Required

Due to the unbalanced nature of Daniel Moors' testimony, when the drugs had been almost absent, it was readily apparent that psychological dependence had set in. And at the moment he had desperately needed his vice.

However the young man had luckily had enough lucidity to not antagonize the officers or much move when called for a disturbance in the estate.

Due to his incoherence, his erratic behavior prior, due to the fact that the younger brother was petrified with eyes blown wide and drenched but otherwise uninjured on the patio a social worker was called in.

The parents had lost control. Realized so months ago when their son had punched a wall in an exhausted, irritable state one night.

And as it stood had no means or authority as parents to have corralled destructive behavior and violent language.

Olli had become something of a doll, otherwise unaccounted for in matters of the house, in the instances Daniel sober or not deigned to notice him. Sometimes he was in a hugging and crying mood. Other times he was in a venting mood.

He screamed at ten year old Olli on such occasions.

It was scary.

Even though his screams had demanded him to stay there, in one place, far from him while he was so angry.

His eyes had learned to track the movements of those bigger. Take mental note of how they paced, how long their strides, how measured or how agitated.

And from the very start he'd not trusted Dr. Eddal. Hadn't wanted her there.

From the start a requirement to shelve the entire ordeal as resolved was for the parents to submit Olli to a counselor for care.

Specializing in abused children.

She'd been used to horrible. And in some occasions yes, the children did turn into statistics into her mind.

She could only hope every day, try a little harder every day that those ill-suited tracks of thought never showed.

Dr. Eddal first consulted with Olli late at night, not long after Daniel had been detained and formally registered into rehab. Rather than her regular office it had been in a hospital.

The parents or Uncles, the adult family members were often the most common culprits. But there were always the times-- where, "the brother in his stupors would talk in coarse language, extort the child, blackmail and demand from the child to keep his silence."

"We do not believe physical force was applied."

"Marks designated to be 'with intent' are few and far between. Most if not all are now old and partially healed."

She answered his questions.

She asked her own, of how he felt of what he liked and who he liked. What did he do at certain times of the day and when he ate. How was school? There had been a note that he tried out for his basketball team and had been a rat in the Nutcracker show that winter.

Eddal did her utmost to reassure he was a person. A valued person who'd been undeservedly mistreated. In a way no one deserved to be treated.

And with time, in their eighteen months together she hesitated, but ultimately decided that it wouldn't be unprofessional if he considered her a friend.

If it meant his fear of adults all but faded.

Once he'd graced her with his voice, well, she certainly laughed a great deal. She clapped when he showed her the steps for the rat's solo in the Nutcracker. She listened as rules were enforced and the candy and cookie jars were placed out of his reach.

It was a transitionary period: from indulgent negligence to authoritative.

She reminded him it was out of love. She reminded that it was his decision and his alone to see Daniel, to contact his older brother-- his older brother with an illness who had hurt him, who had known so to some level-- when it was safe. Safe for Olli physically and safe for Olli mentally.

She only saw him twice-more after the eighteen months were up.

Three years later and she'd have to correct that.

Setting her purse on the seat beside her a coffee mug had been slid into her hands.

"Thank you ma'am," Daniel said quietly.

Olli had allowed his brother to borrow his phone to call for a consult.

The boys' parents were at the moment, at Olli's school for a conference about recent behavioral issues. Before they were to realize the younger son had set them up to leave.

"Everyone else thinks I was hallucinating what I saw on that road. I'd be a little less pissed if they at least gave me a chance to speak."

"I'd read about that in the papers. You claim to have seen--"

"A ghost maybe, best way I could think to describe it when my head had been cut clean through with my windshield mind you."

Daniel Moors was terse but otherwise composed. He kept his temper and sighed out his frustrations.

"So," he continued with an obstinate shrug, "I hired three high-school freshmen. Okay, two freshmen and my brother."