Chapter 10

It's Time to Trust Someone Buddy

She enters his room and surprisingly he is not in the chair that faces the window, he is lying in bed, asleep. His breakfast tray is still in the room, he has consumed his food. It has been a week and a day since the quiet mystery man arrived.

She opens the curtain and the morning sun shines brightly in the room. She sits in the chair that looks out onto the grounds. Fall leaves have yet to be raked up. She smiles remembering her and her brother raking up huge piles of leaves then running across the yard and jumping into the pile….Laughing….then the day came when the laughter stopped in the split-level home in Connecticut. She hears him stir, she looks over her shoulder, his eyes are still closed. "Ally what are you doing?" Tara asks as she enters his room.

"Just thinking, remembering...you know Tara." She stands. "Maybe Alan is right."

She gently takes hold of his wrist and takes his pulse. She records his pulse rate. "About sending him to Philadelphia?"

"Yes," she pauses. "Maybe I don't have the ability to get through. Friday, on Friday I thought that he was going to breakout but nothing since then. I still can't get him to shave or cut his hair."

Tara sets down the chart, "Ally we've worked together a few times but ever since that Sunday night, I've really gotten to know you and you don't appear to me, to be a quitter. You're going to bail out on him now? Come on, my opinion you are the only one who will be able to get through to him, he responds to you and every day he trusts you more and more."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but let's be realistic what if he has been this way for years."

"Ok and where has he been living?"

"Maybe his caretaker was a parent. He's in his forties his parent could have been elderly and they passed away leaving him alone, now you said that he has not shown signs of abuse or neglect up until maybe six to seven weeks, right?"

"Yes, it's possible, anything is possible."

Ally remains silent as she stands next to his bed, shaking her head in wonder. "The human mind has always fascinated me ever since I was a little girl. It protects you, but sometimes it is harmful and hides away memories."

"What are you thinking, that he did something, something horrible and now he's running away from it."

"Maybe," she rubs her forehead. "We don't know if he was the victim or….oh hell." Ally turns away from her patient "Come on, I'll buy you a coffee." The colleagues exit the room. "My treat," Ally says. "We'll go to the deli."

"I take it we're walking?" Tara asks as they exit the building.

"You don't want to walk, you a doctor who would rather…."

Tara smiles, "Ok, ok we'll walk."

The mat is hard but it is better than sleeping on the floor, no pillow and the blanket barely covers his large frame. No one comes into the room with the cement walls.

The opening of the door startles him and he squints when the light shines in the room. He starts to stand and someone yells, "Sit down!" He sits back down; three men walk in the room.

"You'd better not hurt him."

"I won't leave a mark on him."

He ignores the previous order and stands. "Take his shirt off and put this around his neck."

A red haired man places the tie loosely around his neck, while a bearded man grabs a hold of his arms. Maybe if this had happened days earlier he would have been stronger to put up a fight. However, he is too weak. A dark haired man walks closer to him. "Get him on his knees."

He struggles as hard as he can but the two men are overpowering him, he kneels. The dark haired man unzips his pants, "No one embarrasses me like that and gets away with it." He proceeds to stroke himself. "When he struggles pull on the tie." One man holds his arms behind his back while the other handcuffs him. The more he struggles the weaker he gets. "Pull on the tie!" He begins to gag from the oxygen being cut off. The red-haired man lets up. Suddenly he stops moving, "That's right, why fight it." The dark-haired man caresses his cheek. "Hold his head."

The red-haired man grabs a clump of hair. "You know what I like more than anything?"

"Am I supposed to answer you?" he says with a scratchy voice.

"At least he still has a sense of humor." he smiles. "I would rather fuck you in the ass, but that might leave a mark."

He is hard now and holds his dick inches from his face. He slides it over his eyelids, his cheeks and then circles his mouth. Guiding it along his bottom lip and then his top lip. "Open your mouth."

He starts to squirm again. The noose around his neck once again gets tighter, he gags, the bearded man gets a tighter grip on his arms holding him in place. The red-haired man has a hold of the tie with one hand and a clump of his hair with the other. "Hold his head up."

"Let him go," a voice is heard from the door. The red-haired man and bearded man let go instantly at the sight of the white-haired man. He slumps to the floor, gasping for air.

Standing directly behind him is a broad shouldered man measuring in at about six-foot six.

"The hatred that you have for this man and you stop me from…."

"I warmed you once not to harm him, I will not warn you again." He turns to leave, following close behind is the red-haired man and the bearded one.

"Come on, move it!" barks the large man.

He bends down to pick up the tie, "I'll be back, you can best believe that."

The door closes and the lights go off.

He lies down, covering his face with his hands. "Holy shit, I don't understand this, why? Why keep me from harm? He protects me from him." He stands, rubbing his bearded face. "The other two seem in fear of him yet they listen to the old guy." He stands, "When he comes back; he is going to kill me." He walks across the little room with his arms stretched in search of the door, he finds it. He begins hitting it as hard as he can, he screams, "Just do it now! Why wait," he bangs on the door again, "What are you waiting for, just do it now you sick mother fuckers!

No one opens the door, how many times he banged on the door, he lost count. How long he called to them, the time drifted by. His strength is diminished as he falls to his knees.

He opens his eyes and he feels a small sense of relief when he realizes that he is not in the room that he sees in his dreams, however he's not comfortable here either. He expels a long breath.

"Do you see them in your dreams, can you see their faces?" He continues to face forward, Ally wants to grab his chin and turn his head to face her, she lifts her arm, then stops. "Talk to me Buddy, I know you can." She sits back in the chair. "Why are you afraid to let people in? No one here is going to harm you. You know that, I know you do. It's time; it's time to trust someone." He swings his legs off the bed. She moves her chair back to allow him to stand. She watches him as he walks across the room entering the bathroom, closing the door behind. "He trusts me," she scoffs as she remembers Tara's words, "He doesn't trust," she tilts her head. "He doesn't know who to trust."

When he finishes his business in the bathroom he slowly opens the door, the room is empty. At first he is elated that she is gone then he's saddened, she seems genuinely sincere, but is she? He slumps in the chair, She seems familiar but….but who? Eyes open he stares at the ceiling. Who? That is a big word, who? He sits up straight in the chair, Buddy….Buddy. He frowns, is that my name? Rubbing his temples in the hope that a memory of anyone, something before he came here comes to mind, nothing, like yesterday and the day before.

TBC