The Obsession
22.
It was eight in the morning the next day when he woke up on an ivy colored sofa in a cream room with a fireplace, a dark red couch near it, white carpeting, and a small little black coffee table in between the two couches.
"Where am I?" he muttered with a yawn.
"Ryan? Are you up?" he heard a voice ask.
"Yeah." Lacie entered the room with a black business suit on and gave a small sigh before telling him, "Ryan, we have to talk about your father and your relationship with him."
"So.. I'm not legally married to George, am I?"
She shook her head and he gave out a loud sigh of relief. "Thank God!" Lacie grinned at his happiness.
"Your father has mild to severe mental problems. Now, I know what he did to you when we were dating, but what was he doing before we started dating?" His stomach did three back flips as a tear began to come out of his eye.
"I don't.. I.." he choked on his own words before he bit his lip and went on to tell her, "He did some things to me, but I don't want to talk about all of it. I'll just tell you what I'm comfortable of telling you." She nodded in understanding.
"He would never, ever let me go outside alone. He'd always would have me in the house. We would only go outside only on one day every five months. He never let me go to school growing up.. He pulled me out of kindergarten after the first week of it because he 'missed me'."
He stopped speaking and Lacie gave him a simple smile, "Please, you're doing well. Ryan, I love your father and I want him to get better..as well as you. Tell me all that he has ever done to you so we can get him help. So he can't ever hurt you ever again."
There was a hesitant silence, followed by a quick, "Are you sure that if we get him help he won't ever do anything to me again? He is stubborn as a mule Lacie. I don't think he could ever get better and I don't believe that he could he ever stop doing this shit to me!"
"Ryan, I am positive he won't. With the shrink and the right medication, he will get better. And he won't hurt you anymore." Her response was soon challenged by, "Tell me what you saw him do to me when you were dating him."
She took a breath before saying as calmly as she could, "I.. walked in on him and you taking a bath together. I thought it was just normal, till I saw him kiss you in inappropriate places. I tried to ask him, but he just said that it was 'a coincidence'. I shook it off. I caught him touching you sexually when you were asleep and taking lewd, sexually explicit photos of you. I asked him about it. He called it 'scrap booking.'" She took a deep breath before continuing:
"I shook that off as well. I just thought, 'Well, he and his son are just a little bit close.' Then, I found this.. Eerie and creepy photo album..filled with pictures of you. All the way from when you were born, to the time we dating. It had pictures of you doing every day things and disturbing pictures of you naked and at kindergarten. I asked him about it, then he told me, 'I just want to capture his every precious moment.' I shook that off again. But that was the last thing that was shaken off. I noticed he was going out on dates with you more than me. I noticed he wouldn't let me move in, but he shared his bed with you. I caught him touching you when you were sleeping in his bed and that was when I snapped. I yelled at him, he yelled at me, and we broke up."
Letting this all sink into his head, it all finally seemed to make some sense as to why his dad hated Lacie so much, but what did he do to her to make not do something about this situation before? Why did she just, all of a sudden, step in now?
He gave out a tiny whimper before asking, "Why did you just step in now? Why didn't you do anything to stop this before if you knew what was going on, what he was doing to me.. Why now, why not then?"
"Ryan, it was a difficult time. I had to wait for the right moment to get him in trouble with the law. I had to wait for my step brother to become the head of the police force before I could do anything about him."
"Why didn't you at least try to help me?!" he screamed as tears fell from his eyes. "He was.. Was violating me, making me get dressed in front of him, dressing me, making me shower with him.. He did a lot of shit to me! So, now you're telling me that I couldn't have gone through this crap if you would've told someone?"
"Ryan he was trying to kill me!" she fired back. He gave her a confused look as she continued on to say, "I threatened to call the cops on him if he did not get mental help. He thought I was jealous of your relationship with him. But I wasn't. He hired hit men to assassinate me, he tried to strangle me to death, he tried to poison my food, he tried to beat me to death.. Ryan, your father went insane because of that. How could I have helped you when he was trying to kill me? I had to help you now because he had his guard down and for once, he wasn't trying to kill me. It was finally safe for me to tell someone."
Ryan sat down on the couch as the tears pricked at his eyes. He grabbed a tissue and wiped them away. Glancing to the floor, he thought about what he should say now. Yet, Lacie ignored his thoughts with a, "I'm sorry for everything he has done to you. I'm deathly sorry for not telling anyone earlier. I'm sorry. But, I'm here to help now." She grabbed out a green note book with the matching pen from the Wal-Mart bag and handed it to him. "Write down everything you've ever felt over the years and how you feel now. Write how your father affected these things. Write what he did to you Ryan, so we can get you both some help."
She patted his shoulder, then left the room. Five seconds later, he was writing everything down in a little green note book like as if it was a biography of his life; a confessional for everything he had done to make his this way. How this was all his fault.
Yet, at the very end of the hour when he was done with writing, he had figured out what he wanted.
Lacie was in the kitchen when he came in and threw the notebook on the table.
"I wrote down everything so don't ask me anymore questions, please." She was about to speak, but was cut off by, "I don't want him by me. At all. Anymore, or ever again. I want to be relocated in a different state or town where he can't find me and I want a one hundred feet restraining order against him. I can't take this anymore, Lace. I can't. If I am ever going to be able to get over this, I need a new start. And I need him out of my life."
"Where am I?" he muttered with a yawn.
"Ryan? Are you up?" he heard a voice ask.
"Yeah." Lacie entered the room with a black business suit on and gave a small sigh before telling him, "Ryan, we have to talk about your father and your relationship with him."
"So.. I'm not legally married to George, am I?"
She shook her head and he gave out a loud sigh of relief. "Thank God!" Lacie grinned at his happiness.
"Your father has mild to severe mental problems. Now, I know what he did to you when we were dating, but what was he doing before we started dating?" His stomach did three back flips as a tear began to come out of his eye.
"I don't.. I.." he choked on his own words before he bit his lip and went on to tell her, "He did some things to me, but I don't want to talk about all of it. I'll just tell you what I'm comfortable of telling you." She nodded in understanding.
"He would never, ever let me go outside alone. He'd always would have me in the house. We would only go outside only on one day every five months. He never let me go to school growing up.. He pulled me out of kindergarten after the first week of it because he 'missed me'."
He stopped speaking and Lacie gave him a simple smile, "Please, you're doing well. Ryan, I love your father and I want him to get better..as well as you. Tell me all that he has ever done to you so we can get him help. So he can't ever hurt you ever again."
There was a hesitant silence, followed by a quick, "Are you sure that if we get him help he won't ever do anything to me again? He is stubborn as a mule Lacie. I don't think he could ever get better and I don't believe that he could he ever stop doing this shit to me!"
"Ryan, I am positive he won't. With the shrink and the right medication, he will get better. And he won't hurt you anymore." Her response was soon challenged by, "Tell me what you saw him do to me when you were dating him."
She took a breath before saying as calmly as she could, "I.. walked in on him and you taking a bath together. I thought it was just normal, till I saw him kiss you in inappropriate places. I tried to ask him, but he just said that it was 'a coincidence'. I shook it off. I caught him touching you sexually when you were asleep and taking lewd, sexually explicit photos of you. I asked him about it. He called it 'scrap booking.'" She took a deep breath before continuing:
"I shook that off as well. I just thought, 'Well, he and his son are just a little bit close.' Then, I found this.. Eerie and creepy photo album..filled with pictures of you. All the way from when you were born, to the time we dating. It had pictures of you doing every day things and disturbing pictures of you naked and at kindergarten. I asked him about it, then he told me, 'I just want to capture his every precious moment.' I shook that off again. But that was the last thing that was shaken off. I noticed he was going out on dates with you more than me. I noticed he wouldn't let me move in, but he shared his bed with you. I caught him touching you when you were sleeping in his bed and that was when I snapped. I yelled at him, he yelled at me, and we broke up."
Letting this all sink into his head, it all finally seemed to make some sense as to why his dad hated Lacie so much, but what did he do to her to make not do something about this situation before? Why did she just, all of a sudden, step in now?
He gave out a tiny whimper before asking, "Why did you just step in now? Why didn't you do anything to stop this before if you knew what was going on, what he was doing to me.. Why now, why not then?"
"Ryan, it was a difficult time. I had to wait for the right moment to get him in trouble with the law. I had to wait for my step brother to become the head of the police force before I could do anything about him."
"Why didn't you at least try to help me?!" he screamed as tears fell from his eyes. "He was.. Was violating me, making me get dressed in front of him, dressing me, making me shower with him.. He did a lot of shit to me! So, now you're telling me that I couldn't have gone through this crap if you would've told someone?"
"Ryan he was trying to kill me!" she fired back. He gave her a confused look as she continued on to say, "I threatened to call the cops on him if he did not get mental help. He thought I was jealous of your relationship with him. But I wasn't. He hired hit men to assassinate me, he tried to strangle me to death, he tried to poison my food, he tried to beat me to death.. Ryan, your father went insane because of that. How could I have helped you when he was trying to kill me? I had to help you now because he had his guard down and for once, he wasn't trying to kill me. It was finally safe for me to tell someone."
Ryan sat down on the couch as the tears pricked at his eyes. He grabbed a tissue and wiped them away. Glancing to the floor, he thought about what he should say now. Yet, Lacie ignored his thoughts with a, "I'm sorry for everything he has done to you. I'm deathly sorry for not telling anyone earlier. I'm sorry. But, I'm here to help now." She grabbed out a green note book with the matching pen from the Wal-Mart bag and handed it to him. "Write down everything you've ever felt over the years and how you feel now. Write how your father affected these things. Write what he did to you Ryan, so we can get you both some help."
She patted his shoulder, then left the room. Five seconds later, he was writing everything down in a little green note book like as if it was a biography of his life; a confessional for everything he had done to make his this way. How this was all his fault.
Yet, at the very end of the hour when he was done with writing, he had figured out what he wanted.
Lacie was in the kitchen when he came in and threw the notebook on the table.
"I wrote down everything so don't ask me anymore questions, please." She was about to speak, but was cut off by, "I don't want him by me. At all. Anymore, or ever again. I want to be relocated in a different state or town where he can't find me and I want a one hundred feet restraining order against him. I can't take this anymore, Lace. I can't. If I am ever going to be able to get over this, I need a new start. And I need him out of my life."