The first time Bree met Leo Dooley was in the middle of a storm, which was appropriate given the nature of their relationship. She had heard knocking at her door late in the evening and opened it to find a drenched Leo. She stared at him for a minute, he had a suitcase next to him, which was also soaking. He opened his mouth after an intense minuet and asked
"Is Tasha Dooley here?" he asked. She shook her head
"No sorry" she apologised, considering inviting the poor man in anyway, to avoid his death.
"You sure, I'm sorry you might know her as Tasha Davenport" She grinned, realising he was on about her step mother.
"Yeah… erm is she expecting you?" she asked. He laughed
"I don't think so, I haven't spoken to my mother in a while" She looked at him, confused
"Just give me a minuet" he then proceeded to shut the door and call Tasha who told her to keep Leo in the house, as such the girl invited him in.
Twenty minuets later found the pair in the living room, drinking hot chocolate, Leo had borrowed some of Adams clothes and was looking much dryer. Bree stared at him
"Take a picture, it'll last longer" he said. She frowned
"Sorry… it's just, she never mentioned a son" Bree admitted. Leo laughed
"I suppose she wasn't, I was her biggest pride and disappointment, a real treasure"
"Why wouldn't she mention you though, what you did couldn't be that bad."
"Well considering I just spent a year in Juvie…" she looked at him shocked but was interrupted by the front door opening. A heavily pregnant Tasha rushed in and pulled him into a hug. Bree didn't say anything to Leo for the rest of the night as Leo was introduced to her family.
From the moment she met Leo she observed him, he was quiet to say the least, he seemed especially smart. He had given Chase a run for his money on certain topics. Other than a slight arrogance he seemed nice. It didn't go unnoticed however that Leo was never allowed near a computer. He, of course had a phone but she had been on it and it was severely restricted. She tried asking Tasha about Leo's lack of technology, but the women refused to tell her, so Bree left it. She instead continued watching Leo and what she found was rather intriguing.
One sunny afternoon she found herself outside as a crowd gathered around two boys, Leo and a rather bulky teen. Bree felt her face fall, there was no way that Leo would win against him and Bree wished that for once she could use her bionics and save him. Alas it seemed however that she was wrong as within seconds Leo had the boy on his back, disarmed. He sat there on the boy as he struggled, until a teacher came and broke them apart. Leo grinned at Bree as Perry dragged him to her office.
Later that night Tasha yelled at Leo so loud that Bree could hear two floors up. She cringed as Tasha threatened to ground him till he died and send him back to prison. Leo had apologised and sulked up to his room, where Bree was sat. He said nothing as he walked in and flopped onto a chair. She looked at him, interested.
"Why did you do it?"
"Do what?" he asked, playing dumb. She grinned
"Don't be coy" He laughed at her
"I don't like bullying" he admitted, she raised an eyebrow at him.
"Then what do you call what you did?" she asked. He shrugged his shoulders
"Justice" Bree gawped at him. How could getting in a fight be called justice?. She didn't have time to ask as Leo smiled
"I don't beat people up for fun, he was harassing an eleven-year-old and… I as I said I don't like bullies" Bree nodded
"Now if you don't mind I have homework to do" she took this as her que to leave and left him to revise.
Bree hated to admit it but the thought of Leo being in juvie played on her mind, she just couldn't picture him doing something that bad. He was such a gentle being, he helped around the house, waited on Tasha hand and foot whilst keeping her brothers in check. She admired him to be honest, he blended in with her crazy family and despite the fact he wasn't allowed near computers, he seemed normal. Yet curiosity killed the cat and she decided after feeling like she should know she typed his name into google. The first page read
School boy kills principle another page read
Teen hacks principles emails
She gasped and printed it off and ran downstairs, she had to get answers. She found Tasha watching TV, the women looked up and opened mouth but was interrupted.
"You've let a murderer into our home!" she screeched. Tasha paled
"H-how did you find out?" she stammered. Bree glared at her
"Google" she huffed. Tasha got up, struggling under the weight of her baby. When she did Bree could see her face clearly, she looked terrified.
"Bree… you don't understand!" she said. Bree huffed
"Then make me!" she demanded. Tasha frowned
"There were certain circumstances… look you've seen Leo for what he is… but you know he isn't bad" Bree paused for a second. She had thought Leo was a gentle being, albeit being a little strange and she seriously wanted to believe he was good. She didn't know how to though, the newspaper stated quite clearly that Leo had murdered his principle. Bree looked at Tasha, uncertain.
"Tasha… how can he be good? He murdered someone"
"The world isn't split into good people and murderers Bree… sometimes…. sometimes…"
"Sometimes what?" she yelled.
"Sometimes the wrong thing can be the right thing" a voice echoed behind them. Bree spun around to see her stepbrother. She glared at him
"Right and wrong aren't the same thing Leo, killing someone is evil!" Leo laughed at her. Bree could feel herself getting more and more annoyed as her face grew red.
"Listen Bree I won't deny I did a bad thing, but I did it for the right reasons."
"How can killing be right?." She asked. Leo just stared at her, as if she was a wild animal. Bree screamed in frustration
"We let you in Leo… we let you in to our home and all this time you were a killer."
"Oh puh-lease that's a bit strong!" he yelled back.
"Well it's true!"
"He deserved it!"
"How does someone deserve to die!." There a moment of silence in which Leo and his mother seemed to be conveying a silent message. Leo shook his head, but Tasha ignored him
"He was raping students" at this the pressure in the room fell, it felt like a weight had been dropped on Bree's heart.
"He what?" Leo hung his head
"She means student" Bree turned to him, forgetting he was even there.
"I… I don't understand" she admitted. Leo pulled out his phone, a phone Bree wasn't aware he had. He pulled up a picture of himself and a girl, the girl looked a couple years younger than him.
"That's Paige, her older brother Roger was my best friend. Paige was like my little sister, she would tag along on everything we did, Roger hated it, but I thought it was funny. Over the years Paige and I grew close… she became part of our little group and when Roger wasn't around I looked out for her." Bree couldn't really see where this was going but listened on anyway.
"When Paige joined us in high school she changed, she grew up I guess. She was still the same, but it only hit me that she was a girl. It was at the end of the year when she changed, she was more reclusive and began wearing sweats, even in summer. She stopped going out and kept getting called to the office. She told everyone that it was because he was giving her extra teaching, but I knew something was up. So, after school I waited for her, when she left her clothes were torn and she was crying." Leo took a deep breath as Tasha placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I confronted her, and she eventually caved, told me he'd been raping her since the beginning of term, saying he would revoke her brothers football scholarship if she didn't let him." Leo looked off into the distance as if reliving a memory.
"So I decided too help her, took her home and let her stay at mine and I decided to hack his computer. What I saw there sickened me, he had pictures of her and many other girls, usually cheerleaders getting changed and emails depicting what I can only describe as haunting. So, I took the emails to the police and left it, when I got home she was gone, I only found out two days later that she'd killed herself. The police did nothing, saying the evidence was obtained illegally and that since Paige had killed herself there was no way they could preform on her to see if she had been raped." Bree had tears down her eyes. Leo gulped in air as he tried to calm himself down.
"I didn't go there with the intention of Killing him… he just started taunting me saying how pure she was and how good she was and how she would cry out for me. So, tell me Bree, how doesn't he deserve it!" Bree wanted to defend herself but couldn't.
"I… murder is wrong" she whispered. Leo nodded
"I know, I don't regret what I did though… Paige deserved justice even if the police thought not" then the teen turned on his heel and left.
The next two weeks were awkward for Bree, she daren't approach the subject of Leo's twisted past but at the same she needed, craved more information as such she decided to go to his old hometown. It didn't take long, with her super speed nothing did. When she got there, she looked at the piece of paper in her hand. It held the address of the one person that could either save Leo or hold him accountable. It held the address of Paige's brother, Roger. When she got there she tentatively knocked on the door, to her surprise and old lady answered.
"Hello?" the lady asked. Bree took a deep breath
"Hi… is Roger home?" she asked. The lady frowned
"Whose asking?" she demanded. Bree gulped
"My names Bree… Leo sent me" there was a moment silence before the door opened fully.
"Roger isn't here" she admitted
"Do you know where I can find him?" the old lady looked down.
"My grandson… he isn't well" she told Bree. Bree glanced at her
"Is he in hospital?" she asked. The lady sighed
"Of a sort, he's in the state psychiatric facility… if you must see him be gentle" Bree nodded and began to run.
The facility looked graceful with pearly white gates and long winding grasslands. Roger however did not, he had scars covering his hole body, including one long red scare across his neck. Bree paled, he had obviously tried to kill himself and as the nurse reminded her was very unstable. Bree attentively took a step forward.
"Hi Roger… I'm- "
"Bree, I know" Roger interrupted. Bree stopped, stunned
"How do you know my name?" she asked. Roger sighed
"Leo warned me you might be coming" he admitted. Bree was stunned, it looked like Leo might have known her far more than she thought.
"Yeah… look I know you may not want to talk about it but… I need to know… am I living with a mad man?" She blurted out. Roger sighed and pointed to a chair. Bree sat down
"Yes" he answered. Bree paled; she knew it! Leo was psychotic, well she thought she knew it until Roger interrupted.
"He's quite possible the maddest man I have ever met just not for the reason you think. Yes, Leo was charged for murder but how long did he get Bree?" Roger asked.
"A year" Bree answered, confused.
"Yes and that seems possibly the shortest murder sentence ever, you see Bree there's more to the story… more than you and anyone else knows, more than I can tell you. Leo is mad because he is the most creative, selfless and quite possible highly intelligent creature I have ever met. He hides behind different personas Bree Davenport. It used to be a quiet but clumsy boy who always ran his mouth, now it's a dark but mysterious character. There's more to Leo Dooley Bree… just like there's more to you. Now If you excuse me" then before she could react Roger turned on his heel and left.
That night Bree snuggled into her pillow with more questions than answers. Just who the hell was Leo Dooley and why did he hide so much.
