Don't say Stockholm Syndrome

Forget the past

Jacob was sitting on the bed. He could hardly breathe, and his eyes were now fixed on the door Josh had left through.

He felt hollow.

When he finally found the courage to leave, the cell phone rang on the other side of the wall. He gets up, grabs the cell phone, which was next to the TV that showed the bed, and without looking at the name of the caller, answers it.

"Hello?"

"Jacob, where are you?"

"Dad?" he says in astonishment.

"Son, where are you?"

After a brief silence, which caused his father's father to tighten up, Jacob explains where he is and tells him everything that happened... excluding all the parts which, for now, he wanted to keep to himself, and which his father would not understand.

"Jacob, I shouldn't intervene. You committed a crime."

The father sighs deeply, and continues:

"Calm down, I'm almost here. Dad will sort this out. Don't leave until a cleaning crew arrives."

The father turns off the cell phone, and Jacob slumps into a chair, crying.

Meanwhile, on the plane, Anthony opened the bridge of his nose, close to his forehead. The head started to hurt.

He wasn't going to lose his only son, and he had to do everything possible to save his future.

He sighs, lifts his head and calls out to Oliver.

"Sir?"

"What contacts do we have in Berkeley?"

"Several, sir. To what end?"

"Clean up the s**t my son made."

Without any alteration of the easy expression. Oliver bows, pulls out his tablet, and within 5 minutes, he's presented his boss with a name and phone number.

Anthony takes the paper, and with the other hand, orders the secretary to withdraw.

Oliver leaves in silence.

Jacob was not surprised to see a group of men enter the basement.

"Mister Mills?"

"Yes.", replies Jacob.

"Good morning, my name is Lucas Smith", he says, handing over a business card.

Jacob takes the card and looks at the leader of the group.

"Please go back to the dorm and await your father's visit."

Jacob nods, and feeling the man's eyes on his back, he obliges.

When he reaches the room, he sits down on the bed and, losing all composure, cries.

Unaware of the time that has passed, he hears the bedroom door open and close. He hears a chair being dragged, until he is in front of him and someone sits down.

No one spoke, and the silence made Jacob lift his head and face his father's accusing eyes.

"Daddy," he says.

His father's eyes softened when he heard that word that Jacob hadn't said in years. He opens his arms and Jacob drops to his knees hugging his father, wetting the shoulder of his suit with thick tears.

Anthony strokes his son's back.

"Shhhhhh, calm down my life. Daddy is here. Everything will be fine."

Jacob sobs.

When he finally manages to stop crying, he pulls away and looks at his father with sad, puffy eyes.

It's not the 22-year-old young adult who looks at his father, but the 5-year-old boy, who used to cling to his father's legs.

Anthony caressed his son's face, wiping away the tears.

"Can we talk now?" he asks.

Jacob nodded.

The father gets up and helps Jacob to his feet. They both sit on the bed, and Anthony, never letting go of his son, says:

"It's all taken care of. There won't be any complaints, nor any proof of what you did. The situation has been handled. But please don't repeat it."

Jacob releases the breath he's been holding.

Anthony takes his son's chin, lifts his head, and doesn't let his son's eyes leave his.

"Now, you're going to tell me everything that happened."

Jacob blushes and tries to look away, but Anthony holds his chin tightly.

"I already told you everything over the phone.", he says slowly.

"No, you didn't. When I talked to that boy, he said that you did things to him. What things did you do?"

Jacob blushes even more.

"Did you hit him? Torture him?", the man pauses and says: "Did you rape him?"

Jacob stands up and turns his back on his father, with his head down. His legs give out, and before he can fall, his father grabs him and forces him to sit where he was before.

"Speak Jacob. I need to understand everything."

Slowly, Jacob recounts, without much promontory, the things he has done with Josh. Anthony looked at his son, trying not to show any emotion.

When Jacob finishes, Anthony asks:

"Jacob, are you gay?"

"No, but I'm bisexual."

"Okay, I don't know how your mother will react to that, but that's fine with me. I just want you to be happy, be it with a woman or a man. Nowadays, there are other ways for a man to have children."

Both are silent, until the father asks:

"Have you done this before?"

"Kidnap? No"

"OK, and you're not going to repeat it either, right?"

Jacob nodded again.

"So let's forget what happened. Go take a shower and we'll have lunch."

Jacob looks at his father for a few seconds, then gets up, takes the toiletries and towels, and opens the door, just as Josh climbs the stairs to the dorm.

The eyes of the two meet. Jacob with defeated eyes and Josh with anger in his eyes.

For what seemed like hours, the two stood like that, looking at each other, until Josh looked away, climbed the stairs, walked past Jacob towards his room and slammed the door.

Jacob looked back, feeling his father's gaze.

Close the bedroom door and go take a shower.

While waiting for his son, Anthony paces back and forth in the room. He had to keep this matter out of his wife's knowledge.

He was going to have to keep his son away from that boy, too.

Unbelievable that the son chose someone from the same dorm.

The cell phone rings, and Anthony answers it.

"Sir, I hope everything went well. The meeting has been postponed until tomorrow morning," says Oliver.

"Did they put a problem in the postponement?"

"No, sir. They have a vested interest in the meeting being held. They accepted the amendment without question."

"Perfect. I need you to find an apartment near the college. Jacob's going to have to get dressed. Send some men over here to the dorm with a moving van. He's leaving today. If he can't find a house today, he's staying at a hotel. Book- I need a room too. What time is the meeting tomorrow?"

"Four pm, sir."

"OK, take care of everything then. And Oliver, don't forget to book yourself a room. Thanks for everything."

"It is my duty, sir."

When the bedroom door opens, Anthony hangs up and watches his son while he picks up his clothes and gets dressed.

"You didn't tell me that boy was living in this dorm."

Jacob continued to dress in silence.

"Today, a team is coming to collect all your things."

Jacob stops but doesn't dare make a sound.

When he is finally ready, he takes his cell phone and wallet and waits for orders from his father.

Anthony ran his hand over his son's head.

"Let's go. You won't come back here anymore."

Josh was furious and scared. How was he going to live in the same dorm as Jacob? He sends his wallet to the floor and throws his body onto the bed, lying on his belly.

It was obvious that he wasn't going to be able to do anything against Jacob. He was dependent on a scholarship, while Josh had a dad who wrote checks for $5 million as he was buying packets of potato chips.

Josh turns over in bed, puts his hands behind his head and looks at the ceiling.

He had to organize the ideas.

What Jacob did to her was humiliating and criminal. It could have been a lot worse. Jacob regretted it and released him, and called his father to clean up the mess he made.

Josh was fine, humiliated but fine. The problem was having to pass Jacob every day in the hallway.

And the check? What was he going to do with the check? His first idea was to tear it up. But it was 5 million dollars. After having lost everything, that money could represent your future. But didn't that make him a sellout? No, because he was the victim, and the check was the only punishment Jacob suffered. Technically, it was Jacob's father who wrote the check.

He gets up, takes a plastic container, puts the check inside and puts the container inside the freezer, immediately locking the fridge.

He would make a decision about the check later.

What he wanted to do now was forget, go to sleep, and when Monday morning came, go to class. That was very beautiful, but it was still 11:50 in the morning. He picks up his wallet from the floor and decides to go to the library to study. Along the way, he bought a sandwich and a coke for lunch. Well, it looked like Sunday was going to be the longest Sunday of his life.