One part of me felt so happy that Brandon finally shared his dramatic past with me, while the other part was disturbed by the thoughts about the poor, young boy who got to suffer through all those rough things.

My biggest question was if he ever told anyone else about this. Brandon didn't really have a hard time confessing his actions, but the part where he has to open up and talk about his childhood and the ulterior motives wasn't really something you got out of him in the first place.

The fact that I was right about that he probably wasn't a real psychopath, made me feel proud for a moment.

The poor man was only mentally destroyed and deep inside he was capable to feel actual and true feelings, which I had experienced before.

But what truly scared me the most, was that when it would get out that he was not a real psychopath, he would be sent right to prison again without further help because his mentality wouldn't be considered serious enough for such a rough murderer.

With my hands placed in my lap, I continued the session with Brandon after what I had just heard. It was important for me to feel close to him, to get into his brain and to understand him better, and by now I was succeeding more every time I met with him.

"Can I ask if you feel any regret? About what you did?"

I looked at Brandon while his facial expression turned into a very focused, cogitation one.

Of course my hope for a yes was there, but deep inside I already knew what he was going to say.

"I told you that I had to do it," Brandon's voice was low and unobtrusive and I could tell there was something inside of him that didn't feel quite right, even if he didn't regret what he had done.

"So there's no feeling of regret at all? Are you proud of what you've done?" I asked my further question to help him reach his inner kind self, because I knew it was in there somewhere. He wasn't always like this, he was a normal boy once until his stepfather destroyed him.

The only thing to fight for now was to find that innocent, friendly, loving boy who was there before the evil, brutal and bloodless killer.

"I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for him. It's all his fault. So if you asked me if it was worth it? Yes. If I would do it again to get to him? Yes I would," His words were now more confident and candid and even if it made me sad to hear him say that, I would lie to say that I didn't feel sympathy with him. It was still a reason and a fact that it was his stepfather's fault, even if Brandon's own actions only would punish himself and not make any reason justified by any judge.

"Okey, Brandon. That's good to know," I decided to stay as friendly as possible to keep his trust and comfort with me.

Every chance I got, I had to take to get to know him better. And still, I wanted to keep to my promise to him and not treat him like a monstrous man...

"Speaking of something else, I also wonder, did nurse Browne do anything to you while I was absent?"

I couldn't let go of the image of the broken, sad boy who was sitting in the window when I entered his room for the first time in six days. I knew that he was unstable and did things to himself while I was gone, but this time it looked like he had been humiliated or punished.

The way he sat there on the window sill, with big puppy eyes and the tail between his legs made me feel suspicious and confused. And the way he reacted when he noticed that I was back was also something completely different that made my stomach turn.

"I'm fine,"

I knew that Brandon wasn't capable of lying, so even if his answer wasn't really convincing, I got the answer to my question.

What the hell did they do to him?

My heart started to beat faster and my stomach turned in fear of figuring out what he had been put through.

No matter which one of the painful punishments or treatments I knew about he was put through, it was bad.

"What did they do to you?" I noticed my voice being more frustrated and annoyed by the information that someone did something horrible to him while I wasn't there.

"It was the goddamn tub, but I'm fine, Beverly!"

The imagination of Brandon being forced into the boiling hot water made me shiver. I wondered what must have happened for him to end up in there because as far as I knew, the nurses didn't just put the patients in there for fun or without a reason.

Usually, the tubs were used to calm down outrageous, aggressive or unstoppable hyperactive patients which made me come to the conclusion that something like that must have happened while nurse Browne or one of the other nurses tried to handle Brandon.

"Let me see your skin," I said while I looked at him, trying my best not to be ashamed.

Brandon got up from where he sat and slowly pulled the white cloth up to expose the skin of his lower stomach.

The sight of his extremely attractive, muscular body made the butterflies flutter inside of me. But the second I noticed the rough, red, burned skin, my heart skipped a beat and I turned stonecold on the inside.

I bit my teeth together to manage my feelings while I looked at the flaring skin.

"I'll go get you something," I decided to say nothing more. I just turned around to get to the door. The least I could do for Brandon was to go and get him some drugs for the pain he must have been feeling. Then after that, I could maybe start to ask him about what happened.

But just when I reached the heavy handle of the door with my grip, I felt a hand grabbing my wrist.

I immediately stopped and turned around again to face Brandon who was now right in front of me.

The butterflies began to flutter around again and I shrugged while I looked at him with big eyes.

"The only thing I need is you," He said, looking deep into my eyes.

My knees got weak and as always I tried my best not to completely fall for his romantic words.

I already told him that it couldn't happen again, because it really couldn't. But with this distance between us, and those piercing eyes penetrating my own, it was too hard to resist the attraction.