“Kidnapped”, by Baby Jake

WARNING:

The following story contains mature and explicit scenes that involve children that could be considered violent or cruel – including forced regression, humiliation. Some scenes also contain strong violence, gore, and even child molestation.

The following story is a work of complete fiction, and is meant for a mature audience.

This is not a light-hearted story, nor is it a fetish story. It is not meant to be read as pornography. Read elsewhere for those things, there are many good stories to be found.

Do NOT continue reading if you are not capable of taking this warning seriously, and do NOT send me an e-mail complaining about it – you won’t be getting a reply and you will be wasting your own time.

You’ve been warned.

Special Thanks and Dedicated To:

Blake

Little Ben

Lukie

Tugs

For keeping me motivated the hard year I wrote this, helping me write this story with your valuable feedback, and simply being my friend.

I couldn’t have done it without you.

- Baby Jake

Prologue…

It was a beautiful, sunny, seemingly perfect spring afternoon outside. And all one particular boy could think about was just that. He was sitting in school, at a desk, surrounded by students, looking out the window, eager to be freed for the weekend to do whatever his 13 year-old self pleased. He was struggling with getting through those last five minutes of the school day, however. The teacher’s voice droned on and on, and it was practically putting him to sleep.

And at one point… he actually did.

“Jared!” the teacher yelled, startling him.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Wake up, class might be almost over but it isn’t over yet. Pay attention!” the teacher yelled, causing a bunch of students to laugh a bit.

He just nodded.

“Sorry, won’t happen again” he assured.

The teacher replied with a smile, and then went back to teaching. But just as the teacher was about to return to her lecture, the school bells rang, and everyone got up from their chairs and began leaving the classroom.

Jared pushed himself through the crowded school halls, and stopped at a particular locker, opened it up, and began to get his things.

“Hey Jared!” Jared heard from behind him.

Jared turned around, and there stood none other than Jared’s best friend, Tyler.

“Hey man, what’s up?” Jared said to him, closing the locker.

The two then began to walk down the hallway, carelessly bumping into other students, all headed towards the exit of the school.

“You want to try to finish that videogame today?” Tyler asked, and Jared nodded.

“You know it; we almost got General RAAM done with on Insane last time. I’m sure we’ll get it today” Jared said, talking about fighting a hard boss on a videogame (Gears of War) that they’ve been playing for the last several days.

The two boys walked and talked their way down the school stairs outside, all the way onto their bus, still talking about their videogame, getting all the more excited for the weekend so that they could finally beat it!

The two loved hanging out with each other, and have for a couple of years now. Ever since they met each other at recess several years ago, the two depended on each other for everything, even though they were two years apart from each other.

Jared had recently turned 13, and Tyler was almost 12 – but the two were like brothers. Tyler looked up to Jared like the older brother he never had, and why wouldn’t he? Jared was an excellent role model. He’s been on the honor roll at school every year since the two met. He never even thought about drinking, doing drugs, or any other illegal activity. And he even had a few badges as a boy scout.

And Jared watched out for Tyler – like his second little brother. If anyone ever antagonized him for anything Jared was always there to back him up. Tyler was a bit small for his age, but so was Jared. Neither of them were very big, though Jared was definitely very fit and athletic – but his body was still skinny, and a bit shorter than average. He would grow soon enough, though – and he knew it.

Plain and simply put though… nothing really mattered to either of them. They were best friends.

“Alright, here’s our stop” Tyler announced.

The bus slowly stopped at a 3-way intersection, and let the two boys off into the quiet suburban neighborhood they’ve known all their lives – and then drove off, leaving them alone by themselves on those empty, lonely streets.

It was only them two, and there was never any traffic on those roads. Most of them were dead-end streets, except for the main road that the bus was driving on – and even that main road only saw a few cars an hour.

“Just a few more minutes” Jared said, laughing.

And as the boys started walking towards a street, Tyler stopped – noticing his shoelace was untied.

Tyler reached down, and tied his shoes as quickly as he could, trying not to fall behind Jared, who was walking hastily in a rush to get home. He looked up, and Jared was walking off and away from him, not realizing that his friend had fallen behind.

He looked down, to watch what his fingers were doing as he tangled the laces into a knot. However… after only maybe 10 or 20 seconds… Tyler looked up, and there was no Jared. Jared had disappeared.

“Jared?” Tyler asked, now completely by himself.

There was not a sound. He looked around, and there was no one there. Only a couple feet ahead of him was another intersection, and maybe, he thought, Jared had turned down the street, which was unlike him as this was not the way the boys went every day.

Tyler got up, and kind of frightened at the sudden disappearance, jogged down the street to get to the intersection, so that when he would turn instead of going straight, he would find Jared.

And he did, he did turn at the intersection. And he did find Jared… but he was not alone – and his company was not friendly. Instead, what he saw was Jared, and two tall, masked figures were holding him and carrying him away!

“Jared!” Tyler yelled out of instinct, and this scared the two figures. They both looked over right at Tyler!

The muffled voice of Jared could barely be heard, even if they were only about 20 feet away from each other. And that’s when suddenly, one of the figures started running right at Tyler, and Tyler, turned around and ran as quickly as he could in the opposite direction.

“HELP! HELP SOMEONE IS TRYING TO KIDNAP US! HELP!” Tyler screamed, sprinting full speed back towards the main road the boys were just a few moments ago walking on.

But the person chasing him was fast and caught up to him before he even realized it. He felt someone push him, and because of how fast his legs were moving in the first place, Tyler fell hard onto the sidewalk.

Lying there, he turned around and looked up at the tall, masked figure, now towering over him. This villainous person then at once reached down, and picked Tyler up like an object.

Tyler screamed, kicked, and swung as much as he could, but all he did was in vain. Absolutely out of no where… there was a stinging sensation in Tyler’s back.

“AHH!” Tyler screamed.

“Shhh…” he heard from the masked figure.

Whatever this person had just done, it burned his back and felt painful. It felt as though his spine was being lit on fire… it was almost a numbing sensation really.

Numbing, indeed. Tyler continued to kick, scream, and flail as wildly as he could. But by the time he was carried back around that corner at that intersection where all of this was taking place… Tyler felt himself becoming weak, and quiet.

“Someone… help…” Tyler attempted to scream.

His voice was quiet, almost mumbling at this point. His kicks and punches were turning to random twitches. He was so tired suddenly… and everything around him was becoming blurry, and strange.

As a matter of fact… he didn’t even realize it, let alone fight it, when he was gently placed in the back of a van, and locked in the back next to Jared – who was in the same relaxed, obviously drugged state.

Tyler, as well as Jared, both slowly dazed off at that point. They closed their eyes, and then instantly went to sleep, and were out cold. The two boys were helpless. They were drugged, locked in the back of a van, and then driven off. These two boys were ultimately kidnapped that bright, sunny, warm afternoon.

Unfortunately for these two boys, the nightmare wasn’t over. It had only begun.

Chapter One… “Save Us”

“Ahhh…” Jared moaned as he slowly was beginning to come back to consciousness, feeling remarkably groggy. Even with his eyes shut he began to recall what had happened to him though. It was like the drugs were quickly fizzling out of his system, and he quickly regained his energy.

Was it real? Was he really kidnapped? Or was it all just a bad dream?

The truth was of course not good. Jared found this out when he tried to move, but he didn’t go anywhere, it felt as though both of his legs and arms were all tied individually, and he was laying spread out on a mattress. Nor could he see a thing, the room he was in was silent, and darkness of the blackest shade surrounded him. He could see nothing.

He was very awake now and scared too. A million thoughts were running through his mind as he came to realize that he was definitely not where he should have been! Where was he!?

Then he remembered Tyler! What happened to his friend?!

“Tyler! Tyler are you there?!” Jared yelled.

There was no reply from the blackness.

“TYLER!” Jared yelled again. He was starting to panic… his breathing was getting faster and shallower.

Still no response, though.

“TYLERRRR!” Jared screamed… he was now starting to cry, the end of his yell turning into a whimper, and tears were now building in his eyes.

He called out his friend’s name desperately, over and over again; waiting for an answer back, but there was always nothing in return.

However… once he had stopped calling out, and began to break down… there WAS a sound. At first, Jared didn’t catch it over the sound of his own desperate, terrified sobs.

But then he heard it, barely audible… and that’s when he stopped crying. It was a kind of jangling sound. It sounded… like someone sliding a key into a slot, and a doorknob beginning to turn!

Jared’s heart practically stopped. Someone was about to come into the room he was in, and they were going to meet face to face!

He didn’t even have time to imagine what may become of him at this point. Before he knew it, there was a shine of light from the far end of the room to his left, as a door was opened. He turned his head away from where the door was…

He heard footsteps, and then suddenly there was a flash of light that blinded him as he heard the flick of a light switch! As his eyes were latched shut from the sudden change in lighting, he heard the clicking of the door’s lock happen again. He was now locked in.

Jared was shaking with fear. He was cold, covered in sweat, and terrified. He could feel the haunting presence of someone standing over him, watching him shiver like a leaf. There was nothing but silence, and all he could do was anticipate something horrible to happen. His eyes were clenched shut, yet tears managed their way out. He was crying hard, but quietly.

He pictured the masked men in that street, towering over him, ready to do God knows what to his fragile body.

But… then the silence was broken.

“Its okay” said a voice. A… feminine voice; and the voice was not hostile in anyway… it was actually quiet and calm.

But Jared didn’t care; he flinched at the sound of the stranger’s voice, and only cried harder.

“Jared, calm down, its okay” said the soft, surprisingly motherly-like voice.

Jared just faced the opposite direction with his eyes shut (only his head was turned away, the rest of his limbs he could not move). He was so incredibly frightened and sad that he didn’t even notice that this mysterious woman beside him knew his name.

“…please don’t hurt me” he muttered.

“Oh, no one is going to hurt you here” he heard, though he hardly believed the stranger at all, and expected the absolute worst.

Suddenly, he felt the warmth of a gentle grasp on his arm. He jumped.

“Look at me” he heard.

He didn’t look at the woman. He shook his head a no, however.

“Jared, please look at me… I know you’re very scared but everything will be okay!”

He very, very hesitantly turned his head towards the woman with him, thinking maybe if he just did what this woman wanted – then they wouldn’t harm him or his friend… wherever Tyler was (if he was still okay).

The first thing Jared noticed, since this was his chance to see the room for what it was (rather than being consumed by darkness) – was that he was lying in some sort of wooden cage. Bars surrounded him, and several feet beyond where he lay. Looking up, directly above him, he saw, of all things, a mobile dangling over his head… he was in a crib!

Looking through the bars of the crib, he examined the rest of the room. His crib was in the corner of the room. There was a nightstand next to him, and then a door on the wall his head was lying against. The walls all around him were very white, and borders lines striped through the center of each wall with cartoon characters and friendly images. There was a dresser across from Jared, on the wall to his left, and on it was a TV that was currently turned off. Besides that, in the furthest corner from him, was a bookcase with all kinds of books, and random little kids’ knick-knacks and toys. A window was on the wall across from him. He couldn’t tell if there was anything at the foot of his crib.

He was in a nursery… and he was tied into a crib… and so, he began to panic. Whatever this sadistic game was supposed to be, he wanted nothing to do with it!

“No one’s going to hurt you here” the woman said once more.

Jared just shook his head,

“Let me go, please!” Jared begged.

Completely ignoring Jared’s words, the woman simply looked down at her pocket. Jared then watched the woman pull something out of her pocket: something small, cylindrical, and colored white and blue. At first, Jared didn’t believe what it was, though given his room; he shouldn’t have been very surprised. His eyes were a bit out of focus and his mind was cloudy. But he could’ve sworn it looked just like a baby bottle full of milk!

“Maybe this’ll calm you down, hm? Make you feel better?” she said to him in a babyish tone.

“…what?” Jared asked, even more confused – as if the woman had pointed a loaded gun at his face (which he was actually expecting, and would’ve been less surprised by).

She then pulled down a blanket that was covering him, which Jared didn’t even notice was on him. One of the things Jared DID notice at this point was that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, and suddenly felt even more violated than he had before. He wondered what, if anything, they had done to him in his sleep.

“W-Where’s my shirt?” he asked.

The woman shook her head, “You won’t be needing your big boy clothes anymore” she said, insinuated that he also was not wearing any pants.

The woman pointed the clear silicon nipple, dripping a drop of ice-cold milk onto Jared’s bare chest, making him wince a bit – like a syringe spewing drops of acid – at Jared’s face, until it was only inches from his mouth.

He turned his head the other way and latched it shut.

“No!” Jared yelled.

“Get away from me!” he screamed.

But of course, the woman did not. He flailed his arms and legs wildly, but the ropes tying his arms and legs to the bars of this crib he was in didn’t allow for much at all, and he was only hurting himself by doing that. The ropes didn’t loosen, the bars did not break or even budge, and Jared certainly did not become any freer.

“Jared, calm down. Just do this for me!” she said, but he didn’t respond.

As the woman tried to reach for Jared, he hit her hand with his wild flailing… it only made the woman mad.

Suddenly he felt a hand grab his jaw, and hold his head still, pushing it back into the pillow and holding it still. His body was still shaking and flailing incredibly, like he was having a seizure, but his head was completely still. He looked at the woman, who had a stern, frustrated expression on her face, and no longer looked like she was going to be nice anymore.

The woman held Jared’s head completely still, and Jared kept his mouth latched shut.

“Open your mouth!” the woman insisted. He didn’t, and the nipple of the bottle simply bent against his shut lips. Suddenly, she backed off, and looked at him.

Jared was out of breath, and tears were falling out of his eyes at a rapid pace.

“Please, just leave me alone and let me go home! I swear I won’t tell anyone your face just let me go home! PLEASE!” he begged, crying hysterically.

But, the woman didn’t reply. Her expression remained frustrated, and showed absolutely no remorse… however, she remained cool, calm, and contained.

“You’re only making this harder on yourself. You WILL drink this milk. Every last drop, and trust me – you will not like what I’m about to do if you don’t comply!” the woman insisted.

“Please… PLEASE!” Jared screamed.

“The choice is yours” she said, as she placed the bottle back at his lips.

Jared did nothing but cry… and keep his lips sealed tight.

“Open. Now” she said.

But he didn’t.

“Your choice” she said.

And just as quickly as she had said that, suddenly she grabbed his nose with her thumb and index finger, squeezing it tight so that he could not breathe out of it. He kept his mouth shut; he knew what she was trying to do! But the woman was suffocating him, he couldn’t breathe at all. His chest was beginning to burn as he held his breath as long as he possibly could. But he couldn’t hold it anymore after a very short while, and the very moment he opened his lips to breath, he felt he cold nipple slide into his mouth. Every breath he attempted to take, his mouth was filled with milk instead of air because she did not let go of his nose, and the motion of sucking in air, instead sucked in milk.

He shook, kicked, and swung every limb on his body. Though, nothing worked. His eyes were wide with horror as the woman was now drowning him with the drink that was now seeping out of the corners of his mouth.

“SWALLOW! SWALLOW AND ITLL BE OVER” she screamed.

Jared did his best to swallow, but it was so hard. The milk, instead of going into his stomach, was inching its way into his lungs.

Then she squeezed the gap between the nipple and his lips shut so not a drop leaked out, even though there was milk and spit all over his cheeks now. Suddenly though, after a few more seconds of nearly dying… she pulled away.

What was not already swallowed was spit everywhere, and he coughed intensely as he gasped for air. He wheezed so hard it hurt his back and chest. Jared was so light headed that he felt as though he was about to faint. The woman simply watched as suddenly a small bit of pale tinted saliva drooled out of his mouth (which obviously came from his lungs).

His throat and lungs felt like glass were ripping through, his head was buzzing, he was lightheaded, and he couldn’t breathe.

A few minutes went by, and Jared was finally calmed down. Though, his eyes were glassy and red, and burned every time he blinked. The woman looked down as tears, saliva, and sticky milk covered his face, neck, and chest, and pillow, and shook her head.

“It doesn’t have to be like this. Just… do what I ask for now and everything will be okay. Just cooperate” she said.

“What… what… what do you want with me?” Jared asked with a weak, hoarse voice.

She looked at him with an emotionless snare, and it was obvious she was thinking something. Then she smirked, and looked at the bottle once more.

“I’ll be good to you when you’re good to me” she said with a cryptic tone of voice, and whiling pointing the baby bottle of milk in Jared’s face again, only an inch from his mouth.

Jared didn’t know what was going on for sure. The only thing he knew for sure was that he was in absolutely no control over his fate right now. He was tied down, cold, weak and exhausted, terrified, almost murdered, but ultimately kidnapped.

Who knows how many miles from home he was, or where he even was at all. What time was it? How long had he been asleep? Where was Tyler, and why were they taken?

The biggest question in Jared’s mind, as he took the bottle into his mouth and hesitantly began suckling milk from the bottle… was what was going to happen to him, and what has happened to Tyler…

---

“Get away from me!” Tyler yelled.

“It’s okay, you’re okay!” the man yelled back at Tyler as he held him down, trying to convince Tyler to just relax.

But Tyler didn’t relax. He kicked, screamed, punched, and contorted his body in every which way he could; trying to escape from the situation that was very much identical to the one Jared was in. Like Jared, Tyler did nothing but exhaust himself.

He eventually stopped, gasping for breath like he had just run a marathon. He could do nothing but lie there, and look around.

Tyler was lying in a crib, his arms and legs tied to a rope with very little slack, which was attached to the crib’s wooden bars. Standing over the cowering boy was not a woman, however. It was a man. He was taller than Tyler and older too, though not by much. This man standing over Tyler must’ve been mid-to-late teens. Not very old at all, and not much older than Tyler himself.

“Help me. Please let me go!” Tyler begged.

Tyler pleaded and begged, and hoped that this person would help, but this mysterious man standing over Tyler shook his head.

“I’m sorry man, I can’t do that” he said. He didn’t sound like he would if he could, either.

“Why!? What do you want with me!?” Tyler shouted, now crying hard.

“Shhh… it’s okay man… calm down… relax. No one’s going to do anything bad to you here…” this man said to him, putting his index finger over Tyler’s small lips.

It was strange, and it even threw Tyler off.

“Just don’t talk and listen for a minute. No one and I mean no one is going to hurt you. I know what happened when you and your friend were coming off that bus was scary, but that’s all over now. You scraped your knee… but that’s taken care of. That’s all” he said.

The two made eye-contact. This man’s eyes showed… compassion. His voice sounded not like a father, but like a brother. He didn’t seem threatening at all. It actually kind of calmed Tyler down just a small bit… just a little.

He took his finger away from Tyler’s lips and stood back. Tyler at first didn’t say anything but then couldn’t help himself.

“…where is Jared?” he asked.

“Your friend is okay. He’s with Mom right now, she’s just giving him a bottle of milk” he said.

“What? What do you mean a bottle of milk?” Tyler asked.

The man smirked, and then, just like the woman did to Jared, the man took out a bottle of milk from the pocket in his pants.

“I almost forgot about this” he said with a smile.

“Are you thirsty?” he asked Tyler.

---

In the other room, Jared was finishing his bottle of milk, in his crib. After the last drop of milk fell into his mouth and into his stomach, the woman pulled the bottle away from him, and then put it on a nightstand next to him.

“There, was that really that bad?” she asked him.

He just glared back evilly, and she did nothing but smirk. She looked at him, and then took a stool that was sitting next to the crib, and pulled it closer.

“Jared… I don’t want you to hate me. And I know you do” she said, putting her hand through the crib’s bars, and on top of Jared’s head.

“I know right now you want nothing more than to run away, and go and save yourself, and your friend from me, and the rest of us. We’re not the bad guys. I know you’re wondering why you’ve been taken from your old family, whom you loved very much. But we’ve done this for your benefit. In time… you’ll understand that… and you’ll thank us for it” the woman said to him.

Jared said nothing, still. He just continued to glare at the woman with a disgusted, resentful snarl.

“I guess if you’re not for conversation right now then I’m going to go check on your friend and my son. I will talk to you tomorrow…” she said.

She stood up, and walked towards the door, grabbing the doorknob to open it, only to stop suddenly.

“Oh, and Jared. If you need anything… I’ll be here” she said, pointing toward the nightstand that was next to the crib.

Jared glanced over. There wasn’t just an empty bottle sitting there. There was also a baby monitor that was turned on. He glanced back at her… and she had another cocky smirk.

“Goodnight” she said, turning off the light, and then leaving the room, leaving Jared alone to himself, alone once again in the darkness (though there was now a nightlight that was on, across the room).

Jared didn’t try to escape after she left. He didn’t yell, kick, swing, or anything. He simply cried. He was so desperate to simply go home. To simply know that when he would wake up the next morning it would all be a terrible dream. But this wasn’t the case and he knew it.

As he silently wept, but he didn’t realize how tired and exhausted he was getting. Or maybe he did and he simply didn’t care. But as he stared at the nightlight that the woman had at some point turned on, the pale blue light kind of mesmerized him. The light put him into a trance that he did not realize he was being put into. Thoughts and feelings began to fill his mind with warmth that was beginning to travel throughout his body. He was so calm, so suddenly tired… his bloodshot eyes began to close, and before he was aware of it… he was asleep.

Just like when he was stolen off of that street, he simply passed out.

Chapter Two... “Toxicity”

The next morning, Jared’s eyes slowly opened up to see early sunlight coming through the thin curtains that cloaked over the window across from him.

The sunlight lit up the entire room, the entire nursery. He was a 13 year old being forced to be treated like a baby… and he felt a heat of embarrassment as he slowly began to wake up.

He woke up still tired, feeling completely exhausted. Both mentally but especially physically, for some reason, he felt numb. He felt weak and groggy, but that’s the same way he felt when he woke up the night before, calling for Tyler in the blackness. A strange numbness in his whole body… he felt a minor bit of apathy… like he was stoned.

He moaned, and squirmed a bit. He was so cold, despite being covered in a thick blanket… he felt… like he was sick. His head hurt a little, like a migraine. He felt like he had chills, and he felt overall crappy.

He stared over at the baby monitor that was listening to his every sound… and he remembered that she was listening to everything he was doing, so as terrible as he was feeling… he didn’t make a sound….

…for hours…

As time went on, Jared was beginning to feel sicker and sicker, more and more nauseous, dizzy, and sore. He started to get thirsty, and hungry…. And definitely felt more like he was going to throw up…

---

Meanwhile, in Tyler’s room… Tyler was just waking up, and was in a similar situation, although Tyler was waking up a bit more unpleasantly…

Tyler’s body was shivering, and he had intense chills (much worse than what Jared was feeling only a few rooms away). He felt terrible… and just as suddenly as he looked through the wooden bars of his crib and saw that same man he had cried to the night before, asleep in a chair across from where he was lying… he suddenly felt his stomach tense up, and before he realized what had happened, he vomited all over his blanket.

The bitter taste of aged milk that was marinating in stomach acids filled his mouth, and the burning sensation went through his nose and burned his throat and chest as the gastric acid filled through his nostrils and covered the inside of his throat.

Tyler couldn’t believe what he had just done. He felt so incredibly sick and desperate that he didn’t even care, and maybe even felt a bit relieved… when he saw the man who was sleeping open his eyes and look over.

“Hey… hey, whoa, what happened?” the young man asked, obviously disoriented from having just suddenly been awakened.

Tyler looked at him with a desperate look in his eyes.

“You throw up?” he asked, rubbing his eyes, sounding fairly surprised.

Tyler nodded and his eyes began to get a bit watery, like a baby that had just done something terribly wrong.

“Hey, hey… don’t worry… you’re going to be alright. You’re just a little sick. It’ll pass in a few hours. Let me go get my Mom, she’ll clean you up” he said, stuttering in between his words occasionally.

The sick boy watched as this man walked out of the room, and into a hallway, out of his sight. Tyler felt his head throbbing and his stomach felt like a washing machine on full blast, and he wasn’t sure how long it would be until he threw up again.

A few minutes later though, Tyler saw face-to-face with this man’s mother. It was the same woman that had confronted Jared in the other room, though Tyler wasn’t aware of that. This was his first time seeing her.

“Aww… feeling a bit under the weather?” the woman asked in an honest voice.

Tyler made no laughing matter out of it.

“Hmm… sorry. Okay, let’s get you cleaned up” she said.

And with that, Tyler watched the woman walk over to the side of the crib. She quickly reached under, and put her hands on one side of the crib’s bars, and he heard a click, and then on the other side. Suddenly, the side of the crib came sliding down, allowing more than enough room for Tyler to simply climb over them now.

Of course, if the ropes didn’t stop Tyler, he wasn’t in the best of physical states to even attempt an escape… this occurred to the man standing with the woman.

The crib was quite a sight to see, really. Tyler was examining it, even in his dazed, sickly state. The crib was oversized, but not by much. It was bigger than a baby’s crib, obviously. But it seemed tailored to Tyler’s size. He was only 11, and he was kind of short and skinny, so although the crib was quite large to fit the child in, it was not enormous.

The bars of the crib did tower over him. He knew that even without those ropes on, he would not be able to easily climb out. Maybe with some effort, but it would not be easy.

“Mom, won’t he try to run off if you let him out?” he asked in an audible whisper.

She shook her head.

“He won’t… he’s sick. I’m taking him to the bathroom to relax a little. He’s burning up I’m sure so I’m going to put him in the bath and let him cool off” she said, smiling at Tyler.

Tyler just continued to lie there, hardly paying attention. He didn’t even notice her untying the ropes from Tyler’s limbs, freeing him at last for the first time, he was too busy breathing heavily and feeling the intense fever in his head taking him over.

“Come on Tyler, come on” she said.

“You need to stand up so I can get you out easier” she said.

Tyler did not want to lie in his vomit… he wanted to simply get out and feel better… so he painfully stood up, and the woman suddenly reached in like she was going to hug him. Tyler simply felt her reach for his arms, and pull him out by lifting him up from under his armpits.

The woman wasn’t extremely muscular, but it didn’t take much for someone like Tyler to be held like that.

As little as he liked the sudden feeling of being very, very young… he simply felt too sick to care. Despite his urges… he wasn’t fighting like this. He felt so terrible he was just thankful they were being so nice to him, instead of letting him lie in his own puke.

Suddenly, there was a distorted sound that echoed through the room, like a walky-talky.

“Uh-oh! The feisty Jared is awake” the boy said.

The woman sighed…

“I can’t deal with him right now. He’s too much and I have to take care of Tyler. Could you take care of him and see if he’s sick too?” she asked.

“Sure, yeah. That’s fine” the man said.

“Thank you” she said.

Tyler was now suddenly very interested, and was paying a lot more attention. They mentioned Jared!

“Let me see Jared!” Tyler yelled, shrugging off the woman’s grasp on his shoulder. She almost dropped him!

“Hey, calm down. You’ll throw up again!” she said.

“No, let me see Jared! Please!” the boy begged.

He started pushing and shoving, but of course, he suddenly felt something in his gut flip, and felt like he was going to throw up all over the woman’s back any second. His body was shivering so intensely after the sudden movement… he felt like he was going to faint.

“Calm down little man… Jared’s alright. You’ll see him a little later today… depending on how he acts. Your friend likes to put up a fight” the man said. The world was spinning so fast. Tyler looked up just as he saw the man smile at him kindly, and then exit the room.

---

The man slowly and quietly opened the door to Jared’s room, and looked over at Jared.

Jared, too… was lying in a puddle of his own vomit.

Jared looked at the unfamiliar face with desperate eyes. He didn’t want to submit. He had a fire in his body to resist… but he couldn’t help it after all of this agony he was in. He called out to the radio, and now… there was someone there for him. He felt so sick he didn’t even care that he’d never seen this man before.

The man smiled, and walked further into the room, not shutting the door behind him.

“Hmm… yeah I guess we haven’t met. My name is…” the man said, pausing for just a second as he ducked down under the crib’s bars; pulling back one of the latches that kept the crib bars up.

“My name is Ethan” he said.

“Ethan…” Jared slowly said.

Jared was amazed at the age of this… Ethan. He only looked a couple years ahead of Jared… he was so young… he was just a teenager.

“Uhhh…” Jared moaned as the world spun around him.

“Shh… you’ll be okay. My Mom is taking care of Tyler right now… taking him in for a bath. You’ll get one too. You’ll be okay” Ethan explained to Jared as he lowered the bars of the crib.

“Tyler” Jared said.

“Where’s Tyler?!” Jared spat out before starting to cough, and then he started moving sporadically, trying to get out from the crib and find his friend.

“Calm down man, you’ll throw up again if you get all worked up!” Ethan explained to Jared.

Jared found this out too, like Tyler did. After the world stopped spinning, and Jared felt able to move…

“You’ll see Tyler real soon. Just relax and everything’ll be okay” Ethan reassured.

Jared didn’t even bother fighting… all of that movement wore him out.

---

Jared paid attention to where he was going in his environment. He was in a narrow, long hallway. He looked down one end… there was a window at the far end of the hallway that was letting sunlight in. There were a few doors on either side of the hallway (it brought to mind a small apartment complex), which made Jared wonder… how big was this house?

But before Jared could count the doors, or get any more details… he was led into a dark room. A lit was flicked on, which revealed a large sized, very clean and organized bathroom.

This really amazed Jared… all this time he thought he was in some small apartment… in some shack or something. But this was certainly not a shack. And certainly not an apartment… this was big, and looked very expensive. Very high class…

The floors were clean tile, and the bathtub looked like it was brand new. The faucets gleamed with a sterile shine.

“Sit down while I fill up the bathtub” Ethan said, shutting the door, and although Jared didn’t notice, he also locked it.

Jared did sit down, on the icy tiles, glad to be on the ground (and not in the arms of a stranger, carried like a toddler). He watched Ethan begin filling the tub with water, and was really hoping that water was warm. He was shivering, and sweating, which only made him colder. Also the fact that he was not wearing a shirt didn’t help. He began to take notice that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, but was wearing pants (which were not his, and were printed with toddler-friendly designs – this proved that Jared was wrong, since he thought he wasn’t wearing any clothes at all up to this point).

It only took a few minutes before Ethan was standing over him with a friendly smirk.

“Okay buddy, you’re going to have to get undressed” he said.

“…huh?” Jared asked as he attempted to stand up.

Did Ethan, this stranger, just tell Jared to get naked?

“To take a bath… you usually do it naked” Ethan said with a sarcastic tone.

Jared’s heart sank.

“…in front of… you?” Jared said.

Ethan nodded his head slowly.

“B-But… why?! What kind of freak are you?!” Jared spat out, suddenly getting another burst of energy.

“Jared, don’t fight with me, I’m not going to do anything to you, I promise. But you NEED to get out of your clothes, you’re covered in puke and your dia-“

“No! Get away from me!” Jared said, slamming against one of the walls.

He ran to the door, and started pulling on the doorknob. He began pounding on the door hard, yanking on the doorknob hard, doing his best to escape the room.

“Let me out! PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!” Jared started screaming.

Ethan hardly moved at all. He watched as Jared pounded on the door, and as his burst of energy began to wear off, and his sickness began to overwhelm him again, he started to cry in desperation.

He fell to the floor, and started coughing, and dry-heaving. Nothing came up, but it was evident that his illness got the best of him again.

Ethan didn’t move from his spot. However, there was a clicking at the door, and the bathroom door swung open!

“Ethan, what’s going on?!” said the familiar woman as she rushed into the room.

“Jared, he just started freaking out because I had to help him get undressed. He’s shy” Ethan said to his mother.

She looked down at the boy, and then sighed and giggled a little.

“I thought something bad happened. I’ll take care of him, go watch Tyler for me, would you? He seems a little more responsive with you” she asked of Ethan.

Ethan smiled in return, “Sure thing Mom” he said, and he walked past her, out the door.

The door shut behind her. She locked the door with a key, which, Jared noticed, was attached to a key ring that had various other keys attached to it (one of which he knew was to his nursery), and then looked down at Jared, who was still lying on the floor.

She knelt down to him, and looked at the cowering boy’s back. She touched him very softly.

“Jared… calm down… no one’s going to hurt you here…” she said.

“…but I promise you if you do this for me, you’ll see your friend soon. You’re only making this harder for yourself, and you’re making it harder for Tyler too. The more you fight, the less likely you’ll see your friend!” she said.

He said nothing, and neither did she. Instead she slowly rolled him over to his side (as he was too exhausted to fight), and unzipped his pants, and slowly slid them off.

“Why are you doing this” Jared said softly, beginning to cry once more.

“Why are you doing this to us… what did we ever do to you” Jared said.

She smiled.

“Let’s get you clean, hm?” she said, apparently completely ignoring Jared’s pleas for an explanation.

He looked away. But he realized something… something very strange. His pants were off, and he was wearing no shirt. He didn’t feel like he was lying in his underwear… like he should be.

That’s when he heard a small click, and then he felt her slide something off from between his legs. He bent his leg up, and saw her holding a small, crumpled up pile of what looked like plastic. These were in fact… plastic pants, though Jared wasn’t aware of that.

“What… the…?” Jared said.

He bent his neck up, and looked down.

“Curious?” the woman said.

He sat up, and looked down. And he could not believe what he was seeing. To him, it was a hallucination; a mirage of some sort. He was hoping it was, at least. But in reality, he was wearing a diaper, and he never, ever even realized it until now.

It resembled a real baby’s diaper. It had prints, and two sticky tabs that kept it wrapped around him. The diaper’s front was bulging.

“A… diaper…?” Jared said.

“Yes Jared, you’re in your diaper. And it’s wet, good job” the woman said.

He looked closer. She was right, he was in a soaked diaper.

“You must be a deep sleeper!” she said.

Jared was speechless. He was completely, one hundred-percent speechless. The situation was more terrifying than ever. He saw what was going on. He was really being treated like a baby. The crib, the bottle of milk, the diaper… and he even wet it in his sleep. How that happened… was beyond him.

“No… no, no… NO…” Jared repeated.

“Oh yeah!” Sarah said.

Jared felt… so… remarkably degraded.

“Y-You did something, it’s not real. I did NOT pee myself in my sleep! You did something! I DON’T NEED DIAPERS” Jared yelled.

But, Sarah didn’t have it.

“Last I checked, babies that need to sleep in cribs need a way to go to the bathroom? I’m not letting you pee and poopy in your crib!” Sarah answered.

Not only did they strip him naked in his sleep, they diapered him, then forced him into a crib and force-fed him a bottle of milk, nearly killing him. Then in his sleep… he somehow had wet his diaper. He, a 13 year old boy, wet his diaper helplessly, and was completely unaware of it. He was confused, and scared.

“C’mon, get up. Time for your bath” the woman said.

This time, he didn’t fight. It became clear to him now… she was in control. SHE was in control. She kidnapped him, and she was controlling him. He was sick, and there was nothing he could do. It finally hit him!

He was so reluctant to get up, naked in front of a stranger and get in their bathtub. For all he knew she would drown him. But… he didn’t want to fight anymore… so he did as he was told.

“Just hop in” she said.

He glanced over at the plastic pants that were lying in a crumpled up ball on the floor. The wet diaper was elsewhere, probably in the trash somewhere. He looked over at the bathtub… it was steaming with warm water, and was also covered in a layer of bubbles. Ethan had prepared a bubble bath for him.

After lying down in the tub, Jared watched as she took a bucket from under the sink. It was a small red pail made of plastic, like one you’d use in the sand at the beach. She dunked it in the water, and then slowly poured it over Jared’s head, letting the water pour through his hair.

She did this a few times.

“There you go… just calm down and keep being good, and you’ll see Tyler soon” she said.

Jared said nothing, and the woman took note. She cleared her throat, and then got a bar of soap and a luffa.

“Jared we never did get off on the foot I was hoping for” the woman said.

“…but I feel that now is the time that I explained some things for you” she continued.

Jared looked at her… she definitely had his attention.

“I know you hate me. But… I don’t want that. I don’t want us fighting all the time. I don’t want you crying, or hurt. I know you’re in pain… you miss your family. And I’m sorry… but that’s how things are… you’ll thank us” she said.

“…why? Why is it like this?” Jared asked with a pathetic whine.

She grinned.

“…because you’re bright. You’re young, and you’re good-looking. You have potential. You can do anything you ever want to do, and it is our job… to give you the world” she said.

“…what?! I don’t even know you! How do you know me?” Jared yelled.

She put her index finger over her lips to tell him to calm down.

“I’ll only be nice… if you’re nice” she said.

Jared was silent.

“My name is… Sarah” the woman said.

The mysterious woman finally had a name… and it was Sarah.

“You’ve already met my son, Ethan” she continued.

“…and my husband Hector is at work right now. You’ll meet him soon” she said.

“You never answered my question!” Jared said.

“We’ve taken it upon ourselves to be generous, and give one lucky boy… well, in this case, two lucky boys… everything and anything they ever want. You, Jared, and Tyler, are those lucky boys” Sarah explained.

“I’ve been watching you… for a long time, and I picked you to be an addition to our family! We’re... the family you deserve”

Jared shook his head. He was gritting his teeth from the frustration.

“What are you talking about, lady?!” Jared yelled.

“If you don’t get quiet, then this conversation will end here” the woman threatened.

That’s when Jared quieted down, and looked at her with an evil glare.

“Jared, you’re a straight-A student. You’re… strong, and healthy, and handsome. You’re kind, and you’re destined to be successful. You deserve the best. You deserve everything we can give you” Sarah said.

Jared couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“…you’re… you’re serious” Jared said, shocked at what words he heard coming from Sarah.

“Yes Jared” she replied.

“And what can you possibly give me that I don’t or won’t get, huh? What’s so great that you people can give me?” Jared asked.

“Anything you want!” Sarah assured.

“Like… what?”

“Anything you need to do what you want to do in life, we can do for you, Jared. We’re rich. Hector and I are very wealthy people, for starters…” she elaborated.

“Anything I want to do in life? What about not being… forced to-to-to… to wear diapers? Or drink from a baby bottle? Or kidnapped from the street? That’s exactly what I want, lady. Oh yeah” Jared said.

Sarah was silent and just stared at the boy blankly.

“…well, Jared. If we never felt pain, we wouldn’t appreciate pleasure, now would we?” she remarked.

This really made Jared angry, but he tried so hard not to lose his temper. His head was pounding from a fever, and arguing like this wasn’t helping.

“…you brag on so much about me… what about Tyler, huh? Why’d you pick him?” he asked.

Sarah smiled evilly.

“That’s… a funny story really. Not one you should know, though. I doubt you’d feel too good knowing the answer to that question” Sarah said.

“No, tell me!” Jared said.

“I don’t think you’ll like it if you’re as good a friend of Tyler’s as you seem to be” Sarah warned, but Jared didn’t stop begging, more or less, for the answer.

“…actually, Jared… that was a spare of the moment thing. Between you and I… he wasn’t chosen, he was simply there at the wrong place, at the wrong time…” Sarah said.

“What?” Jared asked.

“To be honest, if he wasn’t with you that day, he wouldn’t be here now. But, I like the kid… I don’t regret bringing him with us” she said.

Jared’s heart sank… the words this woman Sarah spoke hit a nerve. Jared, responsible for getting his friend into this? Jared argued with himself internally… they wanted Jared, but if it wasn’t for Jared, Tyler wouldn’t be involved anymore… he felt ashamed…

Sarah smiled.

“Now, enough questions. Let’s finish and get this done so we can get you boys some lunch” Sarah said.

---

“Okay, all done big guy” Ethan said to Tyler as Tyler slowly rose from the steaming water, with Ethan holding his hand so he would not slip.

Ethan took a big fluffy towel, and dried the boy off. Tyler blushed when Ethan went into a few more “private places”, but Ethan wasn’t intrusive.

“Lie down for a second so I can get your diaper on you and then we can go get some lunch!” Ethan said with a smile.

Tyler was already aware of the diapers that he and Jared were wearing. He wasn’t aware of Jared’s, though. However, Tyler’s was wet when his was taken off too. And now he had to get put back into one.

“W-Why are you going to put that on me?” Tyler asked, not yet lying down.

Ethan looked over.

“Because you need them, silly” Ethan said.

“No I don’t! Why are you treating me like I’m a baby?” Tyler asked.

Ethan held the diaper in his hand, as well as some baby powder in the other.

“What’s wrong with being a baby?” Ethan asked with a smile.

“I’m not a baby. I’m eleven” Tyler said.

“Ah, okay ‘big guy’, but you didn’t answer my question. What’s wrong with being a baby?” Ethan said with a smirk.

Tyler thought for a moment.

“They sit in their own poop… and pee. And stink” Tyler came up with.

“Not if they’re changed quickly, hm?” Ethan pointed out.

Tyler stared at him, but Ethan continued on.

“I wish I was still treated like a baby, love it while you can! Anyway, I’m hungry. And I’m sure you are too. So, just lie down… and we’ll get some lunch” he said.

“But I don’t want to!” Tyler said.

“Now you are acting the way a baby does, so you’re just giving more of a reason to put this diaper on you” Ethan said.

“…and besides… the sooner you get this on, the sooner you see Jared” Ethan said.

Now that was an offer, and a point… that Tyler would be silly to argue with. And he didn’t. He very hesitantly lay down on the cold tile floor. It was especially cold with his naked damp skin pressed against it.

Tyler, feeling uncomfortable with having his legs spread in front of another boy, as well as a complete stranger… kept his legs closed. But Ethan pryed them apart, and then slid the diaper underneath his butt.

The soft cushion of the diaper, Tyler had to admit, felt better on his tailbone than it grinding directly into the tile.

Ethan then put a hand full of white powder, which filled the bathroom with a sweet scent (which Tyler realized smelled exactly like the nursery he was being kept in). Ethan then applied the hand full of baby powder onto Tyler’s skin, which made Tyler wince and blush as Ethan rubbed it all over Tyler’s diaper area (which made Tyler feel excruciatingly embarrassed to have another person, a boy, a stranger touch him like that).

After that… Ethan pulled the front half of the diaper, and pulled it over Tyler’s lower stomach. Finally, he taped it securely together, snug. Tyler, though not happy about being in a diaper… was at least grateful not to be naked in front of Ethan anymore.

As Tyler went to sit up, Ethan held his arm out at Tyler’s chest, keeping him down.

“Not done yet” he said with a smile.

Tyler looked back at him, unsure of what else could be there.

“Lie on your back again” Ethan said.

Tyler hesitantly obeyed, just wanting to get it all over with. That’s when Tyler took a thin pair of what Tyler knew was plastic pants (since he was wearing some earlier). Ethan pulled the pants up over Tyler’s diaper.

That’s when Ethan looked right at Tyler with a smirk.

“And this… is so you keep your diaper on” Ethan said with a smile.

Ethan pulled out a small key, about the size of a key to a pair of handcuffs. And he rolled Tyler over onto his side a little bit. That’s when Tyler heard a click.

“There, all done!” Ethan finally said.

As Tyler pushed himself up off of the floor, he felt the back of his plastic pants… and it felt to him like there was a very tiny padlock chained to his plastic pants! Maybe not a padlock, but something definitely metal was enforcing them around his diaper.

But before Tyler could do anymore examination… Ethan opened the door to the hall, and gently guided the diapered boy out of the bathroom, and into the hallway. Ethan didn’t push, but kept his arm on Tyler’s back, leading him past the nursery where Tyler had been staying.

“Y-You’re not going to make me go in front of Jared like this are you?” Tyler whined, his heart throbbing when he realized that he had passed the nursery.

“Like what?” Ethan asked, still leading him down the narrow hall.

“In a diaper… I look like a baby!” Tyler whined.

Ethan just chuckled.

“Trust me kid, I don’t think you have anything to feel embarrassed about” he said.

“Huh?” Tyler asked, looking back at Ethan.

“Jared’s in a diaper too, and I don’t think he would tease you for it even if he wasn’t anyway. He’s a good kid… not like he’s in a position to tease anyway” Ethan assured, then spinning the boy back around and guiding him out of the hallway.

Tyler still felt really weird about being seen like that in front of his friend. He didn’t like it, though; he kept his mouth shut for the moment, and didn’t argue. He just walked where Ethan’s hand guided him to go.

And where he went actually impressed Tyler, even as scared and embarrassed he was…

Out of the hall, he walked into a very large open space. Like a huge room. In front of him was a railing, like a banister. And over that railing was a staircase going down, and at the bottom of that there was another open space. To the right of the downstairs are was a huge door and a lot of windows surrounding it. That’s when Tyler realized that must’ve been the front entrance… and the whole room he was in was the grand entrance to what must be a mansion!

On the opposite side of the room, Tyler could see another hall leading back several feet, with doors on either side, just like the one he had come from.

“You like it, huh?” Ethan said, breaking Tyler’s daze.

“What… is this place?” Tyler asked.

“This is our manor, Tyler. You just came from the east wing, and now you’re coming into the middle. This is the 2^nd floor, downstairs is of course the 1^st, and across this floor is where Jared has been staying. There are two bathrooms, one in each wing. And several bedrooms, too. We have a lot of space for you two” Ethan explained.

“…how big is this?” he asked.

Ethan laughed.

“There’s two floors total… but, there’s also a large basement, and an attic…” Ethan explained.

Tyler couldn’t believe what he was seeing!

“You should see the yard!” Ethan said, smiling.

Ethan then gently grabbed Tyler’s hand, and led him down the staircase, which was decorated with an expensive, royal, classy looking rug and rails that looked like it was hand carved to perfection. He was waiting to see a suit of armor or something corny like that at any minute.

The walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything was beautifully decorated in one way or another. The windows around the front doors were large and bright, and clean.

Reaching the bottom of the staircase, Ethan led him through an archway, which led out of the ‘grand entrance’. This led him through a hallway, walking past a room or two (he didn’t get a chance to look into them), and finally… into a kitchen.

And what a kitchen it was.

Stainless steel appliances, clean tile on the floor, a countertop that reached around the whole kitchen (the top of it looked like it was made of marble). There was a wide open pantry that was filled with food. Then Tyler realized… this was only half of the kitchen.

The other side was a step up from where they were standing, and featured what could be explained as a bar. It featured a bar in the middle of the room, and the fridge on one side of the room.

And on the wall where the counter stopped… there were sliding glass doors that looked out onto a deck.

But Ethan pushed Tyler through this kitchen, and into the Dining Room.

And it wasn’t the expensive paintings of fruit, or the polished hardwood floors, or the grand dining room table with food atop of it that Tyler focused most on. And it wasn’t Sarah sitting there, patiently waiting the two boys. It was Jared… who was sitting there, staring back at Tyler with a look of desperation.

Jared leapt up from his seat.

“Tyler!” he yelled as he ran over to him.

“Ah! Ah!” Sarah said as she got up from the table, and as Ethan blocked Tyler and Jared apart.

“Get out of my way!” Jared insisted, as he pushed Ethan. That’s when he looked at Ethan… and then raised a fist!

Suddenly Sarah pulled him back, and slammed him into his chair.

“Jared I will make sure you don’t leave this seat if you’re not going to behave!” Sarah scolded.

Jared looked at her, and then at Tyler as Ethan the boy to a chair across from Jared. He was breathing hard with anger and frustration as he saw Tyler in a diaper, just like he was. All he wanted to do was talk to him.

“Now sit here… and stay here. And I am not playing games with you” she said coldly, before finally backing off.

“If I ever… EVER… see anyone hitting anyone… there WILL be consequences” she announced to the boys at the table, though she looked at Jared and Tyler in particular.

She sat down, in the middle seat.

“Now… I’ve prepared lunch for you boys… and I expect you, Jared, and you, Tyler… to behave on your best behavior. Let’s keep conversation positive. You two will have time together afterwards, unless you behave poorly” she said, taking a bite out of a sandwich that was on the plate in front of her.

“…do I make myself clear?” she asked.

Neither Jared nor Tyler replied. But they did understand, and Sarah knew it.

Several minutes passed by in silence, as Sarah and Ethan began to eat their food and converse. Tyler and Jared did nothing but look at each other, both with fear, uncertainty, and frustration in their eyes. They said nothing, yet they spoke clearly to each other.

---

“Boys, you haven’t touched your sandwiches” Sarah said, breaking the silence.

Jared and Tyler looked at her.

“Go on, eat it. You’ll be hungry later if you don’t” she said.

Jared thought about it, and so did Tyler. It was the first solid food that was presented to them since their lunch in school, which felt like months. Yet they had no appetite from the anxiety.

Tyler hesitantly took his sandwich, and ate a bite. Jared watched him… and then he too took a bite. Sarah simply smiled.

Those small bites quickly turned to large ones, and the sandwiches were quickly gone. They were so hungry and they didn’t even realize it. But although they were done, Sarah and Ethan weren’t.

“So where’s Dad at?” Ethan asked.

“He should be home in a couple of minutes. He said he was running late and would get something to eat on his way home from work so we shouldn’t wait up” she explained.

“Oh okay” Ethan finished.

Sarah glanced at Tyler and Jared, who were both looking back at her, waiting for her to please let them see each other.

“Well Ethan, I’ll take the two boys into the other room so I can have a private word with you for a minute. One moment” she said.

“Sure thing Mom” he said to her.

Sarah then stood up from the table. Tyler and Jared did as well.

“Follow me, boys” she said.

Tyler jogged to get close to Jared, and Jared followed Sarah as she led them out of the Dining Room, and into a room that… gave both Jared and Tyler chills.

She led them through an open doorway, but the room was barely lit from the windows that had the blinds down in front of them. But she flicked on the lights, and they were shocked to see what they found.

Like the nurseries they slept in, and the diapers they wore, this room was very babyish. The walls were painted like a nursery, and there was a scent that smelled of the baby powder that Ethan had applied to Tyler, and Sarah to Jared.

But the thing that threw the boys off most was the amount of large sized baby furniture that was in the room. There was a huge baby-printed rug in the middle of the room with blocks and other toys lying on it, a huge rocking horse in the corner, as well as a rocking chair with a bookshelf with plenty of kiddy-friendly books and knick-knacks to the side of it.

There was even a toy chest in the farthest corner (which had various stuffed animals, like teddy bears and what-not stacked by it), and a desk with crayons and coloring books sitting on top of it.

Before they could do any further examination, Sarah gently pulled the two boys into the room, and shut the door behind her.

“Okay boys. You two can play here… and talk to each other… under one condition. I’ll get you two a bottle of milk, and you have to drink those bottles. When I come back in a half hour, I expect those bottles to be empty. If they aren’t… you two will be punished” she explained.

“Do I make myself clear?” Sarah said, after a moment of silence.

“…yeah…” Jared mumbled under his breath.

“Good” she said, smiling.

“Now... Go sit down on that rug with your toys and I’ll be right back with your bottles” she said.

Jared and Tyler didn’t argue. They wanted to finally have a moment to talk. So they walked over to the rug, and sat down in the middle of it in their diapers, like babies. Sarah gave them one suspicious glare, before finally walking out of the room.

“Jared!” Tyler said.

“Shhh…” Jared said cutting him off, not making eye contact yet.

Tyler gave him an odd stare…

“The door’s still open… wait only a minute longer” Jared told Tyler quietly.

Tyler finally understood… he hadn’t noticed the open door before.

Only a minute after that, Sarah returned to the boys in the room. She looked at them, and gave them a strange look, handing them both a bottle of milk each.

“Drink all of this, you two. It’ll help you feel better. Promise” she said.

Looking behind her briefly, she looked at them one last time.

“Oh… and… don’t try anything funny… I know you’ll be tempted, but know the consequences” she said.

Tyler and Jared didn’t respond, and with that… she left, shutting the door behind her. The boys could hear a click of a lock, and then footsteps fade into silence, away from them.

This was it. They were together, seemingly alone.

“Jared… where are we?!” Tyler asked.

“I-I don’t know Tyler… did they hurt you!?” Jared asked Tyler, looking at him for bruises, or any sign of abuse.

“No, no… I’m… I’m alright… they didn’t do anything to me… I just feel really sick” Tyler said.

“…actually, they didn’t do anything to me at all. They just dressed me up like this!” Tyler said, pointing to his diaper.

“Me too… I don’t know what they’re doing to us or why… but we need to find a way to call the police or somebody while we have the chance” Jared said.

Jared of course had no intention of heeding Sarah’s warning. He was planning escaping, and he planned on doing that right now.

Tyler looked at him, and nodded in agreement. Jared slowly stood up, and looked around the oversized nursery, for any possible means of escape.

He knew the door that Sarah had come from was locked. There was another door on the opposite side of the room that was closed, and probably locked (he wouldn’t even bother with that). That’s when Jared noticed the windows!

He walked over to the first window he saw, and pushed the curtains and blinds out of the way.

“Jared, that woman said she’d know if we messed with anything!” Tyler warned.

Jared looked through the window, only to find that there were bars on the other side of the glass, spoiling his plan.

“Tyler if we don’t try to do something we could be killed! And if they don’t want to kill us then who knows what these freaks have us here for…” Jared said as he checked the other windows.

Tyler, though… didn’t move. Maybe it was out of fear, but for some reason… Tyler simply felt that now was not the time to try to escape… he felt the need to heed Sarah’s words exactly. He felt that maybe, just maybe… if he followed their instructions, everything would be okay.

“That lady isn’t dumb, I can tell… I… I think we should just sit here and do what we’re told!” Tyler warned.

Jared of course, had the exact opposite idea. Tyler wasn’t the one that was force-fed milk from the bottle and almost killed, or actually told that they were never going home. Tyler was also unaware that Sarah had cryptically told that Tyler was never meant to be taken. Only Jared was. Maybe that meant something bad was going to happen to Tyler, to get rid of him.

Tyler wasn’t “chosen”. Jared was, and the only reason Tyler was there was because of Jared.

“Tyler…” Jared said.

“I know you’re scared but… I don’t think sitting here and doing nothing will help” Jared explained.

“I know, I know! I just… I really don’t want to make them mad, Jared” Tyler said.

“For all we know we could be in the same city, maybe even in the same town that we live in! Our families could be looking for us right now” Jared explained.

But ass Jared was about to say something, though… he was cut off, by Tyler yet again.

“Jared! Look!” Tyler said, pointing behind him, and standing up.

Jared spun around, fast, and Tyler ran past him as he looked out the window.

“Police!” Tyler shouted.

Jared slammed against the window, and looked out. He could see a lengthy driveway that stretched past where he could see, in both directions (to his left and right). There was also a black, metal, spiky fence blocking off entrance to the house (Jared assumed this fence stretched all around their property) from unwanted guests, but beyond that, Jared could only see trees and other dense foliage.

This was not the important part, however.

Standing in that driveway, next to a marked police cruiser, stood an older, burly looking man, who was obviously well built. He wore heavy aviator-styled mirrored sunglasses that looked to be straight out of the 80s. This man was wearing a police uniform, though it looked rather old school. The same went for his police cruiser… it looked somewhat older than normal. It didn’t seem like the standard police automobile that they were accustomed to seeing. He was also holding onto a dog by a leash, which was sniffing around curiously at the ground.

Immediately, Jared and Tyler started pounding on the window.

“HEY! HEY! HEY HELP! OFFICER, LOOK OVER HERE!” Jared and Tyler yelled.

The police officer looked around, but didn’t make immediate visual of the two boys in the window, and the dog began barking, but even it couldn’t look in the correct direction.

“He can’t hear us!” Jared said, as he looked around. That’s when he spotted the rocking horse that was sitting in the corner of the room, just looking friendly and alone.

“Help me get this!” Jared insisted as he ran over to one end of the giant wooden rocking horse. Tyler immediately ran over, and picked up the other end, and together, the two boys lifted it up to the window’s height (which took an EXTREME amount of effort due to their illness).

The horse was tailored to the boys’ grown size, compared to that of a regular baby’s rocking horse. It also seemed to be solid wood, which weighed it down a lot. Even if the boys weren’t sick, it’d still take plenty of effort to lift.

“Ahhh! It’s so heavy!!!” Tyler whined, his weaker arms trembling as he struggled to get it level with Jared’s side.

“C’mon you can get it!” Jared said.

Once they adjusted it, they both took in a deep breath.

“Ram it!” Jared ordered, as the two boys began to rock the horse back-and-forth in front of the window to gain momentum.

Bang! The window wobbled as the horse bounced back.

“Again!” Jared yelled.

The two boys backed up together, and then ran towards the window full speed with the head of the rocking horse pointed right at the window.

BOING!

The window did not break despite having practically thrown a heavy wooden rocking horse into it. It instead simply bounced the two back, causing the two to drop the rocking horse onto the floor. It toppled over, and barely missed smashing one of the boys’ legs.

They fell down too, but quickly picked themselves up, looking out the window, completely disregarding the very loud, obvious bang the horse made when it hit the floor that both Sarah and Ethan obviously heard.

To the boys’ dismay, the glass, being made up of acrylic, was going to take a lot of effort to break (more effort than two sick young boys would be able to put forth).

Looking out the window, the cop was now looking right at the window, and so was the dog. It was barking at the window, and the officer was holding the dog back just barely by its leash. It didn’t seem very friendly.

“HELP!” they yelled as they jumped up and down, showing themselves to the cop as much as possible.

The officer looked at them in the window, said something inaudible to himself, and then began to run towards the house, out of their site, towards the back of the house (off to the right side of the window).

“YES! YES!” Tyler yelled.

The two boys ran over to the door they had come from, just as it swung open, revealing Sarah and Ethan. They both had sincerely concerned expressions, and noticed the mess that the boys had made, with the horse being knocked over.

“What the HELL is going on in here!?” Sarah yelled, immediately looking at Jared, demanding an explanation.

The window that was still wobbling a little and Sarah glared at it. It didn’t take much to figure out what they had attempted to do.

Suddenly, they all turned towards the kitchen as the undeniable sound of a dog barking began to echo through the house. Jared and Tyler immediately went running, but Ethan blocked them from going past the doorway.

Behind where Ethan was standing, in the doorway, past the dining room, the boys saw the dog that the officer had been holding onto via a leash walk into a hall, and then the officer followed.

“HELP!” Jared yelled.

“OFFICER HELP THESE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY THEY KIDNAPPED US!” Tyler shouted, trying to run past Ethan.

Though, Ethan didn’t let him past.

“What!?” the officer said.

“They kidnapped us! Please!” Jared yelled.

“Did you try breaking my window?” the officer yelled.

“…what?” Jared said, completely dumbstruck by what the man had just said. Did he hear him correctly?

“Did you try breaking my window, boys?” the officer said, getting closer, eventually passing Ethan past, and walking past Sarah, standing an inch from Jared and Tyler.

As the dog followed behind him now, the two boys walked back, tripping over things as the dog began to snarl, growl, and bark at the boys like they were the criminals.

As the German Shepherd put it’s head and ears down, and slowly approached the two boys with nothing but a leash keeping it back from ripping their helpless bodies apart, the policeman slowly let the dog get closer and closer to the boys, and the boys continued to back off, away from the dog - until they were cornered, and the dog was only a few inches from them, each growl and bark spat saliva onto the boys’ legs and feet. The dog was practically breaking its own neck on the leash, jumping towards the boys, only to be snapped back! It was clear this thing didn’t like children, and certainly didn’t like strangers.

“Did you? Or didn’t you?” the cop said as an evil smirk approached his face, with their petrified reflections gleaming back at them in his mirrored aviators.

“Sir! Stop, please! We’re-we’re sorry!” Jared yelled.

Tyler was terrified, and didn’t say anything. He was speechless!

“So you did… did you?” the officer said as the dog jumped and leaped, trying hard to get it’s fangs into the boys flesh. Tyler screamed as its paws had actually moved across his leg. Jared held his arm out, only to have the dog snap at him, almost biting his hand – and both boys pressed their backs hard against the wall.

Neither of the boys said a word as the man simply smiled wide, like a sadistic maniac. His eyes were unseen as the mirrored sunglasses reflected Jared and Tyler pinned up against the wall.

The dog’s mouth quivered and foamed and showed off its fangs, and its eyes expressed rage. It arched its back, and stayed low, but was still knee-high of the boys. Its growl and bark deep and loud and its teeth ready to sink into them at any moment, this dog was truly vicious and intimidating in every stretch of the word.

“Hector, stop!” Sarah yelled.

Suddenly, he started cackling like a wild man.

“SIT BOY” the man yelled, and suddenly, the dog sat down, but still continued to growl.

“Ethan, take him out back and feed him, would’ya?” the man said.

After clearing his throat… “Ah… y-yeah, sure thing” Ethan remarked, taking the dog’s leash from Hector’s hand, and then walking the dog out of the room and, presumably, into the backyard.

“What is your problem, Hector!?” Sarah yelled as she ran over to him.

Hector, though, simply laughed and cackled.

“Ahhh they were fine… I wouldn’t put them boys in danger…” he said in a deep, manly, old and hoarse voice. That sentence in particular was with a sarcastic tone.

He turned his head towards the two boys. Despite having those sunglasses on, though… Jared could feel his gaze focused on him and him alone… like he was piercing his body with his stare.

“They’re a little too… cute… to be ripped apart, hm?” he said with a sinister, cryptic tone in his voice. This was a man that didn’t seem like someone who would consider anything “cute”, and when he said it, he seemed like he was replacing a different word.

That’s when he turned away, and looked at Sarah, clearing his throat.

“So… These are the boys, hm?” he asked.

“Yes, the taller boy, older boy is Jared. And the younger boy is Tyler” she explained, pointing at each of them respectively.

“Older? They’re both hardly teenagers” Hector replied.

Sarah nodded.

“I told you. Jared is 13, and Tyler is… 11” she said. She spoke Tyler’s age like she was unsure of herself.

Hector slowly walked over to them, and they both cowered against the wall away from the man. He then slowly stuck his large, masculine arm out, and stuck his large hand towards them, to shake hands – all the while having a smug, somewhat… satisfied grin. It was not a normal thing to have a man look at two young boys that way.

But neither Jared nor Tyler had interest in shaking hands with this man. Maybe it was what he had just done with the dog. Maybe it was the fact that he had around his belt a gun, handcuffs, pepper spray, as well as all other intimidating police gear. Maybe it was simply the fact that he was just a dirty cop, or an old sadistic man who just got a kick by acting like he was going to sick his dog on them.

“Hm…” Hector grunted, taking his hand back.

He turned back towards Sarah.

“You should keep an eye on these two…” he said, as he walked past her.

“Especially that one”, pointing directly in Jared’s face, so close Jared could smell whatever disgust may coat Hector’s finger tip.

“He’s trouble… I can sense it” he finished.

Jared squinted his eyes at him in reply, a bit even offended by the remark, even throughout all that just happened.

“We’ll talk later” Sarah said to him as he walked out of the room; though she stared at Jared with a glare that made him know he was in trouble.

All of the attention seemed to be on Jared for some reason. He felt responsible for everything that had just happened (though, he was – and he knew it).

Hector shut the door behind him, leaving Sarah and the two boys alone.

“Well Jared, I hope you’re happy” she remarked.

Jared looked at her in confusion.

“You’ve set quite an example for yourself in front of Hector. And you’ve proven you’re not trustworthy” Sarah bickered.

“Then take us home!” Jared yelled in response.

“When will you learn, boy?” she said, approaching him fast, as if she was about to grab him, or smack him. Jared even backed off, back against the wall.

“If I didn’t have to go check on Hector… I would put you over my knee… both of you. Neither of you drank your bottles, and you both tried breaking my window” she said, looking at both Jared and Tyler this time, bending down to their heights and looking at them both in the eyes.

“…and don’t think I wouldn’t” she warned, giving them one last stern look before finally backing off a little.

She walked towards the door leading into the dining room.

“I’m going to go talk to my husband. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes, and fifteen minutes exactly. When I return, you two better have drunk your milk. Or, there will be consequences” she warned, looking at them from the doorway.

She stared over at the rocking horse that was in the middle of the floor, in front of the window.

“Don’t worry about that right now. You’ll clean up your own mess after you’ve had your milk” she said.

That’s when she shut the door, and then locked it, leaving Jared and Tyler alone for the second time.

Neither of the boys moved off of the wall that they were still pinned against from shock and fear, because of what had just happened.

They have never felt more scared, and more alone, in their entire lives.

Looking at each other hesitantly, they talked without saying a word. They both slowly walked over to where they were before, and picked up the two baby bottles filled with milk, and then they both began to drink them. They obeyed Sarah’s orders because for the first time yet, they truly felt and acknowledged that they may, in fact, never see home again…

Chapter Three… “Liam’s Grave”

Over the course of the next several weeks, Jared and Tyler didn’t put up a single ounce of resistance against Sarah, Ethan, and especially not against Hector. They gradually began to lose all hope. Their spirits began to wither away as they simply let Sarah, Ethan, and Hector, treat them like toddlers in all ways imaginable. They let these people become their new family, because they knew that’s what they wanted.

They wet their diapers when they had to, and messed when they had to also, and Sarah changed them. She fed them a bottle of milk several times a day (on a frequent basis), and they went to bed in their cribs. They wore baby clothes (all of which were tailored to the boys’ sizes), watched baby’s shows, and did other babyish things, too.

They knew that if they let them do whatever they wanted, and they didn’t resist… they wouldn’t get hurt. And that’s what they did, and like they thought, not one person ever laid a finger on either of the boys, not even Hector. They were in fact, never physically harmed.

Despite being so distraught most of the time, both boys paid close attention to what was going on around them. There was a definite habit and schedule set in place for the boys. They would first wake up in the morning in their cribs, usually in the morning at an uncertain time (they had no track of time). Sarah would check on them, and change their diapers when necessary. Then they’d go downstairs into the dining room, and eat. After that, Sarah would often watch over the boys in the playroom, reading them a story of some kind or letting them watch a movie (though, they were never allowed in there alone ever again). Their days were boring, and eventless usually between then and their before-bedtime diaper change (they always had a diaper change before bedtime, and their diaper changes were often throughout the day, and were getting more and more frequent as time went on). The boys themselves usually had little to no time to themselves, so they couldn’t really talk often about anything they wanted to talk about.

Another habit Jared and Tyler noticed was that they had a bath several times a week, almost daily. Sarah, also, went shopping for groceries usually every two weeks. She would always leave Ethan to watch over the boys, and she was never gone too long. Surprising enough about that though was that she decided to go out at later hours, rather than earlier in the day. The boys just assumed it was because she didn’t want to leave the boys alone with Ethan for too long, so she waited to put them to bed first, before leaving.

Hector, also, went to work every day, various times a day. His shift was very sporadic and almost unpredictable, never home the same time twice, though he was usually home by the time the sun was setting, and always left sometime in the morning after the sun had risen.

Ethan, also, did not go to school. Instead, he was actually homeschooled by Sarah, every day, five days a week. They had a habit themselves but neither Jared nor Tyler were ever aware of what they talked about. They often did it in the mansion’s library, which was located in the wing with Tyler’s nursery (Jared’s was on the complete opposite side of the mansion from Jared – what was near him was unknown since the boys had very little freedom).

One thing both boys noticed right off the bat, though, was something that they found deeply disturbing. Beyond the fact that they were being regressed to the likes of toddlers, there was something that Jared and Tyler couldn’t put their fingers on, and that was how they were using their diapers.

Overtime, they found it hard to resist wetting or pooping their diapers, and some nights, they would even wake up wetting, or already wet, and the same for even messing. Jared didn’t even know his diaper was wet the first night he was there, and it was something that bothered him ever since. It happened more and more as time went on. They constantly felt weaker than normal. They were groggy and always felt exhausted and fatigued throughout the day… though neither of them paid too much attention to what was going on with their own bodies… even though they should’ve been.

Having realized that as long as they simply did what they were asked to do, the boys didn’t feel as scared for their own lives as they did before… with the exception for Hector and his menacing police-trained dog, who always felt like a constant threat. There was something simply unnerving about the man. Jared always felt like he was always staring at the boys… and not in a general way…. that kind of stare when someone is… undressing someone else with their mind. Jared and Tyler hoped this was in their heads.

Despite being there for several weeks so far, the boys still knew hardly a thing about the family that kidnapped them themselves, and their own personal whereabouts. Regarding their captors, all they knew was… Sarah and Hector were a married couple, and they had a son Ethan. They knew that Hector was a crooked cop, and he loved the police dog that accompanied him on-and-off the job. They noticed that Sarah watched over Jared cautiously, and Ethan always was trying to be friends with Tyler, though Sarah was definitely the mother of both boys, and Ethan was definitely the big brother of them both. The only time they spent with these people, they were ALWAYS being regressed, at all times.

Like a family though, they did do family things. Sometimes they’d watch a movie, or get told bedtime stories.

They knew not what day it was exactly, as the days blurred together. They knew not how badly their families were hurting, or if they were even considered dead to the rest of the world. Did their kidnapping make national headlines? Was there an amber alert? What about leads, was anyone looking for them? How close were the detectives to finding them? Would it be tomorrow that they’d be found and rescued… or was that day never going to come?

In fact, all they could do was hope that someone was going to find them. They knew they personally stood no chance in that place by themselves to escape. There was too much enforcement against them from doing that.

---

“How’s my widdle baby boy Jared?” Jared heard.

He moaned, and squirmed a bit around, as much as he could with his arms and legs bound to the cribs’ bars, so he was mostly just shifting his torso around. Suddenly he felt the blanket covering him be pulled down, and then a finger slip down the front of his diaper.

“Aww… someone’s wet!” he heard.

It was not words he liked to hear first thing while waking, of course, but he was used to it by now. He opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Sarah standing over him with a motherly smile.

The thought of his wet diaper, and he had obviously wet in the night, still bothered Jared… it wasn’t even the fact that he was losing control… it was how fast it was happening.

Suddenly, she pulled out a blue colored pacifier with a red ring attached to it, and stuck the binky in his mouth. All he did was suck it, following her lead, waiting for his wet diaper to be replaced with a fresh one.

Sarah pulled the blanket down to Jared’s feet, and revealed to him a new diaper, ready to be put on him.

Jared felt Sarah pull off the tapes of his diaper, and fold the front of it down onto the mattress. Then, the cold baby wipe press against his skin, making Jared wince – and Sarah rub it all around his diaper-area, cleaning him off.

She finished changing Jared’s diaper without a single problem or resistance. In only a minute or two, Jared was lying there with a fresh diaper wrapped around him.

“You know, someone’s been very well behaved!” she said, talking in a sarcastic, babyish tone to him.

Jared of course, continued to suck his pacifier, acting somewhat content to humor Sarah.

“I think today you and your brothers will go outside today to play!” she said.

Jared’s eyes widened and the pacifier dropped out of his mouth. Did she just say… outside?!

Before Jared could say a word, though, she stuck the pacifier back in his mouth.

“Only… if you stay a good boy…” she said.

Jared knew exactly what she was getting at. Clearly, she meant no thoughts of ever escaping.

---

After feeding both Jared and Tyler a bottle of milk like every other morning… Jared, Tyler, and Ethan now stood in the kitchen, with Sarah standing over them. Jared and Tyler stood there, dressed in embarrassingly babyish clothing, just inches from the backdoor that would allow going outside for the first time since their abduction, weeks ago.

Ethan had on him a backpack, what was in it, Jared and Tyler could guess. Most likely, fresh diapers, wipes, powder, and other various things that they’ve been forced to use like toddlers.

But Jared and Ethan were thinking not about the contents of that backpack… but what it would be like to feel the sunlight on their skin for the first time in God knows how long… and if there would be an opportunity to escape while they ventured outside.

“Okay boys… before going outside I want you to wear these” Sarah said as she approached them.

Tyler and Jared looked over at her. And at first… they didn’t know what it was she had in her hands. But once Jared figured it out… he realized that his schemes and plans might not work as planned, which is exactly what Sarah wanted. In her hands… she was holding what looked like two dog collars in her hands, but on each collar was a large metal box with two nubs sticking out into the inside of the collar. In her other hand, she had two remote controls…

Jared was not stupid. He recognized those things immediately… she had shock collars ready for them; like they were dogs… she was going to make sure they didn’t try anything stupid. These were, in reality, two shock collars that Hector had used on his dog before, but they weren’t necessary anymore.

Sarah first handed the two remote controls to Ethan.

“Here you go, if either of these two get out of control, call me and use these” she instructed, and he nodded that he understood.

Then, Sarah took one of the collars, and wrapped it firmly around Jared’s neck, locking it in place. He could feel the cold terminals of the shock-box being pressed into the back of his neck.

“I’ll hang onto the keys” Sarah said with a smile, looking at Jared, and Tyler.

Jared watched as Tyler got his put on by Sarah, and he watched as she actually took a small padlock and placed it in such a way so that the collar would not be coming off easily or in a timely manner.

Jared felt his high hopes for escape dissolve. Tyler, too, felt his spirits crumble as they both realized that although they were about to leave the mansion, Sarah was not stupid, and certainly not as trusting as they had hoped.

---

The sun beamed down onto the boys’ skin for the first time in weeks, but to them, it felt like forever. The crisp, fresh air filled their lungs, and for a second, the boys felt like they were being let go and were going home. It was the first familiar thing they had experienced since they had arrived there…

Though, they didn’t forget where they were, or what may still happen to them.

Ethan led the boys from the door in the kitchen, outside, into a very large, flat clearing of grass, which was about the size of a football field. Surrounding the flat field was what surprised the boys the most… it was like a forest. There were trees all in every direction, except for the clearing they were walking through.

It became clear to Jared and Tyler that they weren’t in any neighborhood… they were somewhere very far, and very isolated. Somewhere with a lot of space for large properties like this…

“Like the yard?” Ethan asked as he led them further and further away from the mansion, approaching the woods that surrounded them.

“How much... of this is yours?” Jared asked.

“It’s all yours now, guys. We’re brothers now. We have woods in all directions… miles of privacy” Ethan explained to them.

Jared and Tyler didn’t make any sort of expression when the boys heard “miles of privacy” come from Ethan’s mouth.

“Wow… cool” Tyler forced himself to say, humoring Ethan.

No one said anything, for quite a while. The boys walked out of the field, and into the woods, where the boys walked along a path, following Ethan all the way as they went deeper and deeper into the woods.

The woods they traveled through were serene, especially with how nice of a day it was out. It was the middle of spring, going into summer, so everything was flourishing beautifully. And despite Jared and Tyler being so lost within their captivity… they were starting to lighten up a bit, and were in fact laughing a little bit occasionally, as they chatted with Ethan about all kinds of things.

Both Jared and Tyler were feeling especially exhausted, which wasn’t a surprise since they haven’t moved much for weeks. They were tired, and wanted to sit down every couple of minutes… like they haven’t slept in days… this is how they’ve felt for the last few weeks in general, actually. Kind of like that sickness they were afflicted with never went completely away…

“So Jared, I heard you were a boy scout” Ethan said.

This got Jared’s attention… this was something Jared had never spoken of to anyone. Only Tyler knew.

“…yeah?” Jared said.

“Cool, how long?” Ethan asked.

“…Two years…” Jared replied.

“Two years? Wow, that’s an awful long time. You must feel at home here out in the wilderness, huh?” Ethan said.

“I guess…” Jared lied. Actually, Jared had never felt so far from home in his life.

“What kind of badges did you have?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t know… a few…” Jared said, not wanting to get too specific with anything.

“C’mon, you can’t just forget which ones you worked so hard to earn” Ethan pried.

“I had my Camping badge…” Jared spat out, just saying the first one that came to mind.

“Oh wow, cool. Maybe sometime we can all go camping… Hector loves to do that stuff, too. He loves camping… and hunting, too. Have you ever hunted, before?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah… once or twice” Jared replied. This time he was lying, though. He’s hunted plenty more times than just once or twice. He’s done it with his dad before, and a few other times even with his grandfather. Jared knew the workings of a hunting rifle pretty well, and even a shotgun. He was also no stranger to handguns, since his grandfather let Jared use the few he owned.

It bothered Jared the more he thought about all he was throwing away… he worked hard and seriously, all for nothing. His badges were gone. His friends were gone. His family was gone. Everything he knew and loved was gone.

The two years he served as a boy scout, as well as the three full years he served as a cub scout before that… just doesn’t matter anymore.

He continued to walk with his best and only friend Tyler, and Ethan, who was obviously trying to befriend Jared… but Jared didn’t want him as a friend. It all was frustrating Jared a lot.

The only friend he had in the world anymore was Tyler… but what kind of friend was Jared? Jared got Tyler in this mess in the beginning. Like Sarah told him, if it wasn’t for Jared… Tyler wouldn’t be here, with this to deal with. It was all Jared’s fault for getting Tyler into it, and Jared was hurting from it bad. It’s been something he hasn’t stopped thinking about… something that has been eating away at his conscious since he was told it… but Sarah warned him, and Jared just HAD to know. Jared even admitted to himself that Sarah was right about one thing so far… he shouldn’t have pried that out of her.

At one point though, Jared went from his normal self in this situation, to very upset when suddenly, out of nowhere… he felt himself, not having to pee, but instantly peeing in his pants, and into his diaper.

He stopped, behind both Ethan and Tyler, neither of whom noticed he stopped. Jared felt pee just pouring out of him, and into his diaper. And he couldn’t stop it!

“What… what the hell…” Jared said under his breath.

“Why does this keep happening?!” Jared thought to himself.

It was like someone flicked a switch. He was standing there, and he was literally feeling the pee come gushing out, into his diaper. But no matter what he tried to do, he could NOT stop it. It was as if Jared was attempting to wag a tail he did not have… he couldn’t stop it from pouring out.

It was bad time for such an experience… Jared was thinking about his experiences that made him a strong, determined, dedicated young man… only to realize he was losing all of that, and was now down to wetting his pants like a baby. It was very demoralizing to put it lightly, and it made him angry.

“So you guys like videogames, huh?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah… yeah they’re fun. We played them a lot” Tyler said.

“Oh yeah? That’s cool… I like them too, I play mine in my room whenever I have the chance” Ethan explained.

“…maybe if you stay on good behavior, Mom will get you both one” Ethan said.

The boys walked over a log, and through some tall grass, and Jared thought about what Ethan had said…

“…yeah, maybe” Jared said.

“Mom likes good behavior, you two. If you continue to act like you’re supposed to, you’ll be rewarded” he said.

Jared wondered what he meant…

“…rewarded how?” Jared asked.

“Hehe… well… I don’t want to tell you, and ruin the surprise… but, my Mom and Dad let you outside, didn’t they?” Ethan said.

“Yeah… but we have these collars on…” Tyler said.

Ethan chuckled.

“Good things in time” he said.

The boys nodded their heads… Ethan was right. Clearly, if they continued to act like toddlers, wetting and messing their diapers, etc. without resistance, more good things will come. Sarah wouldn’t have let them out of her sights when they had just arrived. Their submission was getting them rewarded… and maybe, just maybe… a chance to escape!

There was silence for a little while as they traveled farther… Jared continued to wonder about why he was waking up wet, and wetting with less and less control. It was like he just let it go without even realizing it. It wasn’t just Jared, though, Tyler was the same way. Both of the boys were losing their control, and neither understood why.

It made no sense what-so-ever. He was not an incontinent child. He never had any accidents, ever, since he was much younger. But the second he was put into their captivity, suddenly he was beginning to become more and more dependent on diapers. They were doing something to Jared and Tyler… and Jared couldn’t figure out what.

The idea began to frustrate Jared, and before he realized it… was getting really angry, and frustrated.

“…so… how old are you, Ethan?” Tyler asked.

“16” Ethan said.

“And you’re… 11, Tyler?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah…” Tyler nodded.

Jared felt unnerved by the fact that someone only three years older than he was could stand for what they were going through…

“So you’re 16… and you’re okay with what we’re going through?” Jared said.

Ethan laughed…

“Well, I’m not exactly sure what that’s supposed to mean… but, yeah, sure. I guess so” Ethan said.

Jared held his words back… he had to keep it cool…

“I just mean…” Jared said.

“No Jared, you don’t have to explain anything. I know it must be hard… but, it’s for the best, what you and Tyler are going through” Ethan said.

His words… “For the best” made Jared even angrier. Jared’s fists were clenched, and he felt himself gritting his teeth. How could this kid justify their pain with words so cryptic?

Ethan didn’t see Jared, but Tyler did. Tyler gently tapped on Jared’s chest, and, without saying anything, said “Calm down”, by lip-syncing the words. Jared, though… felt like he had to say something.

“How would you know?” Jared said.

“Excuse me?” Ethan asked, turning around.

“How do you know what’s best for me and Tyler?” Jared challenged.

Ethan walked up to Jared with a smirk.

“How do I know? I know because I’m your big brother” Ethan said.

“No… you’re not” Jared said.

“No? That’s funny. I’m not the one in widdle diapey and has to drink from a baba like a baby!” Ethan teased.

Jared was taken back by Ethan’s comment…

“I guess that makes you a baby, if nothing else” Ethan said, turning around.

Jared felt the heat from anger, and hurt pride… but it wasn’t just anger and frustration. He felt an almost uncontrollable fire burning through his body, from his toes to his head, and his fingertips… he felt heat, and pins-and-needles.

“Hurt him” Jared thought.

“If I could just… get to you… I swear to God I’d kill you…” Jared thought.

“…I could get one good one in. It’d be worth it… no matter what happens” Jared thought.

“I could charge him… and get him down… and… we could run away from here… and get help! Yeah!” Jared thought.

Suddenly, Jared charged full speed towards Ethan. He ran as fast as he could, and didn’t yell or anything. He was silent as he suddenly lunged at Ethan’s back, pushing him hard.

Ethan fell to the ground, landing on his stomach.

“JARED WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Tyler yelled.

Jared paid no attention to Tyler, however, and proceeded to beat Ethan by kicking him in the stomach. He put his shoes far into Ethan’s stomach, as far as he could, and Ethan yelled and shouted as he was beaten worse and worse by Jared. But Jared’s sudden state of psychosis was only fueled on by visions of Ethan’s ribs snapping in half, his skull cracking, his lungs collapsing, his blood dripping out, anything!

Finally, when kicking was no longer enough, Jared yelled out into the air like a caveman, and jumped down and began to punch Ethan in the face, before finally wrapping his fingers around Ethan’s throat, where he then began to kill Ethan.

“Jared, stop!” Tyler yelled.

Jared paid no attention…

“Jared!” Tyler yelled again.

Suddenly, though, in a flash, Jared was suddenly standing, in the middle of the woods, and Ethan was walking ahead of he and Tyler, unharmed.

Jared snapped out of his little sadistic fantasy… it was something that was all too tempting. And when he looked at Tyler, as he was almost considering it… the shock collar around Tyler’s neck made Jared remember that what he was considering was not a possibility.

He just looked at Tyler with a snare, and continued walking. Tyler, on the other hand… simply whispered into Jared’s ear… “We’ll talk later… if we can”

Jared nodded… and tried getting a hold of himself.

And although Jared didn’t completely relax… he did keep it under control. He hated everything, and rightfully so…

---

It had been an hour since the encounter, and the boys began walking back towards the mansion, and Jared and Tyler were dreading every step towards that place that they were taking, not only because it meant they would have to go back into their nurseries, but also because it hurt to walk at this point. Their legs were sore, especially from the sudden burst of activity after so little for so long.

However, on their way back, they came into a small glade within the forest. In this little spot, Jared and Tyler spotted a picnic table, right in the middle of the glade’s openness. Ethan had strayed a bit from the course that they had followed for so long, and led them here.

“Let’s have a sit” Ethan said, approaching the rickety wooden picnic table, and sitting down on one of the benches.

Jared and Tyler gladly sat down, now feeling completely exhausted… next to each other on the opposite side of Ethan.

“Wow… it’s been too long since I’ve been here” Ethan said.

“What is this place?” Tyler asked.

“This is a special place… I probably shouldn’t have brought you two here yet… but, I felt like paying my respects” Ethan said.

Both Jared and Tyler looked at Ethan, confused.

“Why shouldn’t have we been brought here” Tyler asked.

“Yeah… and… pay what respects?” Jared asked.

Ethan chuckled, but the boys could tell he was thinking deeply.

“Sorry guys, I didn’t mean to space out or anything. This is just a special place, and I don’t think my mom or dad would’ve wanted you two to see this place yet. My mom trusts you two… but, you guys are still pretty new with all of this” Ethan explained.

Jared and Tyler nodded… now enticed.

“But… pay respects to whom?” Jared asked.

Ethan then pointed away from the picnic table they were sitting, and towards a nearby tree. Jared looked carefully towards the trunk of the tree, where there was a small gravestone located at the bottom. You could hardly see it… it looked almost like a small boulder where it was placed, but on further examination, it became obvious that it was a grave.

The sight sent chills down the two boys’ spines.

“…who is that?” Tyler asked.

“My brother” Ethan said.

“His name was Liam” he finished.

“I never knew him, he died before I…” Ethan said, stopping at the end of his sentence.

Jared looked at Ethan. Ethan wasn’t crying, but instead… looked off, with his mouth still open… like he was stopping himself from saying something he shouldn’t have said. Suddenly, he chuckled…

“…bah, forget it” he said.

“Anyway… Liam died before I could meet him myself. I just wonder what he would be like if he was still alive. I always wanted a brother” Ethan explained, before looking at both Jared and Tyler.

“But now I two little brothers, so I guess my wish was granted” Ethan said with a smile.

Ethan’s words actually struck a chord inside of Jared and Tyler… they kind of felt bad for Ethan. Liam’s specifics were not known, but neither Jared nor Tyler were going to pry details out of the only person that hasn’t been aggressive toward the boys.

They felt like if they were going to be nice to anyone… it would be Ethan. Though, they still resented what was being done to them, and Ethan was doing nothing for two innocent boys being kidnapped and forcefully regressed. They knew Ethan was no less a criminal than Sarah and Hector.

Still, they felt like they were beginning to befriend the kid in a strange sense. They knew he was a bad person… but he was becoming the only person they could count on not being hurt by.

Jared approached the gravestone, and kneeled down to get a better look. On it read:

“Liam, RIP. We’ll never forget you. 1988-1993”

“He was… five?” Tyler asked.

Ethan nodded.

“Yes”, he said.

“How did he die?” Jared asked.

Ethan looked over at Jared and Tyler… and didn’t answer at first. As he opened his mouth, to mutter the first syllable of a sentence that Jared and Tyler would never hear, there was a sudden faint, rapid beeping. Ethan forced his arm out suddenly, and then looked at his forearm, or, after Tyler realized it, his watch that he was wearing.

“Hm. We’d better be getting back” Ethan said.

Suddenly, Ethan took the backpack, which was lying on top of the picnic table, and unzipped it, and then handed both of the younger boys’ two baby bottles of milk.

“Here, drink these while we get back. You know Mom won’t like it if you two don’t drink up…” he explained.

Both Jared and Tyler knew how much Sarah would get upset if they hadn’t had their baby bottle every so many hours, as over the last few weeks, both boys have been scolded for it on a few occasions.

They both nodded, and then obediently began drinking their bottles, and all three of the boys began walking back home, leaving Liam’s gravesite alone, with certain questions that had yet to be answered.

---

The boys continued their way back after their pit stop, mostly in silence. Jared and Tyler were contemplating Liam’s grave in their heads. Ethan was wondering if he had done the right thing by showing the boys it without his parents’ permission.

As they approached the giant football field-sized clearing behind the mansion, Jared and Tyler began to cringe knowing what they’d have to put up with when they finally get back.

“Hey, what’s that?” Tyler asked out loud, stopping the group in their tracks.

Jared and Ethan looked over to see what he was talking about.

He was pointing at a small building that was placed off to the side of the yard, about 30 or 40 feet from the rest of the mansion. It was like a shack, but as big as a garage, but not really connected to anything. It was just a small random building… like a concrete shack.

“That building?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah” Tyler confirmed.

“That’s Hector’s workshop… Sort of” Ethan said.

“Sort of?” Tyler asked.

“Well… no one’s really allowed in there except for Hector. It’s pretty much his spot to do whatever he wants” Ethan said.

“…like what?” Jared asked.

The garage-like building was now suspicious to him… what kind of things would that man have to do in privacy?

“I’ve been in there a lot… he uses that place to work on cars. He has repaired police cars there for his work. He also keeps his stuff there, like his dog. He has a bed and stuff in there too for when he just wants to be alone, but he does mostly sleep with my Mom” Ethan elaborated.

The boys began walking away from it and towards the backdoor into the mansion.

“So no one’s allowed in there?” Jared asked.

“Nope, not my mom, not me. Not you, not Tyler. No one, not without his permission” Ethan said.

As they approached the patio, they could see Sarah waiting for them. Before going inside, Jared gave the little building one last look. It gave him a strange vibe… it looked shady. Maybe it was just because Hector was such a suspicious and shady man, that anything associated with him was bad news.

“C’mon Jared” Sarah said as he approached her.

Jared simply walked back inside of the house, and that was the end of their adventures in the woods.

The rest of the night was spent like any other… the boys were changed, and a few hours later, Hector came home, and they all had dinner together. Only a few hours after that, the boys were put to sleep, in their cribs…

Chapter Four… “The Secret Room”

Jared sat there, in the middle of the forest that he, Tyler, and Ethan had walked through earlier that day. He was on the picnic table, sitting there, staring again at the grave that belonged to Liam. He stared at the gravestone, and simply thought about everything he had been experiencing.

“What did I do to deserve this?” he asked himself.

He looked down at himself, at his legs. He was wearing no pants, and instead, was sitting there in nothing but a diaper and his confining, tamper-proof plastic pants.

“Why me?” he said, feeling an immense sensation of grief.

Then, as he stared down at his diapered crotch, he suddenly felt himself flooding his diaper, and he watched the diaper turn pale white to an obvious, dark yellow.

“Hmph… wet… again… I’m so useless…” he said to himself, as he stood up from the picnic table.

“Jared, what have you done?” he heard Sarah say.

He looked over, and there was Sarah, standing there with a fresh diaper in hand.

“Has my baby wet his diaper, again? Such a good little boy you are, doing everything Mommy has told you to” she said with a sinful smirk.

“But… why?” Jared asked, his eyes beginning to get flooded with tears.

Sarah simply put her finger in front of her lips, in a “shhh” gesture.

Jared obeyed… and stopped what he was saying, and doing and Sarah approached him with the new diaper in hand. He didn’t feel like fighting anymore…

Jared felt like he wanted to cry from everything that he has done and become. A worthless friend, weak, and ignorant… wetting and messing his pants, dependant on someone else to do things for him. It all sank in, and that’s when he simply began crying, as Sarah lay him back on the table, and removed his soggy, wet diaper.

“It’s alright, it’s alright… there’s nothing to be ashamed about” Sarah softly spoke, as she wiped him clean.

As Jared continued to cry, though, suddenly a pacifier, the same one he had been using since he arrived there, was popped into his mouth. It was a somewhat calming thing… the feeling of someone doing all of this for him, just to make him feel comfortable.

He suddenly felt as though all of his pain and suffering was beginning to fade as he simply let Sarah change his diaper for him… it was like a revelation: he no longer had to do anything, anymore. Sarah’s scheme for he and Tyler all seemed so appropriate all of the sudden.

It all made sense, like he was seeing the big picture for the first time. All Sarah wants to do is take care of him and Tyler… she doesn’t want to hurt them, no one wants to hurt them… what is wrong with that?

Sarah seemed to have noticed, smiling at him, and playing with him. He gleefully started to act his part, finally, and all the while, Sarah began to seem more and more like his Mommy. It seemed oddly correct, to Jared… for the first time he was not embarrassed or angry about it anymore… he felt actually kind of happy…

But then… suddenly, Jared felt the presence of another person in those woods, other than just him and Sarah. Having his new diaper wrapped around him securely, he knew it was safe to sit up and see who that person was… and he found out that it was not just one person… it was several people.

“Jared… why are you doing this? Why are you letting her do this to you?” he heard from a familiar voice, one that he hadn’t heard in a long, long time.

It was his mother… his real mother, and she was standing there, beside his real dad. They were both staring at him with sadness in their eyes. Jared’s little brother also stood there, in front of his parents. Jared was suddenly overwrought with emotion… he felt so guilty, like he was in fact leaving his family behind and they were there to witness his betrayal to their love.

“I’m… I’m sorry! I can’t do anything…” Jared said, tears swelling in his eyes.

“Aren’t we good enough? Didn’t I do enough for you?” his mom said, tears in hers now too.

“It’s not like that… It’s not, I swear. Tyler and I… we’re trapped mom. I’m scared! I’m so scared, and there isn’t anything we can do! Please help us!” Jared begged, sobbing harder and harder as time went on.

“And it’s your entire fault…” he heard.

He looked up, and there was Tyler, he too standing by his family, though he was dressed like a baby.

“Thanks a lot” Tyler said to him.

Jared continued to cry.

“I’m sorry!” Jared yelled.

Suddenly, out of nowhere he felt an odd feeling, like he was being lifted. He felt light, and then, he realized that all was black around him. Jared realized he was dreaming… and he had just now woken up, in the middle of the night.

He could barely see a thing, the only light being the dim blue nightlight on the opposite wall, and there was a strange ticking sound coming from somewhere… it was a sound he hadn’t heard in a very long time… he then realized it was the sound of rain outside… such a calm and relaxing thing, especially at night, for Jared…

But he didn’t pay any attention to it. He was more concerned about his dream, and the overwhelming sense of dread filling his body. His eyes were burning, and there was a tense pain behind them: a migraine. He was trembling, and he was sweating, but he felt cold, so was shivering. And on top of that, the most noticeable thing was his heart; pounding so hard in his chest he could feel it in his neck.

Jared was getting a hold of himself after he was aware of his surroundings… but then suddenly, there was a clicking sound, and then, he heard the door to the room open, and then shut.

Then, there was a click, and the room filled with light. This was not the ceiling light, but was rather a small desk lamp that was easier on the eyes, on the nightstand next to the crib. Jared looked up and could see Sarah standing there in her bedclothes, looking quite concerned.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Huh?” Jared asked.

“You yelled something… like ‘I’m sorry’ or something…” Sarah said, waiting for a response from Jared, though Jared just shrugged.

“Bad dream?” she asked.

Jared nodded.

“Aww… well… it’s okay… you’re awake now… you’re safe” she assured.

For the first time, Jared was actually glad to see Sarah… he knew that she wasn’t’ going to do anything to hurt him, and was actually going to help him… he was finally gaining trust. His dream was looping around in his head over and over, and it was making him feel sicker and sicker. He saw his parents’ expressions in his mind’s eye, and it was pulling sadness over him that couldn’t be explained with mere words… and then, Jared began to cry… just, broke down and started to cry. It was mostly pent up emotion, finally finding a way out.

Sarah took a breath in, and then pulled up a chair next to where Jared was lying, and she sat down. It was almost as if she knew what was bothering him.

There, in that room, for several minutes the only sound was Jared whimpering, which barely audible over the sound of the rainstorm outside.

“Let it out, Jared… you’ve been keeping it all inside for too long” Sarah said.

Jared was crying and crying, and it was all pouring out of him… he felt like the whole world was falling apart…he felt such an immense aching in his body, he felt as though he couldn’t do anything but cry. He wanted to see his mom, his dad, and his little brother… he didn’t want to feel so guilty for starting to accept his captors as his new family, and he didn’t want to feel so guilty for Tyler’s involvement.

There was more time in silence, until finally Sarah broke it.

“Jared… would you like to come with me, to the kitchen?” Sarah offered.

It was a question that actually stunned Jared for a brief moment.

“W-What?” he asked, as tears still rolled down his face, though he wasn’t sobbing much.

“Downstairs, for a few minutes. It’s late… and I think you need some milk to help you sleep. I could use something too” she said.

Jared looked at her, but he didn’t respond, though Sarah knew he wanted to leave his crib for a little while.

So just like that, she stood up, pulled the bars down, and undid Jared’s restraints. Then, Jared, with Sarah’s help, landed onto the ground. Finally, the two exited Jared’s nursery, and Sarah led Jared down the dimly lit halls, downstairs, and into the kitchen. Jared found it surprisingly difficult to walk… his legs felt wobbly, and he found it hard to balance… he was disoriented and he felt like he was kind of numb in his whole body. Kind of like he was drugged or something… it was an odd sensation.

She turned on the ceiling lights, and with a knob that was on the wall, adjusted them so that they were dim, to be easier on their eyes. The room echoed with the sounds of the calming rainstorm outside.

Jared wasn’t crying anymore, but he still felt a bit distraught… he felt rather cleansed having cried so hard so long, however. Sarah walked over to the fridge, and Jared sat on a seat at the bar.

In only a few moments time, she returned to Jared, sliding a baby bottle filled with milk to him. Jared instinctively took it in hand, and began drinking it. Whether those instincts were habit or a sign of regression, Jared couldn’t tell.

“Try not to think about your dream… its hard but it’s the solution. You’ll calm down soon” Sarah said, as she walked back to the counter.

Jared nodded, and actually took her advise… as much as he was trying to ignore it, though, the more he couldn’t help but to.

There was the sound of water from the tap filling a coffee pot, then the click of her putting the pot into the coffee maker. Finally, she sat down beside Jared, who was drinking a bit from his bottle.

“How was your walk yesterday? With Tyler and Ethan?” Sarah asked.

“It was okay…” Jared said, remembering all of the things he had seen and done on that walk: Liam’s tombstone, the argument with Ethan…

“I figured you two boys should’ve gone outside for a little while… some sunshine does the body good” Sarah said.

Jared nodded.

“Ethan says you two were very well behaved. I’m pleased. Continue this good behavior, Jared. You’re doing great” Sarah said with a smirk.

“…yeah. I uh… I…” Jared began to say.

He was at a loss for words. Sarah looked at him.

“…I’m really starting to feel at home here” Jared lied. Even lying, the words hurt to say.

He couldn’t tell if his lie was an obvious one… Sarah looked at him, and there was a bit of silence. She tilted her head up but continued to look at him, before finally a smirk crept across her face, and she exhaled.

“I’m glad you feel that way” she replied, before finally standing up.

Jared looked at his baby bottle… he was halfway finished with it already. Then he watched as Sarah took the now steaming hot water from the coffee pot, and poured it into a mug, and finally, took a tea packet, and let it sit in her mug...

“I’m happy having you with us” Sarah replied, and Jared faked a shy smirk, and then drank some from his bottle. Sarah sipped her tea, and then continued the conversation.

“What did you boys do all that time you were gone?” Sarah asked.

Jared shrugged.

“Just walked through the woods… enjoyed the fresh air…” Jared admitted. This time, he wasn’t lying.

The two continued to converse… about all kinds of things, though Jared never let his guard down. He lied when he had to, but there wasn’t really a need to as the conversation was quite tame, and was about mostly random, unimportant things.

The conversation was what was necessary to calm Jared down. After what seemed like probably an hour at most, Jared was very sleepy again.

“Okay Jared, I think it’s time to lie back down… I’m tired, and I know you are” she said with a yawn. Jared’s tiredness must’ve showed.

Jared nodded, and then Sarah took the empty bottle and her cup, and placed them in the sink. The boy and his now-mother stood up, and walked out of the kitchen, and back upstairs, into the dimly lit hall, and back into Jared’s nursery.

Sarah picked up Jared, and gently put him in his crib (he wasn’t very big, and Sarah, though she did struggle a bit, still managed it). Sarah pulled the bars up, and finally tucked him in tight. Jared fell quickly asleep without really realizing it. As a matter of fact… Jared felt so fast asleep, that he didn’t even watch as Sarah ignored the ropes on the bars of his crib, and didn’t tie them to his limbs. She left him lying there, asleep, without any bonds to hold him down, because she knew in her heart that Jared had finally submitted…

---

Jared slowly opened his eyes, like any other morning. He gazed around the room, feeling incredibly tired yet pleasantly comfortable. Something was different, he thought, but he didn’t know exactly what that was. Out of habit, he never tried rolling much in his sleep anymore; he often stayed on his back.

Suddenly, Jared noticed something that instantly caught his attention… there was a heat surge from his chest, and he was suddenly very awake, and very aware of the adrenaline rush that happened. What he was noticing was the ropes that once bound him in, were no longer attached to him, but were now instead tied in knots on the bars they were attached to, like bows.

He held his arms up, and looked at them like they were surreal. Nothing was wrapped around his wrists, not even a mark from the nightly captivity.

What was the reason for this? Had Sarah forgotten to tie him up, or perhaps he was being rewarded for good behavior like Ethan talked about? Was she truly trusting him this much, or was it merely a test?

He didn’t move. He looked at the crib’s bars… they were tall… but climbable. It would take some effort… but Jared knew that with a hop and some strength, he could hoist himself over the bars. Then he noticed the baby monitor just on the other side. She’d hear him if he dared escape.

Jared knew better… he didn’t even think about it. Instead… he simply stayed laid down, and waited for Sarah to inevitably come walking in to change his diaper… which, he noticed, was certainly in need of changing. For the first time, he could move in his crib… it was such an incredibly odd thing… He wasn’t lying there in an uncomfortable, stiff position… he could move around, and even stretch out a bit… it was a really nice change of pace.

He hadn’t lay there for more than what seemed like 20 minutes before suddenly he heard footsteps in the hall, and heard the sound of the doorknob only turning (nothing more), and then the door swing open, revealing Sarah.

“Oh! Already awake, I see” she said with a kind smile.

She left the door open, and approached the crib, unlocking the bars, and pulling them down. Jared sheepishly blushed as Sarah slid her index finger down the top of his diaper, feeling that it was wet.

Jared knew what was coming next: Sarah turned around, went to a dresser, where she pulled out a new diaper, a box of baby wipes, and some powder. She returned to the crib, and since the bars of the crib were already down, she simply reached in and began to change Jared’s diaper (she had to reach down a bit to touch him, but it wasn’t very difficult).

She first removed the locked plastic pants (using a key that she kept on the key ring), and then undid those tapes on each side of his soggy diaper, and then pulled it down to the mattress, exposing Jared, now hardly shy about being naked in front of Sarah (as this has happened countless times by now).

Jared winced at the ice-cold press of a baby wipe as it passed over his skin all over his privates and the rest of his diaper area. Then, she picked his legs up, and cleaned his butt, as well. She powdered him well in all places, and then placed a new diaper around him. Finally, she wrapped the locking plastic pants back around his diaper to make sure there was no tampering with it.

Since Jared was now in a clean, dry diaper, he comfortably sat up, and Sarah helped him down onto the floor. He dared not question the ropes being gone, and instead accepted it gladly, like he would any other gift.

Holding his hand like a little boy, Sarah led him downstairs, and into the dining room, where Tyler, Hector, and Ethan all awaited Sarah and the still-groggy Jared. Tyler stared at Jared, as he nibbled on a sandwich. Jared made eye contact with everyone in the room, and sat down in the seat that he always sat at during breakfast, lunch, dinner, and other such gatherings.

Jared found a sandwich prepared for him… peanut butter and jelly. As well as a 12 ounce baby bottle filled with ice-cold milk. Mmmm… yummy…

Hector’s presence was an odd one… it wasn’t often that the man was with the boys during lunch. Jared didn’t like the feeling he got with Hector sitting across from him… the man just simply gave Jared the creeps. Every time Jared looked up at Hector for one reason or another, he noticed that Hector was looking at Jared or Tyler with a gaze. It gave Jared the creeps, plain and simple.

Tyler, of course, was not oblivious to the odd tension that Hector presented. Ever since that day Hector let the dog just inches from biting him and Jared, he never, ever enjoyed Hector’s company. The dog was not in the house, though – which was a nice relief. It rarely was, as Hector often tied him out back.

Neither of the boys spoke of it though. Instead, for now, the boys sat at the dinner table with their new family, eating their food and drinking their milk, conversing with everyone like there was no problem… until Sarah unexpectedly changed that…

“Okay you two, come with me” she said.

The two looked at each other, confused. Did they do something wrong? They were on their best behavior!

“Ethan, could you get the plates?” she asked of Ethan, who of course did it for her. He took the two empty plates into the kitchen, while Jared and Tyler followed her into that playroom: the same one where they had attempted escape.

“Sit in here, and relax for a little while. Mommy thinks you two deserve some playtime! So while we go talk about grownup stuff, you two just sit in here and watch a movie” she said, as she took a DVD off a high shelf.

She turned it on, and left the room, locking the door behind her. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity… the two boys had time alone with each other once more.

They looked at each other… not sure what to do with themselves… they were so used to the constant supervision; it was almost like they needed someone to give them something to do.

“…hey…” Jared said to him, very quietly.

“…hey…” Tyler replied.

There was an awkward silence between them… they didn’t know exactly how to take this situation. Tyler took it upon himself to break that silence, though…

“…man it’s been so long since we could talk again…” Tyler said, also whispering.

“…yeah… what’ve they been doing to you?” Jared asked.

“…same stuff… but Jared… there’s something I’m worried about!” Tyler said.

“…what?” Jared asked, noticing the concerned tone in his voice.

“…I… It’s… I… can’t” Tyler said, trying so hard to force a sentence out.

“…you… you can’t stop… going in your diaper? Is that it?” Jared suggested, and suddenly, he saw Tyler immediately nod in return.

“…me neither… I don’t know what it is Tyler but it’s something… something’s wrong…” Jared said.

They both looked at each other, and Jared quickly glanced at the front of Tyler’s diaper. It was extra bulky, with a yellowish tint to the otherwise bright-white exterior. He tried to act like he didn’t see anything, though, so he didn’t embarrass Tyler. Jared didn’t like the idea of Tyler knowing when Jared was wetting his diaper, so he didn’t want to put Tyler in that position.

“…look… I don’t know how much time we have together here… so we need to spit out any stuff we can about what we know… if we ever want to see home again…” Jared said.

Tyler took a breath in… and nodded.

“…look.... something interesting happened to me last night…” Jared said.

“…what? What happened?” Tyler asked.

“…I woke up this morning with the ropes on my crib not on me! Sarah took them off, or maybe forgot to tie them or something… but… I think they’re starting to trust us” Jared said, full of ideas.

Tyler looked at him, looking shocked.

“…this morning?” Tyler asked.

“…yeah… why?” Jared questioned.

“…Jared… my crib doesn’t have any ropes… Ethan and Sarah took those off a LONG time ago...” Tyler said.

Jared’s mouth dropped! Did he hear him correctly?

“…what?” he asked.

“…you mean… you’ve been tied up… all this time?” Tyler asked.

“…y-yeah… and… you weren’t?” Jared asked.

“…n-no…” Tyler responded.

There was silence. Strange enough, there was an odd sense of pure jealousy towards Tyler for a second. Not for him having this kind of freedom before Tyler did… he felt almost as though he was betrayed by Sarah in a way. He felt… like a brother who’s mom just blatantly played favorites with his little brother.

“…they trust you more than they trust me…” Jared said.

“…r-really?” Tyler asked.

“…that must be why… you… you never put up a fight… they like you…” Jared said.

Tyler wasn’t entirely sure how to react. Jared shook his head. He knew time was running out. He had so many things to say to Tyler… he wished he knew exactly when Sarah was going to come back in. He knew that Sarah could just at any moment come in, and catch them whispering secrets to each other, and then they may go back to being tied up like animals. That wasn’t a risk either of them were willing to take… yet.

“…anyway…” Jared said, breaking the silence.

“…so we’re both free… we can both… we could… we could sneak out… maybe…” Jared said.

Tyler’s eyes widened as Jared came up with a wide expression. And then two continued their secret plans, in whisper so quiet that they were more reading each others’ lips than actually speaking to each other.

“…we couldn’t though… we can’t escape… we don’t know where to go… who knows how far in these woods we are… Ethan said yesterday we’re surrounded by woods by miles!” Tyler reminded.

Jared thought for a moment…

“…if we sneak out maybe we can find… a phone… or… a computer, or something… something that’ll help us!” Jared said.

Tyler and Jared looked at each other in such extreme excitement… for the first time since they’ve been in that mansion, the two boys felt genuinely like they were at the end of their time in that place… they felt like they had a chance of getting free!

“…okay… look… we shouldn’t do it tonight though…” Tyler suggested.

“…what? Why!?...” Jared asked.

“…too obvious… we should wait… I don’t want to get caught… who knows what they’d do to us Jared!” Tyler said.

Jared thought about it… he thought about Hector, Sarah, or Ethan… he knew that such an act would not be without consequence if they got caught. And with that, Jared looked at Tyler, and realized how true it was. They should wait…

…and wait, they would.

After that conversation, they waited several days. They never spoke to each other about their plans except after that time in that room, even though every other day, they were alone together in the playroom. They simply played their part, knowing that soon, they were going to strike. The boys had a plan… and one night; weeks later… the boys put it into action…

---

Jared lay in his crib, his legs and arms free, in the midst of the night. The only light he could see was a dim, pale blue coming from a nightlight near the door. He was very awake… very aware. This was the night he and Tyler had talked about. This was their chance.

He was anxious… and he had been lying there for hours. He wasn’t sure how many hours had passed since Sarah put him to bed, or what time it was exactly. But he knew that by now… everyone but he and Tyler were definitely asleep.

He decided that now was the time to get up and out. He looked over at the baby monitor… he wasn’t sure how loud Sarah had it on the other end, so he knew he had to be extra quiet. What made Jared more anxious was the thought that maybe Sarah was still awake!

He sat up, and then stood up on his knees, and finally he stood up on his feet. Despite standing up, the bars still came up to the high part of his chest. If the bars were lowered, he wouldn’t need to climb over as much. But with them that high on his chest, it made it very hard to simply vault over. It was not impossible, though.

He felt the outside of the top of the bars for a latch so he could lower the bars… but there was nothing. In the darkness, he couldn’t see the mechanism that kept the bars locked in place… Sarah wasn’t stupid, and he knew it.

He did now feel smaller and more trapped than he has most of the time he’s been kidnapped, seeing how he was in fact quite locked in the crib, even without the ropes keeping him there. He knew the only way out was to climb.

He looked over the bars… he wasn’t entirely sure how far from the ground he was, and in the darkness, it was really hard to see. And the tall bars in the crib made it hard for him to simply hoist himself over. He tried anyway.

Grabbing a hold of the very top bar with both hands… he suddenly jumped! Forcing himself over using the momentum he got from his hop, he felt his body beginning to teeter over the top of the crib’s bars… but there was no luck, and he landed back inside the crib.

For several minutes, Jared sat there in his plastic pants covered diaper, and his baby printed pajamas, feeling utterly defeated. He put his hands on each bar of the crib, and wiggled each… but none of them budged.

He simply felt defeated for a few moments… there was no quiet, discreet way out. He had to try jumping, again, but he had to try really hard for it to work. He felt weaker for some reason… that strange numbing sensation was all through his body, but he had gotten used to the strange sensation by now.

He backed up against the wall, and faced the crib’s bars… he took a breath in, and with one quick step and hop, he jumped onto the bars!

Once again, hoisting himself over, he was teetering on the top bar. He did his best to shift his weight… and with a second or two of forcing himself over…

BAM!

He flipped over the bars, and slammed hard onto the floor, onto his back… he had done it!

There was an adrenaline rush. Jared felt his veins pulsing with a heat as he knew that he was now out of the crib. The impact of landing on his back hurt, and he lay there silently, trying so hard not to cough, as the impact had pretty well knocked the wind out of him… he was also still because he was not sure how loud he had hit the floor. He was scared… and he waited there, for minutes, waiting to hear the sounds of rushing footsteps to the door…

…but there was nothing!

Confident his escape from the crib had succeeded… he slowly rose to his feet. He stood there, and slowly approached the door, his hand open. He was hoping… praying… that the door was not locked. It was something he hadn’t thought of… His hand wrapped around the doorknob… and he hesitantly turned it.

He spun it around slowly… then suddenly, he felt the tension of the door release… and the door slowly began to pull towards him… opening…

“This door’s not locked?” Jared thought.

Somehow… the door being unlocked didn’t seem correct. It almost seemed as if his escape was much too easy. He was expecting that door to be locked… but it wasn’t!

“…oh well… I guess Sarah just trusts me too much” Jared thought, not thinking anything about it…

---

The sound of his own heart pounding from the intensity of the situation made it hard for Jared to hear how loud he was being as he crept through the black hallway, past the steps, and into the hallway that led to Tyler’s room.

He was slow, and cautious – peeping over his shoulder constantly, and looking around corners before going anywhere. He assumed it was just anxiety, but for some reason he felt as though he was being watched. Something in the air didn’t feel right. He ignored it, though…

He looked down the hall… there were a few doors on the left and right… any one of them could be the wrong door. Jared noticed it was similar to the hall that Jared passed through outside of his nursery… and so, he thought that maybe the door right in the middle, on the right… would be Tyler’s nursery, as that was the case with Jared, on the opposite side of the house.

Jared took his chances, and grabbed the doorknob, slowly opening the door… again, this door was not locked…

…and was relieved to find that he may have been right. He saw a nightlight, and, looking around the door… could barely see the silhouette of a crib.

He gently shut the door, and approached the crib. He tapped the bars with his fingernails, looking in, unsure if Tyler was asleep or awake. Suddenly he saw some movement inside, and then…

“…Jar-?” he heard in a very faint, high pitched voice; one that could only belong to Tyler.

“Shh…” Jared replied, cutting Tyler off mid-sentence.

There was silence. He looked down, and saw another baby monitor next to the crib. Jared suddenly forced his face tight against the crib’s bars, so hard that his lips were pressed between the bars. Tyler jumped up and put his head near where Jared was.

“…it’s me… I’m going to look for a latch…” Jared said so quietly that he barely heard himself speak.

He could see Tyler’s head nod, and then Jared felt around the top of the crib, all the way to the left, and all the way to the right, for some kind of latch or mechanism. Unfortunately, he felt nothing.

Suddenly he heard a tapping on the crib’s bars… Tyler was attempting to get his attention, so Jared stuck his ear near where he knew Tyler’s mouth was.

“…on the bottom… somewhere down there…” he heard.

Jared nodded, and felt on the underside of the drop-side. He felt nothing but smooth wood… and then, suddenly, he felt what he knew to be a metal plate. After more feeling… he knew it was a slide-bolt lock. He took the knob, and with some difficulty, managed to pull it. The bars stayed up though. He checked the other side, and he found another lock. He pulled the bolt out… and then suddenly, he felt the tension on the bars release.

They began to fall, but both Tyler and Jared grabbed the bars at the same time, before they could smack the floor and give them away!

Together, they slowly let the heavy wooden bars down, gently onto the floor, quietly. After that, could easily climb out by himself. The two boys didn’t say a word to each other; instead, they both left the nursery, and immediately went downstairs…

---

“…let’s check the kitchen” Jared said to Tyler.

“…yeah, okay” Tyler replied.

The two snuck through to the kitchen. Their eyes were adjusted to the dark at this point, and so they moved around, looking for any sign of a phone, or something they could use to let someone, anyone, know they were even alive.

Tyler looked along the walls and counters along one half of the room while Jared searched on the other side.

But they didn’t find a phone in the entire kitchen, and so, moved on into the “family room”, one of the rooms they weren’t entirely too familiar with.

In the family room, there was a great big fireplace, as well as a great big screen-TV, and expensive paintings, and furniture; but no immediate signs of communication.

The boys crept through, and looked anywhere obvious where a phone would be. There wasn’t one, though.

“…you can’t tell me these people don’t have a phone” Jared whispered, looking at Tyler, feeling concerned. The possibility was there, after all. Wouldn’t be a surprise after all they’ve been through so far.

“I see a few phone jacks, but there are no phones!” Jared said, mostly thinking out loud.

“I’ll look for a cord or something” Tyler said, and Jared nodded.

Tyler knelt down and crawled (feeling quite embarrassed to be crawling around in just about nothing but a diaper… with the exception of the plastic pants that was still keeping him and Jared from tampering with their diapers).

Using his well adjusted eyes, he looked underneath one of the side tables, though he honestly didn’t believe he was going to find anything.

But there was something that did catch Tyler’s eye… though, it certainly didn’t look like a phone wire, it was thicker, and blue. Though Tyler didn’t know what it was exactly, he knew what that kind of wire was used for. It was in reality, a Cat5 cable, and it was leading to something. A computer, with internet access, perhaps?

“Jared! Come here” Tyler called, loud enough for Jared to hear, but only just barely.

“What? What is it?” he asked, he too crawling onto the hardwood floor, went up beside Tyler.

“You see it?” Tyler asked.

The cable was lying against the baseboard of the wall, running along it, going to something and coming from somewhere.

“This looks like an internet wire!” Jared said excitedly.

“We have to find out where this goes to!” Jared said, getting closer.

He followed it along the baseboard in one direction, while Tyler followed it along in the other direction.

Tyler, though, reached his destination quickly. The cable simply turned into a hole in the wall. It could go anywhere from there… and there was no way of finding it after that.

“Jared, this doesn’t go anywhere” Tyler announced.

Jared was still following his wire. It led him behind the couch, and he simply pushed it gently aside as he went, as he did with any other obstacle that got in his way, and then under another table. It had led him from one wall to another, before finally, his destination was reached. He wasn’t sure how to react.

It led down the baseboard, and into a hole in the floor. It stopped right next to a door; leading into what Jared and Tyler assumed was their playroom. The wire led into the basement… they would have to find its source, or destination, down there.

But they had never been in the basement before.

“Tyler… we have to find where this goes. It may be our way out” Jared announced.

Tyler nodded.

Neither of the boys were sure how to react about going down there. It was uncharted territory! But they knew they had to go.

“C’mon, let’s go” he said, looking at Jared.

After fixing everything in the room to make it look as though not a soul had been in there that night… they ventured into the kitchen, and there found a door that they knew led them downstairs.

It creaked loudly as Jared opened it, and nothing but darkness appeared on the other side, like the doorway led into the void.

Jared placed his grip around a hanging string (that tapped him in the face when he stepped into the stairwell) that he knew would turn on the light over the stairs… but he did not pull yet. Instead he kept his hand on it, and then stepped onto one of the rickety, bare stairs that led downwards.

“C’mon, shut the door” Jared said to Tyler, who did just that.

After the basement door closed behind the two boys, there was a flick, and the light came on, almost blinding the boys at first (their eyes were well adjusted to the darkness). After a short while, they could see where they were going.

They descended the seemingly weak wooden stairs, in a narrow passage, going further under the house until they found themselves once again surrounded by darkness, standing on a cold cement floor and surrounded by brick walls. It reminded them of all those horror movies they had seen at one time or another… it was strikingly similar. The smell of waterlogged wood and dust, the chill in the air… it all added up. Being down there even scared them a little, in that same sense. It seemed like any minute the boogeyman was going to jump out at them.

As far as they could tell they were in a fairly open space. A room that probably wasn’t used, as there was no sign of anything in their way as they cautiously made their way deeper into the void, holding their hands out, hoping to find another cord to pull so they could see.

Alas, Tyler didn’t need to take more then five steps in before he felt something gently slapped off his face. He jumped, but knew what it was immediately (since it did feel like a spider or something climbing on top of his face). He pulled the cord, and with a flick, they were no longer in the dark… though, the basement was as creepy as it was before, since the obviously dying bulb in the socket flickered multiple times, before casting an eerie pale, dim glow throughout the empty stone cellar.

They stood in an empty cement room. The floor was rough, hard, cold cement, that stretched out of the room. Where they stood, in the center of this room, they could see three stone brick archways leading into other rooms. One behind them, one in front, and one to their left… it looked like they were in a tomb, or some forgotten catacombs.

“…where do we go?” Tyler asked.

Jared thought.

“Okay, okay… here… look…” Jared thought out loud.

“…if we came in from the kitchen… then… right now… we’re underneath the dining room! Right?” Jared asked.

Tyler considered it. It seemed right.

“So… if we go into this room over here, then we’d be under the playroom!” Jared said, and then he walked quickly through the archway that stood before them.

As he walked through the arch, he caught out of the corner of his eye, a light-switch, right along the wall of the arch. The wires were exposed, and frayed, and led up the arch, and into the room he was leading into. The light-switch, though, wasn’t a modern switch, where you flicked it. It was instead one of those retro-style pushbutton switches. It looked like it had been there since the discovery of electricity, and the invention of the light bulb.

He pushed the button, with some effort, and then suddenly the room before them illuminated with the same pale lighting that was in the room before this one.

Jared walked into this second room, which was not empty. It had boxes and boxes all over, stacked on one-another against all walls, and even in the middle of the room. Their contents were unknown… and quite uninteresting to Jared and Tyler. The one thing Jared immediately noticed was that there was only one more archway after this, and it was to their left. It was exactly the same as upstairs, in the playroom. If they were correct, then this last archway would lead into the living room, and that’s where their mysterious wire could be found.

“C’mon!” Jared said, and then they sped into the third room, through the third archway.

Jared pushed on another haggard pushbutton light-switch, and this third room turned from darkness to being filled with more dim light.

This room, unlike either of the rooms they had been in before, was quite large, like the living room above them was. Wine racks spanned the walls, halfway to the ceiling.

“Look for that wire” Jared said, and the two looked up.

Jared knew it went down into the floor next to a doorway… so he looked along the arch. And that’s when he saw it, barely, as it hid in the rafters above him… a blue Cat5 wire going along the ceiling.

“There it is!” Jared announced, and Tyler saw it now, too.

Looking up, they walked with it, since it was too high to touch or get to. They followed it as it went along the rafters, and then, down onto the concrete wall, where it led down… behind a tall wine rack... into nothing…

Jared and Tyler were stunned… this mysterious wire simply vanished behind a wine rack.

“What the hell?” Jared said. He felt the heat of frustration coming on now as disappointment was slowly settling in.

Tyler looked around, as Jared attempted moving the rack out from the wall (which of course was not happening).

When it was obvious that the rack was not going anywhere… they simply stood back and acknowledged their apparent defeat. But what Jared couldn’t figure out was why a Cat5 cable was coming from a concrete wall, to upstairs. It had to lead from something, or to something, like a computer or some sort of networked device, right?

“Jared” Tyler called.

“Yeah?” Jared asked.

“…there’s no bottles in these racks… only in this one!” Tyler recalled.

“So?” Jared asked.

Tyler felt silly… but he had a thought. It was a cartoonish, silly thought. But it was a possibility. He knew better than to try to convince Jared to try it… so he did it himself. He walked up to the rack, and then began pulling, and pushing, each bottle he saw.

“What are you doing?” Jared asked.

“You know, back in the day” Tyler began.

“Back during like… the civil war and stuff…” he continued.

“They used to make hidden rooms behind stuff. Especially in wine cellars” he said.

Jared stared at him in disbelief.

“WHAT?!” he asked.

“I’m serious!” Tyler said.

“Haven’t you ever heard of that stuff?” Tyler questioned, feeling really quite silly for even bringing it up.

“Tyler, this isn’t Scooby-doo!” Jared replied.

Tyler ignored the comment, and just shrugged.

“Tyler that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever –“

There was a loud click… one filled with bass, like you’d imagine a bank’s vault would make when it had finally been opened. Jared stared at Tyler, and Tyler stopped… his hand gripped around the neck of a bottle of wine that was not leaving the rack. He pulled on the bottle, and then, the whole rack began to swing away from the wall... revealing a small passage, and another room. The cable led them in, from the wall, along the top of the passage.

“…ever heard…” Jared finished, staring off in pure amazement.

---

Tyler looked at Jared in that “I-told-you-so” sense. Jared was taken back at the discovery… and felt pretty silly himself. But Tyler didn’t care; he instead, began to go inside the secret room that lay before them, and Jared soon followed.

The amazing part about it all as they went through an extremely narrow passage into this mysterious chamber, was they could see a light flickering on, probably automatically triggered by them unlocking the rack from the wall. It must’ve been rigged to have that happen. This was a mysterious find, indeed.

Then finally, they found themselves in a very, very small room, compared to every other room in the house. It couldn’t have been more than ten by ten feet wide. It was entirely of concrete like the rest of the basement – but this room felt more savage, and dirtier than any of the other rooms.

Above them hung a large industrial light that was flickering wildly, which cracked and buzzed like it was going to pop any second. Its light was a strange green… it went from lime colored to olive as it dimmed more and less.

Despite the insanity of the light going practically on and off above him, Jared saw one thing, and one thing only… and that was the first electronic device he had seen since he was kidnapped… a laptop computer, which was lying there, open, and turned on, sitting on top of a wooden crate. The blue Ethernet cable they had been chasing for the last hour was jacked into the side of it.

Their destinations had been reached.

Suddenly, though there was a loud POP! And they were surrounded by darkness, except for the laptop’s screen, which was more than enough to light the room. Neither Tyler nor Jared thought a thing of it. The light above them had gone out at last.

Jared slowly approached the laptop, gently placed his hands on either side, and slid it a bit towards him. He then slid his fingers onto the keyboard, and then, moved the mouse that was attached to it… The screen faded from black, to what he could see was the interface of a program like he hadn’t ever seen.

There were nine boxes on the screen, and each box had a picture – like thumbnails, or like the scene select on a DVD menu. One box had a yellow border around it, and the rest had black borders. Jared moved in to see better what the screen had on it.

There was text below these boxes, at the very bottom of the screen. It read:

“FEED STATUS: LIVE (STREAMING)”

Tyler, on the other hand, examined the room, as he waited for Jared to say something of importance.

The laptop sat on top of a wooden crate, in the center of the room. Wires spilled out the back of the terminal, and he saw one such cable stretch across the floor, to a lone TV and VCR which sat on top of another crate. He wandered over to the television, and pressed the power button.

The sound of the TV powering on startled Jared, who jumped, but looked over, as the TV then revealed the image, not of a channel like someone would expect. Instead, he could see the image of what both of them recognized to be a camera feed, of a room that was all too familiar to the boys: the playroom, upstairs.

“I-Is that… what I think it is?” Tyler said out loud, and Jared nodded.

Wherever the camera was hidden, it was hidden well, as the whole room was exposed on screen, visible through a green hue. It seemed there was night vision on the camera.

“We’ve been… we’ve been watched this whole time” Jared said out loud.

“…that’s… why Sarah put us there! She was testing us” Tyler said, and Jared nodded.

Both of the boys now felt more violated than when they were first forced to wear babyish clothes, or forced to wet or defecate themselves. It was a new low. It was also a new kind of fear that they weren’t expecting to face… What had they heard Jared and Tyler talking about? Were they aware that they weren’t in their cribs?

Jared looked over at the computer screen, and noticed that this box with the yellow border was of the play room. Clicking the arrow keys, the image on screen changed… and he began to pan from feed to feed, of every room they could think of.

Every second of their arrival here was recorded… no matter where they were. Each time they saw a room they had been in it made the hair on the back of their necks stand up.

They saw the play room, they saw the kitchen, the living room, the dining room… and they of course saw their nurseries. The empty cribs on the screen made them sure that these feeds were live.

“…maybe they aren’t recorded” Tyler said.

“That’d be a lot of tapes… and there’s no way that little laptop can hold that much footage, right?” Tyler added.

Jared took it into consideration. He had a point… but it still made him nervous either way. Actually, nervous was an understatement. Now, he was downright terrified at the thought that what he and Tyler had just done was entirely recorded. Surely, they would be caught.

He looked around at the room… it was a like a dungeon… and there was hardly any room to move around despite there being hardly anything in the room.

“Wait… what’s this?” Jared asked as he noticed something.

“What?” Tyler asked.

Jared wandered past the laptop, to the opposite side of the room. There, on a box, was a metal tray, and on top of it were several objects. Jared first found a baby bottle lying on its side.

But there was of course more.

As Jared approached, he saw two more objects... and what he saw actually confused him a bit… and then… his heart sank.

There were two certain objects lying there, shimmering in the light... the first, a small, round glass vial with a clear, thin liquid completely filling it to the top. The second object, a malicious looking hypodermic syringe.

Jared looked down at them both… Suddenly he felt like he had stumbled upon something that was most significant.

“What, what is it?” Jared heard.

He didn’t respond at first… suddenly, he saw yet another find, lying underneath the tray! He moved the tray aside, and took in hand a somewhat thick folder, almost overflowing with papers. He opened it, and what he saw did in fact surprise him quite a bit.

The first thing he saw was a very large, black-and-white photograph picture of a boy, and not any boy… but himself. The photograph was paper clipped to another sheet of paper, which looked to be a complete profile of Jared. It included more information about him than he knew about himself. His GPA, a copy of his crime record (which was of course empty), medical history, even a list of achievements he’s acquired in his time in the boy scouts, including all of his badges that he earned. The list went on and on in disturbing detail.

What really scared Jared though, was the list of close relatives, and friends, and all of their information, on the following sheet of paper… they knew where he lived, and knew the whereabouts of his family. He saw Tyler’s name on the list – which was circled.

Beyond that, he saw even more chilling information about himself. A map of his school bus route and maps of the way he usually went home, and even more photographs of him walking down the street, going home, in his house.

Words could not describe the feeling that filled Jared’s heart. A strange hollowness filled him… he felt disgusted, and scared… sad, and trapped… angry, but powerless.

The deeper he went into the folder the more recent things got.

Suddenly, though, the first thing that made him stop to really read anything… was a paper clipped, handwritten sheet of paper, written in feminine text, which was obviously Sarah’s. It looked like a diary excerpt.

“Toxicity threshold confirmed at 200mg. Do not exceed again in 24 hours. Currently doing well at 25mg a bottle, given every 4 hours... Initially got sick the first time used but his body has adjusted well enough. He and the other suffered from withdrawals the first several nights and days, though the first 24 hours were the harshest when they were dealing with the side effects.

UPDATE: As of July 6^th, a lower dosage has been administered, and his muscles are still weak. Incontinence may have been accomplished, as well as limited functionality from his limbs… he does not have the strength he used to, so escaping is not likely... will be slowly reducing the amount over the next several weeks as to ease addiction symptoms, to slowly work them both off of it.

By the end of August I am confident that I will be done. The sedative has done well in relaxing his muscles enough to make him nocturnally incontinent, and almost more importantly, too weak to run off or fight. Prolonged time in the crib with limited movement has also decreased strength.”

“…what the hell!?” Jared said loudly, turning the page to another.

He looked over at the bottle and the syringe, lying on the tray.

“She’s been… poisoning us!” Jared shouted.

“W-What?” Tyler replied.

“We’ve been pissing ourselves because we’re so damn medicated our muscles can’t hold back… that’s why we were sick… that’s why it was so hard for us to do anything involving any kind of… physical… anything!” Jared said, looking at Tyler.

“What do you mean?” Tyler asked; his eyes wide with attention.

“Tyler, she turned us into junkies of some kind of drug… it’s in our milk… she gives it to us every so many hours… we drink it, we… we get tired, and I guess its some kind of anesthetic… something to make us calm… something that’ll numb us, and keep us from moving, and keep our muscles relaxed... she’s trying to make us… make us weak so we can’t escape… and we depend on her for everything… she’s turned us into junkies…” Jared said, having a profound revelation.

His heart was racing, and he wanted to throw up… so after a minute, he backed up against the wall, and slid down it into the sitting position on the dirty cement floor.

Since Jared wasn’t paying attention, Tyler looked down at the thick file on the floor. Its contents had been spilled from the drop, so Tyler reached down, and gathered them up back into the folder. He glanced over at the documents as he shuffled them together again.

Out of no where, though, something caught his eye. He pulled out another large, black-and-white photograph, which featured two boys from behind, both carrying backpacks, walking; obviously unaware they were being photographed.

One of those boys had their head turned towards the other, making their face visible. That boy was none other than Tyler, of course. The other was most likely Jared.

Tyler, too, felt disgusted. His hands were shaking, but there was another thing about the photograph that made him confused. Around his face was a big red circle written in marker. This photograph was paper clipped to a profile that was similar to Jared’s.

“Name: Tyler ‘Doe’

DOB: Unknown

Blood Group: Unknown

Height:

Weight:

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Blue

Known Allergies:”

Tyler noticed there was a post-it note attached to his profile:

“Currently no details are known about this one, due to sudden and unexpected arrival. Retrieval of more personal records has proven difficult.”

“…what?” Tyler said out loud.

“What’s this all mean?” he said. He was speaking about the unspecified fields that littered his profile like a top secret FBI file.

“Currently no details are known about this one, due to sudden arrival, and unexpected arrival” he spoke out loud.

He looked over at Jared, who had his face in his forearms, resting on his knees, curled up against the wall. He didn’t respond.

Tyler looked back at his file, and continued forward. Everything was unknown, from his school record, to his medical history. Finally, though… he found a sheet of paper clipped to another, it too featuring hand-written text. It read:

“As of July 6^th, is completely incontinent and off of the solution” he read out loud.

“…I’m sorry…” a whimpering, shaking voice said, breaking the silence.

Tyler glanced over at Jared, who now was exposing his tear covered, flushed face.

“Sorry… for what?” Tyler asked.

Jared sobbed.

“It’s my entire fault” he said.

Tyler was shocked already from reading all of this… but for Jared to say that took him for surprise.

“How is this your fault?” Tyler asked.

Jared looked at him and shook his head.

“They wanted me, Tyler. They wanted to abduct ME. And when it was time, you were there at the wrong time”

Tyler stared at him.

“How do you know?” he asked.

“Oh come on Tyler… it’s obvious. First of all, Sarah told me from day one that you weren’t supposed to be here. Second of all… they’ve been watching me. That’s why they have all that stuff about me, and nothing about you. God Tyler I’m sorry!” Jared said, crying some more.

Tyler was speechless! Jared, though, was immensely distraught. He could barely stop himself from crying about everything. His guilt for being responsible for Tyler’s involvement, and his overall feeling about the situation… was just working its way out.

Tyler let out a deep breath, and looked off.

“But… why did they want you? What did they want you for?” Tyler asked.

“I… I don’t know…” Jared replied, continued to cry.

Tyler shook his head.

“J-Just… calm down Jared” Tyler said.

“Why should I” he said.

“Because who cares!?” Tyler yelled.

“W-What?” Jared said.

“Who cares if I was with you? Who cares if they were watching you? That was months ago, and we are here now, and unless we do something… we’re just going to get further and further from home, right?” Tyler said.

“I know! But if –“

“But if we weren’t friends, you’d be here, alone. Jared what are you thinking?!” Tyler asked.

Jared was at a loss for words… but tears were continuing to run down his face.

“Jared don’t think this your fault just because I’m here… I don’t know why they were doing this to you… but it’s my problem now. Y-You were always there for me, right? Well… now I’m here for you” Tyler said, before finally spinning around, and glancing back down at the open folder.

There was some silence while both boys collected their own thoughts on the matter.

“…you’re right” Jared stuttered.

Tyler’s words touched Jared at a level he hadn’t felt, ever.

There was more silence, and then Tyler spun back around. Jared was still crying, but he was now under control.

“I just… I just want to go home so damn bad. I miss my mom. I miss my dad… I miss my little brother…” Jared continued.

“…but… at least I have you” he finished.

Tyler nodded.

“I do, too…” Tyler replied.

“Tyler –“ Jared began.

“Wait… whoa…” Tyler said, cutting Jared off.

“W-What? What is it?” Jared asked, sitting up.

Tyler was staring down into the folder.

“Jared… look at this” Tyler ordered.

Jared hastily walked over, and looked at the folder that Jared had open wide for him to see… and what Jared saw did in fact shock him. It was something he was not expecting…

It was yet another black-and-white photograph, of a young looking kid (it featured a date, marked as ‘97), smiling gleefully for the camera. It was not Tyler, and it was not Jared. Flipping the photograph over, he read the following:

“Ethan K.”

Jared stared at it for five minutes, as did Tyler. The two couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“He was too… Ethan… was kidnapped too” Jared said out loud, in disbelief.

“…that explains it. That explains why he doesn’t care about what we’re going through even though he’s only a couple years older than us. He went through the same thing… and he thinks we’ll be fine like he is” Jared said.

They suddenly felt a sense of betrayal… even though Jared never trusted him, he still felt like he had been stabbed in the back.

They didn’t say a thing to each other for minutes. They instead scanned old, outdated documents detailing a lengthy agenda that Sarah and Hector must’ve thought up, to steal Ethan. They stalked the child like Jared had been. There was even a list of contacts for the child, including his real parents’ names, etc. If they were still correct was unknown.

“…I can’t… read this anymore” Tyler said, turning away.

Jared shut the folder, and shook his head.

“…Tyler… I don’t think we can spend much more time here. I think we need to go” he said.

“Huh?” Tyler asked.

“…I think it’s time to escape” Jared finally spit out.

Tyler and Jared looked at each other eye to eye.

“We can follow the road that leads out of here… think about it… they have electricity… they have cable, right? They’re on the map. We have to live near a town or something” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

“You’re right” he said with a smirk.

“I think it’s time to go… but not now, no… but… how about… five days from now…” Jared said.

Tyler nodded again.

“Let’s do it” Tyler said.

And finally… the boys were finished with their secretive sneaking. They all had made sure that they left no trace.

Tyler was lifted back into his crib with the help of Jared, who let him back up locked him in like he had not left all night. And Jared, though he did have some trouble, managed to use that chair that Sarah always sat in, in his nursery, to climb back into his.

Going to sleep was a strange thing for Jared and Tyler. Flashes of their discoveries went through their minds, yet at the same time there was a strange sense of hope… they knew they could leave their nurseries.

Why those doors would be unlocked was beyond Jared, but he was certainly not complaining. He knew their time to leave was coming, and it was coming soon indeed.

Chapter Five… “In The Dark”

Five days came and went… it was all Jared and Tyler could think about. Neither of them had a chance to ever speak of it with each other. It came to be such an intense thing to think about, that neither Jared nor Tyler really realized that they had absolutely no plan. They just knew they wanted to escape. They had a bit freedom, and most importantly, they had their captors’ trust.

Their whole outlook had changed since they had found that room in the cellar, and seeing what they had seen there. They couldn’t look at Ethan without shaking their heads in disbelief… he seemed so happy and oblivious to the crimes that he experienced, like they didn’t even happen, and he paid no attention to the cruel and unusual treatment that Jared and Tyler were forced to undergo.

Sarah and Hector… they both seemed so evil now. Sarah’s little trickery that she was playing on the boys with the milk sent chills down the boys’ spines. And Hector… he was just a fat, redneck slob that hardly paid the boys any attention except when they had gone for an occasional walk in the woods, or when they were at dinner together.

But when they could put plan into action remained unknown. Though, one thing was certain… they had a lot of buildup for each other. When morning came… and both boys woke up, there was an aggressive determination to put their minds to work. Neither Jared nor Tyler could wait for the moment to come when they could finally escape the rejects they were being forced to be with, and return to their families that they missed so, so much.

---

“There you go, all clean!” Sarah said.

Jared stared at her, and faked a smile.

“Thanks!” he faked.

She had just finished changing his diaper, which he had filled up completely in his sleep, like usual. With the recent realization of what was going on with the chemical in their milk, Jared knew there was no way to resist his incontinence… maybe that final straw was enough to push him into full and complete incontinence, because Jared was finding himself in messy or wet diapers, without ever even realizing what had happened at all, whereas before he just wouldn’t be able to prevent it as it was happening.

“Jared, just to let you know, today you’ll be taking a bath in a couple of minutes. Then you’ll eat, okay?” she said, and Jared nodded to let her know he understood.

And that’s what he did in fact do. In only just a few minutes, he found himself naked in a bubble bath of steaming hot water that… actually felt pretty good. Sarah cleaned him, and prepared him for what she believed to be a normal, average day.

Then, Jared found himself in the dining room, eating a sandwich and drinking another bottle of tainted milk, with Tyler, Ethan, Hector, and Sarah. Jared and Tyler were exceptionally quiet… exceptionally; compared to the last several times they were all together like this. They made no eye-contact with each other, and were hardly paying any attention to the conversation that was going on at the table.

No one even noticed, either. Several more hours, after watching more TV and playing more in the play room, and doing all kinds of other stuff, it was finally time for Jared and Tyler to be put to bed at last…

---

“Goodnight Jared!” Sarah said with a smile, before finally shutting the door, which covered the room in darkness.

Jared didn’t move for what seemed like forever. It was just the same as only a few nights ago when he waited to roam the house with Tyler. Hours went by. He wasn’t sure what time it was but he knew that if he waited any longer he might not have enough energy to go through wherever he had to go.

Using the same technique as before, only this time a little more quietly, he managed to escape from his crib again… and he simply left the room, to get Tyler. Once again, just like before, the door was not locked, and his escape was very easy.

He crept through the halls, cautious to make no sound, and approached the railing that looked over the entrance to the house. As he approached the walkway to the other side of the room on the second floor, his heart stopped, due to the sound that he instantly recognized to be whispering, and footsteps echoing through the entrance!

“Shhh… don’t wake your mother up” he heard Hector whisper.

“She ain’t gonna wake up, it’s alright” he heard Ethan whisper back.

Peaking through the bars on the railing, looking down, he could barely see Hector and Ethan on the floor below, standing outside of the large wood and glass door that led outside. He noticed that they were both overdressed in camouflage, and even had a large backpack. Jared instantly recognized what Hector was holding in his hand… it was a large, thin case… it was, of course, a rifle case.

“Alright, let’s go. We want to be there nice and early” he heard Hector say, and Ethan nodded.

That’s when Hector opened the front door, and he watched the two exit the house, closing the door behind them.

It of course didn’t take a whole lot of guessing before Jared assumed that the two were out hunting… which sent a chill down Jared’s spine. The idea of those two trying to sneak through the woods to freedom while Ethan and Hector were both out looking for prey… it was not an enticing thought.

He shook it off… the determination to escape was stronger tonight than it had ever been!

---

He slowly opened the door into Tyler’s nursery, and approached the bars of his crib. Looking over at the glowing light on the baby monitor, he tapped on the bars, and eventually reached in and started shaking Tyler directly.

“Uhh…” he heard Tyler moan as he began to wake up.

“Let’s go” Jared said, barely audible, to not let the baby monitor let Sarah hear…

Tyler didn’t say anything, and instead stood up, wiped his eyes, and then began to climb the bars, and with Jared’s help, they were both standing in the middle of the room together.

“…are you dressed?” Jared asked, making sure Tyler was at least wearing a sleeper like he himself was, and not just a diaper and plastic pants. They were, of course, going out into the wilderness, and would need some layer of clothing.

“Y-Yeah” Tyler said.

“You ready to go?” Jared asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be I guess” Tyler said.

Jared nodded his head, and then, they left the room, and walked back out onto the stairs, looking over the railing, down at the front door.

“I… Tyler, there’s something I saw that I should tell you before we leave” Jared said.

“What? What’s up?” Tyler asked.

“When I was walking over here to get you… I saw Hector and Ethan go out the front door. They were holding a rifle… I think they’re hunting. If we go out there we need to be really, really careful” Jared warned.

Tyler somewhat jumped, and faced Jared.

“W-What?! Any idea where they went? Which way?” Tyler asked, but Jared shook his head.

“No… they went out this door but they could’ve gone around the house for all we know” Jared replied.

Tyler looked at him and Jared could tell he was afraid. The thought of getting caught or even shot was a scary one, obviously. But Tyler shook his head.

“…we have to try, right? Now’s our chance” Tyler said.

Jared nodded.

“Just letting you know” Jared replied.

“…lets go” Jared finally finished.

Jared and Tyler then began to slowly descend the stairs, onto the first floor.

“Which way should we go?” Tyler asked.

Jared thought for a second.

“Let’s go out back… and then go around the house… and we’ll follow the driveway out or something” Jared replied, and Tyler nodded.

Jared and Tyler both crept their ways past the living room and through the halls, and into the kitchen, where the sliding glass door awaited them to lead them out of captivity.

Jared took a hold of the handle, and silently slid it open, and the two hopped outside, and shut it. Jared noted that this door was also not locked… once again, something way too good to be true. They were standing in the dark; their only light was the moon that was shining brilliantly over them, which was lighting everything outside fairly well. Their eyes were pretty well adjusted to the darkness, too, so that helped a lot – they had really no problems seeing.

They looked around… the large yard appeared before them like a void. If they had to go through the woods to get home, it would not be an easy journey. However, their plan was not to trek through the forest but rather follow the road that led to the house; surely it leads to a town. Especially considering Hector’s occupation was a cop… he had to be a cop somewhere… and that somewhere had to have someone that would be their savior.

Jared walked ahead, in front of Tyler, and they both walked from the deck, and ultimately off of the patio, and found themselves creeping along the side of the house. Jared recognized the driveway that they were walking along as the same one Hector parked his cruiser at when they first had ever seen him, and mistaken him for a legitimate police officer.

A few minutes went by before finally, for the first time ever, they found themselves standing in front of the huge house that they were living in…

The driveway they were standing in led into another driveway, which circled in front of the house (a loop). The front of the manor itself was quite grand, and came complete with pillars, and three stories’ worth of huge windows. Both Jared and Tyler noticed the third floor… it was not something they knew ever existed. They thought there was only two!

“It’s like the White House” Tyler said.

Jared smirked.

“Yeah… yeah it is, isn’t it” Jared said.

There were pale lights along the driveway that was in front of the house, and from that light they could see tall hedges and black gates that surrounded the front of the house. The only appropriate word to describe where they stood was a courtyard.

“Okay… let’s keep moving. We can’t stop” Jared said.

Tyler looked at Jared and nodded.

“Y-Yeah… okay, lets go” Tyler said.

The two boys crept from the driveway, and moved as close to the black gate and hedges to their right, as they could, until they finally were halted at the far end of the yard by the gate. The mansion was quite far away by now. Following the gate more, they eventually found the driveway, which was blocked by a black gate that was very tall, and sturdy.

It reminded them of a graveyard.

“Okay… okay… hmm… how do we open this thing?” Jared asked, mostly talking to himself.

The large gates were locked, and were not climbable because they were so tall, and also featured spikes on the tops of each bar. A lone, flickering dim pale blue light was the only way they could see the gate… and standing there made Jared nervous.

“We shouldn’t go out this way… there has to be another way” Jared said.

“Why?” Tyler asked.

Jared beyond the gate… it was nothing but a road going off into the blackness of the night.

“We’re sticking out like sore thumbs. C’mon, let’s look around” Jared said.

Jared turned around, and began walking back to where they came from, along the fence. Suddenly, however, there was a sudden loud “BUZZZ!”

The sound made Jared leap up, spin around with both hands in fists, and glance around as fast as humanly possible. All he saw though was Tyler with his hand on a large button, facing one of the supporting structures in front of the gate. He then heard the gate click, and slowly open with a loud creak.

“What did you do!?” Jared asked, stunned.

Tyler looked down at his hand and back at Jared.

“I pushed this button that said ‘Open’” Tyler said, staring at Jared blankly.

Jared suddenly felt incredibly dumbfounded… the adrenaline from the situation was making him lose his composure.

“Oh… well… okay then… let’s move!” Jared said, and both he and Tyler nodded to each other.

They both jogged out of the gate, both nervous that maybe the loud buzz and creak had echoed off into the wilderness or something. The excitement from finally being free, and finally having this moment to save themselves caused them to sprint once they had passed the gate, away from the mansion behind them, and into the darkness…

---

They didn’t walk at first as they followed the paved road in the blinding darkness. They ran, fast. Although there were no streetlights, the moon did help them see. It was their only guide.

However, they didn’t run very far… even though the boys were once so incredibly fit (especially Jared), neither of them had exercise of any kind since being kidnapped (not to mention the sedative Sarah had been forcing them to drink the whole time, which surely weakened their muscles even more).

Anxiety and tension was high, for Tyler especially. The young boy was waiting for, at any moment, to get caught. It was just something he couldn’t help but think of. He didn’t want to; of course not…

Jared had his own worries, as well. Something didn’t seem right. It was a feeling he had been keeping in for a week… the whole thing simply didn’t add up. It all seemed… too easy, almost. But he was out. He was walking with Tyler towards a town, and that was the most important thing to him.

Jared kept himself busy by scouting; being cautious, weary of any sound. He knew that somewhere, Ethan and Hector may be in those woods, waiting for movement.

Despite all of his captors’ efforts to convince him escape was impossible, he knew that that was simply not the case. He knew in his heart that one day, one moment will come where they could finally get a message out to the police, his parents, friends, the FBI, anyone. He believed, and knew in his heart at this point… that this night, was that night. This night was that opportunity.

The two walked for an uncertain amount of time, in silence. They made sure to hardly speak except for an occasional whisper. Their footsteps were quiet, but they moved swiftly through the night. They were walking for so long in fact that their feet were beginning to get tired… which was probably due to Sarah’s methods of keeping them weak. They haven’t moved much… they were kept in their cribs like veal so that they would get weak… to move less like young boys, and more like babies.

There was nothing to be seen the whole time they were walking. They weren’t sure how long they had been walking… it seemed a great while, but it couldn’t have been very long because there was no town in sight. They hadn’t made much distance yet (since they were walking slower than normal to avoid making noise as well), so they weren’t very excited to notice there was nothing to be seen except for the road they were walking along and the silhouettes of tree branches in the sky, on both sides of them…

…and, suddenly as they turned a bend in the road, the sight of a running van, parked diagonally in the middle of the road (front end toward them), only about 30 feet down the road from them!

It was a shocking site, and an unexpected one at that. Both boys stopped moving completely, and stared at the van – terrified.

“What the hell is that?” Tyler asked; his heart pounding so hard from the sight of it.

Jared shook his head.

“I-I don’t know… I think it’s them!” Jared replied, referring to of course, Hector and Ethan.

They could both hear the sound of the idling engine, and the headlights beamed off into the woods to the left of them. The doors were open in both front doors, like they had abandoned the automobile and let it sit there. It was an eerie sight to be seen, and it made the hairs on their bodies stand on end. They could see the car only a few yards away. The only reason they hadn’t seen it before was because the road they were following had curved like an S, and it was on the other side of the curve. The van was positioned perfectly so that the second the boys had turned the bend, they were in the sights of anyone in the van.

Tyler had a very, very bad feeling about it.

Suddenly, the engine revved. Jared felt himself gulp. He too, had the feeling of impending doom at the sight of it.

“T-Tyler” Jared said, stuttering, as the van’s engine revved louder and faster, more furiously.

“Y-y-yeah?” Tyler asked in reply.

“I… think… we need to get off the road. Now” Jared said.

The engine revved louder!

“It’s a road block. They know we’re here” Jared finished.

The tension grew thick, and just as the boys began to even think about taking a step in any direction, the taillights grew a fiery red, and the van flew in reverse, and swung to the side, making the tires scream against the pavement. The van was now perfectly straight with the road, and with a scream of the tires, it began charging toward the boys!

“RUN! RUNNN!” Jared yelled, though there was no need to yell it. Tyler was running almost faster than Jared was!

Jared and Tyler dashed desperately to get around the corner of that bend so that they may get into the woods without being seen. They quickly went around the bend, and entered the woods, even as the van roared behind them on the road. There was the sound of the side of the van opening up!

BANG!

Then… there was the unmistakable sound of a gun shot go off, one of the boys screamed as loud as they could in fright… though, the other screamed a different kind of scream. The kind of scream where a pain so overwhelming takes you over, that you have no other possible reaction but to.

One of the boys continued to run into the woods, and duck down into a ditch, only to turn around to see the other lying on the ground, holding onto their back, silent from the intense pain that was taking them over. Jared… was the one on the ground.

Jared lay on the ground because a pain so incredibly immense he couldn’t move, scream, cry, or say anything was overwhelming him. He squeezed a part of his back tightly, and rolled over onto it by chance, only to see Hector, walking slowly towards him with a 12 gauge shotgun in his hands.

He couldn’t say a word despite trying to, and Hector took no remorse in the boy, and instead, grabbed him by one of his ankles, and began to drag him like a carcass, from where he lay, out of the entrance to the woods, to the van, which had repositioned itself to have its high beams gazing into the woods, illuminating the trees as though it was for deer spotting. This was obviously an attempt to find Tyler.

“Sit up” Hector ordered as he was dropped directly in front of the van’s headlights.

“Ahhh!” Jared moaned.

“GET UP!” Hector yelled fiercely, reaching down, and grabbing Jared’s hair, and pulling him up to his knees, facing away from the headlights… facing where he knew Tyler was watching from.

Hector walked behind the boy, and he could hear Hector open the passenger-side door of the van, and then shut it. He came back without his shotgun.

Jared screamed, and was now crying. He believed he was shot because of how terribly it hurt… though; he did not see any blood. He was kneeling in the middle of the road, and Hector circled him, once, twice, three times, before finally slapping him in the face.

“TYLER!” Hector shouted.

“You have a count of ten seconds…” he continued.

Suddenly he pulled out from his side a handgun, and while looking face to face with Jared, he cocked the gun, and pointed the gun at the back of Jared’s head pointblank, execution-style.

“…before I kill your little fucking friend here!” he finished, before finally shooting off a bullet a foot away from where Jared was kneeling, making Jared jump from the loud sound of it. It was definitely loaded with live ammunition.

“What are you doing!?” Jared heard Ethan yell.

He looked behind him, and saw Ethan standing there, who looked just as terrified as Jared felt.

“I’m trying to get that little bastard out of the woods, what are YOU doing?” Hector said.

“10!” Hector then yelled.

Tyler, on the other hand, was ducked down behind a log, in a ditch, peaking through the trees; he could barely see the situation in the blinding headlights. His heart was throbbing so hard he could probably see it pounding through his sleeper.

“9!” Hector yelled.

“T-Tyler, just come on out here and you’re not going to be hurt!” Ethan yelled.

Hector snickered, before finally counting again.

“8!”

Jared, kneeling there, was crying, unable to do anything. He wanted to run, but he knew it was no use.

“Tyler, RUN!” Jared suddenly yelled.

He was suddenly dropped, his face hit the ground, and he rolled over, and looked up, only to find Hector looking back down at him… he was hit in the stomach, and he could hardly breathe.

Lying on the ground, Jared could see Ethan… he felt so much hatred for Ethan up to this point up to this point… but the expression of concern and fear on Ethan’s face as he watched Hector do this to him was obvious. Ethan didn’t want anything to happen to either of them… he looked like he actually feared for Jared’s life.

“Dad, calm down!” Ethan said.

“Shut the hell up… don’t be a pussy!” Hector replied.

Ethan backed down, and there was silence, except for Hector screaming out numbers, and the ambience of insects chirping in the woods. He eventually made it to…

“4!” Hector yelled.

“Tyler, just come out! He’ll really do it!” Ethan yelled.

“NO! TYLER, RUN!” Jared yelled.

Once again, he felt himself get hit hard.

“I wouldn’t listen to Jared here, kid! We’ll find you! Don’t think we won’t… how the hell do you think we found you two in the first place, hm? 3!” Hector yelled.

Jared’s heart was racing so hard he thought he was going to have a heart attack. He both wanted to Tyler to not come, and to come forth. At this point, he believed that he would in fact be killed if he didn’t. But what if Hector was bluffing? Or what if they were both killed for trying to escape? Surely, now it was proven that they were a liability.

Suddenly, Jared felt an arm go around his neck, like a headlock. And finally, he felt the cold steel of the barrel of Hector’s gun press into Jared’s temple.

“2!” Hector yelled.

Jared simply shut his eyes… tears were falling from his face. He awaited death to come at any second… he truly believed he was about to die.

“Wait” he heard Ethan say.

“What?” Hector said back.

“There, I think he’s coming out!” Ethan said.

Jared opened his eyes, and he looked forward off into the darkness. There, he could barely see the silhouette of a small human figure slowly approaching them… he knew it was Tyler… and his heart sank.

“No!” Jared yelled.

But the figured continued to approach.

“That’s right kid, just come here slowly” Hector said to Tyler as his face slowly faded into the light of the beaming headlights.

“On your feet, boy” Hector said, pulling Jared up to his feet.

“Get him in the van, Ethan” Hector then ordered, and Ethan didn’t hesitate to obey.

As Ethan put his hand on Jared’s back and started pushing, he looked back and saw Hector approaching Tyler. That’s all he saw before finally being shoved into the back of the van. Jared looked at Ethan... and was speechless. Ethan looked back at Jared… and for the first time ever, Jared saw anger on Ethan’s face. Ethan just shook his head, and then, moved aside, so that Hector could throw Tyler in the back with Jared. Hector and Ethan got in the front seats… and they began to drive back toward the mansion that they had tried so hard to escape from…

Chapter Six… “Generosity”

As they began to drive, Hector let out a laugh, and smacked his steering wheel.

“What the hell were you two idiots thinking, huh?” he said with a cheesy smile, and a sarcastic tone of voice.

Jared had stopped crying by now… now, he was just really scared.

“Tyler… what does my back look like?” Jared asked, trying to be quiet by whispering it.

Tyler, with his eyes swelled with tears, glanced at his back. It was hard to tell, as the sleeper was already red and there was hardly any light. He did notice, though… there was no puncture in the fabric anywhere on his back.

Hector then laughed even harder.

“Did you HEAR THAT!?” he said, laughing. Ethan looked at him and smirked a little bit.

“’What’s my back look like’… damn kid, you’re dumber than I thought…” Hector said.

Jared sat there quietly… he felt stupid. He knew by now he hadn’t been really shot, as he would have gone into shock by now, or bled to death. But he was confused about what had hit him.

As if Hector could read his mind, he took one hand off the wheel, and shuffled around a bit in the center console, before finally throwing an object back to Jared. It almost hit him in the head, but slid right next to him nonetheless.

Jared picked it up, and held it in his hands, and he realized that it was a beanbag. He heard about beanbags being used in things like riot control… he just never knew he’d have to be shot with one. His back stung, and was extremely sore still, though now the pain was a bit more tolerable.

The van pulled through the gates of the mansion, and then drove into and parked within the driveway, and once again, silence. After the engine had been shut off, there was nothing but the sound of Hector shuffling around in his seat, and then clearing his throat. Ethan, Jared, and Tyler all stood still.

“Let’s go” Hector said, standing up from his seat and getting out of the driver’s side door. Ethan followed, getting out of his side.

Next thing the boys knew, the back of the van’s door swung open, and the one nearest to that door, Tyler, was ripping out of the back of the van by Hector.

“Ah!” Tyler yelled as he was pulled out. Ethan grabbed his arm, and kept him from moving (though, he wasn’t intending on going anywhere).

Hector then reached one arm in, grabbed Jared’s leg, and pulled him out of the van onto his back, and then, before he knew it, he was pulled up onto his feet, and he felt Hector’s firm grasp on his shoulder.

“Move” he heard Hector order, and they all began moving forward.

The boys’ hearts raced with terror as they were led into the back of the house, for they didn’t know what to expect when they got there, when Sarah heard of what had happened. Though, Jared personally didn’t know if Sarah’s punishment would be any worse than what Hector could do, or already did.

Ethan opened the back door, and then, the boys were pushed into the kitchen, before finally Ethan locked the sliding doors, and flicked on the lights.

“I’ll get mom” Ethan said as he began walking towards the exit of the kitchen.

“Wait” Hector said out loud.

Ethan spun around, and gave Hector a confused look.

“What?” Ethan asked.

Hector looked down at the cowering boys, both sitting down on the floor like dogs, watching. Hector’s cold eyes shifted and focused on Jared, and he gazed at him, like he was scanning and analyzing him… doing that same uncomfortable stare that he always seem to give Jared.

“…I’ll tell your mother myself…” he said.

“…in the morning. You take Tyler to his room, I’ll take Jared to his” Hector finished.

“Huh?” Ethan asked, confused.

“Don’t worry about it, just take Tyler and I’ll take Jared and then go to bed” Hector quickly retorted.

“But –“

“I said don’t worry about it! Do what I say damn it!” Hector yelled with a nasty snarl. He was not one to try, or question.

Ethan stared at Hector… but then, slowly nodded. He seemed unsure of Hector’s sudden change of plans, and he knew not what he had in store. But he was going to follow Hector’s lead.

“Fine” he said with a suspicious tone, and Hector replied with a nod.

Ethan grabbed Tyler’s arm, and then guided him out of the kitchen, leaving Hector and Jared completely alone.

“Let’s go” Hector replied.

Jared stood up, and cleared his throat… he was scared… the look Hector was intimidating, so he did not resist in the slightest. Hector grabbed Jared’s arm, and more or less pulled him all the way upstairs, into his nursery, where all of this mess began.

They both quietly went into the room, and Hector shut the door behind him. Jared walked over to the side of the crib, unable to get back into the crib by himself. Hector, though, walked over beside Jared, and instead of helping him at all, he simply turned the baby monitor off (Jared knew this even in the dark because he watched the green LED light on the monitor turn off).

“Get in” Hector insisted.

“I can’t!” Jared claimed, but Hector heard none of it.

“You got out by yourself. You will get in by yourself…” Hector demanded.

Jared looked around… he didn’t want to use the chair that was now off in the corner, the one Sarah used to talk with Jared each night… he didn’t want Hector to know his secrets, but alas, Hector was not stupid…

“You used that chair a few days ago to get back in, hm? You forget that?” Hector asked, and Jared was at a loss for words.

“What are you –“

“Don’t play stupid with me boy!” Hector said, pushing Jared’s chest hard, causing him to hit the side of the crib, but Jared did nothing in reply.

“That’s right kid. I know. I know what you and Tyler did. I know where you went. I know what you said; every word. I know you two have betrayed my wife’s trust… and she would be very disappointed, and to be honest, I don’t like that” Hector said.

Jared’s heart raced, and his eyes bugged out of his head as he listened to Hector continue…

“I asked myself when I saw those tapes and heard what you and Tyler were saying… I asked, ‘Should I tell my wife?’” Hector said.

“But you know what Jared… I didn’t. You know why?” Hector asked, but Jared did not reply.

“Do you?” Hector asked again.

“N-No” Jared said.

“Because I decided to make you an offer” Hector finally answered.

“I decided that if you were to… do anything…” Hector said, emphasizing the word ‘anything’.

“I told you to do; tomorrow… maybe I could just simply not tell Sarah…” Hector finished.

Jared stared at Hector, since his eyes were not accustomed to the darkness, unable to reply.

“W-W-What do you mean? What do you want me to do?” Jared asked.

He could see Hector’s head nod, and then, he felt a hand grasp his left thigh, making Jared wince a little. It was an uncomfortable, disgusting-kind of grasp that no man should ever do to a child.

“Anything I tell you to do” Hector finally said in a deeper, more intimidating voice.

Jared got the hint now… it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what Hector was getting at. He was practically speechless, and he shook his head.

“N-No! Get the hell off of me!” Jared replied.

But Hector strengthened his grip on Jared’s thigh, and then continued his rant.

“Fine, Jared. Don’t. It’s your choice. Live for the rest of your time here in a crib, never to see the light of day again… and, of course, your friend Tyler… he could avoid that by an act of… generosity, from his friend” Hector finished.

Jared said nothing, only his mouth hung open from shock of the audacity that Hector has presented.

“Tomorrow at dinner, you’ll have the choice. Make the right one, for your friend” Hector said, turning around.

Jared saw the green LED on the baby monitor turn on.

“Now get in the crib” Hector whispered.

He did not say another word, and instead, removed his disgusting hands from Jared’s body, turned around, and walked out of the room. Jared could hear the sound of the door quietly clicking shut, and then the sound of the door locking (a sound that Jared hadn’t heard in a quite some time). This left Jared in complete darkness, except for of course the nightlight that often barely lights the room.

Jared, after hearing Hector’s footsteps fading away, let Hector’s words and actions really sink in… he absorbed the fact that Hector had just blackmailed him, and he absorbed the fact that he was just asked to probably be Hector’s “plaything”. The glares Hector would beam at Jared’s way made sense now… Hector was a pedophile, and clearly, Jared was what triggered those emotions in him. It made Jared sick.

He climbed into the crib, with a bit of effort, using the nightstand this time to hoist himself into the crib, rather than moving the distant chair.

As the exhaustion took him over, so many thoughts ran through Jared’s head, it made him feel like throwing up. It made him dizzy. The idea of Hector putting his hands on him really made him want to throw up… he wondered if Hector was really serious, but something in him told him that this was a very real thing that may happen to him tomorrow.

The escape plan had failed, miserably. It was even worse than he had imagined. Now, he was lying there, slowly falling asleep, knowing that tomorrow he was either going to be regressed until the end of his days, like a prison… or raped.

It was like he was being numbed from all that had happened in the last 24 hours. He didn’t cry knowing his fate, and Tyler’s fate was going to be decided tomorrow – and it was his call. The real question was… should Tyler suffer even more due to Jared’s inconsiderate actions?

That’s simply how Jared felt, though. He still believed he was responsible for Tyler’s suffering there, even though they discussed it previously. While he slept that night, he dreamt a great deal of nightmares, all revolving around what Hector had said to Jared before he fell asleep, and all revolving around Tyler in some way.

---

“Wake up Baby” Jared heard. It was a soft, motherly voice.

He slowly opened his extremely tired eyes. They fluttered and he squinted from the light punishing his unadjusted eyes. He could, however, see Sarah standing over him with that same motherly smile that she always beamed him first thing in the morning.

He groaned, and rolled over, wanting simply to go back to sleep.

“Nahh! No going back to sleep. C’mon, let’s go” Sarah said.

She rolled Jared back over onto his back, and immediately unzipped his sleeper. Jared, on the other hand, was zoning in and out of consciousness because he was remarkably tired… it was damn near impossible for him to keep his eyes open, but Sarah was keeping an eye on him.

Once Sarah unzipped and removed Jared’s sleeper, she unlocked and pulled down his plastic pants, exposing his bulging used diaper. She didn’t check to see if it was wet or messy, she instead knew that it was.

She immediately un-taped his diaper, folded the front down ,and cleaned Jared’s wet area with a cold baby wipe (the feeling of it did in fact wake Jared up a bit), and then, she folded his legs up and cleaned his butt.

Finally, she replaced the soiled diaper with a fresh one, and then placed the locking plastic pants back around his diaper.

“Oh boy, why are you so tired today?” Sarah asked Jared with a very babyish tone.

Jared struggled to wake up, though Sarah helped him from the crib to his feet (since the bars were already down in the first place), and then she began to guide Jared from his nursery, all the way down to the dining room where lunch was waiting for him.

Though the walk helped Jared wake up, nothing brought him back to life like the shocking realization that the events of the night before were not a dream… and he remembered what Hector had explained to him just before he put himself inside of the crib. He remembered all of this because the second he walked in the doorway of the dining room, he spotted Hector, who was beaming back that same uncomfortable glare that Jared always got from him… he was practically undressing Jared with his mind – and he probably actually was.

Hector even nodded at Jared in a “Don’t-forget-what-I-told-you” kind of way. Jared did his best to ignore the pedophile freak, and simply sat down in his chair where he normally sat.

Jared paid little to no attention to Hector, and instead focused on eating. He didn’t even glance at Tyler, even though Tyler was staring at him, terribly confused (since he wasn’t aware of anything that was going on, and as far as he knew, Sarah was well aware of their failed escape).

“So, Sarah” Hector said out loud, noticing that Jared was ignoring him, though this made him look up.

“Yes?” Sarah replied.

Hector glared at Jared, who was staring back with a sad look on his face.

“I was thinking about showing Jared some things in the shop in a little bit… if he would like” Hector said.

“Really... well… that sounds nice… would you like that, Jared?” Sarah asked.

The room’s attention quickly turned to Jared, and Jared’s heart stopped. He looked around at everyone staring him. Tyler was giving him a concerned look, Sarah was giving him a somewhat confused look, and Hector was giving him a very serious glare.

Thoughts and thoughts ran through his mind. He felt the pressure of everything… but mostly, the words Hector said echoed the most in his head:

“Make the right choice, for your friend”

“Jared?” Sarah asked.

“…yes… yeah…” Jared said, struggling to put out the words.

“Y-Yeahh… I’d… like to do that” Jared said, after finally clearing his throat.

His heart started rushing, and his pulse surged… he just agreed to Hector to be his play thing for a while… his body was now given to someone else, and Jared knew it. Hector smirked, and nodded his head in reply.

“I’ll walk him over after they’re done playing” Sarah said, and Hector nodded.

“Fine…” Hector said.

Tyler looked over at Jared, his eyes wide… he was so confused, but he wasn’t saying a word.

“Jared?” Tyler asked, but Jared put his head down and shook it.

The boys in the end finished their food, and were placed in the captivity of their play room, where they could sit alone, by themselves, as alone they could get (even though they were being listened to).

Sarah didn’t think a thing about it, of course. She was completely oblivious to everything that was going on here… there was a major conspiracy that she was completely being left out on. She handed the boys their bottles of milk, and exited the room, leave them together to talk amongst themselves.

The second the door shut, Tyler was the first to say anything…

“Jared?! What’s going on!?” he asked.

But Jared shook his head with his eyes closed slowly.

“N-Nothing, Tyler… nothing…” Jared said.

“Why aren’t we in trouble? What’s Sarah doing?” Tyler replied.

Jared was silent

“It’s not Sarah, its Hector” Jared said.

“…what’s he doing, Jared? What was that about a couple minutes ago?” Tyler asked.

“Look… I don’t want you to get worried Tyler… but… I made a deal with him… just then... I’m going to do something with Hector and he’ll keep Sarah from knowing what happened last night” Jared admitted.

Tyler’s eyes widened and he shook his head…

“What? What does he want you to do?” Tyler asked.

But Jared snapped back…

“I-I… don’t know… but…” Jared stuttered, utterly clueless about what to say. He wanted to keep this all a secret from Tyler… he didn’t need to know what Jared was doing.

“…just, stop thinking about it, okay? I’m taking care of it… we’ll be alright. I’ll be back in a few minutes…” Jared replied.

“…Jared… I… I don’t understand what’s going on… what is it you’re not telling me?” Tyler replied.

“I told you… H-Hect… Hect…” Jared struggled to say. He was trembling, and Tyler could see his eyes getting wet and shiny from the tears beginning to build up.

“…HE… just… wants me to do some things with him… and… then he said he wouldn’t tell Sarah what we did… and we won’t get in worse trouble than we’re already in!” Jared said, before wiping his tears away. He was struggling hard to keep himself from crying, and it was obvious.

Tyler stared at him with a hanging jaw, completely dumbfounded by how Jared was acting in this whole situation… and, he of course, was not stupid, but he didn’t say anything. He understood clearly what Jared was going with Hector to do, and he was a bit in shock, to say the least.

He held his words back… his questions… there was nothing to be said when he knew his friend was going to be molested in a few minutes.

Jared didn’t say a word, and instead, put the bottle of milk into his mouth and began drinking from it… and Tyler did the same. They sat in silence, since they both knew that they were being recorded.

Jared’s thoughts were racing with fear and desperation… his blood pressure was at fatal speed the more and more he realized what he was off to do. He wondered so many things, so, so many things… The more he thought the more he realized he had no idea what to truly expect.

Tyler was also, worried for his friend. He was in astonishment about the predicament that Jared was in. He wanted to say something… but there was nothing to say. He felt helpless, which in this situation, he was. But most of all, he was disgusted… he couldn’t believe Hector was the kind of monster to commit one of the most vile, repulsive, and revolting of acts to another person; to a child…

But it was in that silence that suddenly they heard the sound of a door opening, and standing in the doorway was Sarah holding the familiar shock color… She pointed at Jared, and curled her finger towards herself (in the “come here” fashion). Jared responded by standing up, and obediently following Sarah.

Tyler followed the two.

She led the boys into the kitchen. They stopped by the dining room glass door, the same one they had attempted escape from. It was open, and Jared could see Hector standing by the garage-like building that Hector often stayed in: the one that Jared asked about so long ago… the one Ethan said that Hector spent extended amounts of time in… his shack.

She kept the door open for Jared to leave.

“I’m so happy to see you and Hector having a bond!” Sarah remarked.

Jared’s chest sank, and Tyler looked away, cringing. Jared nodded to Sarah, and stared back off to Hector, who was standing off in the distance with an expressionless face, but evil eyes.

Jared looked around, as though he was to never return, and finally walked out, and began walking towards Hector.

---

Each step he took was like a step towards death. He dreaded every one, and surely by the time the boy had finally made it to Hector, he was crying, but trying to stay strong. Hector disregarded the tears, and instead, opened the door leading into his dungeon. That was all it was to Jared.

The door shut inside when Jared walked in.

It was a dark, open room, though a cluttered one … it looked like a converted garage. Technically that’s what it was. Jared could see a police cruiser off to Jared’s right (most likely being worked on). There was sunlight pouring in through little windows by the ceiling, much like you’d see in most garages.

There were a few toolboxes, some large, some small, lying against walls, as well as random different power tools, ranging from power drills to power saws. There were planks of wood in one corner, and cans of WD-40 and other types of oils scattered amongst the place. Screws, bolts, and nuts lay on the floor. The air was still, stale, and thick with dust.

The most out-of-place thing that Jared noticed though was the corner of the room that Jared was being guided to. There was a TV, a radio, a nightstand, and even a bed in that corner.

On that nightstand was, surprisingly enough, a closed laptop (which reminded Jared of the one in the secret room in the basement). That was not all though; there was also the pistol that Hector had held Jared up with just the night before, a cartridge filled with ammunition and gun cleaning oil. There were other things lying against the desk as well, including what Jared could tell was the contents of Hector’s police belt (pepper spray, gun holster, baton, etc).

The really scary thing about the room though wasn’t the gun or the power tools. It was the sound and smell of a dog that Jared knew too well. There was the sound of a barking, growling dog, and it was doing that to Jared.

“Quiet down, boy!” Hector ordered, but the dog continued despite Hector’s command.

Jared was led by the bed, and Hector stopped.

“Sit down” Hector said.

Jared obeyed, and sat down on the grungy, filthy mattress…

“…what are you going to do to me?” Jared asked as watched Hector nervously.

“Anything I want” Hector replied.

Jared’s heart pounded harder and faster, he felt surging heat… his mind was racing, and many horrible thoughts were going through it as he felt and realized how incredibly trapped he now was.

“B-But, why?” Jared asked.

Hector did not immediately reply. He watched as Hector bent down in front of the nightstand, and reached into the drawer, and was searching for something (only to later take his hand out with nothing, like he changed his mind or couldn’t find whatever he was looking for).

“…because…” Hector said.

“Obviously you don’t enjoy the treatment my wife has given you… you still tried to run away… but maybe that worked out in my favor?” Hector said, staring at Jared.

“Well maybe she if she wouldn’t have made it so easy?!” Jared snapped back, but Hector only replied with a cackle.

“Stupid kid…” he said, before standing up over Jared, though Jared stared at him, terrified.

“…w-what?” Jared replied, but Hector only shook his head.

“You honestly believe my wife is that stupid? You really think that? You really think it was her leaving everything unlocked for you to run around? And you think I didn’t know you were going to run?” Hector ranted.

Jared stared at Hector… he was stunned… he saw it now… everything made sense. He had his doubts about Sarah… but if what Hector was saying was true (and it certainly was)… then Jared just fell into Hector’s trap. Hector planned this all along… it was always his intent to get his grubbing hands all over one of the boys’ bodies… and Sarah was completely oblivious. She had to have been!

“You sick fuck” Jared said to Hector, but Hector only smiled a sick, psychotic grin back at Jared.

He cleared his throat…

“Enough talking” Hector said.

“…the only way out of Hell, is through…”

…and then, before Jared knew it, it was over. It was quicker than he had expected… but it still felt like forever... He simply lay on the mattress, motionless, unable to react to a thing that had just happened. He felt so invaded… so used, so disgusted…

Hector sat up and away from Jared after a few moments.

“Get dressed” he said, as he was doing the same.

“…I… can’t” Jared replied between sobs, still staring away from Hector.

“Huh?” Hector replied.

“…I can’t put my diaper on myself… Sarah will know” he replied.

Hector stared down at Jared, and sighed.

“I’m not playing along with Sarah’s stupid games… put your diaper back on yourself. This baby bullshit is retarded… I’m having nothing to do with it” he remarked coldly.

Jared stared at Hector with tear-swelled eyes, and did his best to put his diaper back on himself. He put his plastic pants back on, too, though when he did that, Hector did make sure they were locked for his own sake. He happened to only have been wearing his plastic pants in the first place, so there wasn’t much more he could do except sit there and try to ignore everything that had happened to him in the last few minutes.

Jared stood up after some moments of silence, wiping his eyes in an attempt to leave…

“Stop” Hector ordered, and Jared dared not make another move.

“You’ll leave when I say you can, and you’re not leaving looking like the mess you are. Stop crying and then you’ll be allowed” Hector said.

Jared didn’t care, so he just shrugged… the worst was over with… but for the first time, Jared was legitimately wishing he was back in his nursery, where danger was not so much an immediate threat. For the first time, while he sat there on the filthy mattress… he really felt like an idiot for attempting escape. For the first time… he actually missed Sarah.

If he knew what would’ve happened… if he knew… he wouldn’t have even thought twice about doing it. He would’ve gladly continued acting like an innocent toddler, like Sarah wanted. He felt stupid, and stubborn… he was blaming himself, considering his own arrogance as the reason he was lying there, in that position.

And that’s simply how it was. It was over, and Jared was still alive… and he was grateful for that, though he did somewhat feel less alive than he did before. After some time, Jared was permitted to leave.

He retreated to the mansion, where he didn’t dare ever, ever mention what had happened. The last 48 hours remained a deep, dark secret from Sarah.

Jared never spoke of what he had gone through with Hector in that shack. Jared was grateful that it was relatively quick. His sacrifice did pay off, though, as Hector never spoke a word of their betrayal so long Jared never brought up his molestation. Jared and Tyler both knew that the consequences for revealing Hector’s pedophilia would be much worse than they could ever want… the man would kill the boys if they ever spoke of it.

The two boys never, ever attempted escape since then (not like they could have anyway, since the doors were locked at night thereafter). As a matter of fact, neither of them even discussed it. They had completely accepted their fate after that happened. They never dared test Hector, or Sarah. They acted like the little babies they now were, and in return, not a scratch was ever put on their bodies.

They accepted this as their lives. They accepted defeat.

Chapter Seven… “Submission”

Days were slow in the beginning. But as days turned to weeks, and those weeks turned to months, time wasn’t an object and so was not paid attention to by anyone. Spring turned to a hot, humid, long summer, before finally burning out into the calm of autumn.

By then, the boys’ existence was believed to have been given up on by their families and friends on the outside world. Their bladders and bowels were weakened, and before either of them noticed, they were both completely dependent on their diapers. Sarah took them off of the formula that had relaxed those muscles for so long that they simply seized to function strong enough to hold anything back correctly, rendering both boys completely incontinent.

Sarah and the boys’ relationships only got stronger and more trusting, both-ways. Ethan, despite his seemingly deceitful ways, was accepted by the boys, though neither Jared nor Tyler dared to point out that he too was kidnapped. Hector, though remained a monster in both boys’ eyes… Jared’s, especially.

Fall came and was over. It snowed outside often, and the trees were bare. The land was hard, and the air was frigid. They were in the midst of a cold, depressing winter.

---

The ever familiar call of Jared’s name, coming from Sarah’s voice, woke him up, like every other morning. His eyes came barely open, and he tossed and turned, simply wanting to go back to sleep… he also continued to suck on a pacifier that was in his mouth, which was putting him back to sleep gently…

Sarah paid no mind to it, and unhinged the bars of the cribs, letting them fall to the floor. She rolled him onto his back, and unzipped the front of his sleeper (and with a bit of Jared’s cooperation, took it off), since she already knew that his diaper was full and needed changing. She quickly got rid of the plastic pants that were keeping her from doing her motherly duties…

She undid both sides of his bulging, soaked baby-printed diaper, and pulled it down. She quickly then applied a baby wipe to Jared’s skin. Jared winced in reply due to the cold in the room and the wet at such a sensitive area, though Sarah just giggled.

She also finished the rest of the change as hastily as possible (but did not do a messy job with the messy job to be done), powdered him lightly, and then finally put on his fresh, new diaper.

Jared was more awake by now, since the cold wipe certainly brought him to his senses. Sarah stared down at him.

“Okay Baby, c’mon, let’s have breakfast!” she said playfully.

Jared nodded his head, and without even noticing that Sarah had not put his plastic pants back on, he was helped out of the crib by Sarah’s hand. The two walked downstairs into the dining room, where no one waited for them. It was only them, which happened once-in-a-while (usually Jared was the last one to wake up, but sometimes Tyler was).

He sat down at the bar that was in the kitchen, and looked outside… there was hardly anything to be seen, as the sun was just now rising, and so all he could see was the field in the backyard covered with snow, and ice illuminated by a navy blue hue cast from the early morning sun.

A baby bottle was handed to him, and he immediately began to drink it without hesitation.

Some time passed, and soon, Tyler was downstairs, brought down by a groggy Ethan, only to be followed by Hector.

They all sat around the dining room table like always, and everyone ate their breakfast. The sun rose more, Hector left for work, and the boys were placed in the play room for some free time. All was the same as it ever was…

The boys were sucking their pacifiers, watching TV, and doing other miscellaneous babyish things, when Sarah walked into the room. They stopped what they were doing, and looked over at her, and she had a smile on her face.

“Guess what, boys” she said.

Jared and Tyler looked at her suspiciously.

“I have a surprise for you!” she said.

The boys’ attention snapped to her. What could this be? She pulled out from behind her back two strange looking devices… at first they reminded Jared of the shock collars that he and Tyler wore on occasion when they would go outside on occasion… but they were smaller. They were two collars with large boxes, but much too small to go around a neck.

“What’re those?” Tyler asked, though Jared had a suspicious feeling about the devices.

“Well boys,” she said, before sitting down in a rocking chair on the opposite side of the room.

“You two have been such good boys… you’ll be allowed to move in the house without Mommy now!” she said.

The boys’ eyes widened with excitement. Did she just say they’d be free inside of the house? Despite their excitement, they were still wondering what those gadgets were…

The boys stayed quiet…

“These…” Sarah said, and looked at the two things in her hands.

“…are special! Hector brought them home… you wear them around your ankles. I’ll put them on under your clothes so you don’t see them… and they’re really comfy to wear” Sarah said.

In actuality, these “special bracelets” were ankle bracelets, worn by criminals on house arrest. Jared knew this, and Tyler suspected it. These of course contained GPS tracers in them, and allowed police officers (or in this case, Sarah, Hector, and Ethan) know the whereabouts of the wearer at all times.

Neither boy cared… this meant that they were going to be able to go beyond the confines of their cribs and play room. Sarah wouldn’t be with them constantly, if what they were thinking was correct.

“You’ll wear these, and you’ll be able to go and do some big boy things! But if you don’t want to wear these… you’ll make Mommy take care of you ALL the time…” Sarah warned.

Neither diapered boy objected, and Sarah smiled sweetly. Without hesitation, she bent down to Jared’s and Tyler’s level. She put the first cuff around Jared’s right ankle, and tugged it tightly, ensuring it was going nowhere, and she did the same with Tyler.

Both boys stared at Sarah blankly, neither knowing what to do or say… to them this type of freedom was like if she had been sending them home (which by now was as much a dream to them as growing wings out of their backs and flying). Sarah acknowledged this, and after sitting in her rocking chair, looked at the good boys she had raised.

“Now listen to me you two” she said.

“Now that you two can go almost anywhere in the house… you have to listen to me and follow some rules! Are you listening?” she said, and both boys nodded.

“Okay. Firstly… NO one, not Ethan either, goes into Mommy’s or Daddy’s room without our permission! No going into Ethan’s room without his permission either! And don’t try to be little sneaky babies cus’ we’ll know” Sarah warned.

Both boys understood… Jared and Tyler knew she wasn’t lying. The bracelets around their ankles were feeding a signal tracing their location at all times from now on. They knew that much about them. It wasn’t an absurd rule… it was common courtesy (even though Jared and Tyler had practically no privacy themselves).

“Secondly, no going outside of the house without our permission, OR basement, period!” she warned. Both boys assumed this already.

“But the most important thing about this is that you two are still babies… but Mommy won’t know when to change your diapers or when to feed you your bottles! So you’ll need to tell me or Ethan” she said.

Both boys understood this… they nodded, and accepted the fact that now they’d have to actually tell someone they need a change…

They took all these rules without caring for a one… they were free to move for the first time during their whole stay there.

“And you’d better tell Mommy when you need your diapey changed… if you leak I’ll be upset!” she warned.

“Got it” Jared said, and Sarah smiled at him.

“Tyler?” she asked, and he nodded.

“Good! Okay then babies… I’ll be in the library with Ethan if you need me” Sarah explained before finally standing up. She exited the room, leaving the two boys alone…

Neither boy moved a muscle despite the ability to. They simply sat in their diapers on the floor, in the quiet.

“Tyler” Jared said, breaking that silence.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“…are we really allowed to leave this room?” Jared asked.

Tyler was, at first, hesitant to respond.

“…I dunno” he said.

Jared was the first of the two to dare move. He stood up, and approached the door leading into the living room, which was of course shut. Looking back at Tyler cautiously as though the door was going to explode, he put his hand on the doorknob and turned it.

The door clicked open, and behind it was a room illuminated by windows. They had been in there before, but the only time they were in there alone was the night they had surveyed the house for any means of communication to the outside world.

---

That’s how it was: Jared and Tyler were free from their babyish dependencies on Sarah to watch over them to make sure they weren’t going to run from the house. She knew that by now, after all this time, they weren’t going to. She trusted them… truly trusted them enough, and after all this time, they were not taking advantage of her.

The boys were in the living room (though they had wandered through some of the house before returning there) playing video games by now. They’ve only had the chance to play videogames once or twice with Ethan before. This was of course their long time hobby before they were abducted, so it was like a small piece of home for them. They were actually genuinely laughing and having a good time, which was a rarity since their lives changed.

“Hey, I wonder what else they have” Tyler said after putting the controller down.

Jared nodded, and the two stood up from the squishiness of their now-wet diapers. They walked over to a bookshelf that was in the corner of the room, and scanned its contents. On one shelf were quite a few miscellaneous books, all of which seemed to be works of fiction (one or two actually were books that the boys had read in school). The boys paid no attention to those.

There were movies on a few other shelves, and then games on some others. They scanned for something new to play.

“Whoa, hey Jared… look” Tyler said in a quieter toned voice.

Jared stopped looking at the games they had, and looked down at what Tyler was pointing at: the bottom shelf, which featured what looked like quite a few photo albums.

They were all thick albums, going from the oldest to most recent date, and some were labeled (“Wedding Photos”, “Birthdays”, etc).

Jared looked all the way to his left, where there were several albums that were much older than he and Tyler was. They were dated in the 50s.

“Must be old family photos passed on…” Jared thought.

He browsed further to the right, where he saw the dates grow more recent. They went from the 60s, 70s, and the 80s. But it was when the books reached the 90s that Jared suddenly had an epiphany… there was a sudden flash in his head of the gravestone in the woods behind the house.

“Liam’s in these” Jared said.

Tyler turned his head.

“What? Who?” Tyler asked.

Jared shook his head.

“Liam… remember? Ethan told us about him… in the woods?” Jared reminded.

Tyler stared at him blankly before nodding.

“Yeah… I remember now” he said.

The five-year-old Liam was a mystery to the boys when they thought of him now. He was never brought up in conversation, from anyone. The only way the boys even knew his existence was because Ethan went to his grave with them that one day (that now seemed ages ago).

Jared thought of it and Tyler too. It was like the boy’s ghost guided Jared’s hand onto one of the photo albums, and pulled it out for him. Jared didn’t really think about it, but he did it slowly and cautiously like he was handling explosives.

He sat into his used diaper, which squished beneath him, and he crossed his legs. Tyler scooted next to him when he opened the book, and the two peered into it like a window into the past.

It was the first picture they saw: a happy toddler with blonde, messy hair, looking contently into the camera with bright, lively blue eyes, sucking on a pacifier (the sight of the pacifier made Jared feel the one that was hanging from the necklace around his neck).

But that wasn’t all. He saw a bit of a younger looking Sarah, and a clean shaven Hector smiling beside him. It was just an ordinary, innocent family photo. They all were: as the boys scanned the pages they saw more and more innocent, ordinary family photos. There was nothing irregular at all in these photographs, despite the terrible things that were happening present day.

The boys’ skin was beginning to become riddled with goose bumps, and the hairs on their necks were beginning to stand on end. It was an eerie thing to see these pictures. They genuinely looked like a happy family… Sarah looked like a regular mom, and Hector looked like a proud dad (despite the scumbag he was).

Jared focused hard on the photos. Something wasn’t adding up. They were so happy together as a family, and that seemed legitimate… but it was something else Jared was noticing that he couldn’t point out.

They turned to a page where the three were all sitting together in front of a Christmas tree, opening presents… and that’s when Jared noticed it.

“Tyler” Jared said.

Tyler looked up, “Yeah?”

“…this isn’t the same house” Jared pointed out.

Tyler started at him blankly.

“What?” he asked.

“This house… in these pictures… its different” he said.

Tyler looked at the living room they were in within this picture (and the room was featured in quite a few other unrelated photos within the album), and then looked at the room that he and Jared were in. It was definitely not the same room.

“…so?” Tyler asked, unsure why it was relevant.

Jared shrugged.

“They moved” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

“…so what?” he asked.

Jared shook his head but had the certain face on that he had when he was thinking hard.

“Can you give me the next album?” he asked, and Tyler obliged.

The next album was dated 1997/1998. He compared the dates, and the album they were just looking over was dated 1995.

He opened it, and instantly, there was a subliminal difference between the two albums’ contents. Hector and Sarah seemed somewhat different. Their faces and emotions didn’t seem as genuine… and there was no boy between them anymore.

“Here! Look now, this is THIS room” Jared said, pointing at a picture that featured Hector and Sarah.

The room they were in was clearly the same living room they were in just now. The furniture was the same, and the windows on the walls matched up together. In the pictures, the boys could see boxes in the room.

“They moved after Liam died” Jared said.

Somehow that statement sent chills down Tyler’s spine. They looked at each other… it seemed somewhat shady… like something wasn’t right about that.

“Why would they do that?” Jared asked.

Tyler shrugged, not really finding it very relevant.

“I… don’t know…” Tyler said.

“…but you don’t think they did something to that kid, do you?” Tyler asked.

Jared shrugged.

“I can’t tell… it just doesn’t seem right… When someone dies… I wouldn’t think that moving would be on the victim’s family’s minds’. Not right off the bat, anyway” Jared said.

Flipping the page, they then saw someone they knew very well. It was another young boy, with blonde hair, and blue eyes. It was actually… eerily similar to Liam, but they knew it wasn’t. It was a very young Ethan. Though the similarities between him and Liam were uncanny, his face was a bit different.

“…but they kidnapped Ethan… and us…” Jared pointed out.

Suddenly it all seemed very, very shady to the boys. As much as they had submitted to the family, they couldn’t put anything past them.

“You don’t think that they killed Liam?” Tyler asked, slightly taken back.

“I don’t know! I’m just… it just doesn’t seem right!” Jared defended.

Jared truly wasn’t insinuating that the parents of the sweet looking boy in that photo album killed him. But the idea wasn’t farfetched given what these people were obviously capable of. He just meant that something to him seemed strange. It may have been paranoia.

Jared shook his head, “Forget it,” he said, and he shut the album.

He put the two albums back onto the shelf, and stood up.

“What game do you want to play?” Jared asked, trying to change the subject as quickly as possible.

“I uh… I dunno. I don’t really want to play anything now” Tyler said.

Jared looked down at him, and slid one of the games he had back into its place.

“Oh… okay” Jared said.

“Why?” he asked.

Tyler shrugged.

“I… umm… W-Where did Sarah say she was going to be?” Tyler said, initially having some trouble spitting out the question, like he was embarrassed.

“…upstairs, in the library… why?” Jared asked.

Tyler kind of stared at Jared in a nervous kind of way… and that’s when Jared finally got the hint: Tyler (and Jared as well), needed a diaper change. Now that Sarah wouldn’t be checking the boys, it was up to them to admit it and get changed. Even though the boys had had so many diaper changes by now, it was not something they were proud of, or wanted to admit.

“Let’s go find her” Jared said.

---

The boys climbed the steps to the second floor, and finally opened the door to where they believed the house’s library was located.

Behind the door, they found Ethan and Sarah, together on opposite sides of a wooden table in the middle of the room. They both were alarmed by the sudden interruption in Ethan’s home schooling.

“Yes?” Sarah asked.

Only Tyler walked in. Jared was too busy examining the extravagancy of the room! It was a large room, not necessarily huge, but quite well sized. On the right side of the room were several wooden bookcases (with cherry finishes that made them look very distinguished and expensive) that reached all the way up to the ceiling, lined with many, many books. The whole wall was taken up with books. The farthest wall from him featured one VERY large window, floor to ceiling with expensive looking green curtains (which were pushed aside for light). On either side of that window was a bookcase.

Centered into the left wall was a grand fireplace with a gentle fire that was blazing inside of it, giving the room a comfortable atmosphere, and to either side of the fireplace was of course, more books (though the shelves were placed away from the fireplace to avoid a fire).

The floor was hardwood with a cherry finish, and the walls were painted a mild green, with a light colored trim on the ceiling and the floor.

It was a very magnificently beautiful place, indeed.

“Um… I think I… might need a… change” Tyler said to Sarah.

Jared watched as Sarah leaned in towards Tyler, and stuck her index finger down the front of his diaper.

“Yes you do! I’ll take care of that in a second, just give me one moment” Sarah said.

“Okay” Tyler replied.

Suddenly Sarah looked up at Jared.

“You! Do you need one too? I bet you do!” she said.

Jared pulled his head back.

“Huh?” he asked.

“C’mere” she said.

Jared hesitantly approached. He really felt embarrassed about his diaper needing changed in front of Tyler like this… it wasn’t as blatant before, but now, it was so humiliating. For some reason, asking for a diaper change with his best friend next to him just made Jared blush, even after all this time. Even though Tyler was in the same position, it didn’t really matter.

He approached Sarah, and she stuck her finger into the front of his soaked diaper.

“Yup. Both my babies need changes! Ethan, hang on a minute” she said. Ethan nodded.

“And I’ll take care of you after I’m done with him” Sarah said to Jared, but pointing to Tyler.

“O-Okay” Jared said, and then watched Tyler and Sarah exit the room.

Jared simply waited, but he passed the time by examining the shelf of books closest to him. He was somewhat surprised at what he found…

Most of the books, on this particular bookshelf at least, were all nonfiction, and many were medical in nature. There were anatomy books, books on medicines, psychology books, psychiatry books, and various books related to those subjects (theories, therapies, etc).

“No way there’s a reason to have all of these” he thought.

He looked behind him, and saw a comfortable-looking black leather chair, so he took a seat. He simply relaxed, and analyzed his surroundings some more… that’s when he caught sight of what was next to him, on a small side-table next to him. It was a small stack of books…

One featured “DSM-IV” printed on the front, and that was a large book. Another was a hardback book which read “Complete Encyclopedia of Toxicology, Volume VII”. This particular book reminded Jared of the mystery drug that he and Tyler were forced to drink (which it should have: this was in fact the book Sarah had used as reference).

It was the third book in the stack that interested Jared the most, though. It was a much smaller book… more like a manual. There was an insignia on the front of the thin paperback manual and on that front cover read “Complete Technical Manual and User’s Guide for Standard GPS Devices”.

What was this that he found, he wondered? Besides a book with a really long title, he knew this book was relevant to him, since it was obvious that someone (either Sarah or Hector) was using it as reference for the bracelets that were now around the boys’ ankles.

Jared glared at it… he was curious to know more about the imprisoning device that Sarah had latched around his ankle. He peered up at Ethan, who was still sitting at the table reading the school book that Sarah had assigned him (and not paying much attention to Jared).

He took his chance, and he slowly grabbed the already-open book (it was sitting folded open on the table already), and began reading the pages…

“Troubleshooting a Poor Signal: Some devices (even the most expensive of GPS receivers) are susceptible to interference, which is the leading cause of a malfunctioning device, erratic behavior, and compete loss of signal. The extremity of the problem varies from device to device, and what environment the device is placed in. For example, some devices, when placed indoors, may have an extremely weak signal or cease to function correctly at all. Other such environments that may cause a lost signal include –“

“Jared, what are you reading?” he heard.

His heart stopped, and Jared instantly looked up to find Ethan staring at him from across the room.

“M-Me? Nothing, just reading the first thing I saw here on this table” Jared responded, gently putting the book back where he found it, just the way it was.

Ethan looked at him and shook his head.

“You shouldn’t touch those, those are Mom’s. If you miss her spot she’ll flip!” Ethan warned.

Jared nodded.

“Y-Yeah… I understand” he replied.

Ethan gave a friendly smirk, and went back to his assignment. Jared didn’t dare touch any of Sarah’s things that were lying next to him. Instead, after a moment or two, he stood from the chair and exited the library. In the hall, he could see one lone, open door that he knew led into Tyler’s nursery. He approached the door cautiously.

Peaking inside, he saw that Tyler had not began getting his diaper changed yet… it was only a couple moments since the two had even left the library to do that. He was lying on the floor, and Sarah was gathering the proper things for an adequate diaper changed (diaper, wipes, powder, etc).

She saw Jared, though.

“Jared! So nice of you to join us!” she said.

Jared stepped into the room and looked down at Tyler, who looked embarrassed.

“Lie down” Sarah instructed.

“What?” Jared asked.

Sarah nodded, “Mhm, lay down next to Tyler so I can get you both” she said.

He glanced down at Tyler, whose eyes were big from the shock.

“I-I can wait” Jared replied immediately, but alas, Sarah didn’t budge.

“Nonsense, now lie down so I can do you two at once and get back to teaching Ethan” Sarah responded.

Jared didn’t want to… he felt like he was invading, and being invaded, by doing that. Somehow the idea of having a diaper change right next to his friend (which has always been a private thing up till now) just didn’t sound right, and certainly didn’t feel right. He felt worse than the first time he showed up in front of Tyler in his diaper.

But Jared wouldn’t refuse Sarah anymore, so he obliged despite how badly he didn’t want to (he has gone through worse things, after all). He positioned himself next to Tyler and lay down. He tried to distance himself, but there really wasn’t much room between him and the crib.

Sarah knelt down at the boys’ feet, holding two fresh diapers. She went with Tyler first, and opened his diaper (not having to go through the plastic pants anymore since she got rid of them). While she wiped Tyler clean, Jared simply looked the other way.

But he suddenly felt hands on his diaper, to find that Sarah was now taking his diaper off now. She did just that, and wiped him clean with a cold baby wipe, and pulled the very used diaper out from underneath him.

She yanked his legs up by his ankles, and wiped his butt as well, before finally powdering him well with baby powder. Lastly, she placed the new diaper around him. She simply balled up the used diaper, like any other, and placed it onto the floor beside her (to be thrown away after she was finished with Tyler).

Jared did not sit up quite yet, while she was doing the same thing to Tyler (to avoid seeing anything he did not want to see). Before they both knew it, they were both sitting in fresh diapers, and the somewhat uncomfortable experience was over with.

They stood up, and brushed themselves off (for really no reason, the carpet was perfectly clean).

“Okay boys, lunch is in a few hours. You’ll have to leave me and Ethan alone for a little longer so we can finish up. I’ll be downstairs in a little bit, okay?” Sarah said.

Both boys nodded understandingly, and Sarah left for the library once more, leaving the boys alone in the nursery.

That’s how it was, for that day at least. The rest of the day was as normal as any… the boys later had dinner, and were later given a bath, and put to sleep in their cribs. To Tyler, the day was largely irrelevant. He was becoming so used to how things worked. But Jared on the other hand, though compliant and cooperative, still was having “What-ifs”, and other second thoughts about how he was being raised.

He still had suspicions. The book excerpt stuck in his head, but most of all, Liam’s face stayed in his mind’s eye. The boy had a thirst for knowledge, and with his captive’s shady nature, he wanted to know what had happened to that innocent child.

His undying curiosity was beginning to take the best of him over again.

Chapter Eight… “Mother’s Guilt”

The following morning was like any other Jared had these days. Sarah woke him up, and changed his diaper, which he was generally very used by the morning. She let him out of his crib and the two went downstairs, where everyone was already prepared for breakfast.

They had breakfast, and the family went about their normal habits. Hector went to work just like any other day, leaving just the three boys and Sarah. The boys returned to the video game they were working on in the living room, and that occupied their time for quite a while.

The only thing that put a stop to their gaming time was when Jared felt himself becoming quite wet, and in need of a change.

“Hang on, I need to go find Sarah…” he hinted.

“Okay” Tyler replied.

“Keep playing while I’m gone… I’ll be back” Jared said before standing up from the floor, and exiting the living room.

He ascended the stairs, and found Sarah in the library, in that same black leather chair that he had sat in the day before. She was reading a book, but it was not any of the ones that he’d have recognized, though she stopped reading when Jared entered the room.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Hi… erm… I think I need my… eh… diaper changed” Jared said, struggling to push it out.

She smirked, and placed the book back onto the side table.

“Okay” she said, and then she rose from the seat, and the two walked into Jared’s nursery.

The boy was lying on the carpet, and the diaper change began.

“Boy you two have been going through so many diapers lately… gonna have to buy some more soon” she said.

Jared nodded.

“Y-Yeah… gotta be expensive” Jared blurted back, just making conversation.

Sarah smirked and nodded.

“Mm… yes, it can be… but, it’s worth it” she said back.

“Not like you could run out of money anytime soon from the looks of things…” Jared said.

Sarah let out a soft laugh.

“Hah! Yeah… we get by, don’t we?” she joked.

Jared felt his curiosity peak… and he jumped on the opportunity to ask the question.

“…how did you buy all this stuff?” he asked.

Sarah beamed a kind smile.

“Well… usually every two weeks I do my shopping… I buy more diapers, and other groceries and things. That’s where I go sometimes, but you two probably never noticed” she explained.

Jared DID notice, in fact – and he knew that Sarah went off, somewhere, to some grocery store, and did her shopping. He knew because she always came home with plenty of bags.

“N-No! I mean like… all this furniture… all this stuff in the house!” Jared corrected.

“Ohh… that’s… not that big a deal” she said, but Jared shook his head.

“It’s okay! I wanna know” Jared replied.

Sarah wiped his butt with another wipe, before finally pulling his legs up and replacing his diaper altogether with a fresh one, but she didn’t reply.

“I wanna know… c’mon” Jared pried.

Sarah sat back and playfully squinted her eyes at the boy.

“I inherited most of it… a lot of the furniture and a lot of the money” Sarah replied.

That made sense, and explained why some of the stuff they had looked older than Sarah’s or Hectors’ generations.

“…oh” Jared said.

“…well, I’m sorry” Jared replied.

But Sarah simply chuckled and shook her head, “No, it’s okay” she said.

“…can I ask who? What they did?” Jared politely asked, and Sarah nodded.

“Mhm…” she said.

“Well… it’s a simple story… you see Jared, my family – and Hector’s too, isn’t from here. They live all the way in Texas… our families both are from there and have been there for a long while. We used to live there… until we moved. Anyway, my family is very wealthy because my grandfather co-founded one of the most successful companies in the oil industry. Our company started in Texas, but has moved a lot since those days…” she said.

“When my grandfather died, he passed on most of what he had, which was quite a bit of money and property, as well as his side of the company to my father… and, well… me and my father don’t get along very well… the man is a drunken fool… but when he died, he left plenty of money to his family, including myself. I guess he cared about us more than he acted” Sarah explained.

She said no more. Jared nodded, but wasn’t done asking questions.

“…why’d you move away from your family?” he asked.

Sarah stared at Jared, and she suddenly looked very sad. She looked down and licked her lips, brushed her thighs with her hands, and bit the inside of her cheek all in one motion.

“That’s… not such an easily told story” Sarah said.

“Oh…” Jared said, and there was silence.

“Well… to boot… Hector cares little for his family… the only one he gives a damn about is his brother. I care about my family… but… they pretty much disowned me because I had brought Hector into the family” Sarah began.

“What do you mean?” Jared asked. That was a pretty intense thing to say.

“Well Jared… not to offend my husband. He doesn’t come from a very wealthy or… sophisticated background. I do. My family didn’t enjoy my love for him, and disapproved… though I didn’t care. We eloped” Sarah explained.

“…so there really wasn’t a whole lot to lose after that, I guess. No reason to stay where people hate you” Sarah then said.

But Jared could tell there was more to be told.

“And…” Sarah said while she built herself up.

“…what is it?” Jared asked.

“Hm…” she said with a small smirk on her face, one you do when you have a fond memory in harsh times. She stared off to something not of the physical world as memories flashed before her mind’s eye.

“I can tell you want to know Jared… and I won’t leave you in the dark. You’re part of this family... it’s just hard” Sarah said.

Jared’s senses perked.

“What is?” he asked, being as sensitive as he can as to not upset his replacement mother.

“Well… you see Jared… in 1988, I was still living in Texas with my husband… we weren’t as wealthy as we are now… but we were both working and doing very well. The money I had I had kept in a savings account to build interest… in case of an emergency, or retirement, or something… Hector was a cop then, just like he is now. I was working as a psychiatrist. And… we had a son. His name was Liam” Sarah began.

Jared’s mouth opened up a bit, and he sat up. He couldn’t believe what he was beginning to hear. He knew of Liam, but he didn’t know the story obviously. Though, Sarah didn’t know that Jared already knew about Liam, or that Ethan was kidnapped too for that matter.

“But I thought Ethan was –“

“No” Sarah interrupted.

Jared stared at her. He already knew the truth of course, but he had to act surprised anyway.

“Ethan’s… not… really our biological son. He’s like you and Tyler… we abducted him too… he knows though” Sarah went on.

“Oh… are you serious?” Jared faked.

Sarah nodded.

“I know that must be hard to believe… but, it’s true… we took him when he was five years old… you and Tyler weren’t the first” Sarah said.

Jared faked a shrug.

“I’m… kind of shocked… but I’m not all that surprised” Jared said.

Sarah just smirked and shrugged.

“Why did you kidnap him though?” Jared then asked, but Sarah shook her head.

“Well… let me finish what I was saying first…” Sarah then said.

The two were now officially on the same level, but Jared still was surprised that Sarah was explaining this to him. He didn’t stop her though.

“Anyway… Liam died thirteen years ago. He was five years old… he was a premature birth… much too early, and there were a lot of complications when he was born. They ran him under so many tests and kept him in the hospital… he almost died shortly after birth. But after some time and even surgery… he was fine outside… had ten toes and ten fingers, and all that…” she went on.

Jared was listening to every word she was saying.

She cleared her throat, her voice was getting a big shaky. Jared could tell she was getting a bit upset since he’d never seen her look the way she was looking as she was saying those words.

“N-No, it’s okay” she said, smiling.

“Just… not something I talk about often” she finished.

“…I guess because I was so excited to have a kid… I didn’t want him to grow up… I kept him spoiled… but he never turned into a brat. He was so bright and social… nice… he was perfect. I didn’t want him to grow up… I was really reluctant to even potty train him… but I did” Sarah went on.

She gave him a look, and Jared’s chest was sinking… he felt like he shouldn’t have ever asked the question that started this conversation.

“…but… all good things must come to an end…” she said grimly.

“What happened?” Jared asked.

“He died… February 4^th, 1995… in January he started getting sick. We thought it was the flu… something that would go away… and at first he seemed like he was getting better… but one day it got really bad… we took him to the hospital…” she said.

Her voice began to become shakier, and Jared could see tears were swelling up in her eyes.

“He was in my lap in the back of the car… I remember that day so clearly. Hector was driving down the highway, and Liam in my lap started talking nonsense… he became delirious, and his head was burning hot. A few minutes from the hospital he went unconscious… I carried him into the emergency room… and that was the last I ever seen my boy alive” Sarah went on.

She looked up at Jared.

“He died only a few hours later… The doctors said they couldn’t get his fever down, and it eventually killed him” Sarah concluded.

She wiped a tear from her eye and cleared her throat doing her best to maintain her composure.

“…I’m sorry…” Jared said.

He too felt the sorrow in Sarah’s heart.

“What was the fever from?” Jared asked.

She sighed…

“The problem? They say he had a weakened immune system. He couldn’t fight off whatever he had. He had one… but, whatever attacked him that time was too strong. They say it was part of the complications he had when he was born. Like a birth defect. But they say if I would’ve taken him to the hospital earlier they could’ve recognized the signs. They could’ve helped him fight, and maybe he’d be alive today… it’s all my fault” Sarah admitted.

Jared could sense the guilt pour out of Sarah… for a moment, he didn’t see her as a criminal woman who was kidnapping him… he felt compassion for her. He continued listening.

“Anyway… after Liam died... things just kind of fell apart. We tried having another baby but it didn’t work… and we didn’t really want another child… we wanted Liam back. We decided to move northeast… to just get away from everything, and start anew. My family and I… we don’t get along much, and Hector… he doesn’t care much for his either” Sarah said.

Jared’s heart stopped! Did she just say northeast? Tyler and Jared were only from Pennsylvania! They weren’t as far from home as they had thought! Suddenly, with Sarah explaining all of this to Jared in trust… he saw everything coming together, like the pieces of the puzzle finally coming to… he was starting to see the past… but he didn’t know much about the present… he started to feel like he did all those months ago when he was determined to escape…

He stopped himself though… he didn’t want to get himself in anymore trouble. He did however want to know more… there were still unanswered questions.

“…where did Ethan come from, though?” Jared asked.

Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes and cleared her throat once more.

“Mm… enough with these kinds of questions please… I’ve had as much as I can take” she said.

“Oh” Jared said.

“I’m sorry” Sarah replied, before wiping yet another tear from her eye.

Jared shrugged.

“It’s… It’s okay… I shouldn’t have pried like that” Jared replied, but Sarah shook her head.

“No, its okay… really… you’re allowed to know” she said.

“But… I must get back to doing what I was doing, m’kay? Go play with Tyler some m-more and I’ll see you when dinner is ready” Sarah said cryptically.

She had a colder, number tone to her voice than Jared had ever heard her have, and even he was saddened by the tragic tale… though Jared nodded and sat up.

“I understand” he replied.

The whole story replayed through Jared’s mind over and over again when he finally got downstairs. All of his suspicions were all paranoia… if what Sarah said was true… then the story of Liam wasn’t a story of murder and deceit. It was one of tragedy, and sadness.

There were so many unanswered questions to Jared, though.

After he wandered downstairs, Tyler offered Jared his controller back but Jared didn’t feel like playing. He felt sad now, seeing Sarah like that. The only person he knew would never hurt him… and he made her go a place she did not want to go.

He and Tyler went into the play room, of all places, where Jared told Tyler everything that Sarah had told him.

---

“I can’t believe she said all that” Tyler said, and Jared nodded.

“I… couldn’t really either” Jared replied.

The two sat on the rug, both doing their best to hear if Sarah was coming. They didn’t want her to overhear them, so they were whispering all the while this conversation was going on. The boys doubted that after this long that the camera would ever pick this conversation up anyway. There was no reason for anyone to look at the tapes… they weren’t acting suspicious.

They thought of the cameras spying on them like the cameras you’d see at a store. The only time they were paid attention to was for evidence if you were caught stealing something, right? No reason to actively monitor them…

“…but… Jared… maybe that’s why things are the way they are now” Tyler suggested.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Tyler shrugged.

“Well… I mean… Ethan… he looks a lot like Liam, right? When they were younger... he had the same color eyes, hair… similar face… maybe they kidnapped him because he looked like Liam… and-and when Liam died, he was five, right? Well so was Ethan when he was kidnapped! She said she wanted her son back, right?” Tyler said.

Jared’s eyes widened a bit, and he nodded.

“You know what Tyler, I think you’re right!” he said.

“That makes sense!” he finished.

The two were simply having a conversation like that when suddenly Jared had another off-the-wall idea… a coincidence, maybe… maybe more than that.

“He died thirteen years ago… almost. Close” Jared said.

“So?” Tyler asked.

“…Tyler, I’m –“

“He’s right, you know” they heard.

The two jumped, and looked over to find Ethan standing in the doorway. They didn’t say a word to each other in the very awkward situation.

“I don’t mean to interrupt… I was coming in to ask a question and couldn’t help but listen in from the doorway. My mother, and to me, she is my mother… she and my dad took me from my biological family when I was 5. I don’t remember much… but, they say it was a very spare-of-the-moment thing. Supposedly… my resemblance to Liam was so amazing… they had to take me. Sarah always told me that they’d be able to treat me better than any other parents could” he said.

He talked in a very calm, collected voice, describing it all like it was nothing at all.

“…and I must admit, you two… that they were right. I don’t remember my birth parents at all… but honestly… I don’t really mind. These people raised me like their own son” Ethan finished.

Jared felt a bit disgusted with what he was hearing, though he was not surprised.

“…but Ethan, don’t you ever wonder, sometimes? What they were like?” Jared asked.

“Of course, Jared. But… lets go talk about this outside… I don’t want my mother to overhear if she came in like I did” Ethan replied.

Jared and Tyler stared at each other for a brief second before finally nodding at Ethan in agreement. Ethan simply smirked back, before walking out of the room and walking upstairs to tell Sarah where he was taking the boys.

---

Ethan had received permission from Sarah to take the boys outside, though Tyler had his diaper changed before leaving. All three boys were dressed up a lot warmer than they ever had while there, due to it getting much colder outside. They hadn’t left the house since fall.

Outside, it was lightly snowing, but it was not very cold. The ground was covered in a thin layer of snow, and the skies were a depressing grey. The trees were bare, and naked of leaves. This allowed Jared and Tyler to see further now through the woods. It seemed like a very appropriate backdrop for what they were discussing.

Ethan and the boys were led through the back yard, and into the trees. Both Jared and Tyler both knew he was leading them to Liam’s grave.

“Where were we?” Ethan asked.

The boys stepped over a log. They were tracing the path that they had taken all those months ago, when they were first allowed outside.

“Oh yeah. My parents…” Ethan asked.

“I wonder about them sometimes, yeah. But… I know I’ll never see them… and besides… my Mom and my Dad have treated me so well… probably better than my real family would’ve ever” Ethan said.

Jared shook his head… it was disgusting to hear those words. That someone could not care about their family’s pain… not give them a second thought. It was almost disturbing to see someone with so little compassion, and to be so selfish.

“…but, you ever wonder, Ethan? Why did they have to kidnap you in the first place… or us, even… couldn’t they have adopted? Or just… you know… had another kid…” Jared asked.

Ethan shook his head.

“…have another kid? Didn’t my mother tell you?” Ethan said, stopping in place.

They all stopped.

“Tell me what?” Jared asked, tilting his head.

“…she didn’t… did she?” Ethan said. He had an amazed expression on his face… he was taken aback by something that Jared and Tyler were missing.

“No… no, what?” Jared responded.

“Jared, my mother has had several unborn children. She can’t have kids. Liam was a miracle” Ethan said.

Even the wind stopped, and there was not a sound all around them in those woods. Not a one. Dead silence in the midst of the woods.

“W-What?” Jared said, and Ethan nodded.

“She’s had several miscarriages… once after Liam… and multiple times before he was born. Something about her… she just can’t do it. Liam was one out of many attempts” Ethan confirmed.

Jared put his head down while Ethan began to step forward, and Tyler remained silent… he just listened in. This made sense to both of the boys though… Liam was her one and only child that she was blessed with… and she felt responsible for him getting sick and dying… but it didn’t explain or justify the selfish act of kidnapping.

“What about adoption, hm? Doesn’t explain that” Jared spat out.

Ethan shook his head again.

“Your guess is as good as mine… but, I don’t care. I’m glad they didn’t. I’m their son. And if I were you, I’d shut my mouth and be grateful they gave you a chance to leave your life for a better one!” Ethan spat out.

This really got Jared mad. He suddenly felt as though his blood was boiling.

“What did you just say?” Jared said.

Tyler watched, and ran up to Jared, as if he was going to either back him up or hold him back.

“You heard what I said!” Ethan said.

“…what the hell did you, Hector, or Sarah do for us that’s been so great?” Jared spat back.

Ethan stared at Jared.

“Anything you could ever want, in time will be guaranteed for you! And until you get that, all you need to do is stop being a brat, and sit in your little diaper, be changed by ‘Mommy’, and go to beddy-bye in your crib. You get to do nothing, and get everything. We’re rich! You’ll never have to work a day in your life! You are after all, the baby she’s always wanted, Tyler too!” Ethan said.

Jared stood slack-jawed, shaking his head in disbelief and disgust. He was building up with so many things to reply with… so many things to say, and right as he was about to say something… he suddenly felt a light punch in his back from Tyler.

“Jared, don’t!” he heard suddenly whispered very lightly behind him from Tyler.

Ethan simply stood there, looking cocky and prepared for anything Jared had to say. But Tyler had snapped him out. He was blowing his own cover. All the months of being brainwashed was beginning to wear off in this moment, though. He felt anger and rage building up from Ethan’s mouth. How dare he insinuate that he and Tyler’s families couldn’t properly raise them!

“That’s right Jared, don’t. You’re starting to act like you don’t like it here…” Ethan said.

Jared glared at Ethan with evil eyes, before finally gaining his mental composure. He smirked at Ethan, and nodded.

“Don’t be an idiot. You’re actually taking me seriously? I thought we were just talking. No need to be so damn uptight” Jared said in a calm voice.

Ethan shrugged.

“Mhm” he said, before finally continuing on the trail ahead of the boys, in an unconvinced manner.

Jared gritted his teeth walking behind Ethan though, and they were silent for the rest of the time. Jared spent a good amount of time examining his surroundings. He could see through the trees so very well… much further than you could see in the summer time. Lots of hills, lots of cliffs, lots of trees, and the terrain varied a lot of most areas. There was plenty of cover.

Jared didn’t say a word after that though. The argument, and that comment Ethan made especially had stirred up so many strong emotions in him. He suddenly felt a terrible desire to see his family again… an overwhelming sensation to escape… he decided that before he did anything stupid… he would simply wait for it all to be done with… for that feeling to over. He’d stay quiet.

It wasn’t until they had been walking (slowly) for at least 20 minutes, that Tyler noticed something out of the ordinary off in the distance.

“Wait, what’s that?” Tyler asked.

He stared, and pointed at, a large red light he saw off on the horizon. It was very distant, and stood tall on top of a cliff, that was a good way off in the distance. At least

“What’s what?” Jared asked.

“Yeah, what’re you talking about?” Ethan asked.

“That blinking red light” Tyler said.

“Way off in the distance” Tyler finished.

Ethan stopped walking, and walked up beside Tyler, and stared off towards where Tyler was staring at.

“Oh… that” Ethan finally said.

“Haven’t you ever seen a radio tower before?” Ethan said.

“Is that what that is?” Tyler asked.

“Yeah man… that’s some radio tower on some really, really tall hill. You can only see it in the winter though, normally there’s too many trees and stuff” Ethan said.

“Ohh” Tyler said.

“I guess that makes sense” Tyler said.

The rest of the conversations that were had after that were pretty honest, and basic conversations. Nothing out of-the-ordinary… they were simple chat, though Tyler and Ethan did most of the talking… But it was growing colder, and dark. The boys were led home by Ethan, and Sarah had prepared the boys dinner by the time they got back.

Hector came home, and the rest of the night went on pretty normal. Finally, after dinner, the boys were put to bed… there was nothing abnormal what-so-ever worth mentioning.

But as Jared was quietly put into his crib, he could hear the conversation he and Sarah had earlier, and he could hear the argument in the woods with Ethan.

He felt a bit emptier and unsure of himself than he had in recent memory. He was growing bored. Most of all, Sarah had reminded him of his own mother. He wondered how she was feeling… he wondered how horribly painful his own disappearance was for his family. The argument with Ethan only made him mad about it.

It was a lonely night for Jared as he slept there in his crib. He did not cry, but he did have a bit of trouble going to sleep immediately. He was no longer happy there.

Chapter Nine… “The Nightmare”

It was a gorgeous, sunny, warm summer day. There was not a single cloud in the sky. The breeze was calm and cool against Jared’s, and Tyler’s faces while they road freely along a bike trail in the woods in their neighborhood.

They were soaring down a dirt path, hitting jumps and doing tricks on their bikes like the innocent kids they were, free of care and worry.

Eventually, they came to a stop at the end of the path, which was at the edge of a glade. Jared looked over at Tyler, both of whom were sweating, panting, and exhausted.

“That was so awesome!” Tyler said, and Jared nodded.

“Yeah we were going so high off those jumps!” Jared replied, smiling happily.

The boys laughed, and hopped off of their bikes before finally sitting in the dry dusty dirt. They were so happy, and they simply laid there in the dirt and grass, relaxing from the exhausting bike ride.

“…I wish we could do this all the time” Tyler said.

“Me too” Jared said.

“Too bad” Tyler said before finally rolling over and looking over, off into the distance.

“Jared, who’re they?” Jared heard.

Jared peaked up, and before him was a small group of people sitting around a bon fire, off not too far into the distance.

“Oh wow Tyler!” Jared said.

He was suddenly excited about the site of people. Not because they were just people, but because they were his scout troop!

“Tyler, that’s my scout troop!” Jared said, before jumping up.

Jared instantly began to dash toward the group.

“W-Wait!” Tyler said.

But Jared paid no attention.

“Jared, stop!” Tyler called out, but Jared kept running.

Finally, he arrived to the group of scouts that were sitting around.

“Guys, hey!” Jared said.

They looked up, and Jared saw quite a few familiar faces, mostly all friends.

“Jared, is that you!?” one said.

“Yeah it’s me!” Jared said excitedly.

They all looked happy, but then suddenly, their smiles faded.

“That’s not Jared Morris” the scoutmaster said, standing up.

“W-What?” Jared said, backing off.

“Yes it is!” Jared then insisted, but the scoutmaster looked closely at Jared, and shook his head.

“No, you’re not. Jared Morris died May 29^th. And if he was still alive, he certainly wouldn’t be wearing THAT!” the scoutmaster said, pointing down.

Jared shook his head, and looked down. He was no longer wearing the shorts and shirt that he was just riding bikes with, but now, only a diaper.

“I tried to tell you!” Tyler said.

Jared spun around, and suddenly, Tyler was the same way.

“They won’t believe us… we’re dead to the world” Tyler said grimly.

Jared looked back, and the scouts were now all laughing hard.

“Now get out of here you imposter, this isn’t a funny prank” the scoutmaster said.

Jared couldn’t believe what was happening!

“No! NO! I’m not dead! Tyler’s not dead! We are alive! We were kidnapped!” Jared yelled, but they all kept laughing at Jared’s, and Tyler’s, diapers.

“What’re you all laughing at!? SAVE US!” Jared yelled.

His former friends all continued to crack up hysterically, calling them names and pointing fingers, all while having a blast.

The sun began to fade. Neither Jared nor Tyler really noticed it but the sky faded from beautiful blue, to a depressing gray. The light within the woods faded from color to a monotone, colorless hue.

But all of that stopped when suddenly, a voice echoed in Jared’s head. The world grew darker, gloomier, and windier... like a storm was overhead.

“There you two are!” they heard.

They looked over to find Sarah standing there, though she had tears in her eyes, and she looked panicked.

Suddenly, Jared’s attention diverted to her, and only her. It was like the cackling children beside them vanished, and in some time, they did. They faded from existence. It was only Tyler, Jared, and Sarah now.

“What’s the matter, Mommy?” Tyler asked.

“Mommy?” Jared thought.

“Since when did Tyler call Sarah ‘Mommy’?”

“Liam! He’s gone! He’s missing! Please help me find him!” Sarah insisted.

“Liam? What?!” Jared said out loud.

“He ran off, I can’t find him anywhere!” Sarah said, before breaking down onto the ground. She was crying hysterically now, out of control. Jared had never seen Sarah act this way before!

At that sudden instant, rain drops were beginning to fall through the trees, and soon, it was showering a great deal on top of them.

Suddenly, though Jared felt a chill go down his spine. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and the world seemed smaller. He knew a ghost was coming close, and a wave of courage came over the boy.

“Tyler, wait here with Sarah. I’m going to get Liam” Jared said.

Tyler nodded, and Jared faced the cliff that was beside him. Staring up it, he could see the huge radio tower on top of them, towering. He knew this was where Liam was, and nothing could stop him from getting there.

He climbed the hill, doing his best not to slip from the rain soaked soil, and after a few minutes, he found himself at the edge, and standing on the end of a plateau, directly underneath the huge radio tower.

Anxiety was high… he was getting scared; though for some reason he was felt he was prepared for battle. He felt the presence of Liam was close, and he slowly approached the middle of the clearing.

Then he saw it: directly underneath the center of this plateau, several yards away was a metal drum. It was a lonely, metal, rusty, bent, haggard industrial oil drum, with its top lid half-way on, half-way off. It was spewing the rain water that was overflowing, pouring over the edge of the barrel and onto the ground below.

“What’s this?” Jared asked himself.

Each step he took towards this, he felt more scared, like he was walking to his demise. He knew danger was getting closer, but he did not know from where or why, though he knew he must face it.

Finally, he stood before the barrel, and with a very, very slow hand, he slid the heavy lid off, letting it fall to the ground with a loud, audible splash from the flooding grass.

He looked into the barrel to find a dark, foggy, dirty, oily solution, with some unknown, mossy, thick coating floating on the top. But that was not the thing that made Jared SCREAM.

In that vat, he could see Liam’s grey face, his eyes blackened a bit and diluted. His lips pale blue. His hair was thin, matted, and his skin was grey, wrinkled, and translucent. Jared couldn’t look away as the horrific sight of Liam’s corpse floated in the barrel.

“I can’t let Sarah see this” he thought.

He looked around… there was no one watching as Jared discovered Liam’s remains. He was confused… he didn’t know what to do besides panic. How would his mother react to this sight!?

With a hasty thought, Jared reached into the filthy formaldehyde-like solution, and began to pull out the corpse with effort. He tried and tried, but something was holding his body within the drum.

He pulled, and pulled, until finally, he could see the corpse’s legs beginning to surface. With one final yank, suddenly, the corpse came loose, and Jared fell back with Liam’s body in his arms.

He quickly jumped up, and held Liam up from under his shoulders, up high. He looked up at the lifeless child, and he began to feel terribly sad.

But that’s when it happened… that’s when the most terrifying moment of this nightmare happened.

As he held the fragile body in his arms, slowly, Jared watched and felt Liam’s corpse fall apart in his very hands. Liam’s stomach turned heavy and sagged, before the bottom half of the corpse tore off, and fell apart like ashes, into a bloody pile of gore onto the muddy ground below.

Jared was only holding the upper torso of the body now, as intestines and other organs dangled out. Jared’s eyes widened and he screamed as he held it.

“Ahhh! No! NO! NO!” Jared screamed.

“NOOOO!” Jared screamed out in horror and panic.

He dropped the remaining half of the boy’s body, which fell and shattered to the ground at his feet. Jared shook his head and screamed more, louder and louder.

“What did you do, boy!?” he heard.

He spun around, and Hector stood before him with an extremely angry and exasperated expression on his face. Jared’s mouth opened to say something, anything! But no words came out!

“YOU! YOU KILLED MY SON!” Hector yelled out.

Jared shook his head, tears falling from his face uncontrollably, unable to say anything from his suddenly mute mouth. With one quick movement, Hector punched Jared hard in the face, throwing onto the ground.

“A-Ahh… Ahhh…” Jared muttered out while he tried to stand.

He moved one hand across his face, only to see blood.

“You piece of shit! Kill MY son? You… YOU…” Jared heard.

He fell back down onto the ground, and looked up at the towering man standing before him.

“I’ll kill you!” he said.

“N-No! Wait! WAIT!” Jared yelled out.

Hector looked down at him, and slowly pulled out the gun from his side. He cocked it back, and held the gun out.

Jared tried to get up, but suddenly, Hector’s leg stomped down onto Jared’s chest.

“Ahhh!” Jared yelled, looking up. He couldn’t breathe!

Jared slowly sunk into the muddy soil a bit, as Hector slowly lined the gun up towards Jared’s face, and then slowly, pushed it in towards Jared’s left eye, so close that Jared’s eye lashes brushed off the edge. Jared screamed out in horror!

BANG!

---

Jared suddenly leaped up, SCREAMING bloody murder!

“AHHHHHHHH!” he screamed.

He flailed his arms and legs around, kicking and punching the bars of the crib that he was in! It wasn’t until a few moments later that he stopped, still panting, to look around. He could hear and feel his own heart throbbing in his neck.

He slowly realized he was dreaming, but the images of everything still remained clear and vivid in his mind. He wasn’t alone in that crib for long, though, because before he knew it, the door into the room quickly swung open, the light flashed on, and Sarah was standing within the room in his nightgown with a very concerned look on her face, yet again.

“Jared, what’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?!” she asked him.

Jared found himself standing in the corner of the crib, pinning himself against the wall in sheer fright. He looked at Sarah frantically… before finally sliding down onto the mattress of the crib, exhaling heavily.

“Y-Yeah… yeah… that’s… all it was… just a nightmare” Jared said.

“Jared, you don’t look so good” Sarah said.

Jared noticed that his hands looked a bit pale, and he was covered in sweat. He shook his head…

“Did I wake you up?” he asked.

“No… actually, I was going to wake you up in an hour or two… its early in the morning. I was already up when I heard you yelling” Sarah said.

Jared simply stared off into space, panting heavily. He could see… feel… hear everything from his nightmare flashing in his mind. Sarah shook her head.

“C’mon Jared… let’s go downstairs. You want to help me make breakfast?” Sarah asked.

Jared nodded his head somewhat sheepishly, and Sarah she smiled.

“Okay, well… lay down then… I’ll change your diapey and we can go start breakfast!” she said.

Jared lay down onto his back, and Sarah approached him with a new diaper. Things were the same as ever, until she unzipped his sleeper…

“Oh my…! Jared!” Sarah said.

“W-What? What did I do!?” Jared asked.

Sarah sighed, and shook her head.

“You flooded your diaper last night… your whole mattress is wet” she said before scratching her head. She seemed frustrated.

Jared, though, blushed.

“I-I’m sorry!” he said.

“No no! Not… not your fault… just frustrated… now I need to wash your things” she said.

Jared received his morning diaper change as usual, though this time, it was of course a bit more of a production. He was taken out of his sleeper, wiped well and powdered well, and certainly taken out of the damp crib (and he was told he would be getting a bath very soon).

The two walked out of the room, and proceeded downstairs. There was a strange atmosphere that Jared noticed… it was so quiet… he could tell that no one else was awake yet. Despite his nightmare… there was calm in the air. The sun wasn’t even up yet, or rising. Not that he could tell anyway.

She led him into the kitchen, and flicked on the light.

“What’re we making?” Jared innocently asked, while taking a seat.

“Well… I wake you or Tyler up… I help make my husband’s lunch for work. Would you like to help?” she said.

Shivers went down Jared’s spine… the thought of helping do anything for that man repulsed him… but, he simply thought of it as helping Sarah… not helping Hector.

“Mm… okay” he said. All he honestly wanted to do at this moment was simply get the visions of his nightmare out.

“Can you get me out some things from the refrigerator? I’ll need some turkey, mayonnaise, and a tomato” she instructed while washing her hands in the kitchen sink.

Jared obeyed, and he opened the fridge, and (with some effort finding things), he gathered the necessary things, before plopping it down on the counter next to Sarah, and then he backed off.

He watched as she grabbed two pieces of bread from a nearby loaf, and slapped them onto a plate. She built the sandwich, but kept it open. Grabbing the tomato, he watched her slide open a specific drawer, and pull out a knife, and slice the tomato, and then take that slice and put it on the bread, completing Hector’s lunch.

Jared went from that, to setting the table, to various other activities. Eventually, everyone within the home was sitting around the table enjoying their meals for breakfast, again. But Jared was mostly quiet… he rarely said anything at all. He had too much on the mind, even aside from the dream.

It’s been several days since Sarah and Ethan all talked to Jared about their past. But ever since then, mostly due to Ethan’s comments… Jared couldn’t stop missing his family. Seeing his friends’ faces in his dream increased that feeling, too. It was becoming unbearable.

He was thinking more and more about the thought of escape… the thought of being with his family… but the last time they tried… it was the worst experience of his life. He didn’t want to do it again, and he doubted Tyler would want to by now.

He knew that Tyler wasn’t happy there. But he also knew that Tyler wouldn’t want to make it any worse for himself.

But breakfast came and went, and was finished. Hector left, and the boys were stuck back in their usual routines. Tyler and Jared were entertaining themselves, which was getting harder to do after this long, though Jared wasn’t acting, or feeling very social.

“How come you’re not talking much today?” Tyler asked.

Jared shrugged, but didn’t say anything.

The two continued playing their videogames for a bit longer…

“Tyler” Jared said, in a sharp whisper.

“Yeah?” Tyler asked, replying in the same whispery manner.

Jared paused slowly.

“…are you happy here?” Jared asked.

Tyler played the game for only a moment longer without replying… before pausing the game completely

“What?” Tyler asked.

Jared put a finger over his mouth, in that “Shhh” motion. The boys would continue this conversation whispering.

“Are you… happy here? Do you like it?” he asked.

Tyler looked down, unable to speak. He didn’t know how to respond.

“I… I don’t know… No!” Tyler said. He seemed confused, and taken off guard.

Jared took in a breath, stood up from the couch, and walked to the door leading into the playroom. He looked back, and signaled for Tyler to follow. Tyler hesitantly followed.

Jared flicked on the light, and walked to the far end of the room, where there was a small kiddy table. He approached the table before thinking to himself silent. He looked around.

Tyler watched in confusion as Jared pulled open a little drawer that was under the surface of the table. He pulled out a box of crayons, tossing it up onto the table, and then a tablet of paper.

“Let’s color, hm?” Jared said.

Tyler nodded… though he didn’t understand.

He stood next to Jared regardless, and grabbed a blue crayon. Jared, though, grabbed a red crayon.

Jared looked down, and quickly scribbled something onto the paper, and passed it to Tyler.

“Camera” it said.

Tyler understood now… he remembered Hector’s cameras that were set up around the house, in unknown locations.

“O.K” Tyler replied.

“I don’t want to be here” Jared then wrote down.

Tyler nodded.

“Don’t be stupid” Tyler replied.

Jared shook his head.

“I know. I’ve been thinking” Jared started.

“Do you ever wonder what happens when Ethan leaves? When we get older? What will happen then? We can’t stay here. They’ll kidnap more kids. We’re being brainwashed” Jared argued.

“But we can’t run” Tyler replied.

Jared stared at the paper, before finally putting his crayon down.

He looked at Tyler in the eye. This time, though, he didn’t write anything down. This was something only words could convey.

“I miss my family, Tyler. I miss them more than I can possibly say. And I think we can see them again… and I think I know a way… but I can’t do it alone… I won’t do it alone” Jared said, in a whisper so quiet that Tyler could barely make out what he was saying.

“…will you do it with me?” Jared asked.

Tyler backed off and stared at him.

“You’re serious about this” Tyler said in an equally quiet voice. He seemed… staggered by the possibility.

Jared nodded.

Tyler shook his head, and his eyes widened. He was getting anxious.

“But… why now!?” Tyler said a bit louder.

Jared walked up very close to Tyler, and put his head next to Tyler’s to whisper into his ear.

“Did you see it outside… the trees are dead… we can see for miles… it’s the only time we can… for another year. I can’t wait that long anymore” Jared said, before backing off.

Tyler stared at him, and then started to pace a bit.

“How though? How?” Tyler said.

Jared shook his head.

“I don’t know… but I will think of something… I just… have a feeling… that if we don’t now… we won’t ever” Jared said.

“But what about –“ Tyler began…

“Do you… or do you not want to see your family again” Jared said, looking at him dead in the eye. He was growing frustrated.

But Tyler snapped back!

“Yes! Yes I do Jared! But we can’t just walk out of here! You know what happened the last time we tried that! We’re lucky that psycho Hector didn’t kill us!” Tyler said.

Jared shook his head.

“I know that! You think I don’t know that, Tyler? But I can’t take it anymore! I’m going stir crazy here! I’m willing to try to run… if you come with me… I don’t care if I die in the damn process… I want to try” Jared said.

Jared sat down, and looked up at Tyler. He could feel tears actually beginning to swell up in his eyes.

Tyler looked down at Jared.

“I’m… I’m scared Tyler. What if Hector… what if he wanted to molest me again? I can’t do it again! We’re becoming too used to everything here… I don’t want to be like Ethan… I don’t to be a pawn. I don’t want to not care about my family! I don’t want to forget them!” Jared said.

Tyler’s mouth slid open, and he shook his head again…

“Jared… I know how you feel…” Tyler explained.

“…but… we can’t just run out! We… we’ll need to plan…” Tyler said.

Jared nodded.

“…are you up to it?” Jared finally asked after a minute’s delay.

Tyler hesitantly nodded.

“Y-Yeah” he said.

“But we need to plan EVERYTHING out…” Tyler said.

Jared looked up at him and nodded, wiping a tear from his eye.

“I know… I know… it’s not going to be easy… we have one chance, right? We have all the time in the world… we’ll take our time… but I think I might have some ideas that could solve most our problems… I’ve been thinking already…” Jared replied.

Tyler hesitantly nodded, and a small, sly smirk grew across the boy’s face.

The boys remained in the playroom for the rest of the day, except when they had to eat, get changed, or go to sleep. But for the next several days, they would meet in the playroom for only a couple minutes at a time, taking things slow. They rarely talked out loud about it, and instead, they’d communicate by writing to each other on the paper, acting like they were coloring in case anyone checked up on them (which was actually pretty rare).

It was a delicate process, and they knew there was no room for error this time. But they were willing to do anything now. Anything.

Chapter Ten... “The Beginning of the End”

Tyler slowly, somewhat nervously, but mostly calmly, ascended the staircase leading upstairs, alone. He peered over his shoulder and watched behind his back, but saw no one… like he expected. He turned the corner, and crept to the door leading into the library.

Opening the door, he found Sarah sitting alone at the table at the far end of the room, on it were a bunch of papers (paperwork, he assumed). She looked up at Tyler noticing the intrusion.

“Oh! Hello Tyler… what is it?” she asked.

He blushed.

“I erm… I need a change” he said.

She smiled kindly, nodded, and put down her pen. Tyler glanced over at the nightstand that was near the black leather chair… the one Jared told him about. On it, he saw the book “Complete Technical Manual and User’s Guide for Standard GPS Devices”, now closed and put under a stack, rather out of the way of immediate attention. He smirked, before finally being escorted out of the room by Sarah’s guidance.

The room stayed empty for several more seconds… almost a full minute. That is, until a familiar boy in just a diaper, Jared, came creeping in, in quite a suspicious manner.

Jared double checked the hallway outside of the room, and could hear Tyler and Sarah in Tyler’s nursery, though he didn’t know where Ethan was. He made sure Ethan was not in the room or in the hallway, before finally picking up “Complete Technical Manual and User’s Guide for Standard GPS Devices”, and then dashing out of the room like a bandit in the night!

Jared hastily made his way down the steps, and hastily made his way through the kitchen, through the dining room, and into the play room.

He did not take a step past the end of the kiddy table that the boys had been using as a desk for so long. He looked over at the shelf that was standing against the wall.

On one shelf, there was an empty void. Jared and Tyler had removed whatever books used to sit there for this purpose. He took the book in his hands, and put it on that shelf in a way that the cover was pressed against the backside of the shelf, and it was not sticking out further than the width of the book.

Looking down, he then saw the books that he and Tyler removed. He stuck them on the shelf like normal, hiding “Complete Technical Manual and User’s Guide for Standard GPS Devices” behind them.

The books that were supposed to be there only stuck out a small bit farther than they used to with the hidden book in place behind them. It was, though, barely noticeable.

Jared backed off… and relaxed as well as he could. He wasn’t exactly sure how much the hidden camera in that room could see, and he definitely wasn’t sure if Sarah would even notice if the book was missing. And he certainly was not sure if him stealing the book out of the library was just caught on camera or not, but it was a risk they were willing to take.

He sighed, rubbed his face with his hands, and exited the room, back into the living room. There, he sat like he was before he snuck up: on the floor, holding a controller to a paused video game on the screen.

In only a short few minutes later, Tyler came wandering back downstairs, and sat next to Tyler.

“Could you get it?” Tyler asked in a barely audible whisper.

Jared nodded.

---

The boys didn’t discuss the book anymore, and they heard nothing of it being missing from Sarah, Hector, or Ethan, and in fact – Sarah, Hector, and Ethan never knew it went missing. The book was long done with by now, and was at the bottom of the stack in the first place, so the boys were free to use it in secret without being found out (as long as they didn’t get careless, which they never did).

Jared stealing the book marked the beginning of the end to the boys. It was their first official move into their second escape attempt. They both felt that, though they could put it back… it was getting to the point of no return. Tension and anxiety was growing. The boys were getting somewhat nervous overtime, unsure if their attempts were being in vain, or if their captors were aware of their schemes.

They waited a few days after taking the book before studying it. They took it because they knew that knowledge is power, and they knew very little of the ankle bracelets they were wearing.

“It has to be in here somewhere” Jared said quietly as he quickly scimmed page after page in the book.

“What if it’s not what you think?” Tyler asked, but Jared refused to believe it.

“It has to be… I could’ve sworn it was… Ah! Here it is!” he said, before putting his index finger onto a paragraph that read:

“Wait” Tyler interrupted.

“Hm?” Jared replied.

“Radio towers?” Tyler said.

Jared nodded, “That’s what it said” he replied.

“There’s a radio tower near here, remember?” Tyler said.

Jared looked at him, and his eyes widened.

“You… you’re right!” Jared a bit louder.

“We could run there… that would practically make us invisible, right?” Tyler asked.

Jared scratched his head and looked down.

“I would think… but I don’t know much about this stuff… but it should” Jared explained.

Tyler shrugged.

“It’s a good possibility… but… that’s the opposite direction of where we should be going” Tyler said.

Jared nodded and took it into consideration, but this gave him an idea.

“…that’s a good thing” he said.

Tyler was taken back… what did he mean!?

“If we followed the road… we’ll be found again… they’ll expect us there, when they notice we’re gone. We’ll travel at night... and we’ll use the radio tower as our guide. We can see the red light in the dark… We’ll run towards it… and when we get there, we should be able to see a lot from where it is! And there has to be a road near it somewhere we could go by…” Jared said.

Tyler understood now.

“And if we get there fast enough… hopefully it blocks out the signal from our ankle bracelets. The only challenge is getting there though” Jared said.

“Well… when could we do this? We’d have to be sneaky… when no one would notice or expect us” Tyler said.

Jared agreed.

“If we leave… they’ll know. Something will alert them when we go somewhere we’re not supposed to… I’m not sure how. But I can guarantee you we will be tracked… maybe on the laptop! That was in the basement!” Jared said.

Tyler agreed.

“You’re right… that’s probably where… or…” Jared began, but he cringed when suddenly he had a flashback.

“…or where?” Tyler asked.

Jared stared off into space, lost in thought, before finally coming out of it, gasping and shaking his head.

“Ugh… I just… had the most intense flashback…” Jared said, rubbing his face.

“…of what?” Tyler asked.

Jared shook his head.

“…I was going to say… the only other place I’ve ever seen a laptop… was in Hector’s garage” Jared said.

Tyler’s heart sank.

“Oh” he said.

Then there was silence, and an uncomfortable feeling spread through the air. Tyler, though, was the one to break that silence.

“…when could we do something like this, though? We don’t just have Hector to worry about… we also have Sarah and Ethan” Tyler said.

Jared, though staring off into oblivion while lost in sadness and thought, nodded gently. His spirits sank as he recalled the events of that unforgettable day. It was months ago… but when Jared thought of it, it felt like it had just happened.

“I know, I know” Jared said.

He sighed, and cleared his throat, snapping himself out of it.

“If I had to make a guess… I would think that if anyone was going to get alerted that we left… somehow… it would be Sarah and Hector. Ethan… probably not” Jared explained.

Tyler nodded.

Jared slumped into a chair, and rubbed his face, growing impatient and frustrated with himself and their situation. He thought long and hard… he knew that there had to be have been a time where one of those two would be gone for an extended amount of time.

“We should do it at night” Tyler said.

“They’re less likely to see us if we run to… that place, right?” Tyler asked, making sure not to say where he meant. Jared agreed.

“So… Hector, when he’s at work… that’s not going to happen” Jared sighed.

“Ethan is always home” Tyler reminded.

“…but Sarah has to leave some time, right?” Tyler then added.

Jared simply looked off into space, and thought some more. He shifted his eyes to Tyler, and just happened to glance down at Tyler’s diaper, which in this case was quite wet and in need of changing.

“Diapers” Jared thought to himself.

And like a punch in the face, another flashback hit Jared like a ton of bricks.

Jared felt his curiosity peak… and he jumped on the opportunity to ask the question.

“…how did you buy all this stuff?” he asked.

Sarah beamed a kind smile.

“Well… usually every two weeks I do my shopping… I buy more diapers, and other groceries and things. That’s where I go sometimes, but you two probably never noticed” she explained.

But that was not all. It was like solving a math problem, which Jared was quite good at (like most other subjects). In one moment everything opened into his mind before. It all made sense. It was enough to make Jared jump from his chair with wide, excited eyes. Jared had an epiphany.

“Tyler!” Jared exclaimed!

“That’s it! I think I got it!” he continued.

“What?! What, what is it!?” Tyler asked.

Jared cleared his throat, looked around, and got closer to Tyler.

“She shops” Jared asked.

“Every so many days… like… two weeks, she shops, right?” he added.

“W-What? What are you talking about?” Tyler asked, shaking his head, completely confused.

“Sarah goes shopping! She leaves Hector and Ethan to look after us… we can’t move now… we can get out of here when she’s gone” Jared said.

Tyler nodded with a smile, but did not share Jared’s enthusiasm.

“But Jared, that leaves Hector… he’s the worst of them all” Tyler said grimly.

Jared sighed…

“I know, I know… but don’t you see? We’re one step closer” Jared said, trying to see the cup as half full in this dark situation.

Tyler sighed…

“I can’t think of any way to get past Hector… he’ll know we’re gone before Sarah would” Tyler said.

But Jared shook his head.

“It’s the only way” he replied.

Tyler shrugged. He didn’t like the idea of getting past Hector instead of Sarah. He would definitely rather just sneak out early in the morning when Hector leaves… but their escape must be hidden by night.

“I know how, too” Jared cryptically began.

Tyler turned around and faced Jared with a confused expression on his face.

“What? What’ve you got?” he asked/

Jared did not respond, but instead, looked grimly at Tyler, and at the same time, sheepishly and hesitantly scratched his shoulder blade by nervous reaction.

“He has a weakness” he said.

Tyler looked at Jared, confused, unsure of what Jared meant at first.

“Not only that, Tyler… but I think I just thought of it all” Jared then said.

In that room that day, the boys spoke longer and more in depth than they ever have or probably should’ve, but neither Ethan, Sarah, nor Hector noticed, and by the end, they indeed actually had a plan.

Jared’s plan spoke of sacrifice, which Tyler didn’t like at all. But Jared explained that it was (and it was) the only way out of things if they wanted to try escaping.

It was a plan of chance. If one thing went wrong then they would fail, most likely. But it was all they had, and all they could do was hope that they would succeed.

But there was one thing Jared had to do to put the plan into motion, and it was the hardest part of all: exploit Hector’s weakness.

---

The following morning came, and after the whole morning routine came and went, Jared and Tyler did not speak to each other in the playroom like they had for that last week or so. Instead, they sat and played videogames like usual.

The whole day went by, and soon, Hector had returned home from work (it was already night time by now, as winter was shortening daylight, which would be the boys’ advantage).

They all sat around the dining room table, and began to enjoy their meals, though Jared could not stop staring at Hector, who was not expecting a thing.

“How was work, dear?” Sarah asked.

Hector shrugged.

“Same old shit… different day” he said.

Sarah shook her head, most likely at the use of the word “shit” at the table.

Jared opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Ethan who butted in to say something. While he spoke, Jared looked at Tyler with an unsure expression. Tyler shook his head. Tyler didn’t agree with this at all… not one bit.

“You don’t have to do this” Tyler whispered to Jared.

But Jared paid no attention. He knew what he needed to do. His mind was made. It was just a matter of building up the confidence to sell his soul to the devil one last time…

“I hate winter” Jared heard Ethan say.

“Nothing ever to do” Ethan then said.

“I agree” Jared chimed in. It was not uncommon these days for Jared or Tyler to be part of the conversation, so no one thought odd of it.

But no one had anything else to say… so that’s when Jared went through with it, and the moment his lungs took in breath to speak, the escape plan was put into motion…

“Speaking of that…” Jared said, looking at Hector, who stared at Jared with a confused face, but with suspicious eyes.

The room was silent. It was his time to speak.

“…I uhh… I was… kind of wondering something” Jared said.

“…yeah?” Hector asked, unsure of where this was going.

Jared was put in the spotlight. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him.

“C-Can I…” he said.

He looked around, but could not bring himself to say what he needed to ask… not in front of everyone else.

“…talk to you after dinner?” Jared asked.

Hector stared at Jared with a blank, expressionless gaze. This was something different.

“Sure…?” he replied.

Jared cleared his throat, and sat back.

“Okay” Jared said.

But Hector did not break his stare… he was confused, and did not understand what Jared would want with him of all people, nor did anyone else in the room (but no one questioned it out loud).

Tyler’s heart sank, and he lightly shook his head to himself.

“There’s no turning back now” he thought.

“…but it didn’t have to be like this. Damn it Jared… you fool” Tyler thought.

Tyler was sad for his friend, but he simply told himself it was for the best… it wasn’t up to him anymore.

Dinner went by pretty quickly and eventless after that moment. Soon, the table was cleared, and Sarah was off doing dishes, Ethan was off doing whatever it was that he did to pass time… and Hector approached Jared with a stern expression.

“What is it, boy?” Hector said.

Tyler watched as Jared swallowed hard from nervousness, and looked up at Hector. He could not watch another moment, and so, he walked away and retreated into the playroom, where he awaited Jared to return.

---

Minutes went by, and before long the door leading in, opened, revealing Jared with a surprisingly calm expression. He walked in, and shut the door behind him. The two got close, and whispered into each others’ ears.

“Sarah goes to the store tomorrow night… she’ll be gone for a few hours to shop after we are put to bed… he’ll take me into that shop again when Sarah is gone so she doesn’t know…” he explained.

Tyler shook his head. There was no turning back now, indeed.

“I-I did what I needed to do. He thinks that… I… I want to do it again! He could hardly resist… the fucking child molester” Jared said, speaking between his teeth and under his breath.

“J-Jared… it didn’t have to be like this. You didn’t have to do this again” Tyler said, while letting a tear or two fall from his face.

He was feeling more remorse for what was going to happen in two nights than Jared… though Jared only smirked.

“No… Tyler… I’ll be fine” Jared said. He put his hands on Tyler’s shoulders, like a big brother to a younger brother.

“Remember what we talked about... it IS the ONLY way… and if we do things right… he won’t ever lay a hand on me” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

“I… just can’t believe we’re really going to do this” he said.

Jared, then, nodded back.

“There’s no going back. In TWO days… less than 48 hours… we’ll be home again!” Jared said.

Tyler smiled. That did sound nice…

“So… let me do my part. Think about yours. You know what you need to do… you know where you need to go. You know what you need to get! I’m counting on you Tyler. Don’t you dare think twice now”

Tyler smirked. Jared’s courage was rubbing off. His pep talk was doing well. He suddenly felt like he was ready… Jared was right.

“C’mon… lets go” Jared said, and with that, the boys walked out of the room, towards bed.

---

The boys were split apart, and Jared was laid into his crib, and tried his best to sleep that night. Though his words with Tyler were words of courage… he truly was troubled.

Lying in that crib, eager and nervous for the morning to follow… he cried. He cried for himself, he cried for Tyler… he cried for simply being scared.

He knew that what he asked Hector to… to molest him again, claiming that he enjoyed it simply to seduce the man… to get under his skin, to distract him… he didn’t know if the plan was really going to work. Sure, if they did things correctly, Hector never was going to actually lay a finger on Jared. Jared felt he was in no immediate danger, provided everything happened. But he feared the worst. He could’ve either just made the best choice, or the worst mistake he could’ve ever made.

Chapter Eleven

There was the sound of an unzipping zipper, and Jared immediately woke up. His eyes sprung open to of course Sarah changing his diaper like any other morning… he had hardly slept the night before from the tension and anxiousness that filled his mind, and rightfully so. He was groggy, and a bit disoriented from the lack of sleep.

He simply relaxed, and let Sarah wipe him clean.

“Good morning” Sarah, smiling sweetly.

Jared smirked, before yawning tiredly.

Once finished with his change, Sarah and Jared wandered downstairs, of course. This time, to Jared’s surprise, Tyler and Hector were already sitting at the breakfast table. Hector, though, scanned Jared’s body like he was prey, and smirked evilly, which sent chills down Jared’s spine.

He sat down, and began to eat his breakfast, though he was excruciatingly tired. Unknown to Jared, however – Tyler was equally as exhausted from a poor sleep. They would have to deal with it however, if they wanted to survive the night that was coming.

Breakfast was finished, and the boys sat in the living room by themselves to pass the time. Upstairs, Ethan and Sarah were in the library going over math work for Ethan to do. Of course, Hector was in the shop preparing for the surprise visit that he was looking forward to.

But that time passed, night fell a bit earlier, and Sarah got ready to leave for her shopping that she did every so often to restock the household with anything they needed. Where she went exactly, the boys didn’t know – but they knew she’d be gone for a few hours like every other time.

“Okay you two, you be good. Ethan is in the living room… he’ll watch over you two while you’re gone. But you knew that” Sarah said.

They were standing within the entrance to the household, near the front door, and the boys were growing extremely impatient… this could in fact be the last time they ever saw Sarah again.

“Okay” Jared said.

“Gotcha” Tyler replied.

She smiled, and finally exited the home. The time for action was now.

Once the door shut… energy and tension instantly filled the air for the boys. This was it. This was it.

The stood there, staring at the door where Sarah had exited from.

“Hector’s waiting” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

“Let’s go” Jared then said.

The boys turned around, and walked into the living room, where Ethan was.

“Hey guys” he said.

The faked smiles to humor Ethan.

“What’re you two up to?” he asked.

They both shrugged.

“Same as ever” Jared replied.

Ethan nodded his head understandingly.

“Oh – hey… Hector told me to tell you, Jared… to just go ahead and walk over to his shop at 10? Are you two going to work on stuff there?” he asked.

Jared cleared his throat.

“Uh… y-yeah. He wanted to have me help him with working on a car or something” Jared lied.

Ethan glared at Jared and blinked.

“I see…” Ethan then replied, in kind of a suspicious, unconvinced way. It made Jared nervous.

“…I asked to go there” Jared then added.

“Oh… okay…” Ethan then said.

Jared nodded, not wanting to say a single word beyond that. He looked up at a clock that was hanging over the TV.

It read: “9:52”

“Well… hey! While Jared and Dad are hanging out, maybe me and you could play some games or something, Tyler?” Ethan innocently proposed.

Tyler didn’t know what to say! This was clearly not on the agenda…

“S-Sure! Maybe…” Tyler said.

“Okay, cool” Ethan replied.

There was some silence. Time was their first enemy here.

“Okay… well… I better get going now… don’t want to keep Hector waiting” Jared said, looking at Tyler.

He walked out of the room, and Tyler followed. The moment was on them as they walked into the unlit kitchen… the only light that really illuminated the room was from outside.

Peering outside… Jared could see something that he was not expecting… there was snow outside… a lot of snow.

“Wow… look at that… it’s like a blizzard outside” Tyler said.

The young boy was not a liar, or exaggerating. They had not ever considered weather (though they weren’t going to let it stop them). The ground was covered in a thick layer of snow, and it was only getting covered in more as a thick shower of snowflakes fell from a pale maroon winter sky that cast an eerie atmosphere among everything they saw.

Jared looked over at Tyler, and at what he was wearing, and then down at himself. They were both wearing their sleepers, as it was getting chilly at night lately. It was certainly not enough to protect them from the cold outside.

“…are you ready for this?” Jared asked.

Tyler looked over at him.

There was not a single sound, even though Ethan was watching TV down the hall. They could only see each others’ faces in the room. Their eyes made contact… it was like something from a movie while they stared there and built up the courage.

“…as ready as I’ll ever be” Tyler replied.

Jared smiled and shook his head.

“Remember what we talked about…” Jared reminded.

Tyler nodded, though he did not need reminding about the plan they were about to put into action.

“Okay…” Jared said.

He put his hand on the doorknob of the sliding door.

“Jared!” Tyler said.

“What? What is it?” he asked.

“…be really careful… don’t do anything you don’t have to do” Tyler warned, fearing for his best friend.

Jared looked at Tyler, and smirked.

He did not say a word, and instead, took his hand off the doorknob. Instead, he walked past Tyler, and in front of the counter. He smirked continued to smirk while he looked at Tyler, and with one evil glare, he opened a specific drawer (the same one he watched Sarah open not too long ago)… and pulled out a knife.

He held it up to show it off…

“I won’t… I promise.” Jared said.

This made Tyler a bit more nervous… the plan was in full effect. Jared hid the knife on his person, and walked back to the door.

“Okay… let’s do this” Jared said.

Tyler walked over to the basement door, and put his hand on the doorknob of that door. The two looked at one-another… and then opened the door, and they both walked towards their respective destinations.

“The GPS unit you have purchased works in a simple manor. There is a GPS chip, the transmitter. That transmitter is just a simple circuit that transmits a signal to the receiver at certain intervals. That circuit is small enough to be placed in any convenient location.

Then there is the receiver. This unit is a special hardware device that attaches to any computer, and has an antenna that receives the signal from the transmitter. This is convenient as the GPS data received may only be read on the special software supplied in this package.”

---

Tyler looked at Jared, and watched as Jared exited the kitchen, out into the blizzard outside. He took not a second longer, and walked onto the rickety stairs, shutting the basement door behind him.

He turned on the light that hung over the stairs, and crept down them into the concrete, ancient basement, doing his absolute best not to make a sound, but to be hasty for his friend.

He worried about Ethan, who was still upstairs. If Tyler took too long, Ethan may notice he went missing! Jared was, of course distracting Hector for him so he could do this… so he wasn’t going to waste time.

Infiltrating the darkness, he turned on light after light, until he found himself standing before a wine rack… the ever-so-familiar wine rack where he discovered the secret room (which was of course his destination).

He suddenly heard a creak upstairs of him… it was Ethan. He could even hear footsteps, but they went in no direction that Tyler could tell.

“Oh no! He might be looking for me!” Tyler said to himself.

Suddenly, he started pulling on all the wine bottles he could see, each one a failure, before finally finding the correct one. He pulled on it, and a loud crack could be heard. Then he pulled on the rack (which took quite a bit of effort for Tyler’s small figure).

The narrow tunnel leading into the room was once again revealed… and he walked in.

The lights cracked and popped, and everything turned on, including the laptop that was one of the reasons he was there in the first place. But on the laptop, he could see no antenna.

“Damn… it’s the one with Hector… it isn’t the one I destroy” he thought.

But he wasted no time, as that was not THE only reason he came down there…

---

“The incredible thing about our product is that these circuits also can be triggered by RFID sensors, which means you can be alerted in real-time! The software included also features real-time alerts, both on the computer terminal, and even text alerts on cell phones (if available) which will tell you if any of these sensors have been triggered. Please note that this functionality is not the true purpose of these units, and does not offer RFID sensor labeling or identification. Therefore, if you have more than one sensor, if one goes off, you will not know which one is going off! A simple solution to this problem would be to simply check the locations of the transmitter with our software. Check the GPS map and check the location of the transmitters.

For example: if a transmitter is placed on your dog, and you have two RFID sensors for your front and back door – if one goes off, simply check the map. Since the transmitter is on your dog, if your dog is in the front of your house – then it was the RFID sensor in the front door that went off. Logical right?”

---

Jared walked into the cold snowstorm that was passing through the area. A gust of freezing wind accompanied by snow hit his face immediately, which made him shiver. He slowly trekked through the snow (which was coming up to his ankle), towards Hector’s shack.

“Please… please… please… let this work” he said to himself.

He was feeling so remarkably desperate… all he had was hope that by some chance things would work out.

Finally, though, before he wanted to… he was at Hector’s door. He waited a few moments, to give Tyler a window… before finally knocking on the door.

It damn near instantly opened, which showed to Jared just how eager Hector was (and how much of a freak he truly was).

Jared wandered into the all-too familiar place. A stench of dog, oil, and sweat filled the stale air – and it gave Jared unwanted, vivid flashbacks.

“Sit down” Hector instructed.

Jared swallowed hard, and made his way to the stained mattress, and sat himself down. He examined his surroundings…

A desk lamp was on, which illuminated half of the room with a pale yellow light. Next to the bed, on the nightstand, was something that Jared recognized: a laptop, which was open, and had on it an antenna (Jared knew this was the GPS antenna that he had read about in the book before).

Below the nightstand, Jared could see Hector’s police belt, still loaded up with everything that could be there… gun holster, handcuffs, a baton, and even a bottle of pepper spray.

Another immediately noticeable thing was the constant barking of the large German Sheppard, locked away in its cage in the corner of the garage. It snarled and barked at Jared from across the room, taunting him like a demon… it was angry… and it seemed like it even sensed why Jared came there.

Suddenly there was a sound that Jared had not heard in what seemed like years, audible even past the large dog barking.

A cell phone’s ringtone!

Jared immediately spun around, and saw Hector standing in the doorway. He looked down at his pocket, and in a few seconds, pulled out a cell phone.

“So THAT’S why there was no phone that day with Tyler… they all have cell phones” Jared thought, assuming he was correct.

Hector opened the phone, and looked down at it.

“Piece of shit” he grumbled.

He then immediately closed it, stopping the call.

“Who could be calling?” Jared wondered.

That’s when Hector walked over to Jared, and then past him. He bent down at the laptop, and looked on the screen. Jared did too, examining from afar what he was doing.

Since Jared wasn’t that far away from the screen, he could see what was on the screen pretty well. He saw a map: an orthographic view of what Jared could tell was the mansion they were living in, from the top, looking down (like a blueprint). As well as what Jared could tell was a popup alert. He squinted to read it:

“Warning: A sensor has been triggered!” it read.

“Yes, yes… I know it has been triggered… stupid junk…” Hector said to the laptop.

He closed the window, but there was already another one under it…

“Waning: A sensor has been triggered!” it read a second time.

Jared knew this was because Tyler had entered the basement. He held his breath… he counted on Hector’s stupidity…

“Mm… piece of shit… I said ‘OK’! Don’t need to tell me twice” he complained, before closing the second window.

Jared took a sigh of relief…

“It worked… you stupid moron… now please be the only one who has a cell phone…” he thought.

Hector grunted, before looking over at Jared, who sat on the bed innocently, awaiting his fate.

“Now… before anything goes on here… let me get something straight” Hector said.

He sat himself down on a wooden, filthy stool in front of his desk. He looked at Jared.

“You… enjoyed… what happened, that night?” Hector asked. He had a blank expression on.

Jared stared back… and it hurt for him to nod to Hector.

“Y-Yes” Jared lied.

Hector smirked.

“Hah… good… I knew you would” Hector said.

Jared shivered, and kept himself from vomiting.

---

Tyler zipped up his sleeper, having finally gotten what he needed. He sighed with relief, and nodded, smiling.

“Yes!” he said.

“Now I need to get out of here… and to Jared…” he thought.

“What are you doing, dude?” Tyler heard.

He JUMPED, and spun around, finding Ethan standing before him, blocking off passage out of the room. On his face he had a sour expression. He crossed his arms like a tough guy, and shook his head.

Tyler, though… did not say a word, for he was too scared to say anything at all. What was there to say?

“Not cool man… not cool” Ethan then said, walking in, away from the door.

Tyler’s mouth hung open, and he stared at Ethan like a deer in the headlights. This confrontation was not expected… he didn’t know what to do.

There was silence as Ethan paced back and forth before Tyler, like a lion on prey.

“You going to say anything, or you just going to sit there like an idiot? What the hell do you think you’re doing, Tyler?” Ethan said.

“…I… don’t know!” Tyler said.

But Ethan cackled.

“Please! This is too good… you definitely shouldn’t be here” Ethan said.

Tyler’s little, helpless heart, was throbbing so hard he could feel it in his neck.

“…well… what are you doing here, then?” Tyler asked, doing his best to turn the situation around.

Ethan gave a look to Tyler so sharp it cut through him like daggers.

“My mother TOLD you… if you come down here… we would know!” Ethan said, before finally pulling a cell phone out of his pocket.

“I was looking for you, couldn’t find you… got an alert… knew Jared was outside… but I wondered, where was Tyler? Couldn’t hurt to look in the basement, right? I thought I might’ve heard the basement door opening, and someone walking down the steps… so why not?” Ethan ranted on. He was going off, like a villain in some epic movie reaching its climax.

Tyler simply froze… but he knew had to do SOMETHING… time was wasting, and Jared was waiting.

It was at that moment that both Tyler and Ethan looked at each other dead in the eye. Tyler knew there was nothing left to defend here. The only way out of this was through that tunnel.

At that moment, Tyler instantly began a mad dash towards the passage’s entrance out of the room, but Ethan was too quick! Ethan jumped in front of the door, and threw Tyler back. Tyler got up on his feet, and charged once more towards Ethan, but this time with fists.

He punched Ethan hard in the stomach once.

“AGH!” Ethan shouted, before gritting his teeth and punching Tyler back, this time though, in the face.

Tyler fell back onto the floor once more, knocking over the laptop and anything else that was on that table. The pain took him over, and he held his face.

“Ahhh…” he moaned, rolling over.

“You… you little shit… you’re done” Ethan said between pants, holding his stomach.

Tyler rolled over onto his back, and watched as Ethan walked over to a table next to him. He leaned down, and opened a small refrigerator (Tyler never even noticed it was there, all this time).

Tyler climbed up to his feet slowly, just as Ethan returned to his, though he was not empty handed.

He held a syringe, and a small vial.

“You need to calm down” Ethan said, looking at Tyler, who backed off.

Ethan stuck the end of the syringe into the top of the vial, and filled the syringe with some of the liquid (which Tyler knew was the drug they had been kidnapped with, and turned incontinent with).

He tapped the syringe, and shot some of the liquid out, before slowly stepping towards Tyler.

Tyler’s eyes widened with fear… if Ethan got this into Tyler’s system… the drug would overwhelm him, and he’d be out for hours and their whole plan would be shot to hell.

“I can’t let him do this to me” Tyler thought.

“…Jared needs me… this is the end” he thought once more.

He needed to think fast, though he continued to back away from Ethan the more he approached. Suddenly, however – Ethan charged Tyler!

He swung the syringe downwards, towards Tyler’s small body, but Tyler jumped back, giving him a second to counterattack! Tyler quickly threw a punch as hard as his body would allow, and cracked Ethan right in the side of the head, damn near the temple, before simply running towards Ethan with that momentum.

The two toppled onto the floor, and they began to struggle. Tyler lashed out as many hits as he could, which seemed to actually do good as he hit a few spots. But Ethan over powered him, and got on top, pinning him to the ground.

Ethan’s anger drove him to hitting Tyler back, in the face and all over, which Tyler’s eleven year old body could not handle well compared to that of an older, bigger teenager’s body.

Tyler’s body went limp again from the thrashing he had received, and Ethan continued to pin him down. Reaching over, Ethan picked up the syringe that he had dropped during the struggle, and aimed it towards Tyler!

But Tyler, though bloody and hurt, continued to fight back. He put up his arms up, and the two were in a battle for strength, as Tyler used two arms to keep Ethan’s back. Tyler forced out all of his strength to compete with Ethan’s as he pushed back, keeping the syringe from plunging down onto him – but despite his efforts, the needle was getting closer and closer to Tyler’s neck or face.

Tyler felt defeat creeping in. He felt the end nearing… and he had visions. Things slowed down. He could see the tip of the syringe drawing nearer… and he could see past that, and see Jared. He could see Jared, caught with Hector – doing things that no child should ever, ever have to do. But this time it would be Tyler’s fault.

The vision gave Tyler more strength… inner strength that he needed. He was willing to do almost anything.

Suddenly, though, in one last ditch effort, Tyler threw his head up with his jaws wide open!

The sudden movement caused Ethan’s hand to jerk, revealing Ethan’s wrist. The needle jerked, and as Tyler pushed his head forward to dig his teeth in Ethan’s wrist, he also consequently dug the needle into his own cheek.

Tyler ignored the pain as the needle continued to dig through his cheek, and simply bit down as hard as he could possibly manage!

“AHHHH! AHHHHH!” Ethan screamed as Tyler bit Ethan’s wrist HARD.

Ethan rolled off, pulling his hand away from Tyler’s teeth, and backed away.

Tyler, though quickly jumped up. He shut his mouth, but bit down on something extremely hard, and sharp, and he could feel something feel like it was pulling down on his cheek.

He quickly put his hand on his cheek, and that’s when he knew what was there… the syringe was stuck in his cheek! It had literally pierced through his cheek, and none of the liquid inside of it had been injected into him. Some had squirted into his mouth, though.

Tyler quickly put his hand around it, and with a moan, he slid it out from the hole in his face, and spit toward Ethan the blood and medicine that had gone into his mouth, and then wiped his face.

He wasted no time, and quickly slammed the needle into Ethan’s body, and let the plunger push the liquid into him.

Ethan pushed Tyler away, but it was too late. The syringe fell back to the ground for the last time, empty. Ethan jumped up, but slowly but surely, he became disoriented, and he stumbled back onto the floor.

“Y-You… y-you’re… dead… you’re dead…” Ethan mumbled.

Tyler watched him as his eyes wandered around in his skull, and he eventually went to sleep.

He was alone, at last. There was no one stopping them now, except for Hector. And as much as he wanted to sit back down, and clean himself off (as he was in pain from the struggle), he couldn’t. He had to go on.

So bloody, and battered… Tyler left the room.

---

Simultaneously, as Tyler had subdued Ethan, it was up to Jared to continue distracting Hector. He continued to sit on the edge of the filthy mattress, and talk filthy lies to Hector, simply to waste time.

“Come on, boy!” Hector said.

And in one quick motion, he yanked on Jared so that he was now on the floor.

“On your knees!” he ordered.

Jared very slowly kneeled in front of Hector, carefully thinking of some way to go about this situation.

“This is it… I’ll kill you right now you bastard… you waste of life” Jared thought.

Hector looked down at helpless Jared. Jared, however – slid his arm inside of his sleeper, and grabbed the knife that he had hidden (it was lying in the sleeve of his sleeper).

He clenched the knife, ready to strike at any moment, whether Tyler was ready or not. This was Jared’s mission… regardless if he had to kill Hector to get him out of the way or not… he was willing to do whatever it took.

Jared shut his eyes, and things went into slow motion. He gripped the knife’s handle with his sleeve, and he built up the courage to throw the knife into Hector’s stomach. He wondered what it was going to feel like… to feel the knife sink deep into Hector’s body.

He felt scared… he was nervous… this wasn’t something he necessarily wanted to do, but knew that he would if he had to.

Then he thought of what would happen to Jared if Hector wasn’t out of commission… and he was not willing to let that happen. Not this time.

The adrenaline began to pour in…

Hector began to unzip his zipper in front of Jared… and just as Jared was ready to throw a fatal stab…

…RING! The sound of a ringing cell phone broke the silence, and the tension.

Jared looked up, and Hector turned his back to Jared for a moment.

“The hell?” Hector said.

He grabbed his cell phone, and opened it up. At that moment, Hector walked toward the laptop. Another popup window was up… someone had just triggered another motion sensor! Hector closed the popup window, and below that was the map that featured a layout of the whole perimeter… he could see a second blip on the screen, indicating Tyler’s location – which was outside of the house!

Their plan was revealed to Hector with the click of a mouse. Jared saw this, and instantly realized that this was THE moment to strike! Pulling out the knife, he jumped up, and jumped at Hector!

Jared cleared all though from his young mind, and with one swift jab, pushed the bone knife into Hector’s back!

“AHH!” Hector yelled, but he spun around.

The man’s size made it out to be like trying to stab a bear to death. It didn’t work, and Hector spun around with his arm out, throwing Jared back (who dropped the knife).

“You little shit!!!” Hector yelled out!

He then ran at Jared, holding his back – but Jared, now scared for his life, dashed the other direction, and led a chase through the garage, all the while throwing things at Hector who was NOT stopping.

“I’ll KILL YOU!” Hector screamed out, finally catching up with Jared.

He shoved him hard, and Jared fell against the nightstand, and on top of the police belt. Jared scuttled, and rolled away as Hector reached down to grab ahold of Jared – which sent plenty of things on the floor to roll all over the place.

That’s when Jared saw it, rolling away from him: a small, black spray can of pepper spray recognizable by the police emblem on it accompanied by the bold words:

“PEPPER SPRAY”

Jared knew that this would be the only way out of this situation, so in a quick dash, he escaped Hector’s slowly moving clumsy grasp once again, picking up the can with a tight grip.

Suddenly, he was lifted straight up from the ground by the neck. Jared could feel Hector’s tight, strong grip wrapping around his neck, and he couldn’t breathe at all. Jared struggled to pop off the lid of the pepper spray, and raise his hand to Hector’s eyes.

Hector, gritting his teeth with a look of rage that Jared had never wanted to see raised Jared up higher, and Jared gasped and kicked. It was hard for him to do anything… but he slowly but surely rose his arm, and pointed the spray can directly in front of Hector’s face… and then pushed down on the button!

“AHHHH!” Hector shouted, dropping Jared to the ground and instead holding his face with both hands.

“FUCK! AHHH!” he screamed, backing off into all sorts of things in his way.

Jared picked himself up as well as he could, choking and gasping wildly, before finally catching his breath, panting from the intense situation happening. Then, in a flash – he remembered that Tyler was still outside, somewhere, waiting for him.

Jared walked carefully past Hector, who was swinging, yelling, and stumbling all over the place in a blind rampage.

“Where was that phone?! Where was it!?” Jared thought.

He searched frantically for it, but it was nowhere to be found, though he did find the knife that dropped. He had very little time to waste, so he gathered it, and kept it in hand. He even approached Hector with the knife… he contemplated killing the man, for everything Hector had done to him.

He clenched the handle, and stuck the stainless steel blade towards Hector, now temporarily blind and helpless… but Jared didn’t want to murder. This was not self-defense, it would’ve been mercilessly stabbing a defenseless man to death – and merciless was not something Jared was despite the horror he had experienced up to this moment.

Despite his mercy, though – he did wish he could somehow tie Hector up, but that was impossible. Hector wasn’t unconscious, and was swinging wildly. He wasn’t going to waste any time… this was his one and only chance to get out of there.

He looked up at the laptop, and saw the antenna which was responsible for tracking their every move, and in one movement, he swiped the laptop off of the nightstand, and stomped on it. The sound of it breaking was loud indeed, but was in fact the main reason why Jared had even showed up there: to destroy what could track them. His mission was now accomplished.

Finally, Jared spun around, and quickly began to run out of the door.

“You better… aghhh! Run you little shit… WHEN I CATCH YOU… you’re DEAD… YOU’RE DEAD YOU SHIT… AGHHHH!” Hector shouted out as he listened to Jared open the door, and run outside, into the snow storm outside.

But Hector was not completely subdued. He was injured, bleeding, and stunned, but he was not helpless. He gritted his teeth, and once Jared was gone, he blindly found his way towards the sound of a dog cage, forcing his burning, watery eyes open for halves of seconds at a time to find his way there.

The police dog continued to bark and growl loudly.

“Get them, boy! Get them!” Hector said as he opened the dog cage.

The dog wasted no time sprinting out of the cage, past Hector – and out the door Jared had foolishly left open. Once the dog was gone, Hector collapsed onto the floor, writhing in his pain. He was not finished. It was only a matter of time before the mace had worn its effect off, and he would be able to catch them.

This was not finished.

---

The wind howled and gusted, and the barely lit snowy field revealed a barely visible silhouette of a young boy: Jared, off in the distance.

Tyler saw him, and jumped up.

“HEY! JARED! JARED!” Tyler yelled, jumping up and down.

But when Jared faced him, he jumped up, and replied:

“TYLER! RUN! LET’S GO!” Jared screamed.

Tyler stopped, and his eyes got wide. Whatever just happened, Tyler didn’t know, but he was going to believe Jared. So he began a mad dash through the snow, which was difficult indeed. He slid and tripped all over the place, but managed to catch up with Jared (who had waited up for a moment).

“W-What’s going on!?” Tyler asked, panting.

“Run! We only have a few minutes! We need to get moving!” Jared said.

They wasted no time, and immediately continued their sprint towards the woods… and just as they were finally approaching the edge of the forest…

“JARED! What’s THAT?!” Tyler heard.

Jared quickly spun around. Off in the not-so-far-off distance, they could see a fast moving silhouette quickly making its way to them.

“What is that!?” Tyler asked.

Jared’s heart sank, and his eyes widened. He was becoming exhausted, and this was their greatest threat yet.

“That’s a dog. That’s Hector’s dog!” Jared yelled.

“W-What are we going to do!?” Tyler asked.

Jared shook his head, and in one courageous step, he stepped in front of Tyler, and looked down at the knife that he had picked up from the floor just a few moments ago.

“I-I don’t know… just get ready! Get ready!” Jared yelled.

Jared knew not to run. There was no use. This was a police trained dog, and they weren’t going to outrun it. There was only one way out of this, and Jared knew that he was holding it tightly in his right hand.

So that’s what he did. He stood in front of Tyler to keep it from lunging onto him, because he knew that Tyler had no chance in fighting it off. Jared was the bigger of the two… this was something only he could do.

The dog caught up quickly, and before either child could fully prepare, the dog lunged at the one closest to them: Jared.

“AGHH!” Jared screamed as the growling dog jumped up and knocked Jared over.

The knife in Jared’s hand, however – stayed in his grip. He went to swing it, but the dog was too big and too agile for the boy to hit it.

Tyler immediately tackled the dog off of Jared, diving on top of it. The huge dog, though, immediately in return, bit Tyler.

Tyler screamed in pain, and the huge dog continued to gnarl Tyler mercilessly – like it was trained to do.

Jared picked himself up, with some effort. The dog had its jaws around Tyler’s leg, and was rocking its head back and forth like it was a chew toy. Jared took his chance, and dove at the dog with the stainless steel knife, and sunk the blade deep into the dog’s body.

The mutt SCREAMED and yelped, and snapped at Jared, but Jared didn’t just sink the knife in, he stabbed it again! And again! Once, twice, three times, and more! He continued stabbing the huge dog, each time it yelped and screamed, stabbing it in all places – until the dog’s yelps had turned to a gurgle, and it’s heavy, bloody body fell over onto the ground, lifeless.

Jared screamed out loud in rage, and continued stabbing it, even though the German Sheppard was far past dead, not once looking over at Tyler to see if he was okay.

“AAHHHHHH!” Jared screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Ahh… Jared! Jared stop! Stop!” Tyler yelled, mixed with a desperate tone.

Jared panted hard… and gripped the knife so hard it felt as though the handle would snap at any moment. It was like he was entranced.

“Jared… ahhh… Help me” he heard.

He looked over, and looked at Tyler.

“Mmmm… aghhh!” Tyler said.

He was holding his calf, and gritting his teeth too. He was hurt, and from the look of things, hurt pretty bad.

“That thing… tore my leg up!” Tyler whined, squeezing his leg tightly.

Jared’s eyes widened and his spirits fell. This was a problem, indeed.

“M-Move your hands” Jared said, getting down to look at the wound.

He cautiously looked behind him to see if Hector was coming out of the shack yet or not, but he saw no man off in the distance.

Tyler painfully removed his hands, and Jared could see (barely in the darkness) that his sleeper had holes in it, shredded, and his leg was bleeding from several deep gashes and puncture wounds. They didn’t look immediately serious, but Jared knew that if they didn’t get treated soon, in this weather… it could be the end.

“Can you walk?” Jared asked.

“I-I don’t know!” Tyler asked, rolling over.

“You have to! I’ll help you. We must keep moving” Jared said

Tyler nodded, and in a painful effort, with help – he was pulled up to his feet.

“W-Wait!” Tyler said.

Jared faced Tyler.

“What? What is it?”

“I… I brought some stuff extra!” Tyler said.

Jared squinted his eyes, confused.

“Huh?”

“Look” Tyler said, pointing to where Tyler was just laying.

Jared looked… and he could see something in the darkness. He quickly went over to retrieve them.

“What is it?” Jared asked as he walked over.

“Two more sleepers” Tyler said.

“What?!” Jared replied, picking them up. One was his own, and the other was Tyler’s.

“Aghh… I thought maybe… maybe we could use those… these are pretty thin… so I ran and got two more so we could have just a little extra to wear” Tyler explained.

Jared was amazed!

“Tyler… you’re a genius!” Jared replied.

“Eh…” Tyler said, shrugging.

“We’ll put these on later. We need to move now!” Jared finished, moving back over to Tyler.

Jared put Tyler’s arm over his shoulder, and the two (at a much slower pace than before) continued onward into the darkness.

---

The two slowly navigated the snowy woods, and despite Hector and Ethan being temporarily subdued, they knew they had little time before at least Hector would be chasing them down.

They were following the trail that Ethan had always led them on, and now that most of the immediate adrenaline had worn off, they were beginning to feel the chill of the weather that encompassed them – but nothing could keep them back from their destination.

“Look! There it is!” Tyler said, pointing off into the distance.

They were coming over a hill, and could see the red beacon of the radio tower: their destination.

“It’s still a good way away… we can’t stop” Jared said.

Tyler shook his head.

“My leg… it hurts… aghhh… one minute… we have a minute…” Tyler said.

As much as Jared wanted to argue, he couldn’t. He was exhausted. Almost a full year of spending time of zero physical activity had taken its toll on their bodies by now. They weren’t nearly as fit as they once were, so Jared agreed.

“We need to try to take these ankle bracelets off while we have time, anyway” Jared said, making excuses.

“And I want to take a look at that leg of yours” Jared finished.

Tyler collapsed onto the ground, and Jared bent down.

“Your leg doesn’t seem too bad… you should be fine” Jared said.

He wasn’t completely sure on what he said… he mostly wanted to just make sure Tyler was calm. He wasn’t a trained medical professional, but he was in the scouts, and he had basic first-aid skills.

“I want to wrap it in something though, okay?” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

Jared unzipped Tyler’s sleeper, all the way down to his ankle. Fortunately for them both, the dog had bitten the leg which the zipper comes down at (this was a good thing so that they didn’t need to take the sleeper completely off).

Jared then looked at the extra sleepers in his other arm (they were wrapped around his right arm to not get lost).

“Which one’s mine, again?” Jared asked.

Tyler shrugged.

“Mmm… the red one I think” Tyler said.

Jared nodded, and it seemed about right. Jared knew the red sleeper well… it was honestly his favorite one, if he had to pick a favorite. Red was, after all, his favorite color (probably planned by Sarah. Who knew what she knew about Jared).

He sighed, and using the knife, cut the forearm of his unworn, clean red sleeper off – and he used that as a bandage for Tyler’s leg. He tied it over the wound to stop any potential bleeding, and to keep things out of it – the basic reason for applying any bandage to any wound.

Jared then zipped up Tyler’s sleeper back.

“There… now we need to get these ankle bracelets off” Jared admitted.

Jared bent down, and felt the hard ankle bracelet that was secured around his leg. He yanked it once or twice, but it didn’t even budge… and Jared suddenly realized that he had absolutely no idea how to get it off, since it was obviously tamper-resistant.

It was a large plastic box strapped with two hard, tight straps. The only thing he could think of was to use the knife to cut the straps, so that’s what Jared did.

The tight cloth straps slit in half at the knife’s edge, and the ankle monitor fell from his leg into the snow on the ground.

“Alright, you now” Jared instructed.

Tyler nodded, but winced as he unzipped his sleeper once more for Jared to get to the ankle monitor. A gust of wind ripped through the woods, and struck the boys to the bone.

“Ahhh! So cold!” Tyler complained, and Jared agreed.

In only a few short moments, Jared removed Tyler’s ankle monitor, and threw both of the devices far off into the woods, where they could never be found.

“One last thing… we need to get these on” Jared said.

Tyler nodded… Jared was of course talking about the extra sleepers that Tyler had brought. Jared slipped his own on… the partially torn sleeve wouldn’t bother Jared much as long as he kept the arm from getting too wet. Tyler’s went on fine, too. The extra protection was surprisingly efficient… they could feel their bodies holding more heat now – which was definitely needed.

“Okay… we have to keep moving. Hector could be looking for us right now. If we get to that tower, there’s bound to be a road… maybe we could even see a town or something from all the way up there” Jared said.

Tyler, though he agreed, couldn’t help but sigh. His whole body hurt from the fight with Ethan, his leg was injured so he couldn’t walk as well… and he was downright tired; physically and mentally exhausted.

He looked up at the red beacon from the radio tower, off in the distance. It was relatively near, but still a few miles away. The cold was setting in, and the exhaustion too. Neither boy wanted to do it… but Jared just had more motivation to try.

Tyler didn’t stop though – the two rose back onto their feet, and fought the cold. They continued forth, into the night, into the winter cold, and (they hoped) closer to home.

---

Jared used his Boy Scout experience to help navigate the woods anytime they would be moving – and he was doing a pretty good job at it. Time passed, and the boys only stopped once or twice more to take a break, but each time they did, they sat for a little bit longer.

Jared constantly was watching their backs, but not once did he detect a threat. He couldn’t hear or see Hector, nor Ethan (though Ethan surely wouldn’t be awake for a long while) behind them.

And, after an uncertain amount of time later (in reality, it was several hours) – the radio tower that they had walked toward for so long was finally getting closer, and was growing larger in the boys’ sight. Not only that, but the winter storm that had so strongly attacked the boys had finally calmed down.

The wind calmed down, and less snow fell, and ultimately, the storm transformed into a dense fog that surrounded the boys in the woods. This was a double-edged sword for the boys. For one, with less snow, they could navigate easier. But their footsteps in the snow weren’t being filled in anymore.

For two, the fog kept them from being seen from too far away. But this meant that they had a harder time seeing where they were going.

They had of course travelled much farther than they ever had through the woods. They knew not where they were, but in all directions they could see only woods and snow through a light red tint. They were far from the mansion they had escaped from, but they were also nowhere near civilization from what they could see.

Finally, however, they approached the edge of a cliff.

“Look! There it is” Jared said, pointing to the other side of a small valley that they were about to descend into.

He was not lying, or hallucinating. Off the edge of the cliff they stood on, past a very narrow clearing, and on top of another cliff that stood across from them, there it was.

“How do we get there?” Tyler asked.

Jared looked around, and despite the fact that they were looking down a cliff, if they headed to their right, the land descended, allowing them to get to the clearing. That was close enough for Jared.

“Let’s go this way” Jared instructed.

The two then descended a hill, and were now off the cliffs and finally in the middle of the two cliffs… a very narrow valley, which featured pretty small cliffs on either side of it (they were 30 feet high at most).

“What is this?” Tyler then asked. He was full of questions, indeed.

“This clearing? I don’t know. There’s no trees here in a straight line… it’s a road!” Jared said.

He looked in both directions, and he was correct. They were standing on a snow-covered road. But which way led to help, and more importantly, which led away from their captors?

Sarah was surely home by now, and Hector would definitely be looking for them, most likely driving on the roads.

“We shouldn’t be here, though” Jared then said.

“They will be looking for us… if this is a road, they’ll drive down it. We need to stay hidden” he finished.

Tyler did not disagree.

“The real question is though… which way do we go?” Jared then asked.

He looked in both directions, and there was no way of knowing which direction was the correct one. Did they travel left, or right? He couldn’t decide, and he was getting tired, and thinking about it made him yawn.

“Jared… I don’t think I can go on much more without some sleep” Tyler said.

Jared looked at him, shocked.

“Sleep? Where!?” Jared said.

Tyler shrugged.

“I don’t know! But I’m so cold… I’m so tired… I can’t keep going… we need to find somewhere to sleep. Just for a few hours! I just need to… I just need to lay down for a bit… I really don’t’ feel good” Tyler said with a weak tone to his voice.

Jared shrugged. He was tired, too. He was about to collapse… but he couldn’t bring himself to sleeping. They could still be found anytime!

“You can sleep… I’m not. I’ll keep watch” Jared said.

Tyler nodded.

“You okay?” Jared asked.

Jared closely examined him more. He was shivering, and his breathing seemed heavy, and slow. His lips were a bit darker than normal, and he moved sluggishl like he was in a lot of pain. He seemed… sickly.

But Tyler shrugged.

“I’m alright. Just tired… where are we sleeping?” he said, looking around.

Jared looked around, too.

“Higher ground. Let’s go up there” Jared said, pointing towards the tower.

And so, the boys ascended the steep hill, and hid in a ditch as well as they could, staying low to the ground, and behind a tree. Their brightly colored sleepers would give them away by dawn, and Jared knew it. He didn’t want to stop… even though he was so, so tired.

Tyler, though, couldn’t help it. They huddled together for warmth, so they wouldn’t freeze to death overnight (though it felt like they would) – and Tyler instantly fell asleep. Jared, now alone in the darkness, only stayed awake for a few minutes.

Looking off ahead, towards where they had come from, he watched for danger, only to have his eyelids shut, and put him to sleep at last.

Darkness faded to white, and soon, the sun rose, casting a bright blue across the snowy landscape. The night turned to day, and the storm itself completely faded and passed over. The winds stayed still, snow stopped falling – and the fog retreated.

Jared slowly opened his groggy, haggard eyes. His bones hurt, and he felt like he was frozen in place. He was so remarkably sore, it was almost unbearable.

He looked around, spaced out. He could see nothing but blue and white, and the blacks and browns of trees and bare ground peaking from behind the snow.

He remembered everything from the night before, and in an instant… he knew they had to keep moving. It was like someone flicked the switch in his head. He went from tired, into ‘work-mode’.

Stretching out his limbs, he moaned deeply, each joint in his body cracking. His nose and fingers were burning from the cold they had endured.

“Tyler” he grunted.

Jared pulled Tyler’s arms apart from around his waist (the two had huddled together overnight to keep warm, and Jared was in front of Tyler, while Tyler’s back was to a tree since he was coldest).

Tyler didn’t respond though.

“Tyler” Jared repeated a bit louder.

He slowly, painfully, rose to his feet (which were numb) – but there was still no sound from Tyler’s voice.

“Tyler!” Jared said yet again, this time much louder.

When there was no response, Jared quickly spun around and faced Tyler.

There, he saw Tyler, eyes shut, mouth closed, slumped on his back against a tree, paler than a ghost with his lips a deeper-than-normal color.

“Tyler, wake up!” Jared said.

He bent down, but when Tyler didn’t even stir, Jared slapped Tyler in the face lightly (but rapidly). Tyler made not a sound, and not a movement. Jared was beginning to panic!

“Tyler! Please wake up!” Jared said louder, slapping him, shaking him, doing anything he could think of to wake Tyler up from his restless slumber – all in vain, though. Not a one effort brought the boy closer to consciousness.

“Oh no… Oh no, no, no, no…” Jared said to himself, his heart racing from the panic that he was now alone, and his friend was unconscious, and unresponsive (which could’ve been for a number of reasons).

Tyler was in grave danger, and they were miles from civilization for all Jared knew. Jared needed to act fast, for he didn’t know how long Tyler had been out, why, or even what to do.

Jared quickly picked up Tyler’s right hand, and touched it… it was ice cold (but then again, so was Jared’s). Then Jared put his ear against Tyler’s chest: there was a heartbeat still in there, so he at least knew his friend was still alive.

“We need to get out of here… we need to get going now!” Jared said, and without a moments’ delay, Jared quickly scooped Tyler into his arms like he was a newborn child.

Jared let out a sigh of relief that Tyler was surprisingly light, though he knew it would be hard to carry him for a long distance – but that would not matter. If it killed Jared to carry him, then they would die together.

And that’s the way Jared saw it.

---

Jared had managed to carry Tyler’s small body down the hillside, away from the tower, and now had begun walking along the road. He decided to travel to his right (which was left when the boys first arrived in the previous night), and he had carried him for a good while. At least an hour, it seemed.

But Jared’s arms grew tired and exhausted, and the cold was growing unbearable. Jared’s adrenaline rush stopped fueling the boy… and he couldn’t go on.

He panted, and his arms burned.

“Tyler… I’m so sorry” Jared said to the unconscious body in his arms.

“I’m… I’m so sorry” he said.

And with that, he collapsed, and they both fell into the snow. Jared lay face down in the snow, while Tyler motionlessly lay on his back.

It was dead silent in the woods at that moment. There was not a sound. Not a single thing moved… it was like time, too, was frozen in winter’s grasp. But Jared shifted around, and picked himself up from the snow; his face beat red and covered in tears. He wept forcefully, and at that moment… for the first time, he truly felt like this was the end.

“I’m so… I’m so sorry… it ended up like this” Jared said.

There was not an ounce of strength left in his body anymore… he was finished. Jared, the one with the most strength, and courage of the two… he had given up… he was at the bottom, and there was no return.

There was nothing left to say, so he said nothing at first. He just imagined himself off into a different place for a moment.

The two lay there for several minutes, in silence, in the middle of the snowed-over road… in the middle of the open. He would’ve continued to lay there for longer though… if it weren’t for the barely audible sound… of a car engine.

Jared at first didn’t hear it, or notice it. But as the sound grew a bit louder, his attention sparked, and he glanced around. There was not a car in sight… but he could hear one.

“Oh no” Jared thought.

“It’s them!” he said out loud to himself.

He rose to his feet, stumbling around, and with plenty of effort, picked Tyler up, and began to run off of the road, into the woods. Glancing back, behind him though, as the sound grew louder… he saw it!

Off in the distance… it was not the van!

“What?” Jared said.

It was, instead, a red car, driving rather slowly.

“It’s not… them? It’s… help!” Jared thought.

“Help! HEY! STOP! HELP!” Jared yelled!

He put Tyler down on the ground, and ran out into the road. The distant car grew larger as it approached. And it seemed to Jared, oddly enough… the when he came out in the open that the car accelerated… a lot. At this moment… he suddenly had a nasty feeling… that something was not quite right.

“Oh no” Jared thought.

He shook his head as the car came charging towards him at a very fast pace. He realized that something wasn’t right about this… and that it would be best to flee!

He spun around, and immediately started to charge back towards the hill, but at this point, it was too late. He reached Tyler, on the hill, and as he picked him up, the car came to a screeching, sliding halt, and the door opened.

“You GET BACK HERE NOW!” he heard.

It was Sarah! Once again, Jared couldn’t help an adrenaline rush forcing its way into his veins, and he started to run up the hill.

He did his best to reach the top of the hill, but it was no surprise that suddenly he was yanked back down after a short amount of time.

“Ahh!” Jared yelled, dropping Tyler once again onto the ground.

“You little bastard! I ought to kill you! I ought to break your neck!” she screamed as Jared rolled down the hill uncontrollably.

He slowly pulled himself onto his feet, but Sarah came running up to him, slapping him in the face HARD multiple times, each time stinging more and worse than the last, until finally Jared was lying back on the ground.

He decided at this point that he might as well just stay there… it was no use since he couldn’t keep his feet.

“S-Stop!” Jared whined.

Sarah towered over him. She had an expression that was beyond a scowl, and her face was beat red. She was infuriated beyond description.

“You shut your damn mouth RIGHT NOW!” she yelled, before looking around… and noticing that Tyler was not around.

“Where is Tyler!? Where is he!?” she screamed.

Jared had never, ever seen Sarah like this… it was scary, so with a weak hand, he pointed behind her, to Tyler’s body lying motionless on the ground. She spun around, and gasped.

“What?” she said, before running up to the hill.

“Oh my God! What have you done!?” she yelled.

Jared just shook his head.

“I-I don’t know what’s wrong with him!” Jared cried out.

But Sarah snapped back!

“You don’t know what’s wrong with him? I’ll tell you, you moron! He’s going to freeze to death! He’s got hypothermia! He’s lucky he’s not dead – if he’s not!” Sarah yelled.

“He’s not! He has a heartbeat… I checked!” Jared said.

She threw Tyler over her shoulder, and walked over to the car.

“…he needs a hospital” Jared said.

Sarah looked at Jared, and looked down at Tyler in her arms...

“Take him to the hospital! Please!” Jared cried out.

And after Jared said that… and Sarah looked down at the boy in her arms… she realized herself just how dire the situation truly was.

She stared at Jared, and she was about to say something… her mouth opened to say something, but it will never be known what she was to say at that moment. Instead, a sound was heard, and she looked up, and her facial expression changed once again.

“Just in time” she said.

Jared looked behind her… and his spirits sank lower than they had been all day… for in the distance he spotted the sad sight of a van approaching them quickly, just as Sarah had.

They were coming… and the boys were caught once again.

---

The van, too, came to a squealing halt beside them – so fast that it almost slid into Sarah’s car. Once parked, two doors on the side came open, revealing the two men Jared did not want to see.

Hector stepped out of the front, and Ethan stepped out of the back – and it was instant: Hector immediately, in an uncontrollable rage, began to dash toward Jared.

“Stop! Stop now!” Sarah yelled out, and Hector actually listened, but he scowled.

“Fuck you! Fuck you Sarah! FUCK YOU! This shit stabbed me, and maced me. HE KILLED MY DOG. AGHHH” he yelled out.

In an uncontrollable fit, he punched the hood of his van, and yelled out loudly, which echoed through the woods.

Sarah stuck her chin up.

“We have a problem” she said.

“You damn fucking straight we do! We have a few!” he replied.

“Tyler’s dying!” she replied.

Jared watched in suspense as the two stared at each other.

“You think I give a shit? Good! Let him die!” Hector said, laughing – but Sarah didn’t look amused.

“I have a plan. Look baby, I have a plan!” Hector said.

“I’m taking him to the hospital” Sarah replied.

“What!? No! You can’t! You can’t do that – they’re kidnapped! It’ll blow our cover! He’ll be found!” Hector responded.

“Use your god damn head!” he said.

“Liam DIED because of my negligence! I will NOT let it happen again Hector. NOT this time. NOT WHILE I CAN HELP IT” Sarah screamed.

Hector looked at her in disbelief.

“Liam? He didn’t die because of you! He died because he something wrong with him! Not because of YOU” Hector said, trying to sway Sarah’s opinion… but she wasn’t allowing it.

She stared at Hector, dignified.

“No! Sarah I won’t have you do this! I am NOT going to prison over some piece of shit! I won’t let that happen!” he yelled.

“Neither will I!” Sarah said.

“No one’s going to jail… I will take care of it. We will talk about this later – but right now I’m going. You take Jared back to the house” she ordered.

Hector stared at Sarah with the meanest, most intimidating expression Jared had ever seen… and he was actually waiting for Hector to go violent on her – but he didn’t.

Instead he manned up, and swallowed his pride.

“Fine. If that’s how you want it. But I warn you Sarah. I fuckin’ warn you. You screw this up and I will make you pay. You understand me?” he replied.

She beamed back an equally powerful glare.

“Don’t talk to me like some… bitch! And I warn YOU. When I get back, if that boy is hurt I will make you pay. Do YOU understand ME?” Sarah responded, before lying Tyler into the backseat of her car.

“Yeah… whatever” Hector said.

“I mean it. We will take of him when I get back – and I WILL be back. I’m not stupid, Hector. I know what’s at stake” she said.

Hector shrugged.

Sarah then shut the door, and turned the car on… and began to drive away… and Tyler was off to the hospital… if there was any time left.

In a few seconds… Jared was alone with the two men he knew would kill him… and he was actually very, very scared.

“Get in there… NOW” Hector ordered.

Jared clumsily climbed onto his feet, but Hector was an impatient man, and forced Jared into the back of the van for him.

He slammed into the back, and Hector and Ethan climbed into the front seats of the vehicle… and began to drive…

“Please be okay Tyler… please… let this work” Jared thought in his head.

He had a terrible feeling about what was coming in the very, very near future for himself… and he knew it would be a matter of time.

---

Sarah drove with great haste, navigating the snowy roads with precision. She checked in the rearview mirror with a concerned expression… she was so scared for Tyler’s life.

“Don’t you do this to me! Don’t you give up!” she said to herself.

Tyler, of course, didn’t move.

Meanwhile, driving in the opposite direction, Hector drove recklessly, sliding all over the place in a rage. He could barely hold himself back.

Jared, on the other hand, in the back, was sensing himself in grave danger. He knew for a fact that this was a situation that was not going to work out good.

“Fucking bitch thinks she can talk to me that way!” he ranted.

Ethan was silent.

“I ought to slap her… it’s all her damn fault! I didn’t want any of this shit… I didn’t want Jared, and sure as hell didn’t want Tyler! But NO… she HAD to have two more sons, she HAD to make YOU happy… and then all the baby bullshit… And now she’s blowing our fucking cover!” Hector continued.

There was more silence as they drove.

“I love Mom… but she’s being retarded” Ethan added.

“I know! I think she’s… she’s gone damn crazy… I’m telling you! Just let the kid die, no one will ever find the body! We’d kill Jared too! Kill them both! Fuck it! Dump the bodies… they’re dead to the world already! Just start new!” Hector said.

Jared’s heart sank. He was getting more and more terrified by the minute. This time wasn’t like the other time… this was much, much worse. This time… he felt like he was going to die… and with the way Hector was talking – that was what was going to happen!

“You know what” Hector said.

He looked around at nothing, in thought.

“Fuck it. I’m not going to jail. When she puts Tyler in the arms of the hospital it is all over no matter what my wife thinks. I can’t get her out from there… she’ll go to the city, not the local jail. Fuck! FUCK!” Hector screamed.

“I am NOT going to prison… so you know what Ethan… neither are you” Hector said.

Ethan looked over at Hector.

“What are you saying?” Ethan replied.

“We are leaving. We are getting the hell out of here. Are you with me?” Hector said.

Ethan stared back at Hector, but didn’t say a word.

“Ethan, my boy… we’re finished. You coming with me – because I AM leaving” Hector said.

“You just want to abandon Mom like this? Just… run away?” Ethan asked.

“There’s nothing we can do. She did this to herself, and she did this to us. Do you want to go to jail, or not?” Hector said in a deep voice.

Ethan, though… after a long delay… he nodded in agreement.

“Let’s go” he said.

Hector said not another word, and sped on.

“We need to take care of something first, though!” Hector said.

Jared, like a caged animal, looked at the both of the men in front of him.

“Let’s get rid of this fucking kid first!” Hector said.

Suddenly, he SLAMMED on the breaks, which sent Ethan falling forward, but especially sent Jared flying through the air, slamming into the seats in front of him.

“Get your knife. I want to settle some unfinished fucking business first” Hector snarled.

Jared, picking himself up from the floor, looked up just in time to see Hector pull out the gun from his holster, and cock it.

“They’re… they’re going to kill me! Holy shit!” Jared thought.

This was a dire moment, indeed.

---

Meanwhile, Sarah had already managed to reach a hospital in the city. She carried Tyler through the emergency room doors, and walked past several people, who all stared at her.

She came in crying, as so many bad memories flashed through her head. It was like she had come through a time warp… and she was back at that moment with Liam in her arms.

Immediately, two nurses came running over to her.

“What happened!? What happened?!” they said to Sarah.

Sarah, though… she was spacing out.

“I…” she said.

“I don’t know!” she finished.

The nurses ignored her, and took Tyler from her arms, and just like that horrible, horrible day… Tyler was taken away from her.

She stood there, lost. Standing there, watching her boy… her kidnapped “son”… wander away from her.

Before she could do anything else, though – she was shaken by a nurse.

“M’am! M’am, what happened to that boy?” she said.

Sarah was coming to.

“I… I don’t know” she said again.

“What do you mean you don’t know? What’s the story? Time could be running out and we need your cooperation!” the nurse demanded.

“I…” Sarah said… she was completely unable to answer at all.

The nurse looked carefully at Sarah, examining her.

“Are you okay?” the nurse replied.

“Me? Yes… yes… I’m fine… I just…” she said, swallowing hard.

“I don’t handle hospitals well. Bad experiences” she finished.

The nurse stared at her with a suspicious expression, before she was summoned by another one that stood behind the nearby desk.

“Wait here” the nurse ordered.

Sarah didn’t reply, but did as told. She didn’t move a muscle, and stood there… and finally began to examine her surroundings.

She was standing in a walkway, several feet from two sets of sliding glass doors that was the main entrance into the facility. To her left was a large waiting area, with several people waiting, all staring at her and the commotion that had happened.

Near her was a desk, and all around her were staff: doctors, nurses, and other important looking people.

She was growing scared, though… both for Tyler’s life, and her own well-being. But before she could even think about turning around, and leaving the lobby… she was suddenly called upon.

“M’am… please come with me” the same nurse said to her.

---

Jared cowered in the farthest corner, away from the sliding door – but it was without purpose. The sliding door opened, and Hector reached in, ripping Jared out of the back without any effort at all, and tossed him into the snow outside.

“Hold him down Ethan!” Hector ordered.

“What are you going to do!?” Ethan asked.

“Shut the fuck up and keep him still. He said he liked this shit… well he’s gonna love this then!” Hector assured.

Ethan listened, and immediately went out and grabbed Jared’s arm.

“Get off of me!” Jared ordered, but Ethan of course didn’t care.

Jared threw punches, but they were weak and too pathetic to do any good here, and soon, he found himself unable to move much at all, as Ethan got behind him after a short struggle, and held a knife to Jared’s throat, and held Jared back against him.

Hector held his gun up to Jared’s head and laughed out loud.

“You lied to me boy! Now… now you’re dead. And you better believe before you’re dead you’ll make up for the lying. Ethan don’t fucking let him move or I swear to God I’ll kill you too!” Hector ordered.

Hector then, without thought, actually unzipped his pants.

“What’re you doing!?” Ethan said.

“The fuck’s it look like I’m doing?” Hector snapped back.

He cleared his throat, and took a breath… he wanted to savor this moment.

“Let’s get these clothes off, hm?” Hector said, and he unzipped Jared’s sleeper, and then the one below that, revealing nothing but his diaper, and Hector waited not a second longer to pull that off as well, putting Jared mostly in the nude, and in a very vulnerable position.

Each attempt Jared made at getting free was stopped by the blade being pressed into his neck.

“Get off me! Get the hell off of me!” Jared screamed, as Hector grabbed the boy’s leg to fold them up.

“Get off him Hector! Don’t fucking do this!” Ethan screamed.

But Hector had lost his mind, and he was determined. Jared kicked his legs, though, and wasn’t allowing Hector to have his way.

“PLEASE! NO!” Jared screamed.

“Quit kicking! NOW!” Hector yelled, but Jared didn’t listen.

“PLEASE!”

“I SAID NOWW!” Hector screamed.

Jared did one final kick, hitting Hector square in the face, which knocked him back and stunned the raging man.

At this moment, though… in the midst of the chaos… in the middle of the struggle, there was a golden moment of opportunity. Jared hit Hector a good one… possibly in the eye, even. He was not about to be raped, and murdered.

Jared felt the moment, and in a split-second decision, Jared leapt forward, despite the knife over his neck. He felt it slice, but he did not care. He leapt forward, away from Ethan, which shocked Ethan. Maybe it was on purpose, maybe it was the sweat on Ethan’s hand… maybe it was the force of Jared leaping up, but something took the knife from Ethan’s hand, and it landed on the ground.

Jared scooped it up, and dashed towards Hector, knife in hand - prepared to stab the man right in the face. But Hector saw it coming, and in an instant…!

BANG!

There was a gunshot, which hit Jared in the leg. The boy collapsed, tripping, as his leg gave out from under him. He did not, however, let go of the knife.

Jared fell on top of Hector, over where the gun was, so any remaining shots shot away from him, and within this split second moment to strike… Jared took his knife, and like an executioner, slammed down the blade into Hector’s throat. Just one good stab.

Hector leapt up, holding his neck, gurgling, as blood came pouring out, all over the place. As he did that, though, he let go of the loaded gun, which Jared grabbed from the ground, just as Ethan was racing over towards it to try to get it before Jared could.

Jared held the gun out at Ethan, and Ethan… stopped.

“Whoa… whoa man… calm down” Ethan said, putting out his hands.

Jared, though, lay on the ground… the pain of his leg growing overwhelming, gritting his teeth, pointing the barrel of the gun at Ethan.

Jared looked up at the gurgling child molester, unable to breathe, drowning in the blood that was pouring into his lungs and out of his throat. He watched him collapse, doing his best to stay alive, but it was all in vain… Hector was dying a slow, painful demise.

This time, though… Jared had no mercy – and certainly no remorse. This was a life or death situation… and Jared intended on living.

Hector gurgle as he lay on the ground now, writhing in pain and agony, squirming like a worm… and eventually… he stopped moving altogether, and became lifeless.

Hector was dead.

“Y-You killed… you killed him!” Ethan said, his eyes watering from the panic and shock of what he had just witnessed.

He looked over, and saw Hector was done with, and would never harm another child again… and the idea that Jared had done that… he felt somewhat redeemed.

“D-Don’t kill me too!” Ethan begged.

Jared though, doing his damndest to avoid showing off the immense, fiery pain that he was feeling get worse and worse in his leg… continued to point the gun toward Ethan’s face.

“No… No Ethan… I won’t kill you… not if you do what I tell you to do” Jared warned.

Ethan squinted his eyes.

“W-What?” Ethan said out loud.

Jared nodded… he had a plan. He could not let Ethan escape… not for his part in this. He was going to jail… and he was going to help Jared escape.

“You are going to drive us into town… and you’re going to help me in this van, or I will kill you. Think I won’t!” Jared yelled.

Ethan couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Y-You won’t… really kill me –“

BANG!

Jared let a gun shot off into the distance beside Ethan, and Ethan jumped.

“Help me into the passenger side seat… NOW” Jared ordered.

And just like that… it happened. Jared was brought to his feet, and hobbled his way with Ethan’s help into the seat, and Ethan got into the driver’s seat.

Jared was of course doing this because the gunshot wound had crippled Jared… he couldn’t move, and it was only because of the adrenaline that Jared wasn’t screaming or wrenching in pain right now. He was taking advantage of it.

“Drive us into town” Jared ordered.

“I-I don’t know the way!”

“I DON’T CARE… FIGURE IT OUT!” Jared screamed.

He was really starting to feel the pain now… it was a heat that was overwhelming, growing into an unbearable agony. He was trying to hide it, but he wasn’t doing very well. He was starting to sweat, and he was starting to lose focus. It was making him irritable, and this whole situation was making him psychotic, or desperate for a way out.

Ethan, on the other hand, was truly scared for his life. He knew, after watching him murder Hector, that Jared was capable of anything now. He didn’t know the way into town, but he was going to try to… or at least humor Jared.

“You killed my Dad Jared!” Ethan said, driving, feeling tears swell up in his eyes.

“He got w-what he deserved! He was trying to rape me. You’re no better than he was for letting him try” Jared said, keeping the gun up.

Waves of pain were pulsating through his body, and his hands were shaking. He knew he killed Hector… but right now it was not on his mind, and for the moment, he was glad he did. But now was not the time to think about it.

---

Sarah nervously approached the desk, and the nurse, a woman in her late 20s, had a concerned expression.

“We need to ask you some questions about what happened here” the nurse told Sarah.

“Why? I already told I found him –“

“We know what you told us but we need additional information” the nurse interrupted.

Behind the scenes, in an emergency room, there was already a doctor and a few nurses at Tyler’s aid. He was lying unconscious in a bed.

“Body core temperature reads 90.4 degrees Fahrenheit, and is unconscious from the onsets of organ failure” a nurse said.

“This boy has mild to severe hypothermia” the older man explained.

“Get him out of these wet clothes, get some warmed blankets on him, and I want warmed fluids. Get an IV in him; I want a blood sample, then inject the warmed fluids in him slowly” the doctor ordered, and like that, several nurses moved out to get what he wanted.

Meanwhile, there were still at least two in the room. The doctor slowly approached the boy, and examined his face.

“Respiratory rate has decreased, heart rate is weak and slow” another nurse yelled.

“Get me the police” the doctor called out.

“What, sir?” another nurse asked.

“Call the police. This kid’s been abused. There’s fresh bruising on his face… and his left cheek is punctured completely through… it looks like he was running away from home. And if what that woman said is true, there needs to be an investigation. Can we get any information on this kid? Can’t be older than 12… he was either neglected or abused, or a runaway…” the doctor said, further examining the boy.

“I’ll get on that” one of the nurses said, before exiting the room to make the call.

As instructed, one of the nurses unzipped the sleeper, and the doctor watched this as well. No one really thought much of the sleeper, as it was only pajamas, and the boy was young. Nor did the diaper surprise many people. They were, after all, medical professionals and that was a common thing to see in their field.

The only thing that was somewhat surprising was the odd babyish theme of the sleeper, and the diaper combined. The boy was young, but he was not that young. And the diaper had baby prints on it. That was not such a common thing to see.

But this was not important, not now, not while Tyler’s life was in jeopardy.

“Dr. Blake, you might want to take a look at this” a nurse said.

She had a confused tone in her voice… and so Dr. Blake turned around and faced the nurse. What she revealed to the good doctor was quite a find, indeed.

---

Meanwhile, the pain in Jared’s leg was growing fierce as the adrenaline wore off, and the pain was starting to grow. Keeping the gun pointed at Ethan’s head was all Jared cared about; he didn’t dare look down at his leg… he didn’t want to know the damage.

“Jared… I don’t want to go to prison” Ethan said.

“Too bad. I didn’t want to be kidnapped. Maybe you’ll have as much far there as I was about to have a few minutes ago” Jared said, breathing very heavily.

He was panting, sweating as each wave of pain was accompanied by a wave of exhausting heat. It felt like he was on fire.

“D-Drive faster!” Jared ordered.

Ethan accelerated a bit. Jared’s eyes were growing heavy.

“Jared. You let me drop you off somewhere, you can go free. Just don’t let me go to jail!” Ethan begged, but Jared didn’t care.

“Shut up!” Jared ordered.

Ethan clenched the wheel, as they speeded down the snowy road.

“I’m sorry you had to go through this Jared. It wasn’t meant to be like this. Things were supposed to be different” Ethan started.

Jared didn’t want to hear it… but he didn’t stop him either.

“You know why Sarah picked you? Cause I told her to. You going to shoot me now?” Ethan continued.

Jared clenched his teeth.

“You remember when I told you I wanted a little brother? I asked her to get a brother… and she agreed! Ain’t that some shit, huh? Guess I’m just a spoiled brat” Ethan said.

“Shut up Ethan” Jared said, growing very weak, and very exhausted.

It felt like he was falling asleep… like he was about to black out!

“I tell you one thing though… I am sorry. I’m sorry for you and I’m sorry for Tyler… I’m sorry I ever even asked. But I am not going to prison” Ethan said.

And it was at that moment, in one sudden movement, Ethan ducked down, opened the door, and flew out. Jared would have shot the gun, but the sudden jerk of the vehicle threw off his aim.

Ethan rolled out of the van, and the van without a driver went tumbling off the course. The speed they were going at caused the van to go out of control, off the road.

Jared quickly grabbed the wheel with one hand, but it was no use! Like a rollercoaster, he watched in horror as the van suddenly SLAMMED into a tree.

Ethan picked himself up, and looked up at the crash. He could hear the horn going off, and could barely see the back end of the van sticking out of a ditch off the side of the road, about 30 feet away.

He jogged over to the crash, and looked in the window. Jared’s head was lying against the dashboard, looking out the driver’s window. His eyes were rolling around, and he was disoriented… he looked terrible.

“Sorry Jared” Ethan half-heartedly said.

Jared weakly stuck the gun up to Ethan, but Ethan reached out.

“Thanks man” Ethan sarcastically said, grabbing the gun out of Jared’s hand (which went limp immediately as the gun was taken away from him).

“Have a good life kid. You deserve the best” Ethan said, before turning around and walking away from the crash.

Jared’s eyes rolled around in his head. His vision was blurry, unclear… nothing made sense. He had hit his head too hard off the dashboard. There was nothing he could do… he wasn’t even sure what happened. He was too weak to do anything… and after Ethan turned around and walked away from him, he slowly shut his eyes… and faded out of consciousness.

Away from the crash, Ethan took one final look back, and shook his head.

---

A police cruiser pulled into the parking lot, and out it came not one but two young officers, and they slowly walked into the emergency room doors. They approached receptionist desk.

“We received a phone call, what’s the problem?” one of them asked.

The nurse, who had been back there from the start, spun around and confronted the officers.

“About a half hour ago we received a patient who was about… 10 to 13 years old. He’s a John Doe, and we believe the kid’s been abused” the nurse explained.

“How’d he get here?” the officer asked, glancing around.

“A woman came through those doors right there with the child in her arms and claimed that she found him on the roadside like this” the nurse farther explained.

The officer nodded understandingly.

“Is she still here?” the officer asked.

“Yes… yes she is, but there’s another thing” the nurse said.

“What, what is it?” the officer replied.

The nurse signaled for the men to come behind the desk, so they did. The female nurse opened a door behind the desk that led into a restricted, private area meant for staff only, but most importantly, away from the general public.

It was a quiet, empty hallway.

“We found these on the child which we thought was odd. Maybe you can make sense of it” the nurse said.

She handed to the officers a familiar file, overflowing with papers. The papers were all disorganized and were somewhat soggy.

“What is this?” the other officer asked, while the one took it into his hands.

“We don’t know. There are photos, medical records, and a list of contacts, addresses, memos and notes. Of the boy, actually, but there is a lot of information on another boy… it all doesn’t make sense. I didn’t look into it all though, we just decided to show them to you and see what you made of it” the nurse said.

The officer took it in hand, and looked over a few pages, and several pictures.

“Which one is the boy you have?” one officer asked.

The officer was holding up a picture of two young boys (Jared and Tyler) walking home.

“The one on the right. The smaller kid” then nurse explained.

The officer looked closely at the photograph.

“Tyler… your boy’s name is Tyler” the officer said, before farther examining the photograph.

“These two kids look familiar” the officer said.

The other officer leaned in.

“Yeah… yeah they do” the other officer replied.

“These pictures weren’t taken with them knowing. Jake, do me a favor. I want you to hang onto these. Go back into the car, and I want you to look up these names. Crosscheck them with our missing children database” the officer said, pointing at two names that are scribbled under the boys’ pictures.

Jake, the younger officer nodded, taking the photograph and exiting the hallway, making his way to the police cruiser. The older officer looked back at the nurse.

“Take me to Tyler, and keep that woman who brought him in from leaving” the officer ordered.

The two began walking down a hallway.

“We have our security holding the woman. She won’t be going anywhere” the nurse assured.

They then walked into the emergency room which was holding Tyler.

“I’m Officer Foster, what’s the condition of the boy?” he asked.

Dr. Blake spun around, and stuck out his hand.

“Hi Officer, I’m Dr. Blake. This boy is in very rough shape. Came in here unconscious” the doctor explained.

Officer Foster nodded his head.

“We found bruises on his face. Looked like someone was hitting him pretty hard… and another thing we found was this” the doctor said.

He lifted up the blanket and the doctor stepped forward.

“There are fresh puncture wounds on his thigh, knee, and calf. Looks to me like something was biting him, and if I had to guess I’d say a dog. Looks like it used his leg like a chew toy… went right into the muscle. This kid couldn’t have gone very far unless he was used to pain or just naturally had a resistance to it” the doctor explained, showing off the wounds.

“We also have fresh bruising on the face, like someone was hitting him. And we have a small hole in his cheek that completely pierced through. All these wounds are fresh as well” the doctor explained.

Officer Foster nodded his head.

“Looks like someone was hitting this kid pretty hard” he said.

“Any… signs of sexual abuse?” the officer asked.

The doctor shook his head.

“We haven’t looked” the doctor admitted.

“Do me a favor and check for that stuff, okay?” the officer asked.

“We will when he’s more stable” the doctor assured.

Officer Foster nodded, and spun around, and exited the room. Suddenly, that’s when the other officer came in with a surprised look on his face.

“What did you get?” Officer Foster asked.

“He’s been missing for nine months, and that’s not all” the officer said.

“What else is there?” the officer asked.

“These boys? I remembered where I saw them. This kid and his friend Jared Morris were abducted coming home from school. It made national news” the officer replied.

“I see… so then where is Jared?” Officer Foster asked.

The other officer shrugged.

“I don’t know, but this kid might know when he gets awake” he said.

Officer Foster nodded.

“We need to call this in. This is big time” Foster said, and the other officer nodded in agreement.

“If this boy is who you say he is then we need the FBI” Foster said.

The other officer nodded.

“I’ll make the call”

---

“Hello M’am” Officer Foster said.

He was speaking to Sarah, who was nervously sitting in an unused office. Sarah swallowed hard.

“M’am I’m Officer Foster. I’ve come to get your story. You brought that boy here… I’d like to get your story for my report” Foster said.

Sarah looked up at him. She had the saddest, most desperate look on her face. She had tears coming from bloodshot eyes, and she was shaking dramatically.

“M’am… are… you okay?” Foster asked, taken back.

She looked at him… she was so scared, and so sad.

“How is that kid?” she asked.

The officer nodded his head and exhaled heavily, sitting down nearby.

“Honestly… he’s in really bad shape. Doctors say he can make it if he’s strong enough. Someone really hurt him… but no one knows who. He’s been missing for several months. He’s lucky to be alive” the officer admitted.

Sarah looked up at Foster.

“Missing?” she asked.

“Yeah… he went missing, him and another boy. You M’am are a hero for finding this boy” Foster praised.

Sarah looked off into space again, and shook her head in disbelief.

“Anyway M’am, I need to take down your side of the story for my report. Should only take a minute and you can be on your way”

It was only a few minutes time that Sarah had lied about everything… she lied about not knowing Tyler, and lied about finding him on the side of the road. She lied about having absolutely nothing to do with it… but as she spoke, she continued to cry. Something was heavy in her chest… she had a guilty conscious.

She knew in her heart that Tyler, the boy she had cared for and loved like her own child… was now in danger just like her real child Liam. She felt cursed… and lying about it… she couldn’t help shake the feeling that it wasn’t right.

But there was another feeling in her heart… something she felt the second she decided to take Tyler to the emergency room to be saved… something she was hoping to avoid but ultimately knew would be impossible.

“That’ll be all, Sarah” Foster said.

But Sarah didn’t leave. She felt a weight on her mind.

“That boy in there… he’s pretty hurt, huh?” she said.

The officer looked around…

“Yeah M’am… pretty bad” he said.

“He’ll be here for a while then?” she asked.

“Well… yes… we’ll be holding him here and searching for whoever did this to him, and look for the other boy. Hopefully when he wakes up he’ll tell us anything we need to know” Foster said.

Sarah just smirked, and wiped her face.

“Yes… I’m sure he will…” she said, standing up from the seat.

The two people, Sarah and Foster, shook hands, and then she finally exited the room, walking into the sterile white hallway of the hospital.

“Goodbye, Tyler” she said, very, very quietly… before finally exiting the hallway, and entering the waiting room.

Meanwhile, as Sarah closed the waiting room door behind her, Foster stepped out of the office.

“Hey! Officer Foster!” he heard.

Looking over, he could see Dr. Blake at the far end of the hall, in an intersection.

“What’s up?” Foster replied, walking towards him.

The doctor had a very excited expression on his face, like he had an extremely urgent message to say.

---

“M’am, please sign out before leaving” the nurse said at the lobby.

“Oh, I’m sorry, excuse me” she said, walking up to some papers.

“What’s your name?” the woman at the desk asked.

“Sarah!” the nurse heard.

But this voice was not from Sarah’s mouth. It was nowhere near her’s. They both jumped, and looked over, to see Office Foster. He had a very intense expression.

“Y-Yes, Officer Foster?” she asked.

He stood in the doorway, and the two made eye contact. It was like the world stopped, like time froze. Sarah knew in her heart what the officer wanted.

“Sarah, I’m going to have to put you under arrest” he said.

Sarah froze.

“E-Excuse me?” she said, beginning to walk backwards toward the door.

She wanted to run… but she knew it would be no use. She knew that this was the end.

“Stay where you are, no sudden movements” Foster said to her.

Everyone in the waiting room watched the suspenseful scene, but there was nothing much more to witness.

Sarah nodded her head… and submitted.

“What did I do, officer?” she asked, as the man whipped out his handcuffs, and slipped them around her wrists.

“For kidnapping” he replied.

III

Jared moaned as he slowly began to feel himself coming back into consciousness. It was like he was being lifted at the speed of light to somewhere really high… from a deep, dark void, into a lighter area. He felt himself waking up, and he soon realized that he was.

. He was not cold, and he was not in too much pain… though he couldn’t remember much about what happened. The last thing he remembered was moving through the woods with Tyler.

The sudden thought of Tyler, though, sent a jolt of energy throughout his body.

“Tyler!” he thought.

“We’re still in the woods. We need to get moving!”

And with that, he immediately opened his eyes, and sat up at the same moment – but he effort to get up was cut short by horrible pain.

“AGH!” he grunted, quietly. The pain was intense enough to make him lay back down, but not bad enough to make him scream.

He slammed back down onto his back, gritting his teeth. A sharp, fiery pain filled his body. But it wasn’t the pain that surprised Jared at this point. With his eyes opened, he saw something he was not expecting at all. Something that completely, totally confused him.

He was not outside, like he remembered. He was in no woods, and in reality, he wasn’t in the van either.

Rather, he was lying in a dark room. He could hardly see a thing, except for a pale yellow light coming from underneath a door across the room. He could barely make out the rest of his surroundings in this dark room, be he knew he was lying in a bed, not a crib.

It felt like he was kidnapped again. He began to feel a bit of panic… but then he stopped. He heard a sound that was constant, that he didn’t notice before.

It was a constant beeping… like a heart monitor. He was in a hospital!

“Mmmm…” he heard.

It was an exhale, of some sort – from someone in the room with him. Someone was in the room with him! But who?

“H… Hello?” Jared said.

He could hear someone toss around, shuffling.

“Who’s there?” Jared said.

“Huh?” he heard back.

“Who’s there?” he repeated.

“J-Jared? Jared are you awake?” he heard. The voice was an innocent… calm… male voice coming from the farthest, darkest corner of the hospital room.

“Y-Yes. Who are you?” Jared replied.

“One second” he heard, and then suddenly, he heard the shuffling get louder as whoever was in the room with him, got up.

“Watch your eyes” he heard, and then the room’s ceiling light came on.

Jared opened his eyes, squinting painfully at the person standing before him, looking down at him.

It was a younger adult, wearing all dark clothes. He had a sincere expression of shock in his eyes.

“Jared… Jared Morris, you’re awake!” he heard.

“Who are you?” Jared asked.

The man shook his head, and stuck out his hand.

“I’m sorry Jared… I’m Detective Lynus. I work with the Federal Bureau of Investigation… or the FBI if you want to just call us that” he said.

“The FBI?” Jared said, his heart literally skipping a beat, which was audible on the heart monitor that was connected to him.

“Yes Jared… I’m here to help you. You’re safe now” Lynus said.

Jared leaned back in his pillow… he was out of breath. Suddenly, he couldn’t breathe… it was like he was in a dream.

“Where… where am I? What am I doing here? How am I here? What happened?” Jared said, in disbelief.

Detective Lynus nodded his head.

“Sure, sure… I’m sorry. You’re in the hospital. You were taken here, found unconscious in a car crash… we took you here – and Jared we know you were kidnapped, but you aren’t anymore… you’re safe!” Lynus assured.

“A car crash…” Jared said to himself… staring off… and like a bomb, suddenly everything flashed back in his head like a punch in the face! Jared suddenly had a grave look on his face when he remembered what he had done to Hector.

“They received a 9-11 call about the accident… by an unknown caller who said he had witnessed the whole thing. They told him to stay there… but when they arrived, no one was there but you” Lynus said.

“I know who it was” Jared said.

Lynus nodded his head.

“Ethan, right?” Lynus said.

Jared nodded.

“It had to have been…” Jared said.

“I don’t think anyone would’ve found you if it wasn’t for his call. You were off pretty far from the main road” Lynus explained.

“Ethan… saved my life…” Jared thought.

“…but why?” he thought to himself. It didn’t make sense.

“Any idea where Ethan is?” Jared asked.

The agent shook his head.

“No… we have teams searching for him, but they haven’t located him… but he’s the only one we haven’t been able to account for. Sarah is in our custody… and Hector is no longer alive. Jared, what is the last thing you remember?” Lynus replied.

Jared looked away at the mention of Hector… and he bit his tongue. He felt a sinking, hollow sensation in his chest as he remembered that he had sunk the knife into Hector’s neck, killing him.

At the time, he felt nothing… but now… he felt a bit more remorseful. He felt a bit disgusted, even if the man deserved it and Jared had to do it.

“…I… don’t remember getting into a car crash” Jared lied.

“I remember going through the woods with Tyler… and we fell asleep. I can kind of remember carrying Tyler because… Tyler!” Jared said, abruptly changing the subject.

“Where is Tyler?!” Jared asked.

The agent shook his head…

“It’s okay Jared, we got him… he was here before you were. He’s fine… he’s awake, and is doing well” he explained to Jared.

“He’s awake… that’s… that’s good I thought he was dead” Jared said back, sighing with relief.

“Now… you were saying?” Lynus said.

“Huh? Oh… I can’t remember anything after Sarah finding us” Jared lied.

He remembered everything… but he didn’t dare go on with what happened. He didn’t even want to remember what happened.

Lynus slowly nodded his head.

“Okay… okay, that does fine… please try to remember. You just got out of a coma… things are still cloudy” Lynus reminded.

“In a coma?” Jared asked.

Lynus looked at him, and nodded.

“Yeah Jared… you’ve been out cold for almost a week” Lynus replied.

“A week? Are you serious?” Jared said, shocked and taken back, and Lynus nodded his head.

“Yes Jared… that’s why I need to get a doctor. They need to ask you questions and make sure you’re okay” Lynus replied.

He began to open the door…

“Wait!” Jared said

Lynus spun around..

“Yes?” he asked.

“W-When can I see my family? When can I see Tyler?” Jared asked.

Lynus just smirked.

“Don’t worry Jared… they’ve been here the whole time, and you’ll see them soon” he replied.

---

“Hello Jared, I’m Dr. Blake” Blake said, sticking out his hand.

Jared shook his hand, and nodded. There was no need to introduce himself, since Dr. Blake obviously already knew who Jared was.

“Nice to meet you” Jared said.

“Likewise” said Blake.

“I have some questions of my own and answers to probably a few that you have” Blake explained.

“Okay, shoot” Jared replied.

“Are you feeling any pain in your head? Any dizziness, or fogginess? Your memory seems pretty clear and you seem alert but to be honest you hit your head really hard. I just want to make sure everything is okay” Dr. Blake said.

Jared responded to all of the doctor’s questions and performed very well on any and all examinations that the doctor, and the few other doctors or nurses had to offer, when it came to his head.

It seemed as though Jared had simply been sleeping for a week, rather than unconscious.

Jared also was asked and told about his leg. Apparently, the bullet, shot at such close range, went out the other side, and missed the bone completely. He was injured, and couldn’t walk on that leg very well, but he would recover.

Finally, they discussed Jared’s incontinence. He explained to Jared that it would be possible for him to regain control, but it would take time. He would have to be re-potty trained. It would be hard… but not impossible.

“Okay Jared… that’s all we needed to ask” Blake said.

“I’ll see you again soon, but I think it’s finally time you talk to your family. I’ll go tell them you’re finally awake… they’ve been dying to see you again” he said.

Jared continued to lay in the bed… and he began to really absorb what Lynus said, with sincere anticipation.

“My family… my real family…” he thought to himself.

It was like someone had flicked a switch in Jared’s head. Maybe it was because he was more awake… but when the idea of really seeing his family again went through his head, and he knew this wasn’t a dream… he felt such an intense wave of emotion.

It was the longest wait of his life, even though it was only a few minutes. But voices and footsteps echoed through the hall outside of his room… and soon, faces that Jared hadn’t seen in what seemed like a lifetime… confronted him again.

“Jared!”

“Mom!” Jared called back.

And in only a few seconds, Jared’s mother, and rest of his family, poured into the room, and his mom hugged him… She hugged him so strong, it surprised even Jared. He hugged her back, and they (everyone) in the room was instantly turned into tears.

“I’ve missed you so much baby… I missed you so much…” Jared’s mom said through sobs, muffled through his pillow.

“I’ve missed you too… I’ve missed all of you…” Jared said, warm tears poured down his face.

The two squeezed each other tight, rocking back and forth, sobbing heavily into each others’ shoulders… and they didn’t say a word.

There was not a single word spoken for a very long time. There were no needs for words. The scene spoke for itself.

“We looked for you… for so long… it made national news, Jared” Jared’s mom said to him.

Jared just shook his head.

“Tyler… he told us everything. I’m just so glad you’re okay…” his mom said.

“I just… I just want to go home” Jared said back.

“We will… We will… soon… don’t you worry” Jared’s mom said.

That’s pretty much how it was that night. The boy was up all night… and his family stuck close – but he was not the only one receiving the attention. In a room just a short walk away, Tyler and his family were still close, and they never left his side either – not for the week that he had been there.

---

…Epilogue

The days began to accelerate quickly after they had finally been relocated. Both of the boys were quickly released from the hospital, and were under protective care from the FBI, constantly under watch.

Within two weeks of her arrest, Sarah admitted to everything, and was ultimately found guilty of her crimes, such as the kidnapping of Jared, Tyler – and even Ethan. She was later sentenced, and would not be getting out of prison for a long, long time.

When asked why she did it… she had no clear answer. It seemed she wanted her child back… but investigators knew that it wouldn’t be clear. Even Sarah was unsure of why she did the things she did. Something about when Liam died truly broke her mind, it seemed. She wanted her child back.

Ethan was never located by police… but he was not a threat. He had no intention of making an appearance to anyone anytime soon – even though no one else knew that – it was the truth.

As for Hector… Jared later in a meeting with investigators, with an attorney present… admitted to killing Hector. However, he was never tried for any crimes. It was completely justifiable as self-defense in the situation that Jared was placed in. He never admitted it to his family, and at his requests, neither did investigators.

As for Jared’s molestation… he never discussed it except for with investigators and doctors. Never, ever to his family.

At one point shortly after their release from the hospital, they were told they were moving… but both Tyler and Jared absolutely refused. They wanted to live on together, in the places they were stolen from – and their parents allowed them that one wish. They remained together, and remain friends to this day.

The nine months they spent in the mansion changed their lives forever. The boys’ incontinence, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder, and Depression were all problems in the boys’ lives shortly after returning home. But they were okay.

Nothing was ever the same, not for anyone involved. But they succeeded… the boys succeeded.

They were home…

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Age:	<8 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 >18
What diapers do you wear?	Cloth Disposable Multiple Underpants I do not wear diapers
Are your diapers plain white?	Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never I do not wear diapers
Do you wear multiple diapers?	Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never I do not wear diapers
Are you pantsless at home while in diapers?	Always Usually Sometimes Rarely Never I do not wear diapers
How do you use your diapers?	Pee Poop
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