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Finney could still see the basement every time he closed his eyes. The cold concrete, the black phone on the wall, the unclean bathroom. Every dream was just the basement, the phone, The Grabber. It was torture.
The sound of a car pulling up made his heart race. The sight of a street magician made him nauseous. Even fucking phones terrified him. The ringing got him standing up quickly. Someone was calling. Someone was helping him. Someone dead.
He didn’t go to school for over a month after he escaped. Gwen stayed home with him during that time. He needed her. He couldn’t fathom the idea of being alone again. Trapped in a cold basement with only his kidnapper and five dead kids keeping him company.
“Want a soda?” his father had asked a few days after. He pulled out a Sprite bottle and Finney threw up straight onto the floor.
Luckily, his dad didn’t beat him for this. He was trying to be a better father. But Finn couldn’t forget everything he did to them. What he did to Gwen for talking to the police.
Finn still started sobbing on the bathroom floor in between the toilet and the shower. Gwen held his hand the whole time.
“Make it stop!” He wailed before vomiting again. It was getting to the point where he had nothing to throw up anymore and blood started to mix into it.
Gwen’s eyes were soft and kind. She squeezed his hand tighter as he started calming down. He wiped the leftover saliva off his face.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. Gwen frowned.
“Don’t be,” she said soothingly. “You went through Hell and back.”
Finney laughed slightly at her comment, causing her to smile. She helped bring him back to his feet and supported him back into the kitchen.
“I’m so sorry, bud,” his father breathed.
“It’s fine,” Finn replied.
It wasn’t. It really wasn’t. He couldn’t get a full sleep. It was all just the dark basement covered in rust. Just the first person to see him other than his kidnapper with a hatchet stuck in his head. Just that fucking mask.
He’d wake up screaming. Sweat mixed with tears drenched his face. He’d bring his knees to his chest and grab his hair.
He almost wished The Grabber did kill him. At least then he wouldn’t have to be stuck with these memories.
“But The Grabber wouldn’t be dead,” Gwen said once as she rubbed his shoulder. “And you’d be bound to that house until he was.”
Finney leaned his head against her and tightened his blanket around him.
Their father opened the door and gave Finney a sympathetic look. “How do you feel about going to therapy?”
Finney lifted his head and pondered that for a moment. It sounded like a good idea. But he wasn’t sure how much it would help. After a few more seconds, he nodded. His dad smiled and closed the door again.
His first therapy session was awkward. He didn’t know what to tell her or how to answer her questions.
“How did you manage to kill The Grabber?” They asked, looking up from their clipboard.
Finney fiddled with his thumbs while looking down. How was he supposed to respond? “Oh, yeah, the previous kids’ ghosts talked to me through a phone and gave me tips on how to survive.”
“...I’m not sure.”
His therapist hummed and continued writing on her paper. Finney bounced his leg up and down nervously. The woman sighed and leaned forward.
“What happened to you while you were in the basement?”
The question made Finney freeze. He cupped his hands and tensed his fingers around each other. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth.
“I would sleep on an empty mattress. He’d come down and bring me food about once a day. It was always eggs and a Sprite. I barely had any real water.”
The therapist nodded as she wrote.
“He’d uhm…” Finney swallowed. “He’d sometimes watch me sleep. My first night down there he said he was just down there to…look at me.”
His therapist paused and glanced up at him. Her face fell slightly before she looked back down at her clipboard. She let Finn continue.
Should he tell her about “Naughty Boy”? The only way he found out about it was from Billy Showalter. He decided to just leave that part out.
“When he’d bring me food he’d leave the door unlocked. He’d wait upstairs with a belt for me to fall for it. I didn’t, I didn’t get punished that way.”
The therapist’s breath hitched but didn’t say anything.
“One night I tried to escape. I got outside. I was so close…”
Finney’s breathing got caught in his throat and he covered his mouth. He took a deep breath and continued.
“His dog started barking so he woke up. He was faster than me. He tackled me and held a knife to my throat. Threatened to kill me if I said anything.”
The therapist nodded. She looked up.
“What about Max?”
Finney closed his mouth tightly, his heartbeat echoing in his ears. The loud crack when the ax hit the man’s skull still rang in his mind. How The Grabber was planning on using that same hatchet to kill Finney. He inhaled and held back a sob.
“I…I can’t.”
The woman nodded. “That’s alright. Thank you, Finney.”
It didn’t seem to help that much. He just told her his experience while leaving certain points out. She did teach him a breathing process to help him during a panic attack, which he was grateful for. She recommended he take some medicine to help him sleep.
That also seemed to work, but his nightmares still came. It was a lot less now, though.
Finney walked into the kitchen where his father was reading the paper. He came in slowly, rocking back and forth on his feet.
“I think I’m ready to go back to school.”
His father looked up, slightly surprised. He put his paper down and turned in his chair.
“Alright,” he started. “You sure? We could get you homeschooled-”
“I’m sure.”
His father nodded. “Alright. Want to start tomorrow?”
Finney nodded and walked into the living room. He sat down next to Gwen and started watching the show she was.
On his first day back he paused in front of the door. Gwen turned around to look at him. Finney stared at the streets, his stomach twisting. Gwen touched his shoulder to bring him back from his thoughts. He flinched slightly.
“You okay?” She asked.
Finney looked at her. He smiled. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”
His sister smiled back and the two started walking to school. Other kids walking noticed Finney and stared at him with wide eyes. He avoided looking at them and kept his eyes on the ground.
The sound of cars passing by made Finney’s heart skip a beat. His mind was racing.
He’s coming for me.
He’s going to kill me.
He’s going to take me.
He’s-
Gwen grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He was safe. He was alive.
Everyone was watching Finney when he arrived at his school. He could hear people talking about his fight with The Grabber, gossiping about how he managed to kill the town’s infamous kidnapper. His stomach twisted as he felt everyone’s eyes on him.
Until he saw the three boys who tormented him for years. Who, after Robin was taken, immediately jumped on beating him up.
They watched him, tensing as he passed. Finney felt a smirk crawl on his face.
He was the toughest kid in school.
He was a hero.
He was Finney Blake.