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Chapter Three

The Boys continued to stare at the doctor, waiting for him to answer the question in full. His delay of response was causing Brian to wonder just what was going on.

“When is her family coming,” he asked, and then thought of a better question, “Do they even know yet?”

Dr. Jones nodded, his facial expression showing no emotion, “They know,” he paused as if the next part was hard to say aloud in words. Brian didn’t understand this. He had always figured that doctors were used to things of this nature. Dr. Jones took a deep breath once more before continuing, “They refuse to come down. They said that Amber got herself in to this and that she’s old enough to take care of herself. They also stated that she could do just that when released. I informed them that you guys had found her and were here, asking for their consent to release her status to you. They said that they did not care, and hung up.” He stated, as if reading their minds of why they were being told everything about the girl.

Brian gasped at the harshness of the words which had been spoken by Amber’s own parents. The others appeared to be equally taken aback by the information. How could anybody with a beating heart do such a thing? Brian normally wasn’t one to judge people or think badly of them, but he figured that Amber’s parents must have ice running through their veins. The fact disgusted him. After a long moment, Kevin was the first of them to speak.

“You mean, they’re disowning their own daughter?” he asked, wondering if he was correctly understanding the situation.

“More or less,” Dr. Jones replied, confirming what the Boys had already thought to be true, “The sad thing is, Miss Harris will need all the support she can get over the next months and she won’t be getting that from those who matter most.”

With that last remark lingering in the air, Dr. Jones walked away, leaving the Boys with a lot to think about. None of them knew what to say. None of them could imagine not having their parents being there for them at a time like this. Then again, none of them could imagine being in a situation like the one Amber was facing either.

“You know, he proves a good point,” A.J. finally said after a long silence between them, “She needs somebody there for her…other than nurses and doctors. Where is she going to get that?”

Nobody responded, not knowing what to do or say. The thought of Amber not having anybody stuck in all of their minds. Kevin felt sorry for her. He could only imagine how frightened she would be when she woke up and recalled what had happened to her…and then to be told her parents didn’t want anything to do with her any longer to add on to it. Nobody deserved that and it angered Kevin that the two adults were acting like Amber had asked to be raped. Kevin didn’t know why this was getting to him so much. He had never even met Amber, so why did he care so much. Kevin looked at the faces of his friends, his brothers, and could tell that they were thinking the exact same thing about themselves.

“Hey, um, guys,” Kevin said, speaking aloud a thought that had come to his mind, “I know we’ve never met her…she never has met us, but, since she has nowhere to go, do you maybe want to offer to her going with us? She’ll be safe at least, and will have a roof over her head.”

The other four looked at one another, obviously considering the idea and putting great thought in to it. Kevin knew that it would be a big step for them to invite a complete stranger to go with him, but he would hold himself personally responsible if they didn’t at least try.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Nick stated with a soft smile.

“Me too,” Brian agreed, “If she wants to. We can’t force her…”

“But we can try,” Howie put in, “Trying won’t hurt.”

“Yeah,” A.J. piped up, “Especially since those people,” A.J. began, referring to Amber’s parents, spatting the word as if it had a bad taste, “are being such fucking idiots.”

Kevin smiled, happy that they had all agreed. Leaning his head back, Kevin closed his eyes. It was still early in to the night. There would be a long wait before they could pay the girl they had saved a visit. Kevin tried to get comfortable in the extremely uncomfortable chair that he was sitting in. Hearing a rustling noise, he opened one eye, seeing A.J. walking away. He wondered where he was going, but was too tired to ask, so shut his eye again, determined to try and get some sleep before morning and before it was time to visit.

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A.J. looked up when he heard movement coming from a few feet across from him. He saw that Brian was just coming out of his sleep. A.J. was the only one out of the five who hadn’t fallen in to a deep slumber and had been desperate for somebody to talk to. He was bored and wanted to share with someone what he’d found. Before Brian had the chance to fall back into his dreaming state, A.J. spoke.

“Hey, Bri, check out what this says here,” he said, talking quietly to make sure that he didn’t wake the other three men who were still fast asleep.

Brian looked over at A.J. He was pointing to something out of some sort of brochure or flyer.

“What’s that?” he asked, walking over to A.J. to see what he wanted him to look at. Whatever it was, it seemed to be intriguing the man.

“When I took a walk earlier, I ran across some pamphlets for just about everything…I found one on rape victims. It tells what to expect, the kinds of things that they’ll be going through, how to be there for them…the right and wrong things to say and do…everything.”

This seemed to strike an interest in Brian, as he started reading over the information that was written in it himself.

“I thought it might help us all be prepared for what to expect with Amber when we get to meet her later on.”

“Good idea,” Brian said, “I’m sure it will help us all out.”

A.J. agreed, happy that he’d stumbled upon the information. He’d learned so much already. A.J. hoped that the others would be as in to finding out more about this as he was. He knew that he couldn’t be the only one to know what he was doing. Four against one would not work out. Four people not knowing what to do would influence the girl in a negative way…overpowering the one who was well informed.

“It says here that at first, she’ll be in denial, and act like nothing is wrong.” Brian said, surprised, “How can anybody be in denial about something like that? I…I don’t get it.”

A.J. shrugged, not knowing how either. All he could think of was that Amber would be trying to block things out, acting like it never happened…but would only be able to keep up that act for so long. Once she came to grasp what had happened to her…

“We’re really in for a challenge,” A.J. muttered aloud with that thought in mind, “I hope we’re up to it. I hope we can do this.”

“We can,” Brian said with confidence, “There’s five of us…something is bound to go right, dontcha think?”

A.J. grinned, “Yeah, you’re right. And with Kev over there,” he shot a quick glance at the slightly older man, “He’ll make sure that we do everything perfectly.”

Brian couldn’t argue. He knew that Kevin would make sure that when it came to being there for Amber, everything would be followed to at T from the pamphlet. They would all try, but Kevin was most likely to succeed. For once, Brian thought that Kevin’s fatherly attribute might come in handy for the better, instead of getting on peoples last nerves.

A.J. scanned over the information, telling himself he would read it more carefully later. He just wanted to get a general idea at that moment. One thing in particular made him stop though, and he took in a sharp breath.

“Woah,” A.J. gasped, “Shit…hopefully we won’t be having to deal with this.”

“What?” Brian asked, trying to find what A.J. was talking about.

“Suicide attempts,” he stated, taking his eyes off of the writing in the small book, “It won’t come till a little later, but I honestly don’t know how I would deal with that sort of thing. That’s deep…it’s something that will be beyond our control. If she’s gonna try, she will no matter what.”

“Me either,” Brian stated, referring to A.J. saying that he was hoping that they could handle it, “If it comes up though, we need to do our best to try to um…wow…I have no idea what I’m saying.”

A.J. ignored the last part of Brian’s response, reading off something else that he had found.

“It also says rape victims experience severe depression,” Brian read aloud, “Mood swings, runs away…” Brian stopped at that. The last part worried him. A.J. was right. They definitely would have their work cut out for them over the next months. Brian wondered how old Amber was, “Nightmares are common, as well as flash backs, and obsessive compulsive behaviors…like checking locks repeatedly, and not wanting to be alone, also not trusting men though.”

Brian looked up, and his eyes met A.J’s as worried looks came over their faces. This was definitely something that could come as a barrier of them trying to help Amber. If she built a wall, it would take a long time to break it down.

“If she doesn’t trust men, and fears them,” A.J. began, “This definitely is going to complicate things.”

“We’ll just have to do our best,” Brian stated with a sigh, “Again, just take what we have and use it to our advantage…it might be difficult, but maybe we can convince her that we are harmless.”

A.J. snorted, suddenly having a bad feeling about this. If Amber wasn’t going to trust the male population, what would convince her to let five complete strangers, who happened to be of that species, take care of her?

“Well, four of us are harmless, at least,” Brian looked at A.J. strangely, wondering what that comment had meant, “Nick’s a big kid. Sure, he doesn’t mean anything by it, but he might scare her shitless.”

Brian chuckled lightly. He would have to make a point to warn Nick to be on his best behavior for a while. Then again, Kevin probably had already given Nick the same talk, and if not, intended to.

As if knowing that they were in Brian’s thoughts, Nick and Kevin both came out of their sleep within seconds of one another. The sun was just beginning to come up, the glare from it shining through the spotless window of the sliding doors causing Kevin to squint for a few seconds.

“What’s going on,” he asked with a yawn.

“Just doing some research,” A.J. said, reading more in to the pamphlet. The more he knew now, the better off he would be later on. Maybe if he remembered everything well enough, he could teach the others what he had learned, and they wouldn’t have to read it for themselves.

“I’m hungry,” Nick whined.

Kevin rolled his eyes, not even going to put up with Nick bickering about his growling stomach. He already knew that it would be a long enough day without his complaining and rambling.

“I’m going to go with Nicky here to the cafeteria,” Kevin stated, getting up, “We’ll be back in a little bit.”

Nick got up too, slightly wobbly since he had just woken up, but he quickly regained his balance. Kevin started to lead the way to which he thought the cafeteria might be in, but Dr. Jones stepped in to his path.

“I’m surprised to see that you are still here,” he stated in monotone, “Figured since you are so popular, you wouldn’t want to wait around.”

His comment angered Brian, and the voice woke up Howie. Brian didn’t like his superior tone. The man definitely thought that he was better than everyone else around him. Even if he did try to hide it, he wasn’t fooling Brian.”

“We wouldn’t just leave,” he said, trying not to get too worked up.

Dr. Jones shrugged, “You may see Amber now, but I must prepare you. She is a bit distraught, as she has just learned that her parents aren’t going to be with her any longer. She knows she has visitors though. Try to be gentle and patient with her.”

A.J. rolled his eyes, holding up the pamphlet and waving it in front of the Doctor’s eyes, “Know this. Been reading up on it.” He stated irritably, “Just lead us to her already…please.” A.J said the last word sarcastically.

“Very well. Follow me.”

The Boys all stood up, followed the doctor to the elevator to go to Amber’s room. Making an attempt not to be nervous, each of them was trying to prepare themselves the best they could for what they were about to face and what might come with it.