he was taught, he transferred the contents of what had been emptied from his footlocker at camp. He tried so hard to feel memories or just fucking feel but nothing was there.

Until he picked up the last neatly folded Government Issue boxers and saw K. Hardman stitched in them. As he started to toss the box away he heard it rattle and found one more item—the camera. His heart beat, just a little. Reece stripped off his pants and underwear and slipped on Kelly’s boxers. As he traveled home he clutched that camera close.

When he got out of the car and walked into his home, he at least felt he could breath. The food that his mother had prepared herself, a rare treat, tasted. And he could finally feel the air on his skin, and enjoyed jumping in Miss Elizabeth’s pool naked with his little brother when it got dark. He even laughed a little for the first time in how long he couldn’t remember.

That night, when he locked the door to his room. He hooked a few wires together and put earphones in and hit play on the camera. He didn’t cry as he saw Kelly’s goofy grin, but he did roll his eyes as he repeated Happy Birthday baby a million and two times. He smiled at the corny jokes and only found himself taking a very deep breath when the part started he dreaded the most.

We watched for the second time in his life, his friend get naked with two other men and moan as they pleasured themselves with each other’s bodies. He just stared for the second time as he watched Kelly’s fat little cock spasm and spray white fluid all over the hair on his belly. He didn’t cry when the screen went black. He just watched and let it run.

But he did stir when the tape kept going. He hadn’t seen this part. He hadn’t known that that night after Kelly had allowed Hersh and Arnstein to fuck him, that after he himself had fallen into fitful sleep that Kelly had picked the camera back up and managed to find enough light to tape Reese sleeping.

He hadn’t heard Kelly say, “This is Reese sleeping, baby. Happy birthday. Isn’t he beautiful? I can’t wait for you to meet him. I can’t wait to bring him home to you. I’m saving him just for us. I’m saving him for me. This is your special gift, baby, my Reece. Look at him sleeping. I can’t wait for him to fuck me, for you to watch him fuck me. This is who we’ve been waiting for baby, happy birthday. I know you’re gonna love him as much as I do.”

Kelly even held the camera so his face could be seen as he whispered those last few words beside Reece’s sleeping face. Reece’s heart leapt when Kelly kissed him tenderly on the forehead and touched his hair. It was then that Reece’s heart burst in a million little pieces.

The next day he flew to Ann Arbor, Michigan and introduced himself to Marsha Hardman. She was everything that Kelly said she’d be. They laughed and cried as they talked about Kelly. Reece’s played with Kelly’s four little girls and Marsha let Reece read letter after letter that Kelly had sent to her, many talking, gushing