Bodies in the Basement

An Ash lynx prequel story

Ash may or may not be jim's biological son

Gun control, victim blaming, pedophilia, sick,

"Griffin, help me! Help! Help me Griffin!" Is what he thought the second time it happened.

The first time he was confused, shocked, scared; in that order. The man was his friend wasn't he? They were having fun, right? Yes, he would go home with him, Dad never picked him up on time anyways. His house was close to Ash's. The man was hugging him, hugging him was alright. Big hands gripped his body. Wait, What was happening? Hands were under his clothes? Scared. He was scared. Hands in places they shouldn't be. He couldn't move, but it wasn't the man holding him down. The man shoved a towel in his mouth. He could still taste it. It hurt. It hurt so much. That towel is likely the only thing that kept him from breaking his teeth. …..Not all of them were baby teeth.

The second time it happened was after they went to the police.

The police who did nothing. They took his clothes off. He sat on a cold table. They took pictures of him. They called it a Vitullo kit. It was a funny name. They called him a liar. He watched his dad's face fall. The police were almost as bad as the man.

He wished Griff were here. Griff wouldn't let this happen to him. Griff would let him stay home and take a bath and stay indoors.

His dad told him to not let it happen again.

He stopped going to baseball for a while after that. He always hated baseball, but Griffin liked it so he played. The town was small, he was one of the only boys in his age group who didn't play. He heard rumors from the other boys that he was bad. That their mom's had told them he was trying to get the coach in trouble, trying to make the coach look bad.

He really hated baseball after that.

Ash didn't have a mother he could remember. His dad and the random short term girlfriends took care of him. Without baseball, he came home to an empty house. The silence stretched on for hours into the night.

The second time it happened he was home alone.

The man pulled up to his house in his large truck. It was still running in the driveway when he knocked on the door and said he wanted to apologize. Ash peered at him through the crack the chain lock made. He believed the smile. If he hadn't seen the smile, he wouldn't have believed him.

He opened the door. The man convinced him to climb into the truck with him. They went to get ice cream. At the man's home the man kissed him. It was weird and wet and… big? Ash froze. Griff kissed him sometimes…. But it was on the cheek or head… or wherever there were bruises and hurt. Maybe this meant sorry?

But it happened again.

It hurt. He was scared. He couldn't scream to stop, but his mind was running this time. His mind was running in a panic. No no no no NO….. Griff please! Help me! STOP!

He cried. He didn't remember if he cried the first time.

The man kissed his tears.

The third time Ash asked for money.

He didn't want it to happen a third time.

He didn't know what to do. His dad said to not let it happen, but if it happened, do it but make sure there is money. He got $20.

He still felt horrible. This time a different kind of horrible on top of the normal horrible.

He didn't know if his dad knew about the second or third time, he tried to hide it. The first time he was just shocked, so he stumbled home messy. Now he tried to erase the evidence. Not that they would go to the police again.

He asked his dad what 'seduced' meant. His dad brushed him off. He looked it up in the dictionary; Seduce (verb): to attract powerfully.

He was doing the attracting?

Griff came home on leave and they pretended everything was alright. Griff seemed different. He was jumpy and twitchy. Deader in the eyes, less pep in the corners of his mouth when he smiled? Ash was only lightly concerned. Griff was back! That's all he wanted! Dad didn't say anything about the man.

Griff got tired easily. Emotionally tired. One time he walked into Griff's room. The other quickly, reactively, dropped something into his rucksack and shoved it under the bed with his foot.

They pretended everything was alright.

The time the next baseball season rolled around, they took him to practice like normal. He hated baseball.

It happened again. It hadn't stopped happening.

He just hid it better. He could move without showing pain. He hid the bruises. Nobody saw him naked.

He….. He needed this to stop. He sobbed into the pillow. He couldn't do this anymore.

He got money from it now. Money and gifts. Not just small gifts either, like the ice-cream from early on.

The man would tell him secrets.

The man told him about another boy from a few towns over. Told him how attractive the boy was. Described to him the sounds the boy made. He really liked those sounds. He touched Ash while describing them; Ash's stomach found a way to form into a new kind of knot. The man liked the movements he said the boy made. The struggle. Ash looked at the man, thankful he didn't fight.

He asked Ash if he would like to meet the boy. Ash was never in a position to argue.

He led Ash down the stairs.

It smelled bad, but not like normal basement. It was cool and moist. Cement cinderblocks. Cobwebs making grainy sheets of dust.

The man turned on the light.

Ash saw the boy.

Scrawny, hurt. Still alive. Duct tape over his mouth. Naked. Wrist bound over his head.

Scared. Ash was scared. Why? What, why? Why was all this?

Bleeding. The boy was bleeding.

Purple, his skin was purple. His HANDS were purple.

Ash let the man demonstrate with the boy. He did things to the boy. Ash was frozen. This would be him. He would die. He beckoned Ash over to him, snapping him out of his trance. Hesitantly, on shaky feet, Ash complied. He stumbled over to the man. The man enjoyed them both. The other boy, watched the floor. If he even knew Ash was there, he didn't acknowledge it.

"They all fight me," the man said, "But you…." He looked at Ash. "You accept my presence. We have an exchange, an agreement,"

Ash's skin crawled.

He must have been pretty obvious after that. Obvious that it happened again. He didn't know how to hide this kind of terror yet.

They tried to keep him home. Dad and whoever his girlfriend was. Marcy? Martha? It didn't matter, one big enough anger fit from Dad and they would leave too.

Gun. He knew where his dad's gun was. He'd seen Griff with it. He'd seen Griff take it to his room. He'd seen Griff give him a sideways glance when he saw him take it to his room.

He went through Griff's drawers. Rifling papers, clothes, old toys. He found a rumpled plastic bag of things he didn't recognize, but didn't think much of it. He kept digging.

Bottom drawer, main dresser, right corner, found gun. It was shiny and black.

It was heavy. Much heavier than his BB gun. He checked the chamber. There was one bullet.

That would be enough.

He tucked the gun into his pants and called the man on the phone.

He told him he missed him.

Seduce (verb): to attract (someone) to a belief or course of action that is inadvisable or foolhardy.