Frank’s POV:

I ran up the creaky wooden steps, skipping one at a time, and hurriedly knocked on the door in front of me. After about a minute of knocking the door swung open and revealed my tired-looking friend. His curly hair was sticking up at many different angles. He rubbed his face and yawned, “Frank? Do you have any idea how early it is?”

I looked at my watch and laughed, “Ray it’s two-thirty in the afternoon.”

“Shit…really? Well in that case come on in.” Ray smiled and stepped aside and I walked into his small house. Ray was my closest friend and had been since middle school, even though I graduated earlier than him, we still kept in touch. I followed Ray into his kitchen, where he poured himself a cup of coffee and asked me, “So what can I do for you Mr. Iero?”

“Well I need your help with finding some information about someone.” I answered; Ray smiled again and motioned for me to follow him. Ray worked as a computer programmer by day and a hacker by night; he knew everything there was to know about computers. We entered the back bedroom that Ray had converted into his computer room. Five screens began to glow with life and Ray opened a program.

“And who are we looking up? A new girlfriend perhaps?” Ray laughed as I playfully punched his arm.

“No, his name is Michael James Way. He is a patient at the Newark Institution.” I stated and Ray raised his eyebrows at me.

“Are you sure that you want to look up patient information? I mean isn’t that, like, a breach of confidentiality?” Ray questioned.

I nodded, “Yes but I need to know what happened to him, so that way I am better equipped to help him.”

“Alright,” Ray typed in his name and multiple articles and files popped onto the screen. “Well his father was killed in a drunk driving accident when he was three. Um…his mom remarried two years later to a Mr. Charles Lynch. And for years after that he lived just a normal kids life, like winning awards at school, playing in little league sports stuff like that.” I looked at the pictures on the screen and saw Mikey when he was a little boy, in every picture he was smiling. “Until things turn for the worse, mom and step-dad divorce when Mikey turns fifteen. Charles gains custody-“

“How is that possible, usually the biological mother gets custody?” I asked.

“Well it looks like Charles was able to prove that he would be better equipped to take care of Mikey. But since his older brother Gerard was eighteen, he was able to choose to stay with his mother. This Charles dude is…well was pretty well off, he was a vice president of a major corporation.”

“Why is he not anymore?” I questioned.

“Well money doesn’t do very much in prison. It turns out that this guy is a fucking creep. He kept Mikey in the basement for close to three years. Reports from Gerard state that he would get weekly calls from Mikey and Mikey would even visit once a month, so Gerard didn’t suspect anything was wrong. Mikey was tortured down there Frank, in every way fucking possible.” I read over the police report and saw that Ray was in fact telling the truth. Mikey was physically and sexually abused down in that basement for nearly three years. “Finally Gerard sensed that something was wrong and got Mikey out of there. Charles was sent to prison for life without a chance of parole.”

I shook my head in disbelief, no wonder Mikey was haphephobic. I couldn’t imagine the pain that he must have gone through. “Thank you Ray, this will help me a lot.”

Ray shut down the program and shook his head sullenly, “Whatever I can do to help. You’re going to help this guy right Frank?”

I nodded, “I will do everything humanly possible Ray; no matter what I will help him.”

Mikey’s POV:

I brought my knees to my chest and tried to calm myself down. I could hear multiple voices upstairs, and I knew if I made any noise whatsoever, that he would punish me. It had happened before, the first time he had friend’s over I had tried to escape by screaming. He simply told them that it was the video games that I played, and of course they believed it. That night was the worst night I had ever had here, after he had beaten me, he handcuffed me to the hook on the ceiling and left me there for the entire night. I never made noise anymore.

I heard the door creak open and I could see three people coming down the stairs. I pushed myself into the corner of the room; he had never brought down other people before. “Get up!” He shouted but I shook my head in response. He stormed over to me and grabbed a handful of my hair. He harshly forced me to my feet and slapped me hard across the face. “You are to never disobey me, you got that?” He asked his face merely inches from mine. I nodded in agreement.

“C’mon Charles…you said we’d be able to have fun with him.” One of the men stated, I could tell all of them were drunk and I could feel my whole body begin to shake.

He laughed and stated, “Be patient, Mikey here is a good boy and will do anything you ask.
Won’t you Mikey?” When I didn’t respond he slapped me again, “Won’t you?”

“Yes sir.” I muttered my voice barely above a whisper. He pushed me to the ground by their feet. One of the men grabbed me by my collar and hoisted me to my feet. They slammed me up against a wall, and I could feel their hand touch me all over. One crashed his lips upon mine and out of instinct I bit down hard on the man’s lip. He cursed and backhanded me hard, I fell to the floor and I could feel blood run down my chin. The man forced me to stand and hit me once again.

“You will fucking pay for that, you fucking bitch!” He shoved me to the ground and turned me onto my stomach, “I want you to moan for me, you little bitch.” He whispered in my ear.

I jolted awake, gasping for air. I felt tears running down my cheeks and I held my arms close to my chest. “I just want them to stop. I just want to forget.” I whispered to myself.

Notes

A little bit more graphic of a chapter...but now you know a little bit more about Mikey's background.