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A/N: This song was playing on loop whiles writing this chapter. Make of that what you will 🙂
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He had scheduled his escape for the days following his exams. His father may not think he deserved to complete his high school education, but he understood the importance of a degree and his father’s actions just fueled his determination to pass. If for nothing else than to spite him.
The plan was simple. The manor was always in a state of heightened security whenever both his parents were in residence, not least because of the additional presence of their respective security teams, so his great escape would have to take place when both his parents were away.
This premise sounded simple in theory; however, the reality was farther from that. Ever since his confinement there had rarely been a time when both his parents were absent from the manor at the same time.
He had briefly flirted with the idea of escaping when just one of them was home but had quickly discarded the notion. It would have been the height of stupidity to allow his impatience to foil his plans and that road was riddled with no end of complications. The first, choosing which parent to escape under.
His mother was immediately out of the question. As much as he hated to admit it, Victoria Mills was no fool and she would have sniffed an escape plan from miles away.
Under normal circumstances, his father would have been the ideal target, but his behaviour had been growing increasingly erratic and he was not keen to find out what would happen to him if he was caught without his mother there to defuse the situation.
No.
They both had to be away for his plan to work. In the meantime, he would bide his time and lull his captors into a false sense of security so when he finally struck, it would catch them with their pants below their knees or however that saying goes, which coincidentally, the second part of his plan also hinged on.
Embodying the “when the cat is away the mice would play” philosophy, whenever his parents were away, the manor staff underwent a complete transformation, shifting into a more relaxed, laid-back atmosphere. In other words, the perfect time to spring an escape.
Cissy, marvelous as she was, got him all the information he needed and together they were able to come up with an acceptable route of escape.
His plan was in three tiers. The first; “Distraction.”
The moment his parents were away, a fire would suddenly break out on the grounds of the estate, specifically the south side of the gardens. It wasn’t the most ideal place, but he had been feeling particularly spiteful when he came up with it, so his mother’s prized petunias it was.
While the staff were occupied with the sudden flames, the second tier would be initiated.
Blindness.
He had told Cissy where to find the electrical room and fortunately, the password to the doors had not been changed. In exactly fifteen minutes after the fire alarm went off, she would pull the circuit breakers, cutting off power to the entire east wing of the manor.
He had debated about cutting off power to the whole manor but that would have drawn far too much attention. One part of the house would do and would give him enough time to initiate the final tier.
Camouflage.
The fire served as more than a distraction. It was also a beacon to summon his getaway car. For all his clever schemes, the manor’s security team weren’t useless. By then, they would have noticed he was missing, and escaping would no longer be as simple as strolling out the gates.
He had spent sleepless nights trying to think of a way to overcome this conundrum, but the answer had come in the most unexpected form.
An ex-boyfriend of Cissy’s had reached out to her to pass a message from his little sister to Samuel. It turned out that she had been struggling with her sexuality and seeing the kiss had given her the courage to not only embrace who she was but come out to her family as well.
Samuel had written to tell him about the encounter and reading that her father was the chief of the local fire department, the final piece of the puzzle suddenly fell into place.
Luckily, her father was so grateful to them that he was willing to help sneak him out even if meant going against his parents.
It was all very tidy. When the fire department arrived to put out the flames, there would be a spare uniform waiting for him to slip into to blend with the other firefighters. And when the guards realized he was missing, they would be looking for a spoiled young master, not a soot-faced firefighter, giving him the perfect opportunity to slip away.
It wasn’t the best plan, but it was effective which was more than he could have hoped for given his conditions. Now, the only thing to do was wait for the right time to put his plan into action.
~
Jayden was not the only one with plans. Samuel was working on one of his own and he was both nervous and excited to see the reaction on Jayden’s face when he found out.
He was excited to see Jayden’s face in general. Weeks without his boyfriend’s caustic remarks and dry humour had left him feeling empty. The letters helped to dull the ache a little, but they were no substitute for the real thing.
He missed him. He missed the way he furrowed his brows when he was deep in thought and the subtle smell of paint that always hung around him. He missed the way his lips tugged slightly at the corner whenever he tried to hide his smile and the way they curled in distaste whenever someone or something inevitably disgusted him.
He missed everything about him, period, but hopefully, he would not have to miss his boyfriend for much longer.
Fernando oinked loudly, drawing him out of his thoughts. The door to his room suddenly swung open just as he reached down to push the fat pig out of his lap.
‘Finally,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘Any news?’
‘Why hello beloved sister, it’s great to see you! Why, thank you Samuel, it’s nice to see you too. How was your day Cissy? Not too draining, I hope. Not at all but thank you for asking. It’s the least I can do seeing as how you’re the one working tirelessly to break my boyfriend from the clutches of his crazy parents while I do nothing but lay around all day in bed playing with animals and sulking.’
Samuel gave her a droll look. ‘Are you done?’
‘Not really. I haven’t thanked myself for you yet.’
‘You know, having conversations with yourself is the first sign of schizophrenia. You might want to get tested. Have you considered getting a lobotomy?’
‘I see you haven’t lost your boyfriend’s delightful sense of humour,’ Cissy responded sarcastically as she flopped down on his bed. ‘I still don’t hear a thank you.’
‘What are thanks, but empty words? Besides you already know how grateful I am.’
‘No, I don’t.’
Samuel rolled his eyes at her. ‘You’re an attention whore, you do know that, right? Anyway, did you see Jayden? How is he? Do you know when he is going to break out?’
‘So many words, and still not a thank you in range.’
Samuel plastered a dazzling smile on his face. ‘Thank you, Narcissa, for your intrepidness, bravery, and sheer nerve in going undercover, risking life and limb to help recover my boyfriend from his dire situation.’
Cissy gave him a pointed look.
‘And you’re the best big sister to ever walk the face of this earth,’ Samuel finished with a sigh.’
‘Aww, I’m touched.’ Cissy gushed as the pig wobbled up the bed to nudge her hand with his wet snout. ‘Why hello Fernando. Did you miss me?’
Samuel cleared his throat loudly and shot her a meaningful look.
‘Right, right. No, I did not see your boyfriend, but I suspect he is much the same as the last time I did. And before you ask, no I don’t have any letters to pass to you.’
‘Do you know when he plans to break out at least?’ Samuel asked, struggling to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
Cissy shook her head. ‘I don’t know what his parents’ schedules are and as great and marvellous as I am, even I have my limits. We just need to remain in a constant state of readiness since it could happen at any moment.’ She caught the look on Samuel’s face and added, ‘I’m sure it would be soon though, so I wouldn’t worry too much.’
‘Easier said than done,’ Samuel muttered. ‘What about the other thing I asked you to find out?’
Cissy reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. ‘I followed your directions and found the man you wanted. I gave him your instructions and he said he could get it done in three days.’
Samuel took the phone and a small smile appeared on his face as he stared at the picture on the screen. ‘That’s great! My house arrest would be lifted by then so I can pick it up myself.’
Cissy hesitated for a second, choosing her next words carefully. ‘Listen, little brother, I’m not one to be a Debbie Downer, but are you sure about this? What you’re planning it’s… all I’m trying to say is make sure you know what you are doing.’
‘I do. Trust me on that.’
Cissy nodded and reclined further into the bed, placing her hands behind her head. ‘If you say so. By the way, if you do end up going, do me a favour and stop by my apartment to check on Charles. I haven’t had a chance to stop by since, you know, I’m currently preoccupied with saving your relationship.’
Samuel looked up from the phone. ‘Of course. How has he been doing lately?’
‘I don’t know, hence, the favour.’
Samuel gave her a dry look. ‘Obviously. I meant how is therapy working out? He started a few weeks ago, didn’t he?’
‘I don’t know that either. He doesn’t speak to me much.’
‘Gee, I wonder why.’
Cissy flung a pillow at his head. ‘Shut up. He barely speaks to his therapist come to think of it, but since he hasn’t killed himself yet so I’m going to assume it’s going as well as can be expected.’
Samuel bit his lip worriedly. ‘I was going to speak to Mum about it. I don’t think we’re doing all we can for him.’
‘He’s lucky we’re doing this much at all. Or do I need to remind you of how and why he ended up that way in the first place?’
Samuel shot her a reproaching look. ‘Don’t say that. It’s not nice.’
Cissy shrugged. ‘You’ve always been nicer than I am, that’s not going to change anytime soon.’
‘You mean I’m too soft.’
‘Your words, not mine.’
‘If you think that, then why are you helping him in the first place.’
‘I’m helping you, not him. You needed a favour and I obliged.’
‘I seem to owe you a lot of favours,’ Samuel muttered.
Cissy sat up and patted his arm cheerfully. ‘And don’t you forget it.’
Samuel’s next words were cut off when an explosive blast resounded from the lower parts of the house.
The siblings exchanged a knowing look before racing downstairs. They arrived just in time to see their mother step out of her laboratory, coughing loudly as a stream of smoke trailed behind her.
‘That could have ended badly,’ she stated, brushing the smoke from her clothes. She reached up to touch her face. ‘And I’m not missing any eyebrows this time so I’m going to count that as a win.’
Back in the lab, an angry cacophony of noises filled the air as the startled animals rattled about their cages. Birds squawked loudly as their wings beat flapped furiously around, mice skittered as they ran in circles and monkeys screeched as they shook the bars of the cages.
‘Quite down you lot. It’s your fault we’re in this mess in the first place.’ She patted her clothes and looked around her. ‘Have any of you perchance seen my glasses anywhere?’
‘I thought I heard something,’ Samuel’s father’s voice appeared down the hallway. He walked up to them carrying a bespectacled monkey in his arms.
‘There it is,’ Sandra remarked joyfully. ‘Juan Carlos, you naughty boy. What have I told you about stealing?’
The monkey hooted in excitement and jumped down to clamber up her arm. She plucked the glasses from its face and placed it on her own just as her second eldest child ran up.
‘Mum! Mother! Look what one of your pets did to my favourite loafers!’ Jake shoved the shoe under his mother’s nose. ‘What am I going to do now? I have a date in thirty minutes. Fix this!’
Sandra blinked down into the shoe to see an albino snake curled snuggly inside. ‘Oh, so that’s where you disappeared to. I was looking everywhere for you.’ She pulled out the snake and tapped it lightly on the muzzle. ‘Jake’s shoes are no place to lay your eggs, Juanita. You know how he feels about them.’
‘Is that it?’ Jake asked incredulously.
‘Juanita is very sorry. Aren’t you, darling?’
‘I don’t know why I bother. Thanks, Juanita. What a great way to start the night!’
Sandra draped the snake over her neck. ‘Now, who wants to help me clean up?’
Her husband looked away. ‘I’ve got this erm… meeting. Sorry, dear. I’m sure the kids would be delighted though.’
She glanced at Jake who let out a scoff. ‘I already told you; I have a date that I’m now going to be late to thanks to your snake.’
‘Why don’t you invite her over so we can meet her? We can have a nice family dinner.’
Jake snorted at the notion. ‘Not a chance. I don’t want her to know I’m related to you people.’
His eyes moved briefly to Samuel as he finished and though he pretended he didn’t notice; Samuel could still feel the small stab of pain that twisted in his chest.
‘What about you two?’ his mother asked as her gaze turned hopefully in their direction.
Cissy shoved him forward. ‘I can’t but Samuel would help. Won’t you, Sammy?’
‘You’re lucky I owe you,’ he muttered under his breath.
Cissy stuck out her tongue in response before walking away with the others. He flipped her off in return before following his mother into the still-smoking room.
‘By the way, Mum, there is something I wanted to talk to you about. Several things actually…’
~
Three days later, the doorbell chimed softly as Samuel stepped out of the shop and onto the empty sidewalk on a quiet city road. His face was obscured by a large baseball hat and dark sunglasses to prevent people from recognizing him, and in his hand was a small paper bag that crinkled slightly as he clenched it nervously.
The afternoon air hung with a subdued calmness as he lifted the paper bag with nervous excitement. He reached into the bag and took out a small onyx box, its polished surface gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight. Prying it open, he looked once more at the ring that lay nestled inside the soft velvet, studying the way it caught and reflected the light with every movement.
Cissy had not been the only person who had had reservations about his plan. Paul hadn’t been keen either when he told him about it, but he didn’t care. He may wear his heart on his sleeve and tend to rush into things, but he wasn’t naïve, and he wasn’t stupid either. He knew that the chances of him and Jayden lasting forever were slim and most high school relationships fizzled out by college. But he also knew that most wasn’t all, and he couldn’t live his life on a what-if. He knew what he wanted, and he was willing to put in the work to get it. After all, that’s what all relationships were; the conscious effort to keep loving and choosing to be with each other no matter what. It wasn’t all rainbows and roses -pun intended.
It wasn’t as if he was going to ask him to marry him now. If they did get married, and he very much hoped they would, it would be years into the future, at the very least after they had graduated from college. It was more of a promise ring than an engagement ring. Even if it wasn’t, considering that in these past few months, he and Jayden had gone through much more than your average married couple would in years, he figured they had more right than others to lay claim on that privilege.
Despite his convictions, however, he was still nervous about how Jayden would take it. Even though he knew his boyfriend better than any other person it was still difficult to predict his thoughts. Somehow, he had still managed to maintain that air of mystery about him.
Samuel smiled down at the ring. That didn’t matter, he had their whole life to keep peeling back the layers.
He closed the lid and placed the box back into the bag before turning to begin his long journey to Cissy’s apartment. The sunlight cast long shadows on the pavement, accentuating the cracked details of the sidewalk beneath his feet.
It was a calm and peaceful day. The street was sparsely populated with only a handful of people going about their day and the road beside was empty except for the occasional car that drove by.
He was about to turn down the alley when two figures slammed into him, the force of the collision sending everyone to the ground and knocking the sunglasses off Samuel’s face.
For a moment, the world blurred around Samuel in a disorienting haze as he lay there trying to make sense of what happened. He turned to the culprits and was met with two pairs of wide frightened eyes.
‘What the… what’s going on?’ Samuel asked, rubbing his head in an attempt to clear the fog from his brain. ‘Why are you running? And who are you running from?’
Before the boys could answer several pairs of running feet could be heard and a voice suddenly broke out.
‘There they are! Quick, get them!’
The boys glanced at each other in fear and were about to bolt when Samuel stopped them. ‘It’s too late. Don’t run, you’ll only make it worse.’
He got to his feet as a gang of six men ran up to them. ‘Why are you chasing after them? Did they steal from you? If so, I’m more than willing to pay three times over for whatever was stolen.’
Their leader, a tall well-built man with a scarred face and a scraggly beard, stepped out and scoffed.
‘They didn’t steal anything.’ He pointed his club at the boys who were cowering behind Samuel in fear. ‘We caught these two faggots making out, but they run away before we could beat their unnatural behaviour out of them.’
Samuel glanced at the boys who couldn’t be more than fifteen years old then back at the men who were surely in their twenties if not early thirties. ‘They are children.’
‘Exactly. We need to correct them while they are young before it is too late.’
A loud murmur of assent rippled through the group at their leader’s words. By this time, a large crowd of onlookers had begun to gather.
‘Gentlemen, while I agree with your sentiments, we can’t just lay our hands on kids. It’s against the law.’
‘It’s also against the law to engage in homosexual activities,’ someone in the crowd shot out and a clatter of agreement accompanied his words.
‘You’re right. So, let’s leave it for the police to deal with it,’ Samuel tried to reason.
‘The police? Pah!’ the leader spat out in disdain. ‘Who in their right mind trusts them? You think they are working to rid society of these scum?’ he yelled out into the crowd. ‘They do not work for the people they work for the aristocrats and the leader of the aristocrats is none other than the Mills and their own son is part of those scum. Do you think his father, for all his righteous words and posturing would go against his son? They think we are idiots, but we know better!’
‘Yeah, yeah!’ the crowd roared.
He turned and pointed his club at the quailing boys. ‘We need to take justice into our own hands, and we are going to start with them.’
‘He’s right!’
‘Let’s get them!’
‘We can’t trust the government!’
Samuel felt that things were rapidly growing out of control. The larger a crowd grows, the more stupid and bloodthirsty it gets.
He was about to cut his losses when help came from an unexpected source.
‘And why is it wrong for a boy to kiss a boy?’ a sharp voice challenged.
All heads turned to the lone voice, an old woman with a yellow shawl draped over her shoulders.
‘Or a girl to kiss a girl,’ she went on undauntedly. ‘In my opinion, the world would be a better place if everyone stopped fighting and just kissed each other.’
A small section of the crowd murmured in agreement. The leader could feel his hold beginning to lessen. He glared at the old lady and sneered, ‘Because it is against the law.’
‘You were just speaking about breaking the law a minute ago, don’t pretend you care about the law. And who makes the law? We do, and we are humans. We are not perfect, and just because it is the law doesn’t make it right.’
‘It is also against the bible,’ the leader spat out.
‘So, everyone has to be Christian now? And even that claim is debatable.’
‘It’s also against the Qur’an, the Torah, and any other sane religion.’
‘Who are you to claim your religion is saner than others? What proof do you have that others don’t? We all subscribe by faith, and you have no grounds to dictate the faith of others.’
Things were getting heated now.
‘You are so hellbent on justifying this perversion when it’s not natural!’
‘I have two male dogs that keep going at it like it’s nobody’s business. Would you care to tell them it’s not natural? Two male swans in the park have mated for life, maybe you would like to break the news to them? Just the other day, I was watching two female penguins on the nature channel who have decided to mate. I don’t think they got your memo.’
It had turned into a shouting match and the crowd was now clearly divided into two camps. Emotions were running high, and Samuel wasn’t going to wait for things to turn bloody.
He gestured to the boys behind him to come closer. ‘We need to get out of here. There’s no chance of slipping out unseen so when I give you the signal, we run. Got it?’
The boys nodded and Samuel turned his attention back to the loud chaos the crowd had descended into. When he was certain that no one was paying attention, he gave the signal.
‘Run!’
The boys bolted and it took a few moments before anyone registered that they were gone. When the leader realized his face twisted in fury.
‘After them,’ he yelled out.
He was about to follow when the old woman fastened herself onto his arm. ‘Let them go you brute!’
He tried to shake her off, but she was curled around him like a vice. His patience finally ran out and he knocked her off with a heavy blow to the head, causing her to crumple down to the ground with barely a sound.
‘Come on!’ he called to the crowd, and they sprinted after them.
The boys had already gotten a head start and they ran for everything their life was worth. Their breaths fell out in heavy puffs and their lungs burned as they spurned their legs to go faster.
They cut through roads and weaved quickly through alleys but behind them, they could hear the crowd catching up.
The younger of the boys suddenly tripped and fell, causing the other to pause and immediately rush to his side.
‘Come on,’ Samuel said urgently. ‘We need to get out of here.’
‘I don’t think he can keep this up for much longer,’ the older boy said defensively as he helped his friend to his feet.
Samuel glanced around them anxiously but there were no cars or taxis in sight. He shook his head in frustration and quickly reached into his pockets and pulled out his wallet.
‘Take this,’ he ordered, thrusting it into the older boy’s hands. ‘I’m going to hold them off, you two keep running until you find a cab. Ask the driver to take you to 12 Moon Crescent and tell the porter that Samuel sent you. He would let you into my sister’s apartment. You would be safe there.’
The boy looked suspiciously down at the leather wallet in his hand. ‘This is a trick, isn’t it? You are splitting us just so you can leave us behind and save your own skin.’
Samuel rolled his eyes impatiently and glanced behind them before responding. ‘If I wanted to leave you behind, I would have just run off and left you here.’
The boy clenched the wallet tightly. ‘You are going to come back for us, right? Promise me.’
Samuel reached into the paper bag and pulled out the ring box. ‘You love him, don’t you?’ he asked, gesturing to the boy by his side. ‘I have someone I love as well and I’m going to give them this ring.’ He placed the box into the boy’s hand. ‘I’m trusting you with it, take it and keep it safe. I’ll be back for it.’
The boy looked down at the box with wide eyes, but they didn’t have any more moment to spare.
‘Go!’
The boys nodded and ran off, leaving Samuel behind to face the crowd that came panting up a few seconds later.
‘Where are they?’ the leader asked furiously, breaking through the crowd. He cast a mad gaze around him. ‘Where are you hiding them?’
‘I’m not hiding them anywhere and I want to find them as well,’ Samuel answered with the best anger he could muster. ‘I tried to help those rascals and they repaid me by robbing me blind. Go ahead and search me if you don’t believe me. They stole my wallet and a priceless ring. I want to find them even more than you do.’
The leader regarded him suspiciously. ‘I do not believe you,’ he decided finally. ‘Hold him down.’
Arms suddenly reached out and grabbed him, locking him in place. Samuel stared up brazenly. ‘I have nothing to do with this. Your fight is not with me so let me go.’
‘It became your fight when you helped them escape.’
‘Hold on,’ someone said. A woman stepped out from the crowd and peered closely at Samuel’s face. ‘You look familiar.’
The leader frowned as he slowly recognized what the woman was saying. ‘Take off his hat.’
The baseball cap was yanked off Samuel’s head.
‘It’s you!’
A ripple of shock went through the crowd as Samuel’s recognizable face stared defiantly at them.
The leader let out a hoarse laugh. ‘No wonder you helped them escape. You are one of those scums. You thought you were so untouchable with your money and family behind you but look at you now. Justice has delivered you to our hands to pay for your crimes.’
‘That’s Samuel!’ a shout went up.
‘Let him go!’
The crowd was three times larger than before and was beginning to grow restless.
‘Beat him up!’
‘Kill him!’
‘Marriage equality for all!’
‘Say no to homophobia!’
‘Say no to gay marriage!’
‘LGBT rights are human rights!’
‘You are filths!’
‘Braindead bigots!’
‘Degenerates!’
It was now a full-scale riot, and blows were being thrown all over. Alarms wailed as windows were smashed and cars were broken into.
Samuel was no longer the focus of the chaos, everyone screaming and fighting to get their own points across. He managed to slip out of his captor’s grasp and hid himself in the thick of the crowd.
The police had been alerted by now and sirens wailed in the distance as Samuel tried to get out of this chaos.
A deep voice from a megaphone sounded above the din. ‘This is an unlawful assembly; you are hereby ordered to return to your homes.’
The crowd paid it no mind as the mayhem continued. Stones and bricks flew through the air as the police tried to restore order.
‘This is your last warning. Disperse peacefully or we’ll be forced to apply force.’
A brick fell through the windshield of a police cruiser in response. Five minutes later, swarms of police officers descended into the crowd in riot gear, and warning shots were fired into the air.
The mob immediately descended into panic as they tried to get away from the incoming horde of policemen. Samuel ducked through the throngs trying to seek shelter as the police rounded drove after drove of rioters.
A section of the rabble tried to fight back which caused the police to fire gunshots into the crowd. Samuel was about to dive for cover when a bullet whizzed through the air and buried itself in his skull.
He collapsed to the ground and blood slowly began to pool around him. There was one thought on his mind as feet stomped over him and that was the name of the person he loved the most in the world. He breathed that name out in the whisper of a prayer as the world around him faded into blackness.
‘Jayden.’
~
Jayden sat up straight as an icy shiver ran down his spine. He strode over to close the window, but it didn’t stop the cold feeling of death that wrapped around him like a shroud.
Something felt wrong but he couldn’t place his figure on what it was. He stared out into the sprawling grounds of the estate before shaking himself and turning from the window.
He couldn’t afford to be paranoid now. To distract himself, he allowed his mind to go over every strenuous detail of his plan once again. He would only have one chance to escape, and nothing could go wrong.
He was suddenly jolted out of his reverie when a piercing wail reverberated across the building. Sounds of running feet could be heard outside his door as the guards ran past his room.
The alarm.
He quickly got to his feet and looked out the window. Sure enough, faint wisps of smoke could be seen curling up from the gardens at the south side of the manor.
He mentally counted down the minutes in his head and right on time, on the fifteenth minute, the lights in his room suddenly went out.
He was already on the move. There was no time to waste. He raced to his closet and pulled out his backpack, shoving in the few clothes he needed before moving to his desk and taking out the letters Samuel had written to him.
After he was done storing those securely, he ran out of his room but instead of heading down the staircase, he ran up them taking two at a time, towards his parents’ bedroom.
He had no delusions that his father wouldn’t come for him when he found out he had escaped and the only place he would be safe was out of the country where his father didn’t have the power to bend the arm of the law to his will.
All his important documents, his passport and certificates, were stored in a safe in his parents’ room and he was not leaving without them. The alarm continued to ring in the background as he reached the door to the master bedroom and wringing it open, he raced into his parents’ large walk-in closet.
He counted down the minutes in his head as he punched in the code which was ironically his date of birth. There was a soft beep and the door clicked open.
He quickly rifled through the stacks of documents until he found the folder that contained all the documents related to him. He didn’t have time to go through every single one of them so after confirming his passport and birth certificate were there, he shoved the entire folder into his backpack.
He was about to leave when he caught sight of large wads of cash nestled in the bottom rung of the safe. He shrugged and shoved them into his backpack as well. Instead of looking at it as stealing, he would consider it as payment for not suing for emotional distress.
He closed the safe and hoisted his backpack onto his shoulder before stepping out of the closet. He was about to walk out the door when something caught his attention from the corner of his eye.
He changed direction and made his way towards the large vanity where a pile of papers lay scattered on the table.
IS YOUR CHILD POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL? REV. A. WARNOCK CHRISTIAN CENTRE WOULD BE THE BEST PLACE FOR THEM!
CONVERSION THERAPY: IT’S NOT AS BAD AS IT SOUNDS.
JOIN THE ISRAELI DEFENSE FORCE: WHERE WE TURN WIMPS INTO MEN
Jayden sifted through the flyers and posters until he came to a stack of printed emails. They were all from his father’s email account to a silas.octavius@sexresearchcentre.org.
He picked up the paper that lay at the head of the pile.
From: rogerfmills@yahoo.com
To: silas.octavius@sexresearchcentre.org
Re: Admission Inquiry
The Honourable Mr. Mills,
We were most flattered when we received your offer to make a sizable donation to our humble institution. It is no secret that we are short of funds and research of the size and importance we hope to achieve is expectedly very expensive to undertake. Please be assured that your funds will be used to carry out our noble vision of providing corrective sexual orientation therapy to those who suffer from the affliction of attraction to the same gender.
Per our last correspondence, we would be honoured to receive your son as our ward and be reassured that he would be provided with the care and attention that befits a person of his station.
We understand that a person of his noble parentage would need to be kept out of sight to prevent unwanted rumours and I wanted to personally assure you that no one would learn of his location. As far as the world would be concerned, your son would be away on an extended sabbatical.
I am aware that you might be having certain misgivings since we are still at the experimental stage of our research but allow me to point out that this is a noble cause we are undertaking, and like many other such causes, some element of risk must be involved. Of course, we have taken every precaution necessary to minimize such risks, but we cannot be rid of them entirely. The question therefore is, do the risks outweigh the rewards? What do you stand to achieve if we are successful in this task?
Whatever your final decision may be, let me be the first to say it is my singular honour to have met your acquaintance. Only a righteous man would be willing to provide his son as a test subject to such a noble cause.
I hope this will be the beginning of a most fortuitous relationship.
Your humble servant,
Dr. Silas Theodore Octavius.
Chief Research Scientist
Sex Research Centre
Jayden’s hands clenched the paper as they began to shake slightly. Anger filled his vision as a mixture of hurt and indignation swirled in his chest. He was so consumed by the contents of the letter that he didn’t notice when the alarm stopped ringing. He did, however, hear the door to the bedroom click open, and he wasn’t sure how he knew, but he was certain that it was his mother who had just walked into the room.
‘Is that what I am to you?’ he asked softly, not bothering to turn around. ‘A test subject?’
The silence just made his anger soar even further. ‘You’re not even going to deny it?’
His mother didn’t answer, causing him to slam the paper down the desk in frustration, the echo of the impact mirroring his current mood.
‘Is who I am so disgusting to you that you would rather pump me full of drugs and God knows what else in a futile attempt to change me? Do you and Father not care if lose my mind or die in the attempt? Or is that a much more preferrable fate?’
The silence stretched between them making him lose whatever grasp he had left on his temper.
He rummaged furiously through the stacks of papers and pulled one out of the pile. ‘We have made tremendous strides on animal subjects and are hoping to begin human trials within the month.’ He paused. ‘Is that what I am? An animal that needs to be corrected?’
‘Answer me!’ he screamed, finally turning around to face the woman who gave birth to him, but the look of sadness and pity in her eyes caused him to falter.
‘What?’ he asked scornfully. ‘Are you feeling guilty?’
The way her eyes grew even more sad as she regarded him sent warning bells off in his head.
‘What is it?’ he demanded, a growing panic rising in his voice. ‘Tell me!’
His mother finally opened her mouth, and her words caused his hand to fall limp to his side, sending the papers fluttering to the ground around him in forgotten heaps.
‘It’s Samuel.’
Author’s Note: 👀
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