Two days later Frank found himself seated in the living room opposite Special Agent Maureen Drake.

He still had not spoken a word out loud to anyone since his meltdown when he was rescued.

However, the authorities needed to take his statement one way or another, so he was being allowed to write down his responses to their questions on a note pad.

"If you want to stop at any time, Frank, just let us know, and we can take a break, okay?" Special Agent Drake said sympathetically.

Frank was getting really tired of sympathy.

He also took note of the fact that the only female agent was conducting the interview, probably because they thought he would be threatened by a male.

"Can you first write down the details of your abduction from your home twelve days ago?"

Frank nodded his head and began to write in the notepad, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room.

It took more than an hour and a half for them to finish taking his statement. He had to pause several times, struggling to write down what happened to him.

The worst part came at the end, when Agent Drake read his statement back to him in order to confirm the details.

Thankfully, his parents were not in the room. Frank hoped they never learned the full details of his attack. The full details of his shame.

"Thank you for your time, Frank." Agent Drake said quietly after Frank signed the back of his statement. "We're all finished here."

Frank nodded his head, and waited until she exited the front door to go back upstairs to his room.

Joe went back to school a week after that, but Frank wound up staying at home for another month. Joe brought his homework home every day, and Frank sat in his room working on it in silence.

Surprisingly, he managed to retain his Straight A average. Of course maybe it wasn't all that surprising when the only things he did were homework and attending therapy appointments where he sat in a chair and stared silently at whoever his current therapist happened to be at the time.

More than anything he missed being normal. He tried to force words out on several occasions. He had a thought that his family might stop hovering quite so intensely if he could at least bring himself to say something, anything at all.

Every time he tried, however, the words just wouldn't come.

The only time he came close to speaking was when he woke up screaming every night.

He was stricken with guilt over his inability to stop the assault, and his inability to move past it now. He felt awful for ignoring Callie at school every day, but he couldn't make himself look her in the eye.

Joe gave him updates on her every few days, and although Frank never responded to them he appreciated them just the same.

He was also plagued with by his inability to help his brother with Vanessa's pregnancy. Joe had not been allowed to see Vanessa outside of school since Andrea found out about the pregnancy.

Frank could tell that his brother wanted to bring it up to him, but stopped himself.

He wished that everyone didn't think he was so pathetic.

He wished he could do something to prove that he wasn't.

More than anything, he wished that this whole nightmare had never happened.

And if wishes were currency, he would be the wealthiest man in America.

It would be another month before Frank spoke a word to anyone.

A/N Thank you to everyone who read this story. The sequel is called "Life or Something Close," And can be found on my profile.