Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2024 16:12:22 -0500 From: James Heady Subject: The Wounds Within My Heart--Book 3--Chapter 21 The Wounds Within My Heart By James Disclaimer This is a story which deals with sexual and romantic situations between teenaged boys. This story will at times deal with situations concerning rape, child abuse, Racism, Ableism, suicide and other dark subject matter. If you're not of the legal age to read such material, or if you're disturbed by this type of story, then please back out now. Also, please remember to donate to Nifty, as it's your donations that keep this and other stories on the site free to the public. Finally, if you like this story, and haven't done this already, invite my E-mail address jamesheady1985@gmail.com out to a really fancy dinner at an extremely exclusive restaurant. Once seated and the food is at your table, spend the whole meal telling them an extremely detailed story about the former YouTuber/internet personality known as Nick Bate. Thanks to my editor K. for the well-done editing he does on this story. I always appreciate your edits you make to each chapter. Without you, this story wouldn't be what it is. Thank you. The Wounds Within My Heart Part Nine Aiden Chapter 21 Aiden The van was going down the highway, and I struggled to remain calm. We had been on the road for about 20 minutes at this point. Just a few minutes ago, Doug told me a little more about the place to which I'd be going. It was called Moon Light Bay. "What, do they have vampires running the place?" I thought, but didn't say. Doug went on to tell me about how they were successful at reforming many kids who were suffering from the sickness of Same-Sex Attractions. He said that he was sure that they could help me too. The one thing the Bastard wasn't understanding, no matter how many times I said it, was that I wasn't quite sure that I was actually gay. Sure, I had feelings for other guys. I had been experiencing them for a couple of years now, and worked as hard as I could to keep them from coming up. I knew my family wouldn't ever accept me being like that. My dad always talked of his brother who had been disowned by their family when he was 18, and a few years later he died of AIDS. My dad made it clear that he believed that his brother deserved everything that he got, including his AIDS diagnosis. Given those sentiments, I had no reason to believe that he would have any different feelings towards me if he knew I was possibly gay or bi. It was the same with my mom. Though both of them claimed their Mormon beliefs as their reason for disagreeing with LGBT people, I could tell even as young as I was that for my dad, it was his brother's being gay that really drove his dislike for the LGBT Community. Given all of that, I knew it stood to reason that my mom and dad would have made the decision to send me to the place I was going to now. It was either that, or they could have kicked me out on the streets. As I rode along in the van, I was finding myself wishing that my parents had just thrown me out of the house. Doug had mentioned that they had extremely harsh punishments for kids who acted out of line at the school. He could have been making it up, but I still didn't want to find out first hand. After a few more minutes of driving, Doug slowed, then stopped the car. I had enough vision out of my right eye to see things up close. The vision in my left eye was blurred, and getting more so as time went by. I had Glaucoma, which was responsible for my visual impairment. Though my vision was low-level, I could see out of my right eye that we were in front of a restaurant. "If you're hungry then you need to tell me what you want now," Doug said. "After this, we're not stopping anywhere else," Terry added. "We're in Sangger now," Doug went on. "We won't be for long though, and we have a long trip ahead of us." "If you thought we had been on the road for a while right now, you haven't seen anything yet," Terry added. "I'll take a burger and fries," I said. "Okay," Doug answered. "Terry, you come with me. He'll be fine here. You can unlock his cuffs. I'll be able to see him if he tries to run." After freeing my hands, they exited the van. I waited for a moment, then I saw where Doug's phone rested on the console between the front seats. Grabbing it, I checked his Maps App. His phone was an iPhone, and with Voice Over's help, I was able to navigate through everything. After finding the address, I used the SOS Call Feature which quickly called 9-11. I told the dispatcher everything, and I did have to work for a moment to get her to understand that my situation was truly an emergency. She said that she was sending help out now, and I just hoped that she would get them there in time. I then hung up, and placed the phone back exactly where I found it. I just hoped that Doug would think it hadn't been moved at all. Doug and Terry returned to the van, and once in, Terry handed me my food and drink. Doug started the van, but waited while Terry and I got our food unwrapped. At that point, Doug went to back out, then his phone rang causing him to stop driving. "God Damn it," he said sharply. "Now what!" I felt my guts clench up. I worried that it was the 9-11 dispatcher calling back. Fortunately, it wasn't. It was someone from the place we were going. At least I figured it was from what Doug was saying when he said that we would be there in about four hours. "Not if I have anything to say about it, you child-abusing little prick," I thought in my head. Doug ended the call, and he began to back out once again. Suddenly he stopped and sat looking out the windows. "What the hell?" he said. "What's with all those police cars?" Terry said amazed. From the little I could see, it looked like there were about five of them. A couple of them pulled in on either side of us. Two of the others pulled up behind us, boxing us in, and a few people exited from the other one that sat beside the two behind us. They headed straight for our van, and Doug turned to me. "You did this didn't you!" he said through clenched teeth. "Oh how you'll fucking pay for this!" "You're the one who's going to fucking pay," I said then with all the force I could muster I punched him in the jaw. There was a sick crunch, and he screamed. Terry turned and tried to move towards me. I delivered a crushing blow to where I hoped his nose was, and he screamed as well. "You little Mother fucker!" Terry screamed and sobbed at the same time. There was a sharp knock on the driver's side window, and a male voice announcing that it was the police. The voice then ordered everyone to step out of the car. Doug got out first, then Terry exited. "I can see you in the back," the man's voice called out in my direction. "Are you the one who called 9-11?" "Yeah, I called them," I yelled out. "Those guys have me tied up, otherwise I'd get out of the van." "We'll help with that," the man said. "I'm Officer Smith by the way." "Thanks, and I'm Aiden," I replied. The man who introduced himself as Officer Smith came around to where I sat on the right side of the van. He ordered Doug to unlock the doors, and he did. I then heard the door being slid open, and Officer Smith was reaching in. He undid the ropes that kept me tied to the seat, and fortunately there were no handcuffs to remove. Doug hadn't put them back on yet. "Are you alright? Can you walk?" Smith asked. "I think so," I said. "I only have a few places on my shoulders that hurt from when they grabbed me. That was when we were leaving the house." "You can't believe him," Doug yelled over at us. "He's no innocent victim. You don't know what he's like." "Fuck you!" I screamed over at him. "You and your piece-of-shit friend over there are worthless kidnappers. These guys will give you what you fucking deserve!" Go fuck yourself you fucking Cock Suckers!" I then felt my knees give way, but Smith held on to me before I could fall. "We'll get you to the station," he said. "We need to know what happened." "I'll be happy to tell you everything," I answered. I took hold of Officer Smith's elbow, as I didn't have my guiding cane with me. No one packed it when Doug and Terry took me from my house. Smith led me over to one of the police cars. He had me get in the back seat, then he closed the door. Once he got in the front seat, he started up the car. "My partner beside me is Officer Johnson. We said hi to each other, then we headed out of the parking lot. "I don't suppose I can have the food that I was going to eat a few minutes ago?" I asked. "It's in another car with one of the other officers," Smith said. "It's now evidence. Sorry about that." He did sound sorry. "We can get you something else once we get to the station," Johnson added. "Thanks," I said. "That would be good. By the way, what time is it?" "It's almost 5:00 A.M.," Smith answered. I couldn't believe it. It seemed like it was much later than that! "I can't believe that all this happened in only a matter of a few hours!" I said. "Yeah, it's funny how that works," Johnson responded. Once at the station, Smith went to get me a replacement meal, and Johnson sat down across from me. "First of all, are you alright with us video-taping this meeting?" he asked. "This is for the record, and so that anyone can go back and review it later if that becomes necessary." "I don't have a problem with that," I answered. "Okay," he said then began recording. "So first I want to call your parents," he began. "I just want to see what they have to say about all this." "Okay," I answered. Johnson made the call, and he put it on speaker phone. There were two rings, then the phone was picked up. "Hello," a female voice answered. It was my mom. "Mrs. Foster?" Johnson asked. "Is this Mrs. Brenda Foster?" "It is, who's asking?" she asked. "I'm Officer Trent Johnson from The Sangger Police Department," Johnson answered. "My partner Officer Ron Smith and I were called to a restaurant where we found a boy in a van with two men. The two men called themselves Doug and Terry. We're not sure that those are their names, and are having them checked. They're being held for questioning and will possibly be charged with attempted kidnapping. Also, we have the boy who had been with them. He's with us now. His name is Aiden Foster, and according to his State ID, he's 14 years old. He'll be 15 at the end of December, that's next month. Aiden told us that you and a Patrick Foster are his parents. What do you have to say about any of this?" There was a long silence, then I spoke leaning close to the speaker. "Hello Mother," I said with a voice that I hoped gushed sarcasm. "I'm guessing that you didn't think you'd be hearing from me this soon, did you?" "What's going on?" she said sharply. "Didn't you hear Officer Johnson?" I asked. "He asked what you might know about any of this." I said that last part as I felt the first stirrings of hate for my parents. "Officer Johnson, you have to understand the situation," she began in that patronizing tone I so fucking hated! "Aiden has a lot of problems, not the least of which is a severe struggle with what are called Same-Sex Attractions. My husband and I set everything up about a week ago at a place that would take Aiden in. They were going to help him. He was being driven there tonight. That's why he was in the van with those two men." "Oh, I know all about places like that, and the men who take the kids in the early morning hours so they can send them there," Johnson said voice hardening with rage. "I also know about this particular place. There've been seven kids who went there in the past year alone. Four of them ran away and are presumed dead. No sign of them have been found to date. The other three died while at the school. Still have any desire to send Aiden there now?" "I'''I'''I''', I didn't know anything about that!" she said, attempting to fake horror. "You didn't want to know about it!" I shouted into the phone. "You and Dad could be mean and petty over the years, and somehow, I accepted that. This I can't accept! You and that Bastard tried to send me off to a place where they did God only knows what to the kids. For all we know, they killed the three out of those missing seven kids! You were trying to send me to a place where they could have killed me!" I screamed that last part, then my knees gave way for a second time. Johnson was around the table within seconds, and he caught me before I could hit the floor. He helped me back into my chair. I wasn't crying at that point, but I was close to it. "We were only trying to help you," my mom said sharply. "You are a fucking hateful bigoted Bitch, and I hate you!" I said with as much acid and hate I could put into my voice. "I dealt with anti-LGBT beliefs while going to the school for the blind. I started feeling bad about that over the last couple of months, and you as well as your piece-of-shit husband, are the ones who taught me that Shit! Oh, you guys along with that disgusting Mormon Church Cult you're both a part of, are all trash! Fuck you. Fuck that shit husband you're with, and fuck your church! All of you can fucking go to Hell!" "Fuck you too you dirty Faggot!" she screamed into the phone. "Mrs. Foster," Johnson interrupted. "You can talk to me through my attorney," she screamed, then there was a click as the phone went dead. "Okay, now what do I do," I said, still in shock that I said all that to my own mother. I didn't think I had it in me. "Now I have nowhere to go. I haven't really heard good things about Foster Care. That will be interesting to experience." "Don't worry, we'll figure out a safe place for you to go," Johnson answered. Smith returned with a new order of food, and I ate mostly in silence. The camera had been turned off, and I figured that Johnson had shut it off during the course of me cussing out my mother. After finishing my food, we began with my statement. It was nearing 7:00 A.M. by the time we finished up. I felt like I could fall asleep standing if I were on my feet at that moment. Smith and Johnson made several calls, and I waited until they were off the phone. Smith then sat down where Johnson had been sitting a few minutes before. "Okay, here's what's going to happen now," he began. "Your parents are being picked up. They will be charged with Child Endangerment, along with Attempted Kidnapping. We also have a place for you to go. The woman's name is Beth Swanson, and she has a foster license. She's taken in kids from time-to-time. She hasn't taken in any for a couple of years now for the fact that she had been doing different jobs and needed to save up more money. She's back to taking in kids though, and you'll be the first to stay with her. That is if you're alright with it." "I don't think I really have much of a choice, and hopefully she'll be a good person to stay with until I can be taken in by someone else in my family, or if someone adopts me," I answered. "Okay," Smith replied. "We'll get you there here in a few minutes. Johnson is setting it up with her now." 0000 Beth checked the guest room she kept made up. It was in order, and she thought it would be nice to start taking in kids again. She had been doing it for a while, then over the last couple of years, she did a few jobs related to helping young women with reproductive issues. That was Beth's passion actually, but few places would hire her to do any jobs related to that field. So she was left with working in sales or other variants of Customer Service for the rest of the time. Beth hated those kinds of jobs, and when she would talk with David about it, he was fortunately a sympathetic ear. Now though, she was working a job helping young women and girls. Not only did she love it, it was also bringing in enough money for her to be able to take in foster kids again. This Aiden kid definitely sounded like he was in desperate need of a place to stay. She thought this as she made sure that the restroom in the guest room was stocked with soap, shampoo and towels along with wash cloths. Once that was done, she put on coffee. Beth had been awake since 6:00 A.M. on that Tuesday morning, but hadn't gotten around to making coffee yet. When she got up, she showered, then her phone rang with the calls from the police, then from Social Services making sure that everything was set for Aiden to come to her house. It had taken the rest of the hour for the phone calls to be completed. Beth had originally planned on going out to David's house later that morning and spending some time with Triston. Triston would be going to school for part of the morning, then would be returning home since they would have various teacher meetings for which the students' and their attendance wasn't required. Now though, she would have other plans with getting Aiden Foster into her house and set up in the guest room. It was almost 8:00 A.M. when there was a knock at Beth's door. She checked to see who it was, and it was Officers Smith and Johnson. They let her know that Aiden Foster was with them. Walking to the door, she unlocked, then opened it. Once she opened the door, she took a look at the three people standing on her front porch. The two officers looked large and imposing. She then looked at the boy standing in between them. He looked like he was about 5-1, and his face was clean-shaven. He had shaggy dark-brown hair and light-green eyes. He looked like he could fall right over, and the look of exhaustion on his face made Beth feel deeply sad for him. The haunted look in his eyes greatly bothered her as well. Clearly the boy had been through something horrible, and she had only been told that he would be coming to stay with her. All that the police and social workers would say was that he couldn't continue living with his parents for the time being. "Hi, I'm Beth Swanson," she said as she stepped aside. "You must be Aiden." "Yeah, I'm Aiden," he said holding out his hand. She shook it, and then she led him into the kitchen, which was the first room one would be in when entering the house. She then motioned for Smith and Johnson to enter next. They did so, and she then had Aiden sit down in the living room. She had the two officers sit at the kitchen table. While the three of them sat at the table, they went into detail as to what had happened that lead to her having to take in Aiden. "I've taken in kids from places like that before," Beth said, feeling rage overtake her now. "Those places are extremely traumatizing to the kids who go there, and they often dump more problems upon them than they had before going there. Some of them don't even have problems for which they need to go to a place like that. Some of them get sent to places like that for nothing more than being LGBT." "I don't really think they should be sent to those places for any reason," Smith said. "Neither do I," Johnson added. "They're torture centers and nothing more," Smith said. "They all should be seen for what they are," Johnson went on. "I agree," Smith responded. "Hell, I think it's typically the parents in those situations who are the ones who need the help rather than the kids. Not help like that, but some sort of help. Assuming that any of those kids actually do have real problems that could be getting dangerous, it seems to me that their behaviors are more reactions to a bad family environment. Even if their behavioral problems are related to a "Bad Crowd" in which they've gotten involved, that doesn't mean that the home life still isn't shit." "You sure you went into the right profession?" Beth asked. "You sound more like a social worker than a police officer." There was no sarcasm in her voice, and she meant what she had said. Though she had no use for cops, she did like Smith and Johnson. They were respectful to her on the phone, and even more so in person. They both were clearly deeply concerned for Aiden and his welfare. That was something for which Beth was truly grateful. "Thanks," Smith answered. "Sometimes I do think about switching professions. That being said though, I'm good with sticking with being a police officer for now at least. I never have agreed though with viewing kids with problems as being "Bad Kids," even if some of their destructive choices are of their own making. They can be, but even then, these choices rarely develop nor occur in a vacuum." "I agree," Johnson interjected. They talked a little more, then after they made sure everything was under control, Officers Smith and Johnson left. Beth closed then locked the door. Once she pushed in the three out of the four chairs in the kitchen, she went into the living room. Aiden was on the couch slumped against the back of it. He was sleeping, and appeared to be deeply asleep. She walked over to where he slept, and unfolding a blanket sitting on the other couch, Beth put it over the boy. With that done, Beth went into her room and took the comforter off her bed. She returned to the living room and lay down on the couch that was across from the one on which Aiden slept. She covered herself, and once she lay her head on the pillow, she was asleep within seconds. 0000 Once David put on his shoes and socks, he checked the fridge. It was almost 11:00 A.M., and Triston would be home in about a half-an-hour. David figured that his son would be ready to eat once arriving back home, and he scanned the shelves. There wasn't much, and David closed the fridge door. As David pulled out his phone to check Door Dash, an incoming call popped up on the screen. The ringing was loud in the empty kitchen, at least it just seemed that way. David answered the call which was from Beth. She asked if she could come over. She said that she had someone she wanted to introduce to him. She then gave a small summery of Aiden Foster, and David couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew that there was an Aiden Foster with whom Nohea attended the school for the blind a few months ago. As David thought back on what Nohea had told him, his and Aiden's interactions had been problematic to say the least. "Nohea went to school with a boy with this same first and last name," David said. "Yeah, Aiden had told me the whole story," Beth answered. "We both fell asleep, and I woke up a little after 9:30 A.M., then Aiden woke up a little while after. He just finished his story. I want you to meet Aiden, and Aiden said that he wants to talk with Nohea so he can apologize." "I'll talk with Nohea about it first," David responded. "Do you mind if I do that when he gets home, and I can get back to you later this afternoon?" "I don't mind," Beth said. "I completely understand." "Thanks, I really do appreciate that," he replied. "You're welcome, and I'll talk to you here soon," Beth said. "That sounds good," he answered. "I love you." "I love you too," she replied. 0000 Nohea As I closed my locker, I checked my phone. During lunch earlier that day I hadn't had time to check for messages. Now though, I saw where I had a text from my dad. I checked it, and it just said that he wanted me to call him once my last class let out. I replied back that I would be calling him now. I then switched over to the phone app, then made the call. Once Dad picked up, I asked what was going on. He said that he was on his way to pick me up, and that he had some news to share with me. I asked what it was about, and he just said that he wanted to talk with me about it once we were in the car. He did let me know that it wasn't anything I did, nor was I in trouble. Now in the car, Dad explained what was going on. It was just the two of us, as Triston was out with Jina, getting something for a snack at one of the restaurants close to our house. Dad wanted to talk with me about Aiden first, given his and my history. I sat there for a long moment once Dad stopped talking. It was a bit of a struggle to take in everything he had said. Aiden was hardly the root of my problems with the school for the blind, though we did have our issues, but I didn't hate him. Sure, in the coming weeks and months after having been away from the school, I did have some anger to work through concerning Aiden Foster. He had been mean when there was no reason to be, and in the last few weeks of me dealing with him, he did say Anti-LGBT things to me. That had been hard to hear. Having said that though, I no longer had any anger towards him, but I did wonder what it would be like seeing him again. There were times when Aiden did act nice on rare occasions when he and I were alone, either in my room or in his own. He would give me one of his snacks, as I would do with him. He would also let me sit and listen to music with him. There was even one time the previous school year, when he sat in my room telling me about how he was sick of how his oldest brother Jack was often treated more favorably than he was. This particular conversation took place on a Monday. At that time, Aiden came in my room after school, and he started talking about how angry he was at his dad and older brother. From what he said, they had gone on a camping trip that past Friday, and Jack, for whatever reason, told him that he would go with the two of them. When Aiden and Jack's dad got home that afternoon, Aiden got all his camping gear packed and ready. He got it set out in the living room, and he waited for Jack and their dad to come down the stairs. Once they came into the living room, their dad asked Aiden what the hell he thought he was doing. When Aiden told him that Jack said that he would be going with them, their dad laughed derisively. Jack then laughed along with him. "Sorry bro, you just got played," Jack said laughing harder. "You know you shouldn't prank your brother like that," their dad said, but he was laughing as hard as was Jack. "I don't believe this!" Aiden yelled. He grabbed his bags, and once back in his room, he dumped them beside his bed as he sobbed then fell across his bed. He knew that his family could be mean-spirited in their humor, but he didn't think it would go this far. That had really hurt. When Aiden told me the story, he was laughing at certain points, but I could still hear the sadness and hurt in his voice. I did feel sad for him at that point, and wished that his family would be nicer to him. Most of the time though, it was just mainly Aiden being rude and acting like he was far above me and most of the other kids. Looking back on it now, I started to understand why Aiden might have been acting as he had. "Thanks for waiting to talk with me about Aiden first," I said looking over at my dad. "That really means a lot. I'm fine with you letting Beth bring Aiden over to the house. I've basically dealt with the negative feelings I had towards him. I don't hate him, and I'm not angry with him like I had been when first coming to live with you and Triston." "Good, I'm really glad to hear that," Dad answered. "Since that's the case, I'll text Beth once we get to the house, and let her know that she can bring Aiden over to visit. I'll be talking to Triston once we get home first though. I don't think it'll be a huge problem, but I just want to be sure." "I understand," I said. "I hope Aiden and I have a good conversation. I hope you and Triston end up getting along with him as well." "So do I," Dad answered. Soon we were pulling into the driveway, and once exiting the car, we entered the house. Triston and Jina arrived home a few minutes later. Dad took Triston in the living room once Jina left and told him everything he had told me. Triston said he'd like to meet Aiden. At that point, Dad called Beth, and soon she and Aiden were on their way over to our house. Author's Notes Now you're all getting to see more of Aiden, and what he's been through. You'll get to see how things go between him and Nohea when they meet once again in the next chapter. I hope you all like how that turns out. Having said all that, I hope everyone is having a good evening and doing well. I'll see you guys in Chapter 22.