Toby turned and saw Sherry sitting at the table in front of the window at the front of the study; he laughed when he saw Sherry hold up a thick pillow. Sherry patiently waited as Toby made his way slowly towards the table, taking the offered pillow before pulling out the chair opposite Sherry, placing the pillow on the seat, and sitting down. He scooted the chair in, then sat up straight, least he leaned back against the seatback, placed his hands in his lap, and looked straight at Sherry.

"So, how do you want to do this? Do I just start talking, telling you about everything bothering me? Each of those I previously spoke with had their own methods, which could be confusing when talking with each of them. Or do you want to wing it, let things play out as they play out?"

Sherry had been watching Toby ever since he walked into the study. It wasn't lost on her of the pain Toby still felt as he walked. She also noticed he wasn't leaning back in the chair, leading her to conclude his back still pained him if he leaned back into anything hard. "Would you like me to get something soft to put behind you, Toby? So you don't have to look like some cadet at an academy sitting in that chair?" Sherry approached Toby in this fashion to help put him at ease and in the hopes he'd be completely trusting of her.

"I think I'd like that, Dr. Daniels," he told Sherry, as he kept sitting up but so wanted to lean back in the chair.

Sherry held up a finger, then told him, "I'll be right back." She pushed her chair back, stood up, and walked across to the study to the door. She opened it, stepped through, and closed the door behind her. No sooner had she left, then she was back, carrying a thick quilt. After closing the door, she walked over to stand behind Toby. Unfolding the quilt until it was doubled up, she then placed it over the chair back, telling Toby, "See how that feels."

She stepped to the end of the table so she could observe Toby's face; she saw the strain on it as he tried to keep sitting up straight. He might not have realized it, but his face showed he felt much better now he could lean back without experiencing pain from his back being against a hard surface. To accompany his face, he sighed and told Sherry, "Oh, that's much better. Thank you, Dr. Daniels."

Sherry was still standing watching him as he spoke. As she took the two steps to reach her chair, she told Toby, "Enough of the Dr. Daniels, Toby. While we're in here, or in private elsewhere, it's Sherry. Got it?"

Sherry watched as Toby nodded his head before saying, "Yes, ma'am. I got it."

Chuckling, Sherry slowly shook her head while telling Toby, "After everything you've endured, you still retain a gentleman's politeness. That is exceedingly commendable, Toby. Externally, you exhibit proper manners, you've taken responsibility for your actions, something few would do. But I'm more worried about your internal condition, Toby. You've been through hell and came out the other side with your integrity intact. That takes a lot of heart Toby... a lot of heart. You asked how we'll be doing this. Would you believe I always wing it, Toby? I never have a concrete idea of how I'm going to proceed with those speaking with me. I find it works better that way. So, we're going to talk, just talk. You won't see me writing anything down, I don't have to. I remember everything I hear. Does winging it work for you or will another way work better for you?"

While it was true Sherry didn't have a step-by-step process written down on paper, she did have one in her mind. And she just started using it with Toby. "I think winging it will be the best, it became rather boring talking to the others and their seemly ‘by the book’ procedures."

"Okay, then. Winging it is what we'll do. How are you really feeling right now? How much pain are you in?"

Sherry watched him wince as he tried to get more comfortable sitting in the chair. "Jill told me everything is healing nicely, but it's all still rather tender. I never knew how much my butt played in walking until this happened. I still find it uncomfortable to lean back against anything with a hard surface or try to reach for something too far away. I think I'm going to be flat on both sides as much as I've been sleeping on my sides. Wonder if it will make me taller?"

Sherry laughed at Toby's attempt to lighten the mode in the room. She also knew it was a defense mechanism in an attempt to deflect her questions. "Ah, no. I don't think you'll become flatter on both sides or taller. Let's start by you telling how things were before all of this started, before your mom left home. Tell me how everyone was acting towards you."

Toby got a frown on his face, which Sherry took to mean he was thinking back to that time. "Hmm… well, everything seemed to be okay. Mom was working for some business as a secretary or assistant or something like that. Dad was one of several plant foremen at this company. Except Tylor wasn't beating on me, I don't remember him being around too often. I seem to remember him often asking my parents for money, and then explaining to him they could only give him a few dollars. I remember one time him asking for money and getting really upset when my parents told him there were bills they had to pay, so weren't able to give him money at that time; he stormed out of the apartment. I'd be in my bedroom doing school work and hear my parents argue, I don't know about what. But when I came out to see what was going on, mom wouldn't say a word to me as she stormed right by me going to their bedroom. Dad, on the other hand, would tell me I shouldn't be worried by what I heard, when I asked him why he and mom were shouting at each other. He said everything was going to be okay."

When I got out of school, I stayed with Aunt Terri until my dad came to pick me up to take me home; Aunt Terri's apartment was close to dad's work. One day after dad picked me up and we got home, mom was standing in the living room with two suitcases sitting beside her. The minute dad and I walked through the door, she started in on dad, telling him she couldn't live like this anymore. How she was tired of watching those at work driving into the underground parking in BMWs, Audis, Mercedes, Volvos, Lexus, and several others, and wanted to be able to own one of those cars. She also said she wanted a luxury home and not a flea trap of an apartment. Because dad and I were still standing near the front door, we heard a car horn honk. Dad opened the front door and we saw a Mercedes parked at the curb in front of our apartment; the guy driving had got out and lifted the trunk open. He called mom's name while standing at the trunk, causing mom to lift her suitcases and walk out of the apartment without another word. She wanted a better life, a brighter life. She might have found it, I don't know. But dad heard about a year after, she had become a junkie, living on the streets turning tricks to get enough money for her next fix. Dad never told me how she got hooked, but I thought it was strange how dad was really late picking me up from Aunt Terri's one day. And when he showed up, his hands were kind of bloody, cut up. When Aunt Terri asked him about it, he told her there was a problem at the plant he had to help fix. From the look on Aunt Terri's face, I don't think she believed him. Having seen those types of cuts since, I think dad had been in a fight. Actually, I think dad went after the man who picked up mom that day. I think dad believes he's the one who got mom hooked on drugs. Whatever dad did, nothing happened afterward, no police or anyone else came looking for dad."

"Dad was making good money, or to my nine-year-old self, it seemed he was. We had food, he paid the bills, or so dad told me he was; Tylor was hardly around anymore so dad couldn't tell both of us. But I guess we were really scraping by and dad was keeping it from me. When dad picked me up from Aunt Terri's one day, he told me he was taking another job for a little while, just until we caught up. He never explained caught up to what, but I saw that in later years, he was trying to catch up with the bills he could only pay the minimum on at the time. That's also about the time Tylor started in on me. He got really mean when he asked dad for money and dad would tell him there was none to spare, and that he should look for a job to earn money. After dad left for the security guard job he took, Tylor would get really loud about needing money. I made the mistake the first time and asked him what for. He backhanded me so hard my feet came off the floor. All I remember is landing on my back, my head hitting the floor. And that's when I woke up, lying on the floor. I was dizzy when I sat up and sat there for several minutes until the dizziness went away. When my eyes cleared, I could see how Tylor had gone crazy. Stuff was thrown around in the kitchen and living room. My bedroom was torn up, even dad's bedroom was a mess. Looking back, I think Tylor was looking for money."

After I cleaned myself up, I cleaned up the apartment the best I could. I don't think I got everything back where it belonged because dad woke me when he got home and asked me what happened to the apartment. I told him I didn't really know because Tylor backhanded me so hard when I asked why he needed money that he knocked me out. I told dad I tried putting everything back like it was, but couldn't remember where some of it went. He told me not to worry about it, he'd take care of it. Ya, know, Sherry, when I think back to that time, Tylor was never around when dad was home, and came home when dad was gone. It was after Tylor had torn the apartment apart that he started in on me. I think it made him mad when I didn't cry the next time he slapped me. Or when he continued slapping me in an effort to make me cry. I believe it was then he decided to start using the razor strop on me, and whatever else he could find. All in an attempt to make me cry. But I never did. I'd cry out, but never once did I give him the satisfaction of crying."

Sherry watched as Toby hung his head, before reaching up and wiping his eyes. He abruptly looked up and in a fierce voice told Sherry, "BY DAMN, SHERRY, THAT BASTARD WASN'T GOING TO MAKE ME CRY. I WAS A BETTER PERSON THAN HIM AND I PROVED IT."

Without it showing on her face, Sherry was happy to see Toby get angry. He needed to get the anger out, express it before it ended up consuming him. And what she was about to do would either cause him to fold in on himself or get even angrier. "Were you really better than him, Toby? You did, after all, begin shoplifting. You were even caught and arrested for shoplifting."

As Sherry watched, Toby's face took on a grotesque appearance, before he stood up so fast he knocked his chair over backwards. Then, he literally ripped his shirt off, pulled his pants and underwear down, turned his back to Sherry, and shouted at her, "AND JUST WHAT THE HELL WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO DO TO KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING? COME ON, GIRL SCOUT, TELL ME WHAT YOU'D DO TO KEEP FROM BEING BEATEN LIKE THIS EVERY NIGHT?"

The floodgates opened and Toby collapsed to the floor, bawling with such an intensity unlike anything Sherry had ever heard. It was anguish and hurt and anger all in one. It was as though a soul was being ripped apart. She got up quickly, knocking her chair over in the process, rushed around the end of the table, pulled the quilt out from under Toby's overturned chair, and wrapped it around him while she held him as he bawled. The position she was sitting as she held Toby gave her a clear view of the entire study. It was during this time the study door opened and Jane stepped into the study. The two women exchanged looks, Sherry's telling Jane she wanted to strangle someone and Toby was okay. And Jane's telling Sherry she understood how Sherry felt. Jane's last unasked question asking if Sherry was okay, was met with a continuous nod. Jane nodded once, then silently opened the study door and left. All Jane needed was a flashlight, a map, and a shovel.

"That's okay, baby. You let it out, let it all out, baby. You've held this in far too long, let it out, sweetheart. I've got you." Sherry spoke softly to Toby as he continued wailing, holding him all the while. "You're an extremely brave individual, Toby Camber, enduring more than a person has the right to endure. Let it out, sweetheart, let it all out."

When Jane had left the study, she'd stopped at the entrance to the living room and stood listening to Toby's bawling. She'd had boys cry before, but none as Toby was doing now. To her, his cry was of a soul that had reached its limit of endurance, one on the edge of becoming nothing. Her tears were visible, her crying was silent, reaching all the way down to her very soul.

The sound coming from the study was from a tortured soul, overflowing with sorrow and anguish. It was so loud and sorrowful enough that it even caused Marie to come out of the kitchen to see what was happening. Even the girls and Susan in the library, heard it, causing them to almost come running out of the library. The four ended up standing next to Jane, each putting their arm around the waist of the other. The four stared at the study door, tears not absent from them all. "Is there anything we can do, Aunt Jane?" It was Francis posing the question, her voice shaking as she spoke.

"Right now, Francis, no. Nothing. What must be must be, he's kept the hurt captured far too long, and now it must be released. What we can do, when we can do something, is be there for him. Let him know we're there for him when he needs us."

Charlotte spoke next by saying, "The last time I heard such a mournful cry was after a dog had been hit by a car. I hoped to never hear that sound again. I never knew it was possible for a person to make the same sound. I don't want to hear that ever again."

"Chère, the only way you'll never hear a sound like that again is to become deaf. It is excruciating to hear, but a sound those with soulful wounds can and will produce. It is the most mournful cry you will ever hear, chère. Don't shy away from the sound, understand the reason it's heard. Understand you hear it because a person's soul has been torn, and they have no other way to express the hurt they feel." Marie went quiet after saying this, reaching up with her free hand to wipe tears off her cheeks.

No one kept track of how long they stood there listening to Toby pour out the pain he felt in his wounded soul. No one cared how long they were there. They only cared about Toby's welfare and the hurt each felt knowing they could do nothing for him at the moment. Eventually, the soul-wrenching sound they'd been hearing subsided into normal crying, the winding down of the pain Toby had kept captured all of these years. Then it happened, the study went quiet. The four women stood for several more moments before Jane instructed the girls to return to their lessons with Susan. Marie wiped her eyes one last time before turning and walking back to the kitchen. Everyone but Jane went back to their previous tasks. Jane resolved to stay until Toby came out of the study, no matter how long it took.

An arm went around Jane's waist, causing her to look to her left. "Mon amour. Vous ne pouvez pas attendre qu'il quitte le bureau. Allez, calmez-vous comme vous savez le faire. Laissez-la vous emmener là-bas." Marie kissed Jane's cheek, then using the arm around Jane's waist, steered her to her bedroom so she could change to go riding.

After Marie watched Jane leave the house by the backdoor, she went into the kitchen and filled a pitcher with water and ice. She took two glasses from the cabinet, put everything on a tray, and took it to the study. She quietly entered the study, walked to the table near the window, set the tray down on the table, turned, and walked as quietly out of the study. She then went up to her bedroom, where she cried in private.

Marie had set the tray down near the edge of the table, close enough for Sherry to reach. Reaching up with her right hand, Sherry poured one glass half full, before setting the pitcher back on the tray and taking the glass of water. Toby's crying had turned into moans, moans just as tormenting to hear. When his moans stopped Sherry said, "Here, sweetheart, drink some water." Toby never let go of Sherry, though he did lift his head off her chest and drink some of the water; Sherry held onto the glass of water. When she gauged the time was right, she urged him to drink more of the water, which he did. When he'd drank the glass empty, she placed it back on the tray and wrapped her right arm back around Toby.

She knew it was a good sign when she heard Toby ask, "May I have more water please?"

"Yes you may, sweetheart, all the water you want." Sherry repeated her first action to pour half a glass of water into the glass Toby had been offered. As before, he never let go of Sherry but lifted his head and this time, drank the entire half a glass of water. "More?" Sherry asked, getting a head nod from Toby. She repeated this action five more times before Toby shook his head no.

"I'm sorry about this," Toby said into Sherry's chest. "It all hit me at once and there was nothing else I could do."

Before Sherry replied, she had to tamp down the anger she felt for a boy thinking he had to apologize for releasing the anguish he'd kept bottled up all of these years. "You owe no one an apology for what just occurred, Toby. I'm amazed you went this long before breaking down as you just did. You needed this. You needed to get it out of your system. You needed to let it all out in order for your soul to begin healing. Don't you ever apologize when you find it necessary to cry for any reason. It's the way we humans express ourselves beyond what words can convey."

She knew what she was going to do next might be too early to do, but Toby's mind was open and the memories might be clearer for him to recall. "What are your dreams like since this all started? How soundly have you slept?"

Sherry felt Toby tense and then relax before he started speaking. "Well… at first, I'd wake up screaming, at home and at Aunt Terri's. The first time it happened at home, my brother came into my bedroom, told me to shut up, and proceeded to slap the hell out of me; I think he actually knocked me out that first time, I don't really remember. After that, at home, after my brother slapped the hell out of me the first time, I think my subconscious mind kept me from waking up screaming, though I jerked awake several times after that. According to my Aunt Terri, I woke up screaming several times while I was at her home. Guess my subconscious knew she wasn't going to physically abuse me. What I can remember of my dreams, are those times I'd be getting beaten by whatever my brother could find and fighting with my brother and the man as they dragged me to the two pipes and tied me to them. I would just start getting beaten and jerk up in bed, wide awake. Or at Aunt Terri's, find myself being held by her as I had been screaming, or so she told me. It seemed after those dreams, at home and at Aunt Terri's, I'd have no trouble sleeping soundly the rest of the night or what was left of the night. The only dreams I remembered when I woke the next morning were those dreams of being beaten, as I still remember them now."

Like Jane, Sherry had to fight her own monster to keep it from taking her out and finding Toby's brother and the man, and give them a taste of their own medicine. "And now that you're here at Seasons House? How well are you sleeping?"

Toby was quiet for several minutes before he said, "While I've been here, I can't remember having any of the dreams about being beaten, Sherry. In fact, I can't remember a single dream I've had. That's a good sign, isn't it?"

Nodding her head, Sherry answered with, "Yes, it's a good sign. It means your subconscious knows you won't be physically abused while you're here at Seasons House. But you won't always be here, you'll eventually leave and return home or wherever it's decided you'll live and with whom. That's when you may start experiencing those bad dreams again, either jerking awake or waking up screaming. Toby, you have been through an extremely traumatic experience, something similar to a woman being beaten by her husband or boyfriend. It is going to take time for you not to let what happened to you be the central part of your life and dreams. Even when you're able to put it all aside, you may find something triggers those memories and causes you to have those dreams again.

Toby was nodding his head as Sherry spoke. When she became quiet, he said to her, "Yeah, I know I won't always be here, but I can't go home either. Not back to where it all started, there are too many bad memories in that place. Too many memories that might actually cause me to kill my brother this time. I've already vowed to never let him beat me again, by whatever means necessary. And if that means killing him to stop him, well… " Toby had gone silent. A short time later he said, "If I go back there, Sherry, and have to stop my brother from beating me using whatever means necessary," and he looked up at her, "I'll become no better than he is Sherry. I don't want to become like he is Sherry, I'm better than that. But I'll be forced to do just that if he tries to beat me again."

Even though Toby's last statement was softly said, she knew the truth of what he said. He would kill his brother if he attempted to beat Toby again. Using her right hand to run her fingers through Toby's hair, she told him, "I don't think you'll have to worry about your brother beating you any time soon. I believe he has his own problems to deal with at the moment. He may even be awarded a new address at one of our finest prisons for several years. And if he was involved in killing those kids, that new address could become his permanent address. What say we get you upstairs to your bedroom so you can shower and put on clean clothes? I don't think Jane would take kindly to you walking around wearing that quilt."

Toby chuckled at what Sherry said. "I think that's a good idea, Sherry. I feel kind of sticky. And Sherry?"

"Yes, sweetheart?"

"Thank you for being here with me. I can't express in words how much it means to me," Toby told her.

Sherry had to wait a minute before she spoke, her throat had tightened up on her because of what she just heard Toby say. "Sweetheart, I'll be here any time you need me. In fact, I'd like to continue seeing you on a regular basis. I want to help you come to terms with everything you've been through. Come on, let's get you upstairs."

Toby sat up after Sherry let go of him. Standing first, Sherry then helped Toby stand, wrapping the quilt around him and helping him to the study door. After opening the door, she let Toby walk through first and after following him through the door, left the door standing wide open. Their progress was slow, but they eventually made it to Toby's bedroom door, where he turned and hugged Sherry for the longest time before turning and entering his bedroom. Sherry stood looking at the closed bedroom door, wiping tears off her cheeks. Soft arms went around her from behind, causing her to turn and cry into Marie's shoulder. "I think I should be next, oui? I can bring the cookies."

That caused Sherry to laugh through her tears. "Well, with an offer like that, you'll have to be next on my visit list." Leaning into each other, the two women slowly made their way back downstairs, Sherri going back into the study and Marie going to the kitchen to get the cookies she promised. She also took a box of tissues with her. They were going to be needed.