Incurable

Thirty One

Upon walking back to the dormitories and walking past Jake and Alex's room, Scott stopped walking beside their door when he heard someone crying.

It took Mitch less than a second to notice, and then an extra second to stop walking too, and peek into the room. "Jake?"

When no one answered, Mitch walked further into the room and tried again. "Jake? Alex?"

Scott held his hand tightly, just in case he needed to pull Mitch away from the room, and off to the safety of the hallway.

Mitch finally found the two boys in the bathroom, Alex sat on the floor in tears, while Jake knelt beside him trying to comfort him.

Mitch frowned at them, and Scott instantly dropped down to hug Alex without a word.

Jake glanced up at Mitch, assuming he'd want an explanation. "Mr. Riley walked past us in the hallway when we were going to our room, and he watched which room we walked into. So when I closed the door behind us, Alex burst into tears."

Scott accidentally let a word slip. "Aw."

Mitch just stared at them. "He needs to get fired. He's so mean."

Jake nodded in agreement. "Absolutely."

Scott spoke in a very soft voice. "Talk."

Alex wiped his tears with the back of one hand. "What?"

Scott turned to Mitch then, knowing he'd understand. "Talk."

Mitch nodded once. "He thinks you should talk to someone about it. You have the most evidence. Kevin telling the higher ups isn't getting us anywhere, but you have proof."

Jake tilted his head a little, not quite on board. "Proof?"

Scott spoke again, after gently grabbing Alex's arm and turning it to reveal a purple and blue mark. "Bruises."

Alex yanked his arm away, as if they hadn't seen it. "I-I.. I don't want to."

Jake moved to be in front of Alex, and grabbed his wrist to pull Alex's arm toward him. "What...? Alex, why didn't you tell me? Are there more of them?"

Alex shook his head, but Jake could tell he was lying because of the guilty look on his face.

Jake sighed, holding his wrist a little tighter. "Don't lie to me. Where are they?"

Alex looked down at himself, and shook his head again. "Please... I don't want to talk about this."

Scott made an educated guess, and pointed at one of Alex's legs. "Here."

Alex jumped off of the floor, Scott standing a moment later with wide eyes.

Alex tried to push past them, but Jake grabbed his arm. "Wait. Alex, what is he talking about? Why are there bruises on your thighs?"

Alex shook his head again, though more tears fell.

Mitch, being as blunt as he is. "Did you get raped?"

Alex's head snapped toward him. "No, of course not."

Jake spoke quietly. "But... He tried to...?"

Alex, rather than lying, didn't respond.

Scott put a hand over his heart, out of sympathy. He grabbed Mitch's hand to hold, hoping to make himself feel better.

Jake's mouth opened once to speak, but he closed it. After taking a calming breath, he tried once more. "Alex... Mr. Riley tried to do something awful to you. And you didn't tell me about it?"

Alex looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry. I should've said something. But... I thought.. You'd think I was making it up... That's what my old counselor said to me."

Mitch gasped at him. "Your counselor didn't believe you?"

"She said that there's no way that it's possible, so it must've been one of my nightmares."

Jake couldn't even speak, he was so in shock. He just held Alex's wrist in his hand, and didn't move.

Mitch frowned at him. "But the bruises... That's not just a nightmare. You have the proof, why haven't you done anything about it?"

Alex shrugged. "Was.. Kind of scared to."

Jake's brain finally caught up. "Alexander, the only way for the nightmares to stop, is for you to have closure. And closure will come with getting his pedophilic ass fired."

Scott nodded once, making some kind of decision in his mind, and then marched out of the room, and down the hall.

Mitch followed him curiously. "Where are we going?"

Scott didn't answer, just held Mitch's hand and smiled at him, before turning to look at where he was going, which was to knock on Kevin and Avi's door.

Kevin opened the door quickly. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realized I'd closed the door. Were you looking for Avi or Kirst? They're here too if you were."

Scott nodded, and waved at Kevin to follow.

Kevin opened the door a little more. "Just me? Or all three of us?"

Scott nodded once. "All."

When they started walking again, Mitch made a noise of realization. "Ohh, I see what you're doing."

Mitch then hurried to get Jake and Alex, telling them to follow as well.

Scott and Mitch then led them out of the building, past the building where all the group sessions were held, and into the small building where the managers and bosses worked.

Scott bravely knocked on their door, his hand squeezing Mitch's a little.

One of the managers opened the door, smiling at all of them. "Can I help you?"

Scott opened his mouth to answer, but was quickly overwhelmed with fear. He considered running away, but Mitch's presence kept him there.

Mitch answered instead. "We're here with a complaint about one of your new counselors. He's a pedophile, homophobe, and he tried to rape one of my friends."

"That's a long list of accusations you've got there."

"And I have proof."

"Well. Color me intrigued. Which counselor are we speaking of, exactly?"

Mitch's confidence didn't falter. "Mr. Riley."

The woman nodded once, pulling out a small notepad and a pen, before opening the door a little more. "Please come in."

Mitch was the first one into the room, Scott right beside him. Kirstie and Avi followed, as well as Kevin and Jake.

Alex took a deep breath, gulped, and then followed the others into the building.

****