Matched Pt. 03

Ella and Elliot seemed to exchange a knowing look but Harvey frowned.

"What is that?"

"They're a therapy to try and put you off something by associating pain or discomfort with that thing. For example smoking, or... in this case homosexuality."

Harvey's eyes widened, "you're fucking joking." But he clearly knew he was not.

"They healed up my head and then started the course. It was mostly either a drug that made you sick or... electric shocks."

He felt Elliots hand tighten on his, his face was hard as stone but he said nothing, just waited for Damien to continue, his eyes glazed.

"They would show me pictures of men and then... you get the idea."

"That's disgusting," Ella whispered.

"The worst part was they had photos of Elliot, they were the most painful."

Elliot's eyes fluttered to meet his, he saw the pain in them as they welled up with tears and wished he could take it away. But he knew he had to understand. Elliot brushed the tears away angrily.

"Go on," he whispered.

He felt tears in his own eyes again now, and the clogging in his throat returned, thick like tar. He felt the tiredness beginning to drag at his limbs, at his thoughts, as if reliving the memories was taking all the strength from him. The tick in his neck started up again, and he didn't have the willpower to fight it.

"I won't and can't go into details but, it was agony. Two weeks of torture. And we all know in this room that it was never going to work. But they amped up the power anyway. Today, everything changed. My father returned and gave me my three choices again. But this time the third choice had threats to all of you with it. He said that he would get Elliot's mum arrested on some mistake at the hospital, that there would be some accident that hurt you two, that they would take Elliot into the clinic too..."

His words were tumbling out now, and he felt out of control, as if they being vomited out of him, but as he said them he felt himself getting lighter, so he let them. Tears stung in his eyes, the spot of wallpaper blurred so he closed them and kept talking.

"I couldn't let them hurt any of you. So I agreed to option one."

The room fell silent.

"What does that mean?" Harvey said softly after a moment.

Damien opened his eyes and found Elliot's face, the only thing that was able to ground him. But he couldn't meet his eyes.

"I have nothing. I'm homeless, I'm broke, I- I-" his voice caught and he felt the tears stinging his cheeks. "I am nothing."

"No, that's not true. You're still you," Elliot said firmly, gripping his hands tighter than ever. "None of that matters, you're safe, we're together. That's enough."

"But I'm not the man who you fell in love with anymore," he said sadly, voicing the worries so deep within him he hadn't even known they were there. "I'm broken," he said his voice cracked.

"Don't say that," Elliot cried, tears falling down his cheeks. "I love you no matter what. I don't care about the fancy house or the money or any of it. You know that. We will work through this together, like everything else."

"And you have us too, we will always stand by you, both of you," Ella said rushing forward to hug them both.

"Of course, surely you know already that we're in it with you. Even if you end up working at a strip club," Harvey grinned and Damien couldn't fight the smile in response.

"Joking aside, you can stay here for a while, you can come to Matched, I will pay you out of my own salary if I have to, but everyone at Matched knows you. They want you around. It will be okay."

Damien looked at them all, and felt so full of love that he thought he might burst. He realised that this was his real family. His father had attempted to destroy him, and he had come very close. But he had underestimated the power of love. They consoled and cheered him, Ella ran to make him more food which he ate gratefully, feeling the strength return to his limbs.

Shortly, Ella and Harvey left to go to bed and Elliot crawled under the bedcovers beside him, curled up against him as if trying to touch him with as much of his body as possible.

"I missed you every minute," he whispered.

"I missed you every second," Elliot mumbled, already half asleep.

"It's not a competition," Damien chuckled and Elliot moved his head to his chest, as if wanting to be closer to the sound. Damien breathed in slowly, Elliot's sweet spring like smell was so close, he wanted to kiss him, to make him moan his name. He felt the nausea rumble within him, his body cringe in expectation of shocks, but he ignored it, slowly breathing in and out, calming himself. It wouldn't be an easy road to recover but he knew if there was anyone who could help him, it would be Elliot. And he wasn't going anywhere.

Chapter Ten - Visitor

Damien

A couple of months later

True to his word, Harvey had secured Damien a job in the finance section of Matched. He liked it more than he had expected, enjoying the feeling of being useful and using his skills.

Elliot had found a flat and for the first time in Damien's life he was paying rent. He was learning how to cook and had only set the fire alarm off twice. Most of all he was with Elliot every day.

Elliot was his rock, his calming influence kept him sane, and he stood by him no matter what. For that he was eternally grateful. They had even taken up Mrs Green's invite for a Sunday Lunch, taken the train to Manchester after their first payslip came in. They sat at the table and laughed and chatted, and Damien felt what a true home was.

Mrs Green gushed over Damien, and complained about how skinny he still was and plied him with extra roast potatoes.

The police had investigated the clinic after Damien's testimony, and it was shut down for unlawful practice as they found others who were being treated against their will. They had offered him therapy to help him deal with what he had gone through, but he refused it. He was doing okay.

Unfortunately, as Damien admitted he had signed the contracts, the deals with his father were binding. They said if he had proof that he had been under duress when they were signed then perhaps he could argue his case, but what he had was not enough to conteract the legal documents. Or perhaps it was ten high paid lawyers and the bribes to the police that really protected him from prosecution.

He didn't seem to mind as much as he had expected. His life could never be boring with Elliot by his side, even if he had to put up with a part acrylic suit.

He lay in bed with Elliot late one Sunday morning, tangled in the sheets, naked and warm from a round of lovemaking. They had been doing a lot of that of late. He was stroking Elliot's back as he scrolled down his social media feed. A lazy morning in heaven.

Elliot rolled to the side of the bed and pulled on his pyjama bottoms and a hoodie, Damien frowned.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm going to make some coffee, want some?"

"Only if you promise to get back into bed again," He teased and Elliot grinned.

"Um, duh?"

He listened to Elliot's footsteps as headed to the kitchen, the loud noise of the kettle boiling. He pulled on his own bottoms and followed the sounds. He walked up behind Elliot and put his arms around him, kissing his neck.

Elliot laughed, "gee can't a guy get two seconds alone?"

"No," he mumbled into his neck, still kissing him tenderly, feeling Elliot's goosebumps on his lips and smiling.

The doorbell rang. He had no idea who was calling, perhaps a delivery? Elliot pulled away from him, still laughing and walked to the door. He opened it and Damien watched the smile melt from his face. He looked to Damien and then back to whoever stood on the other side of the doorframe with a shocked and increasingly angry expression.

"You shouldn't have come here," he said, his hand gripping the door tightly, his voice icy and not like Elliot at all. Damien frowned, wondering who could have upset him so much, moving to see who was at the door. When he saw he stopped dead.

His mother stood looking nervous and out of place, she gripped the bag that hung over her shoulder like a lifeline and her hair was in a bedraggled up do. Her eyes fell on him and gave him a pitiful look.

"Please, I just need to speak with you for a moment."

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say," he said abruptly.

"I think it's best you leave, now." Elliot tried to shut the door on her but she put out a hand.

"No! Please just- just hear me out, I have something that you need."

"I want nothing from you," Damien spat and she looked shamefully at the floor.

"I understand that you never want to see me again, and I respect that decision, but I have to explain. I- I got everything, your fathers threats, the treatments, his deal with you, the forced signings. It's all here," she brandished a small memory stick and looked from him to Elliot in desperation. "And it's yours if you just let me-"

"I told you already, I do not want anything from you. I do not need anything from you. You are not welcome here, goodbye!" He stormed to the door and tried to slam it but Elliot prevented him.

He held the door back with his body and held his mothers gaze for a long time before looking at him with a pleading look.

"Damien, maybe we should hear her out. If she has what she says, that's a big deal..."

"I said no, Elliot," he scowled at him. But Elliot, despite everything in him clearly wanting to obey, only stiffened, his eyes showing a mixture of defiance and guilt.

"You know I would not normally disagree with you. But we share this place, and I want to hear what she has to say, this could be enough to get your father to pay," his eyes lit up with an angry defiance, a satisfaction at the idea.

"You- you don't understand! She watched. She watched on for years, let me get tortured in that place and did nothing!"

"I did not do nothing!" His mother cried from the doorway. "I begged him not to do it, and when I knew it was no use I made sure to get it all on tape. So that we can get him locked away from our lives for good! If he knew I was here," she looked behind her fretfully and Elliot gave Damien another desperate look.

Damien looked from him to his mother and huffed.

"Fine. Come in, but I'm doing this for Elliot, not for you."

She shuffled into the flat wordlessly and perched herself on the utmost edge of the small sofa. Elliot moved to the kitchen to make a cup of tea, leaving a stiff and uncomfortable silence behind him. Damien walked to the bedroom and quickly threw on one of Elliot's T-shirt's. He had had to borrow Elliots clothes a lot at the beginning, and although he now had a limited wardrobe of his own he had come to enjoy having Elliots scent close by. When he returned he crossed his arms, stood away from her against the far wall.

Elliot came back with the tea and settled himself on the sofa beside her. She sipped it gratefully and cleared her throat. She looked from Elliot to Damien with a pained expression.

"I know that I am a disappointment to you Damien. I am a terrible mother. I would like to make some excuse, that I was frightened of your father, that I was raised to be how I am, but there is none. I am not and would never have been the mother that you deserve," she paused but when Damien said nothing she continued.

"I have been wondering for some time whether there is something broken in me. I see mothers such as Mrs Green and the fierce love they have for their children, I have never had that for anyone."

"Is there a point to this," Damien said stiffly and she sniffed.

"Yes. For some time I have been wanting to divorce your father. But I knew with his financial and social standing I would be ruined in court. I needed evidence of his ways behind closed doors to convince the courts. I bought this brooch," she held up the small floral brooch he had seen her wear on countless occasions since their arrival.

"This brooch has a secret camera. I hoped to be able to use the footage as proof for the man he is, so his lawyers wouldn't be able to wriggle him out of the charges," she hesitated, her eyes flicking back to Damien and then the floor. "But I never imagined what he would do, what I would capture..."

Damien laughed dryly, "you didn't expect him to torture his only son? Join the club."

"It's not just that, it was what he said, the threats he made, the vile things that he said behind your back, the plotting to have you kidnapped and-"

"Hang on a minute, you knew? You knew what was going to happen and you didn't warn me?!"

"Damien, I- I couldn't! He would have been so angry with me! I was scared!"

"So you sat by and did nothing!"

"No! I- I hid his passport so he couldn't leave the country. I posed as a stranger online and led Elliot to the clinic in the hope that he would find you-" she had tears running down her cheeks now.

"Wait that was you?" Elliot asked. "But why so late? At that point Damien had already been released?"

"Because if I had led you there any earlier I was worried you would have ended up the same way. But when I knew he had released him to walk home... in the rain and with nothing..." she looked at Damien her shoulders sagged. "I didn't do enough. I'm so sorry, I hope one day you may be able to forgive me."

She stood, and held out the memory stick to Damien.

"Take it. Do what you want with it. Use it to take back what is yours or just throw it away. It's your call now."

He took it from her, feeling the emotional weight of the momentous object in his palm like it was made of lead.

He looked down, unable to look her in the eye. He wanted to shout, but also to cry. Afraid of what might come out he kept his mouth shut, his fists clenched, the small stick still clutched in his palm.

"Thank you for loving my son," she said turning to Elliot who seemed surprised. "I've seen what you have, and it's something very special. Thank you for giving him what I could not."

She gave one last look around the room and with a heavy sigh walked to the door and quietly closed it behind her.

Both he and Elliot stood in silence for a time, thinking over what had just happened. His mother had finally shown him more affection in this one action than she had in the rest of his life. And yet he was still angry that she had not done more.

He placed the memory stick in the middle of the small coffee table and looked at Elliot.

"I can't watch it. Will you make sure it is what she said? I understand if you don't-"

"It's okay, I will."

He breathed a heavy breath, the air in the room seemed thicker than before, his chest tighter.

"I'm going to go take a shower," he said, trudging from the room feeling sick to his stomach at the thought of what was on that stick.

*Elliot*

Elliot's hands shook as he pushed the USB into the laptop. He felt frightened of what he would see, but also a morbid sort of curiosity. He wanted to know just what had happened. Damien didn't like to talk about it and he didn't want to push him. But now he would know for better or for worse.

The video file appeared on his screen, but he didn't open it straight away. He sat back against the sofa, trying to mentally prepare himself. This would hurt. But Damien had asked him to watch it for him. They needed to know it had the evidence Mrs Parker had described. Perhaps enough for jail time.

He listened to the water hammering in the bathroom, Damien showering, avoiding this moment. He pressed the file.

Mr Parker's voice boomed loudly straight away, the video showing a partial image of Damien in what was clearly the parlour at the estate.

Are you telling me that my only son is a Nancy boy puff?" The voice roared.

Damien's voice responded calm and cool "I am gay. I have been gay for years, but I have never told you. But now I'm getting married, I thought you should know."

"You LITTLE-"

There was a scuffle and the video showed Mr Parker try to hit Damien but he dodged the blow.

The video changed to what looked like the bedroom that the Parkers had stayed in.

"-kill him Gloria, I swear I will kill him if I have to. He is a canker on our family.."

The videos continued on like this, and Elliot even saw a couple of fleeting moments of himself and one of his mother. But then they became darker.

A dinner scene in an unfamiliar restaurant. A man was describing the treatments at the clinic, how they could collect Damien and take him there.

"You need to get him unconscious preferably," the man said casually.

"No problem," Mr Parker smiled menacingly. "So where do I sign?"

The camera showed as Mr Parker forged Damien's signature on the agreement.

Then he was watching the car journey on the way back and Mrs Parker's voice piped up timidly.

"But surely my love, everyone says conversion therapy is outdated and ineffective, wouldn't it be more prudent to-"

"I don't really care about what people say Gloria. Didnt you hear what he said about those shocks? That will teach him to threaten me and go behind my back," he laughed.

Elliot felt his stomach tighten as he knew what would be coming next but he couldn't pull his eyes from the screen if he wanted to.

The next video made his whole body clench. Damien was lying on the floor unconscious in the study, there was blood pooling ominously from his head.

"Richard what have you done!" Mrs Parker was screaming. "You've killed him! You've killed him!"

"Shut up!" He roared, slamming her up against something roughly, Elliot heard her cry of pain. Mr Parker's face came close to the camera. "You need to pull yourself together Gloria or you will be joining him! Do I make myself clear?"

She must have nodded because he pulled away and Mr Parker walked to the hall, letting in several men who went straight to Damien and lifted him on to a stretcher.

The video flipped to a dim room and for a moment Elliot was squinting to try and see, then he realised it was Mr Parker in profile, Mrs Parker must have been sitting away from him as he looked through a large window into a brightly lit room. His face was luminated by the room and showed a smug smile.

"Come on Gloria, take a look."

She walked slowly, and Elliot watched with her in horror as he saw, finally, what haunted Damien's nightmares. He watched on as Mrs Parker filmed day after day, showing Damien's slow deterioration. Elliot saw him restrained, gritting his teeth against electric shocks whilst being forced to look at photos of him. He felt sickness and anger rising in him like a tidal wave as the footage was intertwined with his fathers broad grin of satisfaction.

He wanted to break the laptop, to smash it against the wall but restrained himself. He continued watching, feeling his inner self crying out in agony at Damien's visible pain. He had to remind himself that current Damien was safe and well and showering right now to stop himself from sobbing.

Then when he thought Damien could not look more like a corpse, it finally stopped. He was released from the room, and Elliot knew he must be almost at the end of the footage. He shuddered, remembering just how thin and pale Damien had been when he found him. He had forgotten. Now this video brought it back with a painful reality.

He saw him slumped, defeated at a table before his father and watched as he threatened everyone Damien loved, forcing him into signing away everything he owned.

The final clip was of Mrs Parker begging her husband to call a cab.

"Please Richard, hes so weak and the weather is awful. You've won, you know you've won. Can't you at least-"

Elliot heard rather than saw as she received a sharp smack across the cheek, silencing her.

The video stopped. Elliot sat back his mind spinning. There was more than enough to take him down. But would Damien want to do it? He had finally begun to put it behind him, would this not just dredge up all the pain? But then, Mr Parker could not get away with his actions. If Damien decided not to take him down then he would have to hunt him down and throttle him himself.