When the two boys had first met five days ago, Ferris had made Gareth into a friend rather quickly, despite Gareth's shy and timid nature.

Gareth had stayed hidden behind his mother when his cousin arrived, holding onto her legs tightly as he buried his face into her knees.

He was a nervous young boy, dark circles all ready forming under his eyes. He was also far too thin to be considered well nourished but he wore baggy clothes to try and hide this, along with the bruises his father left on his body.

His hair had been in a mushroom cut back then, as if foreshadowing the pudding bowl cut that he would someday wear. His golden hair was puffy and soft around the edges, and his mother would often laugh as his hair fell into his eyes.

Ferris had walked in beside his mother with a smile and at once he knew that he would like to be Gareth's friend. His own hair was long enough to put into a small ponytail and his body was the opposite of Gareth's; trim and fit with the right amount of body fat on it.

With a smile, Ferris had walked around his aunt and promptly hugged Gareth tightly, smiling as he ruffled his hair.

"Oy, cousin!"

And that had been that.

The boys played together constantly and Ferris had loads of fun with his younger cousin and his aunt.

But he hated his uncle passionately, because the man would come in smelling heavily of alcohol and start screaming and shouting at his wife and his son at once, acting as if Ferris wasn't even there as he raised a hand to the two of them.

At night while the boy's would get ready for bed, Ferris would grind his teeth and tell Gareth that he should tell the police about what his father was doing to him and his mother.

"He shouldn't be doing this to you, cousin!" he insisted on the fifth night, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "He's your da'!"

"I know…And that's why I can't report him." Gareth answered sadly.

"Why not?!"

"He's me da'…"

"Gareth!"

Gareth looked down at the ground sadly, kicking at an invisible pebble.

"If I tell on him…He'll be taken away from me." He said. "He's me da', and I don't want him to go away, Ferris!"

Ferris rolled his eyes and he shook his head as he just gave up and shrugged, rinsing his mouth out before crawling into his sleeping bag that rested on the floor beside Gareth's bed.

"I'm going to tell me mum when she comes to pick me up." He warned. "She'll know what to do."

Gareth whimpered but he said nothing else, crawling into bed before flopping his head down on the soft pillow.

…

Ferris was woken up a few hours later when the light to the bedroom was suddenly snapped open, and he opened his eyes and gasped softly when he saw his uncle Brock walk up to Gareth and shake the frail boy awake.

Gareth woke with a soft snort, and he whimpered as his father's fingers dug deeper into his arm.

"Da'…"

"Shut up and get up!" Brock hissed softly. "Do you want to wake your cousin up?"

Ferris quickly shut his eyes and pretended to be sleeping just as Brock turned to look down at him.

When he was satisfied that the boy was sleeping, he turned back to Gareth.

"Your uncle Lance has come over for a visit." He said with a smile, and he twisted Gareth's arm when the boy winced at the man's name.

"And you're going to use those fucking nimble fingers of yours on his cock!" he added darkly and he only let go when Gareth nodded, silent tears falling down narrow cheeks as he crawled out of bed.

Ferris grew stiff when he heard this, but he was silent, struggling to keep pretending that he was sleeping as they left the room.

Once they were gone however, he quickly got up and left the room, running for his aunt's bedroom.

Alina had been locked in her bedroom by her husband to stop her from getting to Gareth, and she pounded on the door uselessly, screaming for Brock to stop this madness.

"Aunt Alina?" Ferris asked softly.

"Ferris? Ferris, please try to help Gareth!" Alina pleaded, pressing up against the door.

Ferris nodded and he went looking for where his uncle and cousin had gone to at once.

He did not have far to look as he heard Gareth's soft sobs coming from the living room, and when he headed towards it, he found his cousin kneeling in front of a man, and being forced to use his hands in a way that no six year old should be forced to and he angrily charged at him, his hands raised into fists.

"Leave me cousin alone you fucker!" he shouted, and was blindsided as his uncle Brock suddenly struck him with a sharp backhand, sending him sprawling onto the ground.

Gareth stopped and he turned to Ferris at once, his eyes growing wide in panic.

"Ferris!"

"What are you doing stopping like that, lovely hands?" Lance demanded, grabbing Gareth by the hair and twisting it painfully, forcing his head back.

Ferris struggled to his feet, gritting his teeth as he glared up at his uncle.

"I'm going to tell the police!" he warned. "You can't hurt me cousin anymore!"

Brock answered this with a laugh, shaking his head before grabbing Ferris tightly by the throat.

"I'm a cop! My mates won't believe a word you say!" he explained, and he promptly punched Ferris in the ribs deeply, breaking something.

"Kick the little fucker's ass, Brock!" Lance laughed, glaring down at Gareth as the boy stopped once more, and he promptly slapped him hard enough to split his lower lip.

Gritting his teeth, Ferris suddenly kicked out, and made Brock flinch as his foot hit his knee.

"Buggering freak!" he spat at his uncle and that was the last thing he remembered about that night.

The rage inside of Brock Keenan boiled over, and without thinking it through, he suddenly swung the boy by his arm as hard as he could into the table, and as Gareth screamed, Ferris crumpled to the ground, blood dribbling from the back of his head.

He had been hit in the back of the head with the corner of the table.

…

"The doctors said that the force of the blow and where it was did something to his eyes to make him blind." Gareth finished sadly, his head still resting against the car window. "Me da' had made up some bullshit excuse as to what happened to him, and because he had the police force behind him, he got away with it."

"Jesus Christ…" Tim whispered softly, shaking his head a bit as he drove past the funeral home.

"And it's all my fault!"

Tim pulled the car over and he turned to look at Gareth, and he winced when he saw the tears flowing freely down his cheeks as he still refused to make eye contact with him.

"If I had been stronger…"

"Gareth, there was nothing you could do." Tim whispered, resting a hand on his arm. "Bad things happen sometimes…"

"That still doesn't make it right!"

"I know it doesn't, Gareth." Tim agreed and he undid his seatbelt before he then reached out and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a hug, running his fingers through Gareth's hair as his shoulders started to tremble.

"Me cousin is too good to me…He doesn't hate me for what I did to him…" he wept softly.

"You didn't do anything to him, Gareth. You were a small boy with a wicked father! You couldn't have done anything to help him! And besides…he still loves you. He's part of your family!"

Gareth's crying slowed down and he pulled back slightly, looking at Tim with hope in his eyes.

"Yeah?" he asked, sniffling badly.

"Yeah."

A smiling came to his thin lips and Gareth nodded as he rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"We're almost there." He said finally, giving Tim a thankful smile as they headed out once more.