The front door squeaked slightly as he came out to join me.  He sat down on
the other end of the swing.  Silence stretched for long minutes, the only
sound being the chirping of the crickets and the quiet noise of the chain
doing its best to support 600 pounds of grade-A wrestlers.  Finally, Dennis
spoke.  "It's real nice out here."

"Mmm-hmm."  I continued to stare straight ahead.

Another pause.  "Mark, did I do something?  You're so quiet."

I took a deep breath.  "Next time I do something really stupid, would you
just hit me over the head or something."

He laughed quietly.  "I can do that.  But, uhm, what brought that on?"

"I talked with Kane today."

Dennis sighed.  "Did he lay the guilt trip on you?"  I nodded.  "I was more
than a little pissed the last time I talked to him.  But that's not
important anymore, cuz we're gonna move on, right."

"Yeah.  Right."  Why did he have so much more faith than me that this would
work?

The silence started again.  I started fidgeting with the rubberband I had
wrapped around my wrist twisting it tightly and untwisting it, until I
noticed that Dennis's eyes were fixed on my wrist.  "Dennis?"  He just
continued to stare.  "Dennis?  Hello?  You in there?"

"Will you just shut up for a second?  I'm...I think I remember..."  He
hissed.  I did what he told me, getting the sense that this would not be
pretty.

He kept gazing at the band around my wrist as he began to talk, sounding
distant and far-away.  "You were in the hospital.  I had been talking on the
phone, I don't remember who I was talking to though.  And I hung up the
phone."  He paused.  "And there was a knock on the door, and I looked at the
clock and it was like, 11, and I wondered who it was...and it was Hunter.
And he came in and he grabbed me by my shirt, and then...he threw me against
the wall, and just shoved me into the wall over and over....it was right by
the coat rack."  He took a deep breath.  "Or well, behind the coat rack now,
cuz I moved it to cover the spot."  Another breath.  "And he threw me down
on the floor but I...I hit my head, and my vision grayed-out, and then he
tied my wrists."  Dennis rubbed at his eyes.  "Mark, I think he did it, and
he...but it couldn't have been Hunter, it was the person behind him,
and...."  His voice started to shake.  "My hands were tied to the coffee
table, and my feet were tied to...I don't remember what they were tied to,
but I know they were bound somewhere, and he ripped my pants open.  And
he...he bit down on my cock and oh my God, it hurt so bad..."  He doubled
over, his hands wrapping around his stomach.

I brushed my fingers over the back of his head, afraid to touch him and hurt
him more.  "Dennis, I know...I know this is painful for you, because I could
never go this far with taking about what happened to me, but try to
remember..."

Tears were rolling down Dennis's face.  "And after that...they ripped my
shirt, and lay down over me, and my eyes were closed...and they were warm!
I expected them to be some cold-blooded creature, but they were warm."  He
sniffled slightly.  "And then it happened, and I looked to the side and
there was Hunter, just smiling, getting off on it...he was jacking off, the
sick bastard."  His eyes widened.  "I remember...I....I penetrated
them....wait a minute, Hunter came in and the person behind him...oh fuck.
It was Stephanie."

Fuck not wanting to hurt him.  I pulled Dennis closer to me and he buried
his face in my side.  "I'm sorry."

His voice was angry and frustrated.  "What the hell happened?  How did she
have that kind of power over me?"

I stroked his hair absently.  "I hate to remind you, but you were tied up.
Besides...fear does weird shit to people."  God, do I ever know that one
from experience.

Slowly, the tension eased from Dennis's body, but even I could tell the
issue wasn't over.  After awhile, he cleared his throat quietly.  "You grew
up around here, right Mark?"

Damn,  with a smooth change of topic like that, I know he must've been
hanging around me too long.  "Yeah, why?"

He looked up at me.  "Did you ever have a porch swing like this one?"

"Sure did."  As a matter of fact, we had a porch swing exactly like this
one.  Miss my family?  Me?  No way...

Dennis shifted so he was close to eye level with me.  "You ever make out
with someone on it?"