In a dark, dark house in a dark, dark wood...
But seriously, after reading QOTW for ages I think it's about time that I shared a true story with you about some very serious events which occurred in my younger years.

So, on to the story proper: I was abducted when I was 4 years old and kept in small dark room. (Seriously, this is not a Mad Cann joke).

When I was 4 my mum had met a new man (Tom) and after 18 months of a long distance relationship we had all (me Mum, me brother and me) upped sticks and relocated to an idyllic little town close to Newton Abbot in Cornwall. Things were great! Having moved from Blackburn up north, the change of scenery and warm weather were a god send: You could play out until really late because it didn’t get dark for ages, you could play out in your shorts and T-shirt from dawn until dusk without getting cold, the sea was nearby, playing fields and countryside were abundant. Because it was a small community in which everyone knew everyone else, all was nice, peaceful, normal and safe. Life was good for our little crew for a change and even at 4 years old I could tell that Mum was happier than she had been for a long time.

Anywho, while playing in the local vicinity me and my brother made friends with all the other kids in the area including the brother and sister team of Tom, aged 7 and little Susie aged 3 or 4yrs. These were nice kids and we enjoyed hanging out and doing the things that kids growing up in the countryside will do. We would sometimes go to their house and watch videos or play with their legos or in the paddling pool they had out back of the house. They would come to our house and sometimes my mum would make us toys from cleverly folded and cut newspapers.

Tom and Susie’s dad was a little man. One of those little men that can’t control his temper very well and is apt to over react at quite the smallest thing. Generally, he was noticeably tense and often displayed outward signs of a nervous internal battle of some kind or stress perhaps (he was a bit loco, really).

Tom and Susie’s mum was a trophy wife with enormous breasts, revealing clothes and hideous breath. The sort of woman who you could imagine being beaten by her husband for some percieved misdemeanor, but who would then side with her husband and turn on the police or any other good samaritan who might have come to her aid.

One day, Tom and Susie had been out with their parents to a car boot sale and returned in the afternoon with a particularly poor selection of second hand toys. I don’t remember what Tom received but Susie had one of those push-me-pull-you-ride-along-trolley affairs with wooden bricks with letters and numbers painted on them. By this time me and my brother were well in to Thundercats and pirates so weren’t really interested in their new toys and so brother disappears to play down the street with someone other kids and leaves me with . The next bit is a bit of a blur but after a while Toms dad is screaming bloody murder because something has happened to Susies new toy - Its broken.

It must be about 7 or 8pm now (this was years ago before the days of blatant scare mongering in the media so it was not unusual for us to be playing out this late especially in summer) and my brother comes to look for me because it’s time for tea. He can’t find me, I’m not with Tom and Susie (who have been ordered to bed for being naughty, I’m not over at James’ house and I’m not down the road with Simon and Martin.

That’s because I’m in a dark cupboard under the basement stairs deep below the house where Tom and Susie live.

In his infinite wisdom and total ineptitude my friend’s Father had coerced me in to the house and then begun screaming at his kids because of the damage to their brand new toys. I was only little and screaming adults really shit me up when I was a little boy so I stayed schtum. I remained quiet as he sent the little ones off to bed with no dinner and and asked me if I was scared of the dark... I wasn’t but I couldn’t answer anyway because I was too scared of this screaming madman. He grabbed me roughly by the neck and dragged me down stairs “where I could sit and think about owning up to this heinous crime” before my mum got here (I didn’t do it by the way, it was probably already broken).

So in to this cupboard I go to await my parents to come and pick me up and give me a good hiding (for fuckskates, I was even more scared of my mum than this look so I just sat there in the dark and waited for my mum to come round and kick my arse all the way home. And I waited. And waited. . .

Meanwhile back at the ranch, our tea is going cold and my mum us having a bit of a freak out over the disappearance of one of her offspring.

After a bit of calming down, Mum and Tom (step dad) are canvassing the neighbourhood looking for me because “he can’t have gone far...” (They didn’t call the police at this stage as in those days parents took responsibility for their children and usually looked in the usual hangouts and phoned friends etc before calling the fuzz and dumping responsibility on them filing a missing persons report). Brother Shaun is waiting at home in case I return of my own accord.

My stepdad checks at Tom and Susie’s first (last place I was seen) and “No Mr. M0rre, he hasn’t been here for more than an hour and a bit” says my kidnapper. (I actually hear this exchange but am too scared to call out fearing more trouble when I am finally caught).

They check the rest of our friend’s houses, then the swings, the park, the bottom of the long road where we lived (where we were expressly forbidden from going) and every other conceivable place they can think of. After a searching everywhere, twice, it’s almost time to call the police when one of our neighbours returns in his car and pipes up with:

“I’m sure that I saw Mr. Tom and Susie’s dad talking Aroe inside their house about dinner time, have you checked over there?”

Hmmmm, thinks mum (who is training to be a barrister at the time) and turns to confront my step-father... “I thought you had checked over there already – For fuckskates Tom (Step dad) what are you playing at?”

Tom replies with “I did and they told me.... Wait here”.

Mum: “No, you can get ta fuck – I’m going over there meself...” (Mum still had her strong northern accent then) So Mum trots over to the house in question and hammers on the door... My step dad is following closely behind.

Although I have scant memory of this next bit I have subsequently been filled in from my older brother, my stepdad, family members and my mum (less so my mum as she feels guilty ((she shouldn’t)) and doesn’t like to talk about it).

Mum: “Excuse me Mr. Tom & Susie’s Dad” but our good friend and neighbour has assured us that Aroe did not come home from your garden today but was seen entering your house less than 2 hours ago. With you. For the last time, is Aroe here?”

T&S DAD: “Do you know that I spent £100 today on toys for my kids and SOMEONE has broken them? I’m not made of money you know and I can’t be doing with. . . ).

Mum: “Broken what? What are you talking about? If my son is in your house, you will be in very serious trouble and I will ensure that....

T&S DAD: “Ensure what? Are you threatening me?”

My stepdad: “Mum, go home and wait for me there – I will be back shortly” (he doesn’t call my mum “mum” that would be weird, he calls her by her christian name but anyway, I’m not putting that down in writing here).

By this time I’m tired, hungry and really need a wee. The floor is cold and feels wet and my biggest fear, spiders, could be descending on me from above at any moment! A short time later I hear my name being called from upstairs and hey it’s my step dad Tom shouting out to me....

“Aroe, Aroe! Are you in there?”

I can tell I am not in trouble because if I was it would be mum calling my name and delivering the beats, not Tom.

“TOOOOOOOOOM! I’m down here!”

BANG BANG! “Get out of my AAARGH, FFFucccking let go of my arrrrrrgargle!”

Next thing I know the cupboard is unlocked and there’s Tom turning on the light!

Tom: Hello “Aroe, what are you doing down here, eh?”

Me: “Um, I dunno”

Tom: “You mean that you DON’T know – “dunno” is not a real word. Well never mind that, teas getting cold let’s get you home”.

And that’s it. We walk halfway back to our little house and there’s mum running down the path to greet us.

Mum: “Oh my god you found him!Where have you been?If you ever go anywhere ever again your in serious trouble melado!”

Tom: “I’m just off to have a quick word with Mr. Tom and Susies dad, back in a minute”.

And he was. Tom came back a while later all covered in blood and with a nasty set of bruises on his left hand. Mum put Toms blood stained shirt and jeans in the washing machine on a hot wash with lots of bleach and we sat down to have a nice meal of beef and red peppers with rice (or mash for me and my brother).

The police came around to question Tom about an apparent assault as we were finishing up our tea but they didn’t stay for long. They left after a quick chat with my parents and went over the road to talk to Tom and Susie’s mum about the welfare of her kids.

No one saw the evil man for a few days afterwards, the car didn’t move from the driveway and it looked like he wasn’t going to work anymore. He surfaced a few days later but wouldn’t hang around in the street for long. I remember he had a very lumpy face, was wearing sunglasses even though it was dark out. And his mouth was all funny looking like he was munching on cotton wool.

To my parent’s surprise, I wasn’t affected by the “ordeal” at all until many years later when my brother reminded me about it. I had very little memory of it but got the details from asking around and speaking to stepdad Tom. For a while I was tempted to go back and unleash an epic arse kicking of my own but found out that his wife had left him not long afterwards and he had suffered from alcoholism and depression so it just didn’t seem worth it.

Until we moved away to live in in London, I wasn’t scared of playing out and I still hung around with Tom & Susie whenever I wanted. Their dad never looked at me let alone spoke another word to me again.

Surprisingly I am not and was never afraid of the dark. Spiders still shit me up though.

The End.

(Please don’t feel sorry for me, I have always been fine with this and came to no harm whatsoever. Writing this has caused a tear or two but only for my dear Mum who I love very much. Over all it’s been very cathartic. Maybe next week I will write a story about losing someone you love in a car crash or something equally maudlin but until then, keep smiling people).

/Length.
/Line breaks
(aroe_m0rre, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 17:38, 11 replies)

Go your Step Dad
Did the police ever pay the other Dad a visit?
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Mon 27 Jul 2009, 18:35, closed)

what a fucknugget
i hope that after his wife left him, he was never allowed near children again.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 18:58, closed)

Hurrah!
1. For stepdad Tom for going round and beating the crap out of him.

2. For Mum for helping conceal the evidence.

This is PROPER parenting.
(Rsoles, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 19:16, closed)

^
this

clicks hard
(Atomised teabagged your mum on, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 20:41, closed)

Well,
Except for the part where he's still out there and still a threat to kids. That part's actually pretty shit.

The police should be involved, this guy should be locked up. That way he wouldn't be a threat anymore. Violence is enormously satisfying, I know as I've been kicked out of school for it, but in this case it didn't actually achieve anything.

This situation was a hair's breadth from becoming a very, very serious thing. If he hadn't have been found, what do you think the ending would be like. Aroe was extremely lucky someone saw him going into the house. This guy shouldn't have been allowed near children again,l but he clearly was. If you think that allowing a dangerous person like this to get away with it is good parenting good on you.

Passing on the responsibility to the police isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes you know, they do do their job right. Taking the law into your own hands is very rarely the way to go.

Sorry for not jumping on the bandwaggon here. I'm glad the guy got a kicking, I'd have done the same, but I'd also have made sure he was locked away.
(robbersdog, Tue 28 Jul 2009, 11:56, closed)

clicky
stepdad tom is a legend!
(bobisnotmyname, Mon 27 Jul 2009, 22:52, closed)

Clicketty click click...
Great story.

There was a very similar bloke where I used to live as a nipper. We used to play outside in and around the village in the hols. This is in deepest Dorset so it was assumed to be safe to play out side all through the hols. He used to hug all the little kids when we were playing outside. This guy was seriously creepy and used to freak me out quite a bit. He used to focus on our group most and was always asking us over for tea when we were out and always hand his hands on our shoulders and suchlike.

Parents of self and friends found out about this and went to "explain" that they were unhappy about this. This took some time and no one seemed to know anything about what had happened when bloke is seen a few days later with a face looking like an uncooked burger. He left after that and the last I heard he had hanged himself.

Turns out he had been doing this sort of thing for years. I'm just glad he fixed on my younger mate who was a rather delicate boy who also, unfortunately for Mr P-Do, had a human pitbull for a father. My dad is pretty docile too but is very protective of our welfare. Happily, at 6'3" and working as a furniture remover he was somewhat built up at that point and able to ensure welfare of littles.

Needless to say, outside playtimes were somewhat curtailed until John left and we could get back to normal.
(71 hour Ahmed wasn't working at, Tue 28 Jul 2009, 7:52, closed)

That's a tale that would horrify Roald Dahl!
And he devoted his whole life to thinking about horrible things that people could do to children.
(Seance Trumpet has got no beef with a man enjoying a croissant, Tue 28 Jul 2009, 8:33, closed)

Dumb or Lying.
Newton Abbott isn't in Cornwall, it's nowhere near it.
(b3ta_polis, Tue 28 Jul 2009, 15:19, closed)

Well
He probably means devon then
(NuffMuff fucks shrubbery, Tue 28 Jul 2009, 16:32, closed)

b3ta_polis
Thanks for clearing that up...

kiss kiss
(aroe_m0rre, Tue 28 Jul 2009, 16:58, closed)