Page 19 of Caged
Marshall glanced over at him for a second. "Yeah, it's what I do. I'm really good at it."
"Did you mean it when you said you'd teach me how to use them?" He remembered computers being around, but he'd hardly gotten to use one when he'd lived with his mom. Only the ones at school were available, and the teachers hadn't let him on them often.
"Yep, if you want to learn. Since you were taken when you're seven, I'm guessing you haven't had much time to learn things. Can you read well?"
"Yeah, I can read. When Larry would lock me in the bathroom when he left the house, he'd leave me with books. I would sit for hours and read. I'm not good with math or numbers though. Most things I learned were from listening to the TV at night when Larry thought I was asleep. He made me sleep on his bedroom floor. He'd watch TV and even though I had to keep my eyes closed, I'd listen to the shows and the news." He wondered if Marshall watched the news at night. It would be strange to go to bed now without hearing the news.
"Well, my plan is to give you a week or so to get used to things. We'll set you up with a therapist and get that going, but I think for the first while, you just need to get used to being free. I'm happy to help you learn anything you want, take you places, show you things, but don't push yourself right now. Just enjoy your freedom. I've got the next few days off work, but then I'll have to go in a bit, but if you're not comfortable being alone, I have a couple of friends who can come stay with you and keep you company. In fact, I think you'll like some of my friends when you meet them."
Danny wondered about his friends from when he was younger. Would any of them still be around? He realized last night that Larry hadn't taken him very far from his home. He was less than an hour from where he'd grown up. Would he want to see his old friends again? Would they even remember him? "I don't know how I'd feel alone."
"We'll deal with that when the time comes. I just want to make sure you know that you can do whatever you want. I want you to feel comfortable in my house and not nervous there. Make yourself comfortable. If you want to watch TV, watch it. If you want to play music, play it. If you want to go for a walk, I'd ask you to let me know you're leaving, but go out and see the area."
The thought of walking around alone made him nervous. He wasn't sure he could do that. He'd be looking over his shoulder the whole time. "I think for now, I'll stay inside."
Marshall slowed and Danny realized they were on the street where he lived. Danny fisted his hands as he saw the house where he'd been held. He wasn't surprised to see two police vehicles parked in front of it and several other people who looked like detectives moving around the front of the house.
"I'm guessing they'll be going through the house for a few days." Marshall pulled into his driveway. "You okay?"
"Yeah." He nodded, watching as two men carried bags of things from the front door. "What are they taking?"
"Any evidence they can get. It could be computers, photos, journals, DNA evidence. Anything they can use to find Larry and prosecute him. Were there rooms you weren't allowed in?"
"One, it was one of the other bedrooms. I never saw him go in there, but I'd hear him when I was locked in the bathroom sometimes and it sounded like he did. It was always locked. The boys were never allowed upstairs. Neither was I until the boys came. There are no windows or anything in the basement. You can see where there had been, but he cemented them in so I couldn't escape. In many ways, being down there was better. He would only come down when he wanted…" Danny ducked his head. "Once I moved upstairs, I had to deal with him all of the time even though he no longer came to me to do things to him."
Marshall reached over and gripped Danny's knee gently. "It's over."
"I know. I just can't forget." He swallowed hard, wondering if he ever would.
"That's something that you'll work through in time." Marshall nodded to the house. "Let's go in and eat and get you set up in a room."
"Thanks." He pushed the door open, trying not to look at the activity next door, but it was impossible. He wanted to know what the police had found inside. He forced himself to follow Marshall into the house, and to the kitchen.
He hadn't really looked around when he'd been there before, but he did now. The place was really nice. It was also very clean. He wondered if that was because Marshall just moved in or if he was the type of person who made sure everything had a place and everything was always picked up. "It's a nice house."
"Thanks. I like it. I moved here from a really shitty apartment, so it's nice to have some space to move around, but the main reason I bought it was the backyard. I love it out there. I hope to get a garden in next summer. My aunt always had a garden, and I loved working in it." Marshall pulled out a stool. "Have a seat."
The food had his mouth watering. "Is it sad I'm excited for McDonald's?"
"Not at all. I love fast food. I eat way too much of it. There're some new places you've got to try. We'll take it slow, but give all of them a try eventually. I'm actually excited to have the chance to introduce you to all my favorite things. In time, of course. I don't want to rush you going out in public, especially since your name is all over the news right now."
"It is?" Danny's eyes went wide. The news was enough to distract him from his hunger. "What are they saying?"
"Mostly they are focusing on when you went missing and just stating you've been found. I'm guessing the police have been pretty quiet about things so the media doesn't know much about where you've been held all these years. That won't last. I'm guessing they'll do a press conference eventually, but I'm pretty sure they won't do it without warning you first." Marshall pulled food out of the bag and placed it in front of each of them. "I am guessing it's only a matter of time before the news wants to try and get you to do interviews. Once they find out where you're staying, which I hope is a long time from now, you'll need to be careful about answering the door."
Danny didn't know what to think. "Why would they want to talk to me?"
"The media loves happy endings and you being found twelve years later is a happy ending in their eyes." Marshall picked up a French fry. "If you decide you want to talk to them, I'll support you, but if you want to stay out of sight for now, I'll make sure they don't bother you the best I can. This story has gone national. I looked it up on my phone today and major media outlets are talking about you. While this might help find Larry, it's going to be hell on you for a while."
"What do I do?"
"Do you want to talk to them?"
"Not really. I wouldn't know what to say. I don't want to talk about things that happened." He was ashamed that people would guess what had been done to him. It was embarrassing and he was sure everyone blamed him for going off with Larry in the first place. He reached for his drink. "Will the police tell them everything?"
"I don't think so. Probably just that you and the boys were found and who had you. They'll hopefully have pictures of Larry to show so people know who to watch for."
He hated the thought of the boys dealing with all this too. He'd asked to see them before leaving the hospital, but both families refused any visitors. He didn't blame them, but he'd hoped the boys would want to see him. He didn't want them ever thinking he agreed with anything Larry had done. "I want to watch the news tonight and see what they say."
