A Tortured Soul

Chapter 18
Chapter 18

When Laura and Jim settled down, Gary took a deep breath and said, “I’m afraid there’s more.”

“Please no...” Laura cried.

“I wouldn’t bring it up, but I think it’ll help you to know why Katie did what she did,” he offered.

Jim looked at him and said, “It doesn’t matter,” anger clear in his voice.

Laura, not sure she wanted to know, didn’t agree. “It does matter. I need to know why in the world a person would treat another human being this way.”

“She was taught to,” Gary answered softly.

Both Jim and Laura asked, “What?!” in unison.

“The laptop Katie was using belonged to her father. From what I can gather, he would never have allowed her to have a computer. I don’t think she realized that along with the video she was recording, there were other recording on there. They were in a hidden directory. The forensic folks recovered them last night.

I’ve gone through some of them, a good many actually. In more than twenty, Katie sat in a chair just like you did, with a bag over her head as her mother pleaded with her father to take it off.”

Jim stared at him. “Why?”

“From what I’ve seen, he regarded women as nothing more than playthings, and for him, the play was sadistic and painful. Both her and her mother were repeatedly tormented.

Her father forced her to do the same thing to her brother as you saw her do with Eddy. He would make her and her mother leave the boy to sit in a dirty diaper until he was screaming to get it off, and then threaten Katie with the bag if she didn’t work the diaper into his bottom and make him scream.

This was how he taught the boy to abuse his sister and his mother. By the time he was six years old, he looked upon them as objects. The father would secure the two women up on their toes, and instructed his son to take a switch to them. The boy would viciously strike them both repeatedly until he couldn’t physically swing the stick anymore. This would yield praise from his father.

You have to understand, as long as Eddy was a baby, Katie was nice to him. She didn’t attempt to suffocate him until he told her he didn’t want to be a baby. Only when he managed to tell her that he wanted to be one, did she relent.

This is because when Bobby was a baby, he didn’t hurt her. Once he moved out of the toddler stage, her father started teaching him to physically abuse her. If the boy refused, the father would put him back in a diaper until he screamed, and then force Katie to make the rash much worse. To her, babies were safe, boys and men were not. She had to find a way to make Eddy a baby, or kill him.”

“Jesus,” Jim whispered.

Laura sat stunned. She had had no idea that there was a problem. Even through all of the phone calls when they moved out west, she had no clue anything was wrong. The more she thought about it, the more she understood now why the calls tapered down as time went on.

“Katie was truly a tortured soul,” he told them.

As much as Laura understood what Gary was saying, she couldn’t find it in herself to feel bad for the monster that had tormented her little boy. Not wanting to think about that anymore, she asked, “What do we do for Eddy? How do we help him?”

With an understanding nod, Gary answered, “You let him lead the way. If he wants to wear a diaper, or take a paci, you let him. Believe me when I tell you, there’s a very good chance it will be some time before he’ll want to be anything but a baby. I saw the recording of what he went through. She was thorough, and I believe he’ll be terrified to do anything that isn’t what a toddler would do. From Eddy’s perspective, I imagine he’ll feel that bad things will happen if he does otherwise.”

“Why would Katie record any of this? If she got caught and wasn’t killed, it could have been used against her,” Jim asked.

“She believed she was too smart to get caught. When you consider what she almost achieved, it’s frightening.”

“You can say that again,” Jim said with a shudder.

“We want to keep Eddy on medication for a little while. It’s only to keep him from getting like you saw him before they put him to sleep,” he told them.

“All right, if you think that will help,” Laura replied.

“I’m going to ask them to give it to him, and then I’ll let you rest. We’re not going to medicate him again unless we have to. We want him to wake up. I’ll be back in about three hours so I’m here when he does.”

“Okay, thank you Gary,” Laura offered.

“You’re welcome. Listen, it’ll take some time before he’ll be comfortable again. He’s probably going to be afraid for a while, and get really frightened if you get even mildly upset with him, so I’d be careful how you respond. The most important thing you need to do, is to make sure you tell that little boy that he’s a good boy as many times as you can think of it, for some time.”

“You can count on that,” Jim said, determination in his voice.

After Gary left, Laura sat troubled. She really didn’t know how she was going to get the way she felt across to Jim, but decided now was the time, before Eddy woke up. “Jim, I...” she started and broke into tears.

“What is it Honey?” he asked.

“I can’t go back there,” she whispered, knowing how much damage that would cause to their finances. “I’m sorry, I just can’t go back into that house. Not after what happened, and I wouldn’t dream of taking Eddy back there.”

She cried relieved tears when he said, “It’s okay, we’re not going back. I’ll make other arrangements.”

Looking at him, she said, “I can’t leave him with anyone. I...I know it will make a mess of the finances, but I just can’t.” She knew that things would be a lot more difficult financially without her salary, but she couldn’t trust anyone else to watch Eddy, not to mention, she couldn’t stand the idea of being away from him right now.

“No,” he told her. She was about to object when tears streamed down his cheeks, and he added, “You hold that little boy...” sobbing now. “You tell him a million times a day...that he’s a good boy...you worry about that, and let me worry about the money.”

Laura hugged her husband tight, whispering a tearful, “Thank you,” again and again.

*********

Fear made Laura anxious. She sat up in the bed, holding Eddy in her lap. She was frightened that he’d wake up and be just like he was before they put him to sleep. Eddy had gotten the medicine three and a half hours ago, and the waiting was difficult.

Gary sat in the corner, facing Eddy’s back. He had explained that he had asked the nurses to get the IV pump ready, and if things got out of hand, he would push the button to turn it on. He had told them, under no circumstances were they to come into the room unless he called for them.

Jim sat in a chair right next to the bed, within arms reach of Eddy. Laura saw the worried look on his face as they waited.

Forty minutes later, Eddy snuggled closer to her. She started patting his diaper, gently rocking him as he began nursing his paci.

Suddenly, Eddy stiffened, sat back, looked at her with terrified eyes, and cried, “Mommyyyy!” as he scrambled up to wrap his arms tight around her neck, clinging to her for dear life.

Laura tried to stay strong. It wasn’t possible. She held him tight to her, sobbing, “I’ve got you Baby, Mommy’s got you...you’re safe, I promise. No one’s going to hurt you.”

A second later, she heard the words that broke her heart. “I thowwyyyyy! I thowwy Mommyyyyyyy!”and he ran out of breath. “I be good baby!! I be good baby!!” he repeated with his next breath.

She had tried to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but he never heard a word she said. Even when she told him, “You’re a good boy...a very good boy,” it had no impact. On a whim, she changed it to, “You’re a good baby, you’re Mommy’s good baby boy,” and that stopped the repetition that she thought would rip her heart out.

She knew then, that Gary was right. He needed to be a baby boy for a while. He needed to be told again and again that he was a good baby boy. It took a half hour, but with repeated reassurance, and Mommy’s gentle touch, she managed to get him to stop trembling and eased down to where he sat cuddled in her lap, his head against her chest.

Turning to Jim, she mouthed the word ’ba-ba’, and waited until he handed it to her. “Here Baby, why don’t you drink your ba-ba,” she said, bringing the nipple to his mouth. Eddy sniffled as he spit his paci out and took the nipple and began nursing.

Laura rocked him gently, kissing his forehead again and again, never taking her lips from his soft skin. “It’s okay Baby, Mommy’s got you. You’re being such a good baby boy...yes you are,” she told him in a sweet voice.

When Jim reached out and placed a gentle hand on Eddy’s back, the boy looked at his daddy’s wrist and started sobbing again. Putting his arms out, he cried, “I thowwy Daddy,” in a pitiful tone.

Jim pulled Eddy into his arms, held him close and said, “Hey little boy, look at me. Look at me Baby.” When Eddy turned his eyes up to his father’s, Jim told him, “This isn’t your fault, Baby,” holding the bandage where Eddy could see it. “I was silly this morning, and fell down. You didn’t do this Sweetheart.”

Laura could see by the look in Eddy’s eyes that he wanted desperately to believe the lie. She wanted to kiss her husband and thank him profusely when Eddy snuggled closer and resumed nursing his bottle.

“There you go, that’s it...drink that ba-ba all gone Baby,” Jim comforted.

Both parents bore fresh tears a moment later. Eddy set his bottle down, grasped Daddy’s thumb and brought the bandage up to his mouth. Giving it a tender kiss, he said, “Boo boo aww gone?”

“Yes Baby, the boo boo’s all gone now, thank you,” Jim answered with a thick voice, and a kiss to Eddy’s cheek. When Eddy tried to turn to get to his daddy’s other wrist, Jim told him, “No Baby, it’s alright. You’re kiss was so good, it healed all of Daddy’s boo boo’s,” and pulled him close again.