Happening Just Under Our Noses
When I was young, my family lived in the woods up in Northern California. We were hippies, sort of, and at the time, there were no cell phones or Internet. We didn’t have a TV, cable, or electricity for that matter, so my friends and I would often just hang out in the woods, mostly unsupervised.
One of the kids in the group I hung out with was Dennis. He was a year older than me, and I had a crush on him. He was goofy, fun, and interesting. He was the one who taught me to ride a dirtbike, and we used to go around on his, exploring the paths in the surrounding area.
One day, we were riding around, and Dennis said he had to swing by his place to get something. I’d never been to his house, but my brother had, and he came back with stories about Dennis’ dad being really creepy.
He liked when Dennis brought his male friends over, but hated when girls came along. He’d give the boys all sorts of freedom, and that freaked my brother out. He didn’t go there again. But on that particular day, Dennis made me wait outside. He said his dad, Ken, would be really angry if I came in.
At the time, they lived in a trailer in the middle of nowhere up a dirt road, with a tall wire fence surrounding it and a dog in the yard outside that barked at me nonstop.
Ken stood at the window and stared at me with an angry, pouty look on his face. It was weird as heck. After some time, Dennis eventually came back out, and we left. I tried talking to Dennis about his dad, but he shut me down and would not discuss it at all.
When I turned 12, we moved, and I lost touch with Dennis. Then, when I was 14 or 15, my mom sat my brother and me down, saying she had something to tell us. That’s when I learned the chilling truth.
She said that the kid we knew as Dennis was actually named Steven, and the man we thought was his father, Ken, had kidnapped him when he was only seven years old. He’d told Steven that his parents didn’t want him anymore and that he was forced to take care of him.
Steven believed it after a while because…what else could he do? He was only seven. Ken took advantage of Steven for SEVEN YEARS. I can’t even think about it; it makes me so angry that my friend lived with that monster.
When Dennis was about 14 or so, he was getting too old for Ken’s liking, so Ken went out and kidnapped another little boy. The kid’s name was Timmy White. Well, one night, Ken left Timmy with Steven as he had to work.
Steven wanted to spare Timmy from the terror he knew was coming, so he took Timmy and managed to hitchhike about 35 miles to the nearest Sheriff station in Ukiah. He walked Timmy in and then tried to leave, but an officer saw him, brought him in, and talked to him.
He said: “I know my first name is Steven.” Ken was later taken in by the authorities, and Steven was hailed as a hero for saving Timmy. Ken spent less time behind bars than he’d held Steven for because the prosecutor didn’t bring charges to spare Steven from having to testify about it.
That always ticked me off, but at least now, after wasting away in prison, he’s since passed. I still can’t get my head around the fact that these things happened in one family. None of us had a clue what was happening to Steven back when we all hung out.
Story credit: Reddit / GargleHemlock