After his parents were buried and the services adjourned, Edd made his way to Sasha's bar. Inside, he heard barking, but not from just one dog. To his surprise, it sounded like there were several. Jeez, just how many dogs did Sasha get?

He just barely heard Sasha's voice over the cacophony, trying to shush the dogs from what Edd had to guess. Suddenly, Sasha opened the door before glancing back to shout behind him.

"Get back or you're all going out in the yard!" he warned before noticing Edd waiting patiently, "Damn, you look like shit. Come in, come in. Just go ahead and push past the dogs."

Edd then raised the question on his mind; "Dogs? Just how many did you get from the shelter?"

"Three. I just couldn't help myself," Sasha explained with a sheepish shrug before pointing to each dog in turn, "The pitbull here is a year old and is named Hercules, the basset hound is 2 years old and is named Harvey, and the Chihuahua is the oldest and I named her Diva."

Letting that introduction settle, Edd brushed past the wagging tails and barking as Sasha showed him to the living room. He noticed that each of the dogs already had collars and that Diva was wearing a rainbow-colored tutu.

"I'm glad you were able to give these dogs a much-needed good home," he commented with a small smile as they took a seat on the couch, "What does Hiroshi think of them?"

"He doesn't know yet," Sasha explained, "He's in Japan visiting his parents. I talk to him every other day and tell him about the people I slept with and how the bar is doing. Him and I have an open-relationship where we're both honest about the people we screw. I'll inform him when he calls again."

"I'm surprised," Edd murmured, "that such a relationship would work so well…"

"Well yeah," Sasha stated, "As long as we're open with each other and don't hide anything about our sexual exploits — oh, and that we're both consenting to the idea — then I don't see the problem."

Edd shrugs; "Perhaps my own situation is merely affecting the way I view yours…"

"How do you mean?" Sasha asked.

"I want to be in a monogamous relationship with Eddy," Edd lamented, "I'd prefer things to go back to the way they were, but that might be too much to hope for right now." He sighed. "Moreover, Matthew can be a bit much at times. He's constantly in my space and wouldn't even respect my boundaries — among other things."

"You're preaching to the choir," Sasha replied sympathetically, "Sorry I didn't check up on you last night, by the way. I was bombarded at the bar, and, besides the onslaught of customers, Hiroshi called and then Nazz and Kevin came by to hand me a brochure for the counseling office at the Rainbow Place. As if I didn't already know about it."

"Why do they want you to seek counseling services?" Edd asked, having a bit of a hunch of what it could be.

Sasha grabbed an open bottle of Tequila and started chugging it, stopping to shoot him a grimace; "They want me to work through my past traumas and whatnot; go over the old perv from my childhood and the shit Matthew put me through."

"Surely that might be a good thing?" Edd offered, trying to sound optimistic, "You can finally get past those traumas with the help of a professional. A counselor wouldn't break confidentiality and you would get the help you need."

Sasha sighed, looking through the tequila bottle at him as Diva crawled into his lap.

"Jose Cuervo is a good counselor," he argued bitterly as he absentmindedly scratched her ears, "The bottle won't tell a soul that I'm not the happy-go-lucky, confident, social, gay bar owner that everybody makes me out to be."

"So, you think that admitting that you have trauma to a professional would invalidate your position within the gay community?" Edd asked.

Sasha pursed his lips; "You know there's always going to be bitter queens out there that would use it against me and say that I'm only gay because I got kissed and groped by a pedo and then kissed and groped by Matthew minutes later. They would say that despite the fact that I've fucked so many guys of different shapes, colors, and religions."

"I wouldn't listen to what negative people have to say," Edd argued, aware of Sasha's proclivities towards sexual matters, "Besides there's nothing wrong in admitting that you need help and it could possibly help to stop you from hitting the bottle as well."

"Yeah, sure," Sasha muttered, petting Diva. The other dogs then jumped up on the couch too and Sasha began petting them as well. "Mind if I ask why you're wearing a suit? Did you have a job interview today?"

"No, I had to attend my parents funeral earlier," Edd explained nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry," Sasha offered his condolences, "I, fortunately, cannot relate due to both of my parents being alive. However, I'm sorry for your loss."

"That's okay," Edd shrugged, "I've had four years and the funeral to grieve the loss of my parents. It may sound a bit callous, but I can move on with my life now that I know what happened to them and where they're buried. Sure, there will be days where I grieve for them, but I can rest easy now." He gave Sasha a stern look. "I'm much more worried about you. You seem to be falling apart lately."

"I'm fine. Never better," Sasha replied smugly, "I've got my needs met. My dogs have a good home, plenty of food and water in the kitchen, and I'll be getting toys for them during my next supermarket run."

Edd pressed gently; "Keeping what happened a secret is not good for you." He paused, wondering if now's the best time to suggest this. "I've…got an idea that might help you if you don't want to try therapy? You wouldn't even be breaking that pact you made years ago."

"I'm probably going to regret asking this, but what did you have in mind?" Sasha questioned him a bit suspiciously.

"Just call it a loophole through that pact," Edd explained, "You don't have to tell me, but I'd like you to show me where the incident occurred."

"You're serious, aren't you?" Sasha asked as he sobered up quickly, clutching the bottle tightly in his hand, "You seriously want to see that house?"

"I'm deadly serious," Edd stood by his decision.

Sasha sighed; "Alright fine, I did some digging about that house when I was 19 and nobody has lived there since the creep moved out in the early nineties. I don't even think it has a landlord now. In fact, the whole neighborhood is a ghost town."

"Even better," Edd chirped, "We can break in without anyone catching us. We'll take my car since you're probably in no condition to drive."

"Just let me get my CD case," Sasha suggested, pushing himself off of the couch, "Also, can we stop by the sub shop in town? I need a bite to eat and I bet you're hungry too."

AAAAAA

Edd did indeed stop by the fast food sandwich restaurant in town before doing anything else. Sasha knew the twenty-one year old at the register and talked to him as he made their meals. Sasha got a chicken teriyaki sub with all the vegetable toppings, ranch, oil, and white bread. Edd then ordered his; a wheat tuna sub with spinach, tomatoes, black olives, and light mayo. Sasha pulled out his bank card and swiped it through the slot to pay.

After thanking him, Edd carried his sandwich into the car, but decided not to indulge just yet. Instead, he set his sub beside him as Sasha settled into the passenger's seat. Edd began to drive, with Sasha directing him towards their destination. The music Sasha played was similar to the fast-paced music he played at his club. It took about eight minutes of driving, but Edd finally made it.

"Blood Point?" Edd read the sign aloud as he drove near the forest to hide his vehicle from view.

"Yep," Sasha replied, his tone sounding a little forced, "Years ago, this was a run-down neighborhood. Still is…really. All the kids in my school were told by their parents to stay away from one particular house on this block. All us — including me and Matthew, and his friends — thought there was a monster in that house." He paused, gritting his teeth. "Oh, there was a monster alright; a child-molesting piece of shit."

"Just keep quiet and show me which house it is," Edd instructed, hoping to give him a reprieve from his tortured thoughts.

Sasha mused; "Yeah, of course."

They crept along the deserted street as Sasha led him to a place in the middle of the row of houses. The old mailbox out front still had the number 13 on it. The dilapidated brown house looked like something out of one of Ed's horror movies, with its non-existent grass and rotten trees.

Sasha gestured for Edd to follow him and led him to a window beside the house.

"The window doesn't lock, so we could break in easily," he explained in a hushed tone, "I found that out when we all escaped from that sick fuck years ago."

With a bit of hesitation, Sasha crawled into the window and then helped Edd in, after which, the younger man took a look around the small room. There was an old bed and dresser that was left behind and on the walls were faded 1980s-era ad cutouts of boys. Creepy, considering this is probably how pedophiles got off on their perversion before the internet came along.

"This place hasn't changed much," Sasha grumbled, "just more dusty and without the pedo's stuff."

Edd gulped and reluctantly asked; "Is this…where it happened?"

"No," Sasha answered, "This is where Te — the pedophile found out that Matthew, Lucas, and Seth broke into his house. The guy acted so pleasant about the whole thing, too. We should've known something was up."

Edd pointed out something about the room; "There's footprints coming from the window."

"Great, either homeless people have been using this place to sleep, crackheads have been using this place to shoot up, or teenagers have been using this place as a hangout spot," Sasha guessed. He then headed towards the rotten door that led into the house, "Stay behind me."

Obediently, Edd followed Sasha into the living room or what was left of it. What remained was an old couch, four broken child mannequins, and an end table near the couch. The living room was connected to a kitchen and the front door was boarded up as if it would stop people from entering despite the side window.

Sasha pointed towards the front door; "That's where I came in to distract the monster and was surprised to see a man behind the door. I stumbled on my words over why I was standing at his door when the pedophile heard commotion from his room with the window that we just came in from."

Edd didn't know what to say. He could've mentioned to Sasha that he was technically breaking his pact by explaining all of this, but he knew the story was too important to keep to himself. Still, it was a hard exposition to listen to. He tugged at the collar of his button-up shirt awkwardly, his eyes locking on Sasha's clothing as he looked for an opportunity to change the subject.

"You know that's an interesting shirt you're wearing," he muttered breathlessly, "What franchise is it from?"

"It's from the Silent Hill games," Sasha softly smiled, pointing to the character on the shirt, "He's called 'Pyramid head'."

"Huh…interesting!" Edd replied, trying to sound cheerful before his demeanor fell again, "Anyway, continue. I apologize for interrupting."

Sasha shrugged; "It's cool, man. Anyway, he made lunch for us in the kitchen." He then pointed towards the kitchen. "Then Lucas, Seth, and I sat on the carpeted floor while Matthew sat in the creep's lap as he started to groom him…groom all of us by pretending to be interested in what we had to say. When the creep offered us alcohol, Seth or…Lucas — I don't remember which one — stood up to him. He then threatened all of us with a knife and ordered us all to get in line. After he picked Matthew and forced him to molest me and his friends, he raped Matthew on the floor in front of us."

Edd stood there with a horrified expression looking from the spot near the couch to Sasha. He swallowed thickly.

"That's horrible," he muttered weakly, "How did you escape from this place?"

"Well, when the creep went to a different part of the house to put away the leather fingerless gloves Matthew was wearing," Sasha explained, "Seth grabbed the knife the creep dropped and cut himself out of the binds. He freed Lucas and me and then helped Matthew up. Then we all ran to the bedroom window and escaped."

Edd only nodded, unable to form a sentence that could comfort Sasha. Rubbing his arms in a vain attempt to comfort himself at least, he looked back towards the bedroom.

"We should probably get out of here, Sasha," he offered in a whisper.

"I agree," Sasha replied, eagerly ushering him from the living room, "This house is starting to give me the heebie-jeebies."

Edd and Sasha then returned to the bedroom and crawled back out of the window, after which, they hurriedly returned to Edd's car. Once inside, they finished their sub sandwiches in silence to calm their nerves, ignoring how cold the sandwiches were after sitting in the car, untouched.

"Thank you…for taking me out here," Edd told Sasha gratefully as he finished eating, "I hope it gave you a little closure in return?"

Sasha took a last bite out of his sandwich; "No problem, man. Though, I'm not sure if coming out here helped me or not. It's too early to tell, you know?"

"Well, I should probably get you back before the bar opens," Edd lamented, "Then I'll go home and face the beast…" He shuddered. "That'll be pleasant."

Sasha then offered an idea on how to deal with Matthew; "You know you could always kick him out of the house and have him live with his parents?"

"They're not really in the best of shape at the moment, or I would," Edd replied as he started up the car.