Special Needs

Chapter 32: The Friend

I finally cried myself to sleep, slumped against the door. When I heard the knob turning, I jumped up with a start to see Clive at the door.

"Is he okay?" I sobbed as I rushed against the door, trying to get past Clive but he grabbed me and pushed me back inside.

"They won't let you through," he said. "I don't know what's happening yet. But I came to bring you this." It was the manila envelope from the file cabinet, crammed even more full than I remembered it.

I took it and threw my arms around him. He held me and shushed me for a few moments, which was actually quite comforting, given the situation. "What if he dies?" I sobbed. "He can't die, Clive, he just can't."

"What happened?" He asked. "I saw the ambulance but Theodore took Harry somewhere in his own car."

"What?!" I shouted in horror. I pushed away and began maniacally pacing back and forth. "He wasn't breathing. I had to give him rescue breaths and he started again but what if he stopped again...oh my god, he's dead, isn't he?!"

Clive stopped me and gently but firmly took my face in his hands, forcing me to focus on him. "I honestly don't think Theodore would let him die. But I don't know anything yet."

I went to the kitchen and sunk down into chair and put my head over my arms, still crying. "I can't lose him." I had never felt such despair in my life. "Why won't they let me leave?" I asked, motioning towards the door.

"Theodore is a control freak," Clive plainly stated as he bumbled around the kitchen and I eventually realized that he had made a pot of coffee. He sat down next to me and said, "I'll wait with you. But first, go and hide that envelope somewhere before they get back." I nodded and went to tuck it between the mattress of my bed and the wall. I couldn't even think about the wealth of information it might hold. For now, my mind was consumed with getting Harry back alive.

"Please, take me with you when you go out there. I have to find out what's going on," I begged as I returned to the kitchen.

He spoke only two words in response, "I can't." But to me, they spoke volumes, communicating to me that Clive wasn't the free agent I had previously thought he was. "Please tell me what happened," he repeated.

He handed me a steaming cup off coffee and I started by telling him everything I could remember from when I'd first arrived, how I had quickly noticed Harry's intelligence, how Theodore wouldn't tell me what medications he was taking or what his diagnosed conditions were. I told him about the trip to Calgary and how I had kissed Theodore. "It wasn't my finest moment," I said dryly and Clive barked out a hearty laugh. "I mean he's a nice looking man. I didn't know what a lowlife he was until we returned. He essentially told me that Harry had been on his best behavior because he had a crush on me. He said...." My voice started to tremble and I tried my best to fight the tears. "He said Harry was just a trained monkey and a retard." I burst into tears repeating those horrible words. "I mean, you were with us on our day out in Calgary. Harry was acting like a completely normal young man." Clive nodded this time, instead of ignoring me the way he had in the Japanese restaurant. I looked at him in desperation. "How can anyone say things like that about someone else? Especially their own child? It made realize what a shit life Harry's had and that he needed to get out of here. I was hoping I could come up with a plan so that he could be free when he turned 18. Turns out he's older than that," I shrugged.

I knew that Clive was still holding back, but to be honest, I just needed to talk so it didn't matter whether he validated everything I was saying.

"Theodore has been trying to increase his doses of medication and I've been trying to decrease them," I said, sneaking a sheepish glance towards Clive. "My brother-in-law is a doctor and he's been helping me to wean Harry off some of the meds so he doesn't go through major withdrawal or anything. But Theodore caught on and he upped Harry's doses again. I flat out refused to give him the new medications or the higher doses until Harry had been seen by a doctor. So...Theodore threatened me, saying he would fire me if Harry didn't take all the medication."

"So what happened?" Clive asked.

"I defied him. I had told Harry that if I got fired, I would come back with the police and get him a lawyer. But Theodore didn't fire me. Instead, he made Harry take about five days' worth of extra pills all at one time."

"Fucking hell," Clive muttered, rubbing his hands over his face in disbelief.

"I...I made him throw up right after his father left," I said, becoming emotional at the memory, still fresh and painful from just a few hours ago. "But he passed out...and then he stopped breathing." A sob escaped my throat as I desperately tried to stay in control. "That's when I called 911."

"And Theodore took matters into his own hands," Clive finished and I nodded.

I sipped some more of my coffee and closed my eyes, feeling rather heavy embarrassment at what I was about to admit. "I love Harry."

"He's a very sweet boy," Clive agreed.

I bit my lip and looked at him somewhat apologetically. "No, I mean, I have feelings for him. I love him but I feel like...I'm falling in love with him. Is that insane? I mean, he's not a kid, you know he's 20 and I know it's weird because he was supposed to be a kid but . . . ." I didn't know what else to say.

While I was pouring my heart out, Clive's eyes had opened wide in curiosity, but he finally just nodded, saying, "Well, that's not too hard to believe. He's a great kid, good-looking, and I know he's smart as a whip."

"He's not disabled, right?" I asked, pleading for him to tell me I had been right all along.

"I can't...," he began. "I'm...I'm not supposed to talk about it," he finally admitted.

"I knew it!" I cheered because I knew exactly what he was admitting to without coming right out and saying it.

"And yeah, I knew he was older, too," Clive said. "I just kind of lost track of the years. How old did you say he is now?"

"He's twenty," I told him. "So you don't think I'm a creepy pedophile or anything, right?" 

Again, Clive laughed loudly. "Hell no. Anyone can see he's a great catch. It's just that Theodore is an idiot," he said, giving me a sheepish smile. "Turns out I am, too."

"You are nothing like that man," I told him. "You're here with me, which is more than anyone else in this whole damn house has ever done for me, besides Harry. Please, please help me to get him out of here," I begged.

He didn't have time to answer because there was a commotion at the door and I saw the same goons carrying Harry in the exact same way he'd been carried out. My hand flew to my mouth to stifle another sob, not knowing if I was seeing Harry or his dead body.

"Where do you want him?" One of the men asked.

I saw Theodore out of the corner of my eye. "Is he alive?" I asked, not really wanting to know if he was dead.

"He's fine," Theodore said shortly.

"Put him in my bed. I want to keep an eye on him," I told the men.

"I'm sure you do," Theodore remarked snidely.

If I had any energy left, I would have slapped his miserable face. "Fuck you," I seethed and followed the men to where they laid Harry on my bed. I had gotten there just in time to pull the covers back. I began removing his shoes when Theodore appeared in the bedroom doorway.

"I hope you've learned your lesson," he snipped. "Do not ever defy me again."

I couldn't care less about Theodore's lies and threats. All I could focus on was Harry and how vulnerable he looked. Once I got him undressed down to his underwear and t-shirt so he could sleep comfortably, I went back to the kitchen to find that everyone was gone, including Clive. I went out the first set of doors and saw through the windows in the second set that the same guard was standing outside, still keeping watch.

"Fuck them all," I spat. "We're getting out of here as soon as Harry wakes up. You can count on that, Theodore."

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