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Stars danced across Roach's vision. The rest of the thread had come loose and was hanging down his flesh. He screamed. He really, really screamed. It was a loud, high scream that made people open their doors and windows to see what was going on. It was a scream loud enough to wake the people under the stairs and send the flocking to the filthy window. Everyone except for Messenger, he was too afraid of the outside to even risk a glance at the freedom he had never known. And they did. The watched as best they could, wiping at the dirty window with their tattered clothes. They couldn't believe that this had happened, Cockroach was free. He was out there free as can be for the last few moments of his life. It wasn't fair.

Daddy threw open the door and started firing his gun randomly. That made everyone scream blood curdling screams that shook the peacefulness of the formerly quiet summer's night. Now, when lots of people are screaming at once that is bound to draw some attention, mostly from neighbors, but there is screaming and gunfire that's going to attract the attention of a passing cop. He had been called out on a missing person call, a boy who was last seen at this house. The police had been called out seven times in the last few months and they were debating doing a thorough investigation. It was in debate because Eldon Robeson was a respected man and he and his wife were living the American dream.

"C'mon Alice, help me carry him." Said Fool as he held Roach up. It was no use, he knew he was gonna die, no point in prolonging the inevitable. Fool seemed to have the childish hope that Roach was going to live. What Roach would have given to be able to hope like that, but there was no hope in this world. No hope, no peace, no freedom, no solace. There was only grief, rage, pain, fear, and loneliness. He decided to look on the bright side as he had done in times past; he would be free. Free only in death.

"Fool, how much farther to this hospital place?" asked Alice as she helped support him. She wasn't looking to good either, they had jumped out a window after crawling through the vents, something Alice was not as used to as he was. She had barely gotten out before Daddy came out and tried to get them and she was barely able to stand as the fear paralyzed her. She didn't want to die but she didn't want to be in the house either. Well, she was beginning to long for the security that the house provided. What was out here? All her life she was told that the world was a dark sinful place and that she should be grateful for the safety that her house provided. She was to be thankful for being allowed to live, for eating, for being such a good girl. She was to be thankful for her parents who tolerated her badness and tried as hard as they could to make her perfect but she was so imperfect, like the dots on her skin or the wrinkles on Mommy's face as she screamed because of some horrible thing Alice had done. They tried to burn the evil out with water far too hot and too deep and beat it out. None of the blows ever penetrated deep enough. The evil was rooted too far beneath her skin, in her flesh, her bones, her very soul.

"We gotta keep goin' Alice! If we can get him to a hospital he's gonna be fine."

"Roach, Fool says you're going to be OK so I guess you are. We just have to keep going." Said Alice, her white dress getting stained with his blood. Alice. He loved her and he knew it. He loved her face her voice her ever so trusting personality. He loved the way her hair framed her face when she slept. He loved the way she'd sometimes shoot him a smile through the vent when no one was looking. He loved the way she'd ever so meticulously sew each doll until her face was flushed and her fingers rubbed down to the bone. He loved the way she'd bury her face in his chest for the simple comfort he provided. He hoped to see her smile for real, not the fake smiles she'd have to give because good children were always happy even as the blows reigned upon them, before he went into the abyss of death but now his chances were getting slimmer and slimmer as stars began to dance across his vision and a cold numbness was beginning to take the place of the pain. He knew that trying to stop the bleeding would be useless, it wasn't going to stop until his veins ran dry.

"Uhhice, I oove you. (Alice, I love you.)" Muttered Roach so quiet he could barely hear it. He had already told her before but she didn't hear him. She had to hear him, had to know. He had to know too. Did she love him? Maybe. Roach noticed the blushes and glances he was thrown when she though his attention was else where. He wished she at least hint at what she was feeling. He wished she'd say that she was feeling something wished that she'd say that she couldn't breath whenever she thought about him, couldn't speak whenever she talked about him, got lost in his eyes whenever they were together. He wished that she felt exactly what he felt for her but it looked like he never would. This was it. This was the end of the horror story that was his life. This was the-what the hell was that?

"A police car!" said Fool as he began to scream for help. Alice shrunk back, she didn't like loud noises. Roach would have screamed too but he couldn't find his voice through the cold numbness that had replaced the haze of pain. He knew that he was going to die, no use in prolonging the inevitable.

"What's the trouble kid?" asked the officer as he got out of his car not noticing Roach hanging limp like a rag doll

"Can you give us a ride to the hospital?" asked Fool dropping him a little. He didn't mind, he just wanted it to end.

"What the hell is going on here?!" asked the cop as he saw Roach, emaciated, pale, and bleeding to death. He also saw Daddy holding a powerful looking gun. He put two and two together and told Daddy to put his hands up. Now even Mommy was outside and trying to reason with him, he would hear none of it. The police had been called several times in the past few months because of reports of gunfire and missing persons. Everyone knew the rumors going on about that place and it was looking like a lot of them were true. Mommy had tried reasoning and now they were resisting. Daddy had his gun pointed at the cop and the cop called his buddy out of the car. Alice closed her eyes, covered her ears, and shut her mouth, knowing very well what was going to happen. She had seen an uncountable number of people die in her fourteen years of life but it still kinda bothered her. Roach was crying a little, half from the pain and half from what he knew was going to happen to Alice. She was going under the stairs. she was going to be taken and beaten and pinned down ad hurt. Just like him. Roach touched her hand lightly before falling out of consciousness. But then a wonderful thing happened, a neighbor had called an ambulance. If Roach had been conscious he would have jumped and screamed for joy, and kicked Daddy in the groin, head, and ribs. His prayers had been answered!

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Roach woke up slowly. Everything was swirl of white and he could hear a beeping sound. He tried to sit up but then he felt and excruciating amount of pain in his side. He felt strange, like he was numb all over.

"Roach, don't try and sit up. Maybe you shouldn't look down either, man." Said Fool. It was then that Roach realized he was in a bed. An itchy bed, but a bed none the less. He wondered if Daddy had killed all of them and they were in heaven as angels. They probably weren't because there was no pain in heaven. Oh no, they must be in that other place!

"Is he awake?" asked a woman in a green matching shirt and pants combo. Oh, they were in a hospital. He remembered hospitals from before he was Mommy and Daddy's son and had to have his appendix removed. The he looked around ignoring the pain it was causing him. Where was Alice!

"Yeah, he just woke up. You were asleep for almost a day, Roach." Said Fool. Roach now noticed that Fool had different clothes on. He also realized that he was a hospital gown. He hoped he got other clothes; his old ones stank and were probably covered in blood. He hoped that he got to keep his old clothes though, Alice made them for him and he had grown used to them meshing against his skin, irritating the raised brown bumps but not as much as the hospital gown did.

"Can you hear me?" asked the nurse. Roach nodded and was momentarily amazed, he had not seen a new woman person in quite a while. He hadn't seen a new person who wasn't dead in quite a while period. He didn't count the boys in the cellar, they weren't people.

"Can you tell me your name?" asked the nurse looking nervous.

"His name is Roach." Said Fool. Roach nodded no. he felt like laughing but his throat was too dry.

"Really?" asked Fool

"Did you honestly think my real name was Roach?" was what Roach though. He began to mime writing. The nurse took out a pencil and a tiny notebook out of her pocket.

"David Mathias Cullen." Wrote Roach as he handed her the paper. Fool gave him a questioning look

"OK David, can you tell me your address?"

"4151 north Morrison, but my parents might have moved."

"The Robeson;s weren't your parents?" asked the nurse. Roach nodded no. He remembered his kidnapping well. A woman had just picked him up right out of the park.

"Where's Alice?" asked Roach. Alice was his number one priority above all else, even himself.

"Who?"

"The girl we came in with. Her parents came and got her Roach, they were lookin' real hard for her." Said Fool. This made Roach both happy and terrified. Happy that Alice had parent's but scared for her well being. Who would protect her? She was just too fragile to be out on her own. Roach could defend himself but she couldn't.

"Excuse me, please." Said the nurse as she walked out of the room

"Roach, you gotta see this man!" said Fool as he turned on the TV.

"Reports confirm that 12 children were kept confined in the house. One is currently being treated at North Mercy hospital, no word on his condition but he was apparently mutilated and showed signs of abuse. A girl taken from this house is currently residing with her parents after being kidnapped when she was just two years old. No word on the condition of the children taken from the cellar…"

Fool flipped the channel.

"The ancient Chinese proverb 'Hear no evil, See no evil, and speak no evil' takes a grim turn tonight as he bring exclusive interview with the girl taken from this house. Apparently the children who tried asking for help got their eyes, ears, and tongues cut out as punishment…"

Fool flipped the channel again

"We've just gotten word of the boy in North Mercy's identity. His name is David Cullen and he was taken when he was just five years old. He's in stable condition. We'll talk to the boy's parents. "

"I'm just glad to have him back and I hope they stick the motherfuckers who did this to him the chair!" said a man who look like a red haired version of Roach

"You people are vultures! Leave us alone, and you better leave him alone too! He's been through enough!" said a woman who looked like Roach too, only her nose was smaller and her eyes were brown

"So those are your parents huh?" asked Fool as he turned off the TV. Roach could only nod in shock. He couldn't breathe, they were his parents. The parents that he hadn't seen since he was five years old. He was getting dizzy and he wondered if this was a dream. It couldn't have been a dream though, his dreams were nightmares.

"Roach, you OK?" asked Fool as Roach continued to stare. They remembered him. They loved him. Why hadn't they come for him? Why did they leave him to suffer like that? Roach always knew that all adults couldn't ever be completely trusted, no one bigger than him could ever be trusted. Ever. He closed his eyes tightly as tears began to collect in his eyes as memories crashed on his mind like waves upon the shore. Why? Why did this have to happen to him? What did he do to deserve this? Not just the cut out tongue, he knew what he did to deserve that, but the last ten years of his life. The last ten years of hell.

"Roach!" said Fool more urgently as he shook him a little. Bad move. The slight movement sent waves of pain through his body. It was near unbearable but he had had worse.

"Sop!(Stop)" said Roach. Fool instantly stopped and looked sorry. He also looked scared as Roach threw him a death glare. No one, not even his new friend was ever going to touch him again. No one except for Alice was ever gong to touch him anywhere ever again. Alice could touch him because he knew her for longer and had earned his trust but Fool was a new person. Stairmaster had been his first friend under the stairs and Roach made the mistake of letting him get too close and touch him. Roach blinked back more tears as he remembered being forced to his knees while his tongue stump was still bleeding, being forced to-No! He had to stop remembering. the remembering would do him no good. Besides, his time under the stairs was over and it was his fault for letting Stairmaster get to close. His fault.

"Sorry." Said Fool. Roach made an OK sign with his fingers and gave a convincing smile while being careful not to let his tongue-stump show. It was something he had learned from his time as the good boy, fake happiness because good children were always happy. Even during the beatings and burnings they had to be happy but Roach was a very bad child because during those times he was never happy. Alice was a very bad child too because of her tears and pleas which only made Daddy madder like pouring gasoline into a fire.

"If you people don't leave us alone you'll be hearing from our lawyers!" yelled a woman loudly. Fool looked out the door and saw the people from the TV at the front desk. Roach wanted to know what was going on. He grabbed onto the rails of his bed and attempted to get up. Bad move. He instantly fell back from the pain in his arm and side. He was beginning to fear that he would never be able to move again.

"Ma'am you can't do that! Ma'am!" shouted a nurse as the woman left the man at the front desk and began to walk down the hallway. The women and walked faster than the man. The woman looked happy and but the man looked completely and totally defeated.

"Hey Roach, your moms coming." Said Fool

"Weeree (Really?)?" asked Roach as he attempted to sit up slowly as not to bring the pain back. He wanted to never feel pain again. Pain was over. Over forever. He wanted to see his mother, the mother he had almost forgotten. He couldn't really remember her. The more he tried the more he forgot about her. Her and his father. Whenever Roach thought of his father

"Yeah really. Listen I gotta go, my mom's at this hospital too. Thanks for the coins and the whole showing me how to get out thing. I really owe ya one." Said Fool as he left. Roach waved goodbye. Fool didn't know that Roach was going to call him on that debt.

"Honey, honey, honey it might not be our David." Said a man's voice. It was a tried voice, a tired voice. It was the voice of a man who had been called out many times before, to police building and hospitals and morgues, for boys who resembled his oldest son. He used to hope but now he had lost all hope. He had long ago accepted his son as dead and almost completely moved on. He still had his moments of sitting in his son's old bedroom and just looking at everything, wondering what kind of man his son would have become if his life hadn't been cut short so early.

"Well what if it is?" said Amanda who even after ten years refused to give up hope. Quitters never prospered and if she just kept believing that he was alright and alive he would be. In her mind anyway but she had no idea that she was only half on both of those things.

"I'm just saying that we shouldn't be getting our hopes up."

"Ten years David. I've been waiting for ten years and I'm not waiting anymore!" and with that a woman stepped into his room. She looked like his mother, just older. And her clothes were different and her hair was poofy. Then the man stepped in. This was definitely his father, down to the rock n' roll t-shirt and ripped blue jeans. No more sideburns though, that was strange.

"David?" asked the woman in a small voice. Roach nodded, not taking his eyes off either of them. He attempted to sit up but gasped out in pain. This made the woman angry. Roach tensed up. He didn't know what he did but he wanted more than anything to say that he was sorry, to beg and plead as he had done before. This was one of those times he wished he still had his tongue.

"Why is my son in pain!" she yelled at a passing nurse who dropped her chart with a clang from surprise. This was stressful on all the staff as more and more of these children were brought in.

"What ma'am?" said the nurse trying to speak evenly

"My son is obviously in pain, what are you guys going to do about it?!" Amanda didn't know how to feel. On the one had she was beyond happy, euphoric even, on the other hand he was hurt and broken. He looked like a concentration camp survivor or a skeleton or even a rag doll but she knew in her heart that this was her son, her David. She was heart broken because of this.

"Ma'am we can't give him anymore morphine, he might overdose."

"Well if he overdoses it's a good thing he's in a hospital isn't it!"

"Ma'am shouting never solved anything." said the nurse who was used to dealing with unruly patients and their families.

"You haven't heard shouting!"

All the while Roach's father was staring at Roach trying to find any trace of his son in this boy. And boy did he find it. He had his eyes nose and ears. He was incredibly thin though. Skeletal even.

"Are you my David?" asked his father. Roach nodded slowly fearing this ma who was his father. Father's were dangerous in his opinion.

"Where have you been all this time?" Roach looked down. Here it comes. It was one thing to stick what's left of your tongue out at a new friend, it was a whole nether thing if this person was your father.

"Well? I get it your mad at us. Well you have every right to be I suppose." said David Sr. in a guilty voice. Roach bit his lower lip in nervousness.

"What's the matter, has the cat got your tongue?" asked his father jokingly trying to lessen the tension in the room. Roach looked up and stuck out what was left of his tongue reluctantly.

"Oh dear lord!" Roach closed his mouth and looked down as he tensed up waiting for the blows to start reigning upon his thin frame, making his bones splinter out and his skin run rivers and pools of red.

"What?!" yelled his mother as she ran in. Now Roach was really tensing up, he could not stand yelling. He just wished they'd start already, he deserved it. He was a bad boy, a horrible boy and he deserved to have every bone in his body broken.

"His tongues ripped out!"

"What."

"Cuh.(Cut)." Said Roach simply as he closed his eyes tight

"What honey?" asked His mother getting close. He scooted farther away from her ignoring the pain as it made his way through him from head to toe and back again. He knew that it would be best to lie there and take it but his sense of self preservation had come back after a long vacation

"Ma tuhgs cuh oww. (My tongue's cut out.)" Said Roach as he opened his mouth again ignoring the pain

Mrs. Cullen fainted. She really actually fainted. This was such a shock, such a surprise that she could feel her heart stop and her world began to turn fuzzy. Everything, even her thoughts came to a screeching halt. This was too much, her son's thin, emaciated body, the scars that criss-crossed it like tye-dye, the bones that stuck out in odd angles and the raw parts of his skin that receded to pink and red flesh. The splints and casts and stitches just added to his appearance. The appearance of a boy, a broken boy. A broken soul.