The third time Eli spoke, it wasn't planned.
It came out jagged—like glass forced through his throat. Not a confession. Not yet. Just a fragment. But Christian knew better than to rush it.
The boy sat cross-legged on the therapy couch, hunched over a sketchbook. His pencil moved in careful lines: a hallway, a closed door, shadows bleeding underneath. The kind of drawing that didn't need color to scream.
Christian stayed quiet.
Then Eli said, "He used to wait until everyone was asleep."
His voice barely rose above the sound of graphite scraping paper. Christian didn't move, didn't breathe too loud.
Eli didn't look up. "The hallway creaked. I memorized which floorboards to avoid. But he didn't care. He wanted me to hear him coming."
Christian's hands curled in his lap.
Still, he said nothing.
"I thought—if I stayed quiet enough… he'd get bored. Pick someone else." A beat passed. Eli's knuckles whitened. "He didn't."
There was a pause.
Then he tore the page out. Folded it once, twice, and shoved it into Christian's hand without looking at him.
Christian didn't unfold it right away.
He simply asked, "Was it someone in your home?"
Eli nodded.
A single, bitter motion.
"Stepfather," he whispered. "And when I told my mom—she slapped me."
The silence after that wasn't fragile. It was heavy. Final.
Christian felt something inside him ache in a way he hadn't since his mother told him to smile while strangers touched his back in the brothel's quiet rooms. That ache—the one that said maybe this world wasn't made for boys like them.
But Christian looked at Eli and saw more than pain. He saw the strength it took to speak. To stay. To not disappear completely.
He leaned forward, his voice steady. "Thank you for telling me. I know how hard that is."
Eli stared down at his hands. "If I say more, will it make it stop?"
Christian hesitated. Then said, "It won't erase what happened. But it might stop it from owning you."
Eli nodded once. That was enough for now.
The door hadn't opened fully—but it had cracked.
And sometimes, that was the beginning of everything.