A. H. Wong

Chapter Thirty One

 

Sarah's Notes

 

Dated June 27th, 2012

 

Titled "We're Starving"

 

We moved on. We had to. We're split up into groups, all of us working on getting food. We're going to try and lie low, honestly--there's the matter of the file folder to attend to.

 

We still haven't made a plan. Maverick and Janelle want to go after the names we found. They want to go after the donors....

 

They want to go after the people who paid for the videos of every single member of the Agency for Unwanted Children, the people who attended parties....The people who donated to the Agency, and in doing so, used us.

 

I can't say they're wrong. I want to see those men dead just as much as the rest of us, but there’s so much more we need to focus on. We have to focus on how to survive-seeking revenge should be the least of our worries.

 

Our first worry should be where Beatrix is. That’s what we should be concerning ourselves with, more than anything else: We need to get her back.

 

~

 

Beatrix’ Diary

 

June 27th, 2012

 

Dear Diary,

I don’t know what’s happening

 

Everything is so weird right now. The entire world is changing, and I don’t know how to change with it. I don’t know how to react.

 

What I've found out can't be true. What is happening can't be true....

 

You see, where I am is....I'm trapped. I'm trapped here. I'm trapped. Veto and I....We were found by someone. We were found by the worst possible people. When we approached the gaurds, they took one look at us to verify we were alone, then called someone.

 

We would've ran if we could. We would've gotten out of here, but we couldn't. You see, Veto isn't...isn't that good of a fighter. They grabbed him, put a cloth to his face, and....And he was out.

 

They caught me trying to save him.

 

Now? Now I'm in this room. Veto's here with me. I'm not wearing my old clothing-I've got this pseudo prison uniform on, and it's wicked uncomfortable. They changed him, too.

 

All they ever do around us is...stare. We've been here and conscious for a while, several hours to half a day at most. We don't remember much about how we got here-hazy memories of ropes and blindfolds. Ropes-so old-fashioned, eh? They weren't gentle with them; Veto wound up with rope burns on his wrists and ankles from fighting them.

 

Most of the time, we're left in here alone. Most of the time, all we're allowed to do here is sit and talk in this room. All of our belongings were taken away, except for my diary. It's clear they went through it, though-some of the papers and petals I had tucked into its pages are now missing, or put back in wrong. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they scanned in the pages or something; it's not like I kept a lot of secrets from this little book, so I wouldn't be surprised if images of pages from it wouldn't sell for a high price.

 

Veto and I have asked a lot of times about where we are, and who we're with. They're telling us nothing.

 

I haven't asked about MJ etc yet. Probably a good idea that I never ask.

 

Right now, I need to worry about the fact that I'm in the company of the ten people who bid highest on the right to have sex with me, the girl they watched be molested as a child.

 

Yeah.

 

That's right.

 

The worst moments of my entire life?

 

Recorded and sold on the internet.

 

And you won't believe who did it.

 

~

 

Maverick's Bad Diary

 

June 27th, 2012

 

I'm scared. I'm scared. I read the file-folder while we were walking. I read all the names. I read all the notes that Master John wrote in the margins. I read every single fact, every single amount of money, every single receipt he kept in it. I read all the timelines, all the plans....

 

I read all his confessions.

 

I read his admissions of guilt, and his references about how sorry he was. I read all about how much he hated himself.

 

I read everything about how he didn't mean to end up this way. I read everything about how he was 'just a software designer', 'just a kid who was good with computers', and 'just someone in need of money'. I read how he got into the porn industry as a website designer, and how he started making money by edging into the darker stuff, on those parts of the internet where there are no rules. I read through terms I didn't understand-references to the shadow web, to hackers, to hit men, to everything I didn't want to realize existed.

 

I read how he started....I-I....

 

I read how he started being contacted by a child porn producer. C-Can you believe that those people exist? I can't. I've been through hell again and again,nd I don't/can't/will never believe those people exist.

 

I...I feel so sick. I feel so sick. I feel so sick.

 

Master John, who gave me shelter and food and raised me more than anyone else....

 

He's....

 

He's t-the....

 

~

 

Janelle's Book of No Importance

 

June 27th, 2012

 

Maverick's not well. She keeps flinching. She keeps wanting to run away. She won't even look at me. She won't look at anyone.

 

Then again, I can't blame her. I read the same thing she did, and I'm....I'm having the same problems. I...I wonder if Taylor knew. I wonder if he read this file folder, too, and if that's why he was always so adamant on helping us. I wonder if that's why he always told us tips and tricks to surviving, if that's why he always....

 

If that's why he always looked at me with such pity in his eyes. If that's why he always treated us with kindness.

 

I....I miss him. I never...he and I never were the best of friends, but....

 

I have to know if he knew all of this. I have to know.

 

I have to know if he knew about Beatrix. I have to know if he knew who she is, who were father is. I have to know if he knows Master John's role in all of this.

 

I...I suppose I'll....

 

I suppose I'll never know.

 

~

 

Master John's Record

 

April 18th, 2000: I Regret Little

 

I have come far, very far, in my growth. I have done much, and I have seen much. I am not proud of all my doings, but considering the circumstances, I have done very well. I have done very, very well. I have created a place where all of my wrongs can be undone, and maybe, some girls and boys can seek a normal life. Of course, there's all the things they don't know, but with luck....

 

With luck, I will never need to tell any of them that.

 

The Agency for Unwanted Children is approaching its fifth year of operation, and some successful cases have already re-entered society. The donations are pouring in, and everything is going according to plan. On the surface, in the eyes of the media, I am nothing more than a self-made millionaire in the software industry. I am just a man who, having gone through the foster care system as a child, wanted to create an alternative home where children get what they require: A place to grow, a family-like atmosphere, and education.

 

In the eyes of the men and women who donate, I am a brilliant man. I have a wealth of kindness, and while I may come off as a hypocrite to a good many, that doesn't stop them from emptying their wallets whenever their subscription fees come due. The most popular ones, of course, are of those two young girls I just picked up....

 

Yes, that's right. The young girls, Rose White and Sophia Donnovan (now going by Maverick and Janelle) are the most popular. That makes sense—the videos I had of them were very, very popular.

 

One of the things I regret, though, is the thing I'm doing right now....

 

I am regretting what is happening with young Annabelle Morris.

 

~

 

Taylor's Log

 

Entry Title: April the Nineteenth, 2008

 

Entry Date: I Have Found Out Something

 

I wish I did not need to write these words. I wish I did not need to admit the kind of things I am now aware of, but I must. I must share the reality of what my employer is doing.

 

My employer, John Rae, is selling subscriptions to men and women across the globe. Those subscriptions allow them endless access to certain camera feeds—the more they subscribe to, the more cameras they access. Some of these cameras are in showers, bedrooms, bathrooms, and the cafeteria. Some others are, strangely enough, in rooms like classes. In fact, it was quite surprising to see how many people (a good two hundred or so) were subscribed to the classroom feeds.

 

None of these are modestly priced, either. The more popular ones (bathroom and shower cameras) are priced as much as sixty dollars a month—and, with some of them, there are as much as four hundred to well over three thousand people subsribed.

 

This is, of course, the source of the Agency's money. I have a horrifying feeling, however, that there is more to it than this.

 

My fear comes from a simple fact: The Agency for Unwanted Children's buildings were all expensively built, and due to the amount of cameras that cannot be allowed to be widely known, the builders must have been paid off.

 

John Rae is a software developer, and website designer.

 

If he is intelligent enough to do all of this, then I shudder to think just what else he is capable of doing.

 

He must have gotten money for all of this somehow....

 

~

 

Taylor's Log

 

Entry Date: April the Twenty Eighth

 

Entry Title: I Know

 

I know how he got this money.

 

Master John was paid to coerce pedophiles, and even some honest men, into filming the molestation of their children. This was done through blackmail at times, for those men who were suspected of/caught committing acts of child molestation, or through the promise of high amounts of money. The paying-off of gambling debt, or student loans, was often all that was needed. Once they accepted, of course, they had no choice but to continue following his orders, and the orders of his employees.

 

Yes, employees. It seems Master John wound up running a group of around sixty people in the United States of America and Canada, and his group is only one of the supposed eight or so groups involved in this 'company'. The company's name is not listed. In all of the notes and logs and records I found, they are solely referred to as The Company. I have found very little information on how Master John initially got involved with them—in fact, I've found extremely little information on Master John at all that dates back before his involvement.

 

For now, I have found out all I need to. I have found out all I need to to take this place down—if...if it is something I can do.

 

You see, the only reason I have not come forward with my information yet is because I have the feeling I will be killed if I try—and, with me, every person here. If Master John learns I know this, I will throw his empire to the ground, and all of us will die.

 

I am trying to find a way to do this....

 

But there is no way. Still, I have to try.

 

I have been in the Agency for a year now. I am slowly, ever so slowly, moving towards gaining Master John's approval. I have approached him about taking me on as a therapist twice now. He seems very unsure about doing so, considering I have never actually gone to any form of higher education, but I will continue my attempts.

 

I must help these people.

 

~

 

Taylor's Log

 

Entry Date: July the Fourteenth, 2008

 

Entry Title: Threats

 

I succeeded. I am now the lead therapist at the Agency, complete with my own office and all the notebooks I could want. Admittedly, it is going to be slightly difficult to make people accept me as their therapist—considering I used to be a fellow patient—but already the dynamics are changing. Even before stepping into my role, I had garnered admiration/openness from those I dealt with, and so it should not be too difficult to act as their therapist.

 

You are likely wondering how this all occurred, and the answer is simple: I'm quite threatening when I want to be.

 

Over the past few months, I have been copying and gathering all of the information I can regarding Master John's secrets.

 

I gambled with my life, and told Master John that—if he did not take me on as therapist—I would make very certain that the truth got out.

 

He laughed at me, and showed me to my office.

 

I believe I will get used to this.

 

He seemed very unsurprised that I knew all of this. In fact, it almost feels like he meant for me to know....

 

Still, I must not worry about that.

 

I won.

 

And that is all that matters.