Little Boy Lost
 

Part Six

Lindsay was sitting in the living room going through a photo album full of pictures of Gus. She was afraid that she would never see her little boy again. She knew that it wasn’t Brian’s fault, but part of her blamed him. She also blamed herself. If one of them had just held onto his hand maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Maybe he’d be okay and safe at home. A tear rolled down her cheek as she ran her fingers over one of the pictures. She just wanted her little boy to come home. Melanie watched her from the kitchen for a minute before coming over and joining Lindsay on the couch.

“I made you some tea.” She said, putting the cup down on the coffee table.

“Thanks.” Lindsay said with a slight smile. She didn’t look up from the pictures.

“He’s gonna be okay, Linds.” Melanie put her arm around her wife. “They’re gonna get him back.”

“How do you know that?” Lindsay finally looked at Melanie. There was pain and uncertainty and guilt in her eyes. Melanie wrapped her arms around Lindsay, pulling her into a hug.

“Because I know Brian is going to do everything he can to make sure Gus comes back okay.” She said softly. Brian had told them about Hobbs’ phone call immediately after it happened. They tried to talk him into calling the police, along with Justin, but he said it was better if they didn’t.

“What if he can’t? What if it doesn’t work? What if…” Lindsay started crying.

“You can’t think about that, Lindsay. You just have to have faith that Gus is going to be okay.” Melanie wished she felt as confident as she sounded. Lindsay nodded and went back to looking at the pictures.

“I just want my little boy back.” She sniffled and a tear fell onto the page she was looking at.
 

*****

“Brian, you can’t do this alone. What if he’s got a gun or some other kind of weapon? What if this is a trap?” Justin was pleading with Brian.

“It’s a chance I’ll have to take.” Brian said as he loaded the last of the money into his briefcase. He’d gone to the bank and gotten the cash after arranging for it on the phone.

“At least let me call the police. Let them know what you’re planning to do.”

“No. If you do that, they’ll show up and it’ll fuck up everything. I have to do this alone, Justin.” He wouldn’t look Justin in the eye. Brian was very afraid that not only would he not get Gus back, but that he wouldn’t return himself. He wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but he had to do what he could to get his son back.

“Is there some way you can put something in the bag that the police can track so they can find Gus? I mean….there’s bound to be something besides just handing over the money and hoping he lives up to his end of the deal.”

“And what if I do that and he finds it when he’s going through the money? What happens then, Justin? He could hurt Gus, or worse.” Brian swallowed hard. He didn’t even know if Gus was still okay. He just had to have faith that everything would work itself out.

“This is completely insane, Brian. He should be arrested!” Justin started pacing. He was definitely worried that things wouldn’t work out. He could understand Brian’s point of view. He loved Gus as his own son and would do anything to keep him safe. Justin had a bad feeling, though, that if they didn’t get the police involved it was just going to make things worse for them instead of better.

“You think I don’t know that? The fucker should have been in jail this whole time, but that didn’t work. And you honestly think he won’t get a top rate lawyer that’ll find some way of getting him out of this too? This is just kidnapping. He got away with attempted murder. And considering the fact that he kidnapped a fag’s son……they’ll call him a hero. They’ll say he was trying to save Gus from his sick and perverted parents. No court in the world will fucking convict him because he’s straight and we’re fags and that’s all there is to it.” Brian sighed heavily. Justin sighed as well, looking at Brian. He knew that Brian’s logic was probably a bit off, but unfortunately it wasn’t so far off as to be completely unbelievable. Brian closed his briefcase and set it by the door, then came back to sit on the couch. Justin sat in his lap, wrapping his arms loosely around Brian’s neck.

“Just promise me one thing.” Justin said, looking into Brian’s eyes as he ran his fingers through Brian’s soft hair.

“What?” Brian asked as he looked into the worried blue eyes in front of him.

“Just…..be careful.” Justin said softly. Brian nodded and gave Justin a quick but tender kiss. They sat there on the couch, holding each other, watching the clock until it was time for Brian to leave.
 

*****

“I WANT MY DADDY!”

“Shut up!”

“I WANT MY DADDY!” Gus screamed at the top of his lungs. He was back in the dark room and it was really scary and he hated it. He was dirty and hungry and scared and he just wanted to go home.

“I said shut up!” The man said from the other side of the door. Gus wanted to make him come in. He wanted to make the man take him outside into the light.

“I WANT MY DADDY!” He screamed again. He knew that it was making the man mad, but if he opened the door there would be light and everything would be okay.

“Shut the fuck up you little brat!” The man said. He banged on the door and that made Gus even more scared.

“I WANT MY DADDY!” Gus screamed one more time. His throat was starting to hurt from the screaming but he really did want his daddy. Finally, the door came open. Gus had to squint his eyes against the light but at least it wasn’t dark anymore. The man came in and grabbed Gus by the arm and pulled him out into the other room.

“What did I tell you? I told you to shut up! Why won’t you shut up?!” The man was really mad and Gus was scared but he knew his daddy would come and everything would be okay.

“I want my daddy.” Gus said softly. The man shook Gus a little. Gus noticed that the man wasn’t really paying attention. He decided that maybe he could get away. He remembered something from one of his preschool classes about getting away from strangers. The man started to bring his hand around to cover Gus’ mouth to get him to be quiet. Gus used that chance to bite down hard on the man’s hand. The hand that was on Gus’ arm let go and he took off running.

“You little shit!” The man said as he started to run after Gus. Gus ran as fast as he could but he wasn’t fast enough. The man grabbed him from behind, holding the collar of his shirt tight so he couldn’t breathe right. Gus coughed and tried to get away, but the man was too strong.

“Let me go!” He said, still trying to get away.

“I’ll teach you to try something like that again.” The man said. He hit Gus hard across the face. It hurt a lot and Gus started crying. He saw the man bring his hand back like he was going to hit him and his head hurt a lot, but then everything went black.
 

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