Slowly Tommy made his way down the vacant off-white coloured corridor, it felt miles long each side lined with windows followed by a door. The ICU was all private rooms so Tommy found it strange that there was a large glass window into each, he supposed it was for the nurses as they passed by just to keep an eyes on patients.
As Tommy made his way to Justin's room he tried his hardest not to stare into anyone else's room but it was a near impossible task. He was shocked by the same image that appeared in every room: clean crisp bed, prone still figure in the middle surrounded by monitors and an array of wires. Always the same solitary figure perched on the edge of a chair hand gripped around the poor unfortunate occupying the bed.
Before he had truly come to terms with the momentous trip Tommy was faced with room 416. 'J. WALKER' had been scrawled haphazardly on a whiteboard screwed to the wall. Tommy had to force his hands in his pockets to fight the urge to scrub it off with his sleeve and replace it with 'MY BABY BROTHER'.
Stepping forward a final step he instinctively took in a deep breath which was now automatically followed by the sting of tears, through the glass was the familiar image. This time it meant so much more though, the two figures in the room were Justin and his mother. His mother who so far knew nothing of the atrocities surrounding her son's life.
He gripped the handle till his knuckles turned white he vowed that no matter what his mother said or asked he had to let his father tell her the turn in events. He was so angry, he had never been so furious in his life, but it wasn't the time and certainly wasn't his place to break something like this to her.
Inside the room the rhythmic beeping had become white noise to Nora, it was taking all her energy just to keep her eyes open. She has lost track of the time, nurses had come and gone steadily, William had left some time ago and oddly never returned.
The noise of the handle made her jump, it wasn't a soft gentle opening like the nurses used it was more forceful, shattering the quiet that had been surrounding the mother and son.
Her eyes sprung up to the door way expecting to see her husband instead she was surprised to see a dishevelled and exhausted looking Tommy.
Tommy had forced himself to enter the room, a little too much as it turned out judging by his mother's reaction.
"Sorry." His voice sounded sore and scratchy after all the crying that had happened tonight.
"I…" His gaze fell upon Justin's face; it looked remarkably peaceful, at odds with the stark white room. "The nurse…she said I could come."
His mind had deserted him; he could barely form a coherent sentence. His feet propelled him forward to the empty lounge chair opposite his mothers. He reached out a tentative hand brushing Justin's scragg bangs from his forehead. Licking his dry lips he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on his pale brow.
Nora had said nothing, so unlike her really Tommy was just as worried about her as he was Justin.
"Dad's in the relative's room with everyone." Please don't fail me now, just once do what I ask of you Mum, please. "I think…I think he needs to talk to you."
"I can't believe this." William gripped the polystyrene cup in his right hand, "I mean I believe it but how could we not see, we never saw any of it, and how can that be."
"Mr. Walker, often children who are victims of abuse find very ingenious ways to cover up what has happened to them. They become experts at changing the subject or very secretive about their lives outside the home."
"That's what he is now." William glanced up at the puzzled expression on the detectives face. "A victim."
"Dad." Kitty pleaded beside him.
"All those years, every Saturday morning I pulled up outside the house, handed him a $10 bill and told him I'd pick him up in two hours. He never said. Never cried, never asked me to go home, just got out the car and went up the path."
"Mr. Walker you have to understand abusers set out to make their victims feel they have no option but to carry on the cycle of abuse. They use any leverage they can to keep them in their grasp and keep them quiet. Until we speak to your son we have no details of the events."
The small room which had been set aside for interviews fell silent.
The rest of the Walker family remained down the hall together in grief, one by one they had been called through by the two plain clothes detectives from the sexual crimes branch of California PD. Until tonight William had no idea such a department existed outside of movies.
The same questions were asked of them all: did they have any information, had they ever suspected, had Justin ever opened up to them. At this point the police had little to go on apart from the suicide note - that would be until Justin woke up and could provide details first hand.
"What happens now?" Kitty broke the silence that enveloped the room. "You'll make an arrest?"
The two detectives shared an awkward look over the table, one began uselessly shuffling the notes they had been compiling leaving it to his superior to handle that question.
"Not exactly Miss Walker."
"What?" Her fathers voice was a soft whisper but she knew that tone all to well, it was dangerous and threatening. "You are telling me that you're going to do nothing. He just carries on as normal, while my son lies in a hospital bed."
"Sir we have to bide our time, gather evidence, corroborate Justin's story, interview some other pupils we don't want to jump in with two feet and blow the case on a technicality."
William leapt to his feet, he should never have let Kitty talk him out of going to the house and knocking that disgusting man into next week, "Story? Story! How dare you stand there and imply that my boy could make something like this up. You need to get your thumb out your ass and go arrest that pervert."
"William?" Nora's voice cut through her husband in an instant.