rose said expectantly.
Her boyfriend's face was covered, but his stature showed that he was horrifed. Obediently, he walked over to Cole and grabbed his bent arm. He slammed him into a wall, and Cole groaned while her boyfriend kept him pinned against it.
"Yeah, that's right. Fuck you, Steven," Rose spat at Cole, bringing the camera closer to Cole who had his mouth open in pain. "That'll teach you."
Cole threw his head back as Rose pushed the camera into her boyfriend's hands and moved in front of the lens.
"Steven and I have a great, beautiful love," Rose said while reaching in her jacket pocket and pulling out a bandana.
Cole shook his head, but Rose eventually tightened the bandana around his mouth.
The camera slowly moved towards the floor.
"Film this you absolute moron!" Rose screamed suddenly, and her boyfriend moved the camera back to the two of them.
Cole's eyes were wide as Rose pulled his shirt over his head, leaving it hanging over his tied wrists.
"You better cooperate this time. You understand? Do you understand me, Steven?" Rose asked.
Cole nodded, and Rose smiled.
"Good boy," she responded.
Rose looked into the camera, which was shaking in the hands of her boyfriend. His breath was loud and could be heard clearly in the video.
"You know what, you can shut it off now, Hon," Rose instructed, her raspy voice hardly picking up on the tape. "And do you mind? I'll be back upstairs shortly."
The camera filmed the floor as the screen went black.
"No wonder you can't even raise your arm near the kid without him flinching," Liv said as she shook her head. "Those poor children."
"It makes me physically sick," I told her. "I can't keep watching these videos."
"Okay, we'll stop," Liv said quietly.
I swallowed hard, my head throbbing as I looked over at Liv. Liv sifted through the box, before handing me a dusty, leather-covered book.
"Is this...?" I trailed off, staring closely down at it.
"It's Rose's diary," Liv answered as she watched me. "This could be it. This could help us figure out her boyfriend's deal. He seems very reluctant in these videos."
I stared at the ripped, faded cover of the book. It had ROSE in black marker across the base of it.
"Wow," I breathed as I flipped through a few pages.
Each page was filled with black script writing, stopping halfway through the book. The earliest journal entry was dated 15, DEC 1982.
I skimmed through the entire first page, reading through the errands she had ran for the day until I stopped at something that caught my eye.
...I want children of my own. But Steven has left me and I can not handle a baby by myself. Perhaps I will take children, so they will be grown already, and I will condition them to love me...
I read the small portion out loud to Liv, before she leaned over me to look for herself.
"Flip to around the time she took them. Some time in January of this year," Liv requested.
Dated 13, JAN 1983:
...Tomorrow I get my children. I have asked my boyfriend to prepare taking them - they are the cutest kids. The eldest looks like Steven. I have watched them with my Honey for the past few days.
My boyfriend thinks I shouldn't. I don't care - the only reason I'm keeping him around is so they can't leave me. My boyfriend is hardly a boyfriend, rather some blazing idiot. I don't even know his name, never cared to learn it...
"She didn't know her boyfriend's name?" Liv asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"I get the feeling that her boyfriend was not, willingly, a part of this," I mumbled, continuing to flip through the pages.
Dated 20, JAN 1983:
...My daughter is an ungrateful whore! Who would've known that children would be so unbelievably hard to take care of? I wasn't going to tell Emilio about them at first, but now I suppose I will, because I can't stand that witch of a daughter I have. She will be joining his girls shortly...
"Did the girls know anything about who Rose was?" I asked.
"They said that they met her when she came to see them. She also told them that they were getting a new friend," Liv answered. "I'm assuming that was Bella."
I felt a twisting, sour feeling at the pit of my stomach. I continued to look through the book, seeing nothing but Rose ranting about her personal issues.
Dated 21, JAN 1983:
...Today, my son punched me because I knocked my daughter down. And my youngest wouldn't stop whining, that kid is annoying! My eye is bleeding now. I wish they could love me the way I love them...
Dated 22, JAN 1983:
...Emilio is the best for accepting my angel daughter. Though she has been nicer, I don't regret giving her away. After all, I have known Emilio since I was a little girl, he has always been great friends with Steven...
The fact that they had known each other their entire lives seemed a bit weird to me. Emilio was quite old, possibly in his 60's, while it seemed that Rose was in her 40's based on evidence collected in her house.
I wondered how they knew each other.
Dated 22, JAN 1983:
...Steven left me all alone at first. But now he is in my basement. And anyways, Steven and I had some alone time today for the first time in a while. I missed him. There was sparks like it was the first time...
My eyes widened, and I stared at Liv. "Oh, God," I said, shaking my head.
Thinking of what happened in that house made me physically nauseous every day. I couldn't eat, I could hardly be alone without my mind going to what those children endured. I couldn't imagine how they felt.
Dated 2, FEB 1983:
...My boyfriend is in love with my daughter. Why wouldn't he be? She's a slut. He always tells me to let her go, why would he want her to be happy over me? I am the one who saved him, I am the one who took him out of rehab. And now, he wants her over me. She will be gone soon...
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