Chapter 16: The Truth Comes Out


Lance stared, mouth agape. He was so in shock that he found he couldn't move or even look away. He just couldn't believe what he was seeing. Bile was rising in his throat from the sight before him. It's disgusting what they are doing to him! He had peered inside the window to find Keith in bed between two others. Lance stares in shock as the two strangers completely take advantage of Keith. A painful yelp finally snaps Lance from his shock. He turns away and drops to the ground below the window. Unable to stop it this time, he runs to the side of the house as the contents of his stomach are expelled.

This goes on for a long while as Lance waits outside the window. Red hot anger pulses through his body. It took every last bit of his will not to go bursting in there. However, he doesn't know how violent those two are or how strong they are. He remains where he is, drawing blood from his palms from pressing his hands into fists so hard.

After a long time, he decides to chance a look. When he peers inside, his heart shatters at the sight. Keith is laying limply on his bed covered in sweat and breathing heavily. There are bruises covering him. His neck and shoulders are littered with dark purple hickeys. Keith's eyes are wide open but glazed over, void of any emotion. Lance quickly drops back to the ground when he hears the front door open. He peers from behind a bush as the two strangers get into their car and drive off. He waits a moment longer, and he's glad he did because he hears Keith's door open.

"Still alive are ya? Heh"

He peeks inside to find John standing in the doorway with a large stack of cash. He lingers only for a moment before leaving Keith without another word. Lance's anger is renewed full force. He sold his own son for cash?! He crawls over to the other end of the house and finds John's bedroom. He waits patiently until he hears John's loud snoring. That didn't take long. He returns to Keith's window to find he hasn't even moved. Lance wants to scream; he wants to murder those who did this to someone as precious as Keith!

He gently pushes up on Keith's window, thankful it wasn't locked. Once he gets it open, he finds the string to the blinds and pulls them open. As he climbs into the room, he ends up tripping and face-planting. Yet, even after all that commotion, Keith still hasn't budged. Lance takes in the look of the small bedroom. There are some new items there: a new dresser, TV, some motorcycle books, and art supplies. Despite that, there aren't many personal touches to the room. However, even with all these items, the room feels oddly empty. He turns to Keith, his skin shiny and slick and eyes still wide and unseeing.

"Uh… Keith? Buddy?"

No response.

Lance sighs. He isn't sure what he should do. He looks around and his eyes land on the dresser. Looking through the drawers, he stops when he finds some long pajama pants and shirt. He hits a fist to his palm. First thing's first. He needs to be washed up. He's sure they drugged him somehow. He pulls one of Keith's arms over his shoulder and lifts him up.

"Come on, buddy. We gotta get you cleaned up."

Keith is draped limply over him and Lance makes his way out to the bathroom. Keith's feet move languidly with him. Lances finds the bathroom and sits Keith on the toilet as he starts the water running.

He looks at the still naked Keith a bit awkwardly. He rubs the back of his neck. "Alright, can you… uh… I mean… unless you want me to…" Lance sighs. Keith doesn't seem to be hearing any of his words. He knows he's going to have to do all the work here. He can't dwell on the awkward thoughts. Keith needs serious help and Lance is the only one who can help at the moment.

When the water finally warms up, he pulls Keith back up; he stands a bit easier this time. He steps into the tub with little prompting from Lance but does little more than that. He just simply stands there, water running down his skin. Lance reaches for a wash cloth and drizzles it with some body wash. He begins scrubbing Keith down. Then he moves to shampoo his hair. As he begins scrubbing his scalp, he feels Keith lean his head back into his touch. He looks at him curiously; there is still no change in his expression. Lance gently pushes his head back a bit further to get him under the water. The suds quickly rinse down his body. Once finished, Lance finds a clean towel in a cabinet and drapes it over Keith after turning off the water. He coaxes Keith out of the tub and begins to dry him off. Keith's body just seems to move automatically. Lance pulls on his boxers and pajamas and leads him back to his room.

He sits Keith at the small desk next to his bed the proceeds to strip the bed. Nothing seems to have soaked through the sheets so the mattress is still clean. The mattress itself also looks somewhat new. He discards the sheets off to the side and sits Keith on the bed, taking the desk chair himself. After that, he isn't sure what to do. Keith is still unresponsive.

He sighs. "Now it all makes sense. All the things you were saying the other night? It makes sense now. The mystery lady, your 'work', not being allowed to say anything." He talks out loud to Keith hoping he'll respond eventually. "I still don't understand what you were saying was your fault." He placed a hand on Keith's and was a bit surprised to see Keith look up at him.

"L-Lance?"

"Keith!"

Keith's eyes widened and he started to back up but winces at the immense pain in his rear. "H-how long have you been here?" He seemed to just notice he was clean and in clean clothes. "W-what… h-how…" He looked back to Lance. "Did you…" He started to shake.

Lance grabbed both Keith's hands in his. "Hey, calm down. It's okay. Yes, I cleaned you up and got you into some clean clothes. I had to get that drug off of you. It seemed to be clouding your mind. As for how long I've been here…" Lance sat back in his chair, eyes never leaving Keith. "Well… long enough to know what happened."

Keith vigorously shook his head. He couldn't believe this. Lance wasn't supposed to find out, no one was. Not only that, but he seems to have blacked out at some point, who knows what happened in that time. . What could they have done to him? What doesn't he remember?

"Keith?"

Keith was brought from his thoughts.

"Keith, why didn't you tell me this was happening? These guys are raping you!"

Keith's eyes widened and he quickly shook his head again. "No! No, it can't be rape. Th-that's not what they were doing. I-I never told them no. I never fought back. S-so it can't be r-rape… can it?"

"Keith! Don't even try to justify this! It is clear as crystal you don't want this! They drugged you!" Lance was waving his hands around, voice rising.

The shorter teen just continued to shake his head in denial. "No, no, no. I l-let them. I let them do this. I… I-" Keith looked to the ground. "Anyway, it's only right. It's what I deserve."

There it was again. Somehow Keith is convinced he deserves all that is happening to him. "What on Earth makes you think you deserve this?"

Keith sighs. His next words are so quiet, but they are enough to thrust a knife into Lance's heart. "It's my fault my mom died."

Lance really doesn't know what to say. That certainly wasn't what he was expecting. He'd never heard Keith even mention his mother. The silence between the two dragged on and Keith's eyes never strayed from the ground. Lance finally decided to ask. "What, uh…" He cleared his throat. "What happened to your mom?"

Keith finally looked up. "Sh-she died when I-I was only s-seven." Keith sniffed. "She h-had cancer a-and it was all my fault!" He fell forward into Lance's chest and sobbed into his shirt.

Lance wrapped his arms around the scrawny boy, feeling tears of his own beginning to well up.

Wait!

Lance gently pulled Keith back to look at him. "She died of cancer?" He confirmed softly.

Keith nodded.

"Keith, there is no possible way that was your fault. You can't cause cancer in another person."

Keith shook his head. "No, it was her stress. The stress of having to raise me as a son, someone no one wanted… that's what caused it." His voice shook with sobs.

Lance's eyes were wide and furious. This is bullshit! He pulled Keith back in for another hug. He felt Keith bury his face into him. "That is all bullshit, Keith. It's nothing but a lie. Stress cannot cause cancer." He ran his fingers through the damp raven hair, soothing the weeping boy. "Whoever has been feeding you this shit, is a cruel, cruel person." He says 'whoever' though he already knows exactly who. This brings about another round of crying from Keith. Lance rubbed up and down his back, letting him cry as long as he needed to.

Keith isn't sure what to believe. He trusts Lance, but how could it not be his fault? That's all he's ever been told. How is he supposed to feel if Lance was right? That his father had been lying to him all this time? But why? Why would he do that? Keith shook his head in Lance's shoulder. No, his father wouldn't do that unless he had good reason. It's Keith's fault, that's the only explanation.

"Please, pleeeaaase believe me. You are an amazing person." Lance continued to rub his back, speaking softly. "There is absolutely nothing you could have done to cause your mother's death." He pulled Keith back gently to look at him. "You've gotta understand that." He watched as Keith sniffled and nodded. "So, uh, not to change the subject or anything, but what happened last week? You didn't show up at school all week."

Keith looked away. "Well, I uh… didn't go Monday because I had a uh… hangover." He mumbled the last word.

"Yea. I had a feeling that's why you missed. You were pretty messed up when you showed up at my place."

Keith just nodded.

"What about the rest of the days?" Keith was silent at first but Lance waited patiently.

When Keith finally started to speak, he refused to look Lance in the eyes. "Well… I got caught… sneaking back into the house. So I… I had to be… punished."

Lance was furious. It took a lot of will power to stay calm for Keith. "Punished…" Lance repeated. He took a breath. "How exactly were you… punished?"

"Well he, uh…" Keith hesitated. He has always been told not to ever tell anyone else. If he does… well, more punishment. But… he knows Lance can be trusted and he already knows other stuff… "He locks me in the hall closet." At Lance's enraged face, Keith hurried to justify the action. "But it's because I have to experience the darkness my mom is in now."

Lance was furious! No- he was beyond furious! How could someone do this to their own kid?! He took a deep breath before he exploded. "Keith…" He breathed again. "That is not a justification for his action. I am positive your mom is in a better place right now, not eternal darkness. I'm sure it is breaking her heart to see you treated like this." Tears finally began to fall from Lance's ocean blue eyes. He pulled Keith into another hug. He didn't resist but Lance could feel him shaking his head in his shoulder. He pulled him back to talk again. "Keith, you have to get away from this place. Come to my house, I know my mom will take care of you."

Keith shook his head vigorously. "N-no I can't do that! T-this is my home; h-he's my f-father. Plus he'll be furious if I leave!"

"My mom can protect-"

"No! I can't!" Keith pushed Lance away. "T-this is where I belong! This is what I deserve!"

The both sat in silence for a few minutes. Keith was panting and Lance was too shocked to say anything. Before either of them could talk, however, John comes bursting into his room. Keith's eyes widened in fear. It must have been my shouting! This is my fault! It is only yet another thing he must take the blame for. There is shouting and yelling, but Keith is too terrified to make any of it out. He grab's Keith's hair and drags him to that dreaded closet. Lance is fighting against him the whole time but John is too large and strong. After locking the closet, he turns to the intruder.

"You!" He begins in a gruff voice. "If you breathe a word of this to anyone, you're little boyfriend here'll get severely punished." Then he grabs Lance's wrist and drags him to the front door. Lance is still trying to get to the locked closet. He tosses Lance out the front door. "Stay away from my house boy!" After John shuts and locks the door, Lance continues banging and yelling until John shows up with a shotgun in hand. "You are trespassin' on my land! I have every right to shoot!" With that Lance reluctantly took off.


I decided to take down the previous chapter (those of you who had already read it). I am now trying to get away from that stuff now, which means some previous chapters are probably going to be edited a bit to make them a bit 'milder'. The storyline will not change but I'm trying really further the plot now. Until next chapter,

NyteXade