Hey guys! Yes I am in fact alive. It took me a long time to finish this. I rewrote this chapter so many times I'm dizzy, but I finally feel great about it so here it is! 

The Crux of Light

Robin POV

"Let's go over this one more time just to get all the details straight." I sigh in frustration folding my arms and glaring at the cop sitting in the chair across from me and Bobby's parents. I guess I can't blame the guy this is his first time talking to us. It was a different cop before. He flips through a file he has briefly going to a page in the front. "Your son is Bobby Lee correct?" He questions sliding a school picture of Bobby from junior year across the table. His smile is bright and carefree in the photo and I have to bite my lips to keep myself from bursting into tears again. He's wearing one of his favorite sweaters a black and grey one with a weird graphic design on the front. He basically shoved that thing in my face the day he got it, boasting about how cool it was. I wonder if he's okay. I didn't know what to do when I saw him being dragged away. I tried to get to him in time to do anything...something but that man was too fast. He had him wrapped up and stowed away in that car within seconds. No doubt he saw me screaming and running towards him as he drove off.

At first I just stood there in shock and then I was swearing cursing and looking around like someone would tell me what to do. They don't teach you how to handle this shit in high school. There's no handbook for what to do if your best friend is abducted by a stranger right in front of you.

"That's correct." Bobby's dad answers and I can tell that he is just as exasperated as I am. This is the third time we've explained this. Once to the officers who arrived on scene and then to file the report and for the third time to these investigators. "He's seventeen years old."

The man nods. His hair is dark and a little unruly but his eyes are a focused hazel that stares right into me as he looks in my direction. "You were the one who made the call to dispatch?"

I nod. "My name is Robin Brenner."

"Yes. Could you please go over what happened that night one more time for me Ms. Brenner?" He questions. His partner who is standing next to the table scoffs. He's an older man maybe in his late fifties and he seems to be the cynical type. I don't think he's took a word I said seriously during this whole process.

"It was early on May 10th. Bobby called around 12:30 in the morning. He was freaking out and he kept saying that I needed to get help and go to his house as soon as I could. He said that the ice cream man was there and then the call disconnected. I was confused and worried but I also thought that he could be playing a joke on me so I called him back. He was screaming for help and I could hear him running like there was a struggle. I didn't know what to do I mean I didn't know if what was happening was real because me and Bobby always like to joke around with each other I still thought it could be some kind of prank you know? That's when he yelled for me to look outside. I didn't even question it I ran to my window and there he was. He looked like he was only in his underwear and I knew that wasn't right. I mean I was so unsure I was looking everywhere in the dark to see what was happening and immediately I caught sight of a man running out of the house behind him coming for him. I screamed at Bobby to run and I didn't wait even a second to get outside. To help him. To do something." I shake my head and cringe as Bobby's mother sobs into her hands. "He didn't make it. I didn't fucking make it. It's all my fault. I didn't believe anything he said about the ice cream man."

"What did he say about the ice cream man?"

I laugh wryly and stare down at the table. "He was always afraid of him. No not just afraid he was terrified. He told me that the ice cream man first showed up five or so years ago at a family reunion. He said that he was staring at him weird and kept touching his hands, I mean even as a twelve year old sometimes you know when someone is creeping on you and Bobby knew. He came by every year after that and each time Bobby would complain to me about it. I didn't believe him. I should've believed him."

Investigator Jones, the older man snorts and looks at his partner. "How do we know that this kid didn't just use this as an elaborate plan to run away? Hell he could really be friends with this guy and maybe he's off kicking it in Vegas."

"He is not friends with him!" I snap glaring at the older man. "Bobby would never do that. He doesn't have any reason to run away from home!"

"I'm sorry but it's much more plausible than the ice cream man. Honestly. A seventeen year old boy afraid of the ice cream man? Is this a joke? I mean-"

"Even if he did run away," Bobby's dad interrupts, his eyes are full of fire and he looks about ready to smash Jones's face in no matter what the consequences. "Aren't you still supposed to find him? These are questionable circumstances, circumstances I believe put him at risk don't you? Even if he has run away, if he's friends with this guy or if he has some secret dream to run a god damn creamery with this bastard that I didn't fucking know about you're still going to find him. This is my son we're talking about. Just because this involves an ice cream man you can't take this seriously? Well when you come home to your house torn apart and you're child missing you can tell me what a joke this is! My son is god knows where, with god knows who and we don't know anything about his situation. I will only rest and you will only fucking rest when he is back at home where he should be."

"Listen Mr. Lee if we took every single call we got seriously we would be a laughing stock. This ice cream man shit has got to stop. What sort of ice cream man kidnaps a teenage boy? It would be more believable if your son was five or even ten but why seventeen huh? If he was a pedophile why not just take him when he was twelve? It doesn't make any sense. We don't know if anything you are saying is valid."

"You have a witness!" Mr. Lee growls gesturing towards me.

"Yeah a seventeen year old girl who had just woken up and says she saw something through a window in the dark. Solid evidence."

"This is ridiculous." Mr. Lee snarls slamming his hand down on the table.

Jones shrugs and leans over us completely ignoring the scolding gaze of his partner. "Your kid could be involved in all kinds of shit. That man could've been his dealer for all we know."

"Bobby doesn't do drugs or drink." Mr. Lee snaps glaring at the other man.

"Oh really? How do you explain the alcohol we found pushed all the way underneath his bed? Or how about the Marijuana and ecstasy that was stashed in a cracked floorboard in the closet?" I wince and look over at Bobby's parents cautiously. They both look dumbfounded. Of course I knew about that. Actually, technically it's not Bobby's. It's belongs to Tyler and I. The only reason it's in bobby's room is because both my and Tyler's parents are super strict about that stuff and tear our room's apart all the time. Whereas Bobby's parents trust the shit out of him and don't bother about that stuff. "You're kid could've just ran off with his dealer and as a last hoot and holler to you guys made a big fiasco to make it look like he was kidnapped so you wouldn't have hard feelings. It wouldn't be the first time. Right Sykes?" He states looking over at his partner. The dull man nods silently in affirmation.

I shake my head. "There's no way. Even if what you are saying is reasonable there is no way he wouldn't tell me about it."

"Yeah and have you rat him out?"

"ARE YOU GOING TO FIND MY SON OR WHAT?" Screams Mrs. Lee the earsplitting screech of her voice carrying a thousand times over in the tiny room. "THIS IS ABSURD! WHO GIVES A SHIT IF HE'S WITH HIS DEALER! HE'S STILL UNDERAGE AND HE'S STILL MY SON! NONE OF THESE DETAILS MAKE HIM ANY LESS IMPORTANT!"

Sykes nods reassuringly. "Of course we will Mr. and Mrs. Lee. This investigation is still ongoing, we are still looking over the crime scene photos and any evidence, but as of right now there has been no DNA discovered other than that of your family members. This may take a little longer than anticipated, Please go back home and rest I think that will be enough for today."

Mrs. Lee sobs loudly as we walk out of the room so I almost don't hear Jones's next words. "This kid is a runaway Sykes. For all we know this was staged."

Motherfuckers.

Creed POV

The first thought that invades my muddled mind when I awaken the subsequent morning is that I neglected to shackle Bobby to the bed last night. I was far too perplexed and inattentive at the time to recall that fact especially in lieu of bobby's invitation to join him in bed. Unnerved I shift immediately anxious that Bobby once again will have made a prompt exodus while I was slumbering. Just as I presumed there is a cold empty space beside me, instantaneously I am overflowing with a sensation of complete and downright despondency. I don't hassle myself with the act of rising and instead grip my skull in my arms in an attempt to push out the morbid thoughts that flood through me.

Of course he wouldn't remain in this prison cell with you, you repulsive sack of defecation. Who gave you the permission to believe that someone could ever need you? You're a waste of space, a poor excuse for a man atrophied into a revolting flesh suit. You might as well go back to the inferno from whence you came. Everything you touch becomes infected with the taint of you. You're a plague Creed Nicholson.

The world would be much prettier without you in it.

Groaning in exasperation I roll over onto my other side glowering at the floor only feet away.

The toilet flushes.

Damn. A sob flees my throat at what this means before I'm able to seize it and I cringe at my fragility. At the same time placid footsteps pad into the room and cease their movement right in front of me.

"Creed?" Melodious nectar. "Creed? Are you okay?" Bobby's hand meets my shoulder and that's all it takes before I'm overcome with an insufferable demand to regurgitate. Disregarding the traces of salt water on my face I burst from the bed startling Bobby before sprinting past him and into the bathroom where I descend to my knees and discharge my insides into the porcelain bowl.

Stop it. Stop trembling you imbecile. You're humiliating yourself. He can see you. Desperately I reach over to seal the door but before I'm able to secure it Bobby thrusts it ajar. Groaning in mortification and defeat I turn myself back to the toilet and away from the Adonis while I heave feebly. "Creed what's wrong?"

Shivering I shake my head and pitch my palm in his direction. "Get out."

"Are you alright?" he questions softly cocking his head in the most endearing way.

"JUST GET OUT!" I shout rubbing perspiration from my temple with a quaking hand. I realize that my behavior is not of a particular refinement but the current circumstance does not allow for graciousness on my part. I don't lift my head to witness his response to my outburst and instead scold myself like a child.

Screaming at him isn't going to advance your position on the proverbial relationship map Creed nor will it paint you as an appealing suitor. Then again neither will vomiting the totality of your meals from the previous week. I shake my head, I'm not experiencing the appropriate temperament to manage this right now. Bobby could eradicate me this second, appropriate my keys and be on his way. That's undoubtedly what he is doing at this moment. Closing my eyes I resist the abrupt compulsion to break into uncharacteristic hysterical sobs.

The sudden pressure of a damp, cool cloth pressed to my brow has me lurching backwards in astonishment but Bobby's knees seize me mid plummet. Bobby remains taciturn as he persists in his ministrations the cool fabric of the cloth in his palm soothing my excessive anxiety. He most likely believes me to be unexpectedly pathetic now that he has observed my abrupt emotional collapse. No justification I formulate will ever free me of my shame nor his judgement. "What happened?" He questions tenderly pushing my hair from my temple as he cautiously peers into my eyes.

I continue to gaze at him the intolerable warmth gradually departing from my flesh. "Why are you still here?"

He averts his gaze in a bemused manner his hands still now. "What do you mean?"

"You could have easily fled while I was...preoccupied." I declare motioning toward the doorway with an exhausted gesture. He seems astonishingly perplexed by the suggestion as he looks toward the entrance.

Bobby clears his throat glancing off to the side uncomfortably before setting the cloth down on the counter. "We should move you to the bed." He suggests. I allow him to give me assistance as I rise and gradually shuffle to the mattress where he sits me against a few plush pillows. It is not often that this sort of exhibition happens but on the rare occasion that it does I often find my energy extracted.

I was astounded. Completely stunned when I heard the toilet flush. I had been unquestionably certain that the young Asian boy would have previously made his escape and left me behind to wake and wallow in self-loathing. Alas he merely strolled out of the restroom as if the concept of flight had never occurred to him, even though it was simply a few days ago that he attempted an escape in the middle of the freezing night. I couldn't muddle through the onslaught of emotions that barraged through me which resulted in my condition.

I'm unstable. Who would've expected any less?

"I think you better brush your teeth and maybe drink some water. Just a minute." Within seconds Bobby is gone and back offering me my toothbrush before hastening to the kitchen to gather two cups of water. I vigorously brush my teeth as I analyze his movements with inexplicable attentiveness. His conduct is abnormal even for him I muse as he glances at me under his lashes. I narrow my eyes skeptically as his cheeks flush with a rosy hue.

My attention grasps at what occurred yesterday and the flesh of my body rapidly heats up at the mere recollection of Bobby constrained against the wall his head thrust back against the barrier as he surrendered to the gratification he received from my encouraging hand. Languidly I peer down at the tent between my legs before looking up at the approaching boy. He hands me the first cup which I courteously utilize to clear my mouth of the minty paste before taking the other to hydrate myself. As I consume the subsequent cup of liquid I observe Bobby bashfully eyeing my exceptionally obvious erection. I assume that he will look his fill and then scuttle away like the skittish creature he is but on the contrary he persists in his unbroken gawking. I place both cups on the floorboards remaining vigilant as to not tip the first one. Then as I fold my arms over my torso I clear my throat calling for the charming boy's attention. He doesn't respond. "I have never in my life had an individual gape so visibly at my manhood." I state modestly giving Bobby an impassive look.

He looks at me with a disconcerted expression before realization paints his adorable features and he instantly turns the color of a tomato. "Oh...um...I wasn't....that wasn't...this isn't...um...sorry."

I hold his gaze relentlessly my insides pooling with delectable heat as I observe him. He fidgets under my gaze and I smirk a minute impression of satisfaction branding itself at my core. "There's no need for any justification or apology Bobby. Is it not a natural occurrence to be inquisitive about these things at your age?"

An unintentionally erotic scowl crosses his pleasing features as he folds his arms indignantly. "I'm almost eighteen not twelve. I'm not an idiot. I know how the human body works Creed."

I smirk at his juvenile defense still not bothering to cover myself. "Oh I have no reservations in regards to your knowledge of the human body Bobby, especially after last night."

Bobby's face is now at a perpetual shade of crimson as he shifts, but despite his uneasy stance the expression in his eyes tells me that he's actually quite appreciating my philandering. He clears his throat and bends over clutching the pair of mugs in his hands before hurriedly returning them to the sink. Tilting my head I scrutinize the boy speculating what has changed. Yesterday...he neglected to push me away when I began to ravage him. I even attempted to prompt him to refuse me but he still allowed me to do what I pleased. As soon as he released I had to convince myself to let go of him lest I do something I regret. I expected him to emerge from the restroom with a newfound resentment and perhaps even a plot to massacre me with a spatula. Alas he entered the room quietly and proceeded to get into bed without so much as a comment full of distain, and then he gambled everything inviting me into bed with him.

Is he still plotting to get away? It didn't work out in his favor the first time he tried but I suppose it isn't against his nature to be persistent. Bobby works quickly washing the glasses before putting them away in the cupboard. I watch him shamelessly as he leans against the counter and stares aimlessly in my direction. "What are you thinking?" I question keeping my gaze steady.

He jolts as if he hadn't expected to hear my voice again so soon. "Nothing. I'm not thinking anything."

"You're a horrendous liar Bobby." I state rubbing my arm absentmindedly. He sighs dramatically glaring down at the counter before biting his lip. He seems to fight an inner battle before he shakes his head rapidly and stomps over to me sitting right on top of my legs. I grunt in astonishment but allow him to do as he pleases. The young boy opens his mouth as if to say something before snapping it shut again. "Please allow yourself to speak without any reservations Bobby."

He nods before readjusting himself so that he can peer right into my eyes. "Who are you?"

Hm. Not exactly what I had been expecting. "I'm afraid I don't completely understand the context of your question Bobby." I offer peering into his dark eyes. He sighs in frustration before continuing.

"Who are you? You know what's your name-"

"You know my name."

"But is it your real name? What's your full name? How old are you? Where do you work? Where is your family? Why are you here doing this? How do you know Theo? I have all these questions I want the answers to."

Why the sudden fascination? A month ago he would've howled at me and told me that he couldn't care less about who I was. Now all of a sudden he has an interest in me? Inquisitively I lean forward letting myself invade Bobby's space just a little. "What are you scheming?"

He leans backwards just enough to get out of range before he speaks. "I'm not scheming at all. I just want to know." Skeptically I glare into his eyes attempting to extricate the truths from the lies.

"Very well," I start moving away to give Bobby space, "If you must know my real name is Creedence Van Nicholson. Yes that's right Creedence, I know what you're thinking, please refrain from saying it." Bobby closes his mouth before he even releases a peep and nods allowing me to continue. "As for my age that is unnecessary information."

"Bullshit that's unnecessary information."

"Fine, I'm thirty-one." I snap, desisting from kicking him off the bed in childish anger.

"When's your birthday?"

"December twelfth, are we finished with twenty questions?"

"Nope. Where do you work? Evidently you have a job since you seem to buy stuff every time you leave. Unless you're into theft too."

I scoff. "I resent that insinuation, and anyhow I wouldn't have to continuously purchase new things every time I go out if you would stop demolishing them." Bobby's cheeks turn red and he nods as if accepting this statement.

"That isn't necessarily wrong."

"Damn right it isn't"

"But that still doesn't answer my question."

"I work with Theo. Well, that could be interpreted loosely. I act as a supervisor at one of his hotels."

"A supervisor."

I nod, the expression on Bobby's face alludes to his doubt. "That's what I said."

"You?"

"Yes me Bobby. Is that so unbelievable?" He hastily shakes his head but I sense that the concept of me having a customary occupational position that isn't flipping burgers at the local fast food establishment comes as a great revelation to him.

"So is that how you two met then?"

"No we had the pleasure of becoming acquaintances prior to that. When I was selling ice cream around this area he was a regular. Theo may give the appearance of a put together man of maturity but in all actuality he is incredibly childish, and he has an unconquerable penchant for the batman shaped ice cream." Bobby grins at the thought as do I when I picture Theo in a suit and tie wearily taking a seat on a curb nearby with a beaming grin to outmatch any other as he stared down at a pointy eared confection. "He has a light about him that outshines everybody else," I glance at bobby and tilt my head. "Except for you of course."

Bobby looks at me and then glances about the room as if he is searching for some elucidation in the walls as if they will murmur a translation of what it all means to him. If only it was that easy to understand each other.

"I still don't understand what it means when you say that. I don't understand why you've sunken to this level. I mean...you seem like someone who would never...do this kind of thing."

I shift unnervingly staring at Bobby. At least now he seems to be willing to attempt to understand me. Shifting carefully I clear my throat and taste the memory of my past painted in the air in front of me. "When I was young I resided at home with my parents and my older brother. My father was a corrupt man, he abused the pleasures of alcohol and abused the existence of my mother and that of all women. My mother finally had enough of his boundless depravities and she vanished with first light. I was young enough to be unhappy and wish for her return. My brother was old enough to loath her and curse her departure. Soon he fell victim to my father's hatred and immorality. It infected his light like a virus rampant with filth and obscenity. My home soon became the crux of corruption, there was alcohol consumption every minute of every day, a poisonous substitute for the water that was meant to keep our bodies strong. There was gambling, and drug abuse, women poured in and out of the house like cattle being led to slaughter. There was no privacy, and no respect for women's rights. It was a mass orgy of objectification. When I was young I could go nowhere, I was made to sit there with men taking women everywhere around me whether they were willing or not. If they didn't want to I would watch as they were beaten to an unidentifiable mass. Cigarettes, empty alcohol containers and used condoms littered the floors. Every night I would bathe and attempt to scrape the evidence of the proceedings off of me, and still every day when I went to school I would reek of alcohol and smoke. The other kids would complain to the teachers and I would be pulled aside and questioned about my home life."

"I never said anything, I was too afraid. Afraid of what I don't know...my father? My brother? Perhaps I was afraid that social services would come for me, and then if my mother came home I wouldn't be there to meet her. Everything I went through would be for naught. In my mind I could endure anything in order to see my mother again, all it would take was for her to come for me...to decide that she couldn't live without me. But she never came, and I grew up and outgrew the naïve belief that my mother would return for me. As soon as I came of an age where I reached maturity my brother and father began their attempts to lure me into their downward spiral, but I ignored them every day and shut myself in my room. Even so, often when I left my room my father would be waiting for me with heavy words and an equally heavy fist. Finally when I was eighteen I was old enough to leave and be on my own so that's exactly what I did. I filled a backpack with nothing but clothes and necessities, collected all of my savings from my job at the creamery down the road and I walked out of that place. I have never and will never look back. My father always did say I took after my mother."

Bobby stares through me as if he can see snap shots of my life carved into my organs. An ever moving picture with every beat of my heart and pump of my blood. I peer right back attempting to decipher his eyes. What do they see? What do they feel?

"I can't imagine how you felt then or how you feel now, it must've been and must still be tough for you to think about. Thank you for trusting me with that." He says and he doesn't look away to break eye contact as he says it. He stares right into my eyes with an overwhelming amount of sincerity that saturates my chest with warmth as if just his gaze lit a fire within me. I clear my throat and avert my eyes not entirely sure how to respond to such a remark. "I'm still a little lost though Creed. If you hated all these things that your father and brother did...don't you hate what you've done?"

I worry my lip as the young Asian boy speaks my eyes painting his face with the fire he lit in my soul. "I decided to become an ice cream man because all of my beautiful memories from my youth were spawned from my job at the creamery. The man I worked for was so good-natured and it was almost as if he already knew about the horrors of my home. He and his wife fed me and loved me like I was their own. He is the one who gave me the ice cream truck, my bridge out of that hell. I told him I was leaving and he offered it to me for no price other than to make sure to write to them, and I do every week without fail."

"So he gave you the truck and you left and became an ice cream man."

"Yes. Being with them I realized that they were made for each other. There was no darkness in that home, no animosity and no deceit. I decided that there must be someone out there like that for me, someone who was my other half and I theirs. I simply had ease of transportation working with the truck and I adored meeting the children because there was an abundant amount of innocence in them. I had no wicked intentions from the beginning at all I want you to know that. I simply felt that I would continue to live my life and that I would certainly meet my destiny down the road. And I did. I met you. I'm not a predator or a pedophile you know that don't you? I would never harm a child, and I had never had such purposes to do what I did before I met you. I am quite aware that what I have done is wrong, and that it is immoral and is a fragment of the darkness from which I was raised, I'm not immune to remorse or shame. Even so that is the beginning and the end of my wrong doings I refuse to let it fester inside me like my family did. I am not made of my family's mistakes, I am made of my own and I will not allow anything like that to happen ever. I assure you I am incredibly aware of your resilient distaste for me and I am trying my best to make you comfortable, do you understand?"

The room is filled with a pregnant silence as we stare into each other. I can see the cogs turning in his skull as if processing everything I have told him. My heart beats at the pace of a runner's feet and I will myself to be calm.

"I get it. We all make mistakes Creed and while I do wish I could be with my family right now I also want you to know that you are nothing like your family. At the very least you know right from wrong and you can recognize and own up to your mistakes. That's saying a lot especially with what you had to go through when you were little."

"Thank you Bobby." I shift on the bed and grin at the younger boy already feeling much lighter than I had when I woke from my sleep. "Now I have a question for you Bobby."

Bobby smirks and folds his arms raising an eyebrow inquisitively. "Oh? Well go ahead shoot."

"When is your birthday?"

Bobby's eyes widen for a fraction of a second and then he laughs, the sound like that of the finest symphony kissing my ears and instantly I feel, see and taste the light. It's peculiar how even the most unassuming of sounds can instantly light the world on fire.