Parker had a routine. After two years in this place, he needed one to keep him sane. Sitting indian style in the middle of his bed, he was wearing his favorite pair of pajamas and a pair of slippers that Adam had bought for him last Christmas. He was hunched over a notebook, scratching softly at the paper with his pen, jotting down a few notes. When he heard Murphy stir, he looked up and over at him, squinting through the dim light. "Morning," he said, also unable to tell what time it was exactly, though he had a better sense of it than both Elijah and Murphy.

"Morning." Murphy said softly as he rubbed at his eyes. He got up and moved closer to the edge of the cage before sitting down on the floor. He had an urge to be closer to Parker, though he wasn't entirely sure that the boy wanted him any closer than he already was. "What are you doing?"

Pausing with the pen poised over the paper, Parker looked pointedly down at them before looking back at Murphy. "I'm writing." It was the snotty answer, and as soon as it was out, he regretted it. "I mean--I'm writing about you." He had his laptop but he didn't use it when the other's were sleeping because the clack of keys could get annoying.

When he said that he was writing it just made Murphy's face fall a little. The snotty answer had been enough to pull the wind out of his sails and he sank down a little bit, his chin settling onto his knees. He was easily discouraged and he knew that it was going to be tough here. Parker didn't like him, he was certain of it, and he knew he should probably just leave him alone. "What about me?"

"He sleeps like a child," Parker started to read. "Curled up on his side, smaller than small. He is the sort of boy who exists to make people adore him, but it is obvious that he does not know. It is this obliviousness that is so endearing. I hate that I can see why the Man chose him. I hate that I am beginning to understand his desire to keep us locked away from ourselves."

That made him frown more and he looked down at his feet on the floor. The fact that Parker could so easily see him, when he couldn't even see himself, just really sort of upset him. All he wanted to do was go back to bed and forget that he was here.

Parker stared at him. "Did I upset you? I write about Elijah as well. In the morning, I put down my experiences here. Adam doesn't know about this notebook; I only show him my others. If I ever get out, I'm going to publish this book and probably make a million dollars because people love reading about sick shit like this."

"I don't exist to make people adore me." Murphy said, the frown firm on his face. Though he was certain that it was the truth the longer he thought about it. He bent over backwards to make people happy, he had even taken the time the night before to try and cheer up his kidnapper and rapist just to make sure he didn't go to bed sad. "i'm pathetic. I'm going back to bed." he moved to get up from the floor so he could go back across his tiny cage to lay down.

"It isn't a bad thing," Parker said. "I would love to be able to make people like me as much as they like you. I couldn't even make my boyfriend like me that much. Sometimes I think I'm glad Adam took me just so I could feel like someone wanted me around." He had the feeling that he would be stepping on Murphy's feelings a lot and he hated that thought, but he was used to hurting people by now.

Murphy crawled back into the bed, but he still wasn't all thatm uch farther away from Parker than he had been before. He curled up on his side with his back to him and he took a few deep breaths to calm down. "I like you."

There was a long silence after that as Parker thought about what Murphy had said. Finally, he set his notebook down and went to the fence, sitting down on the floor next to it. "Murphy?"

Murphy turned over so that he was on his back, and then over again so that he was on his side but facing the cage where Parker was sitting. He wasn't going to ignore him, even if he thought that maybe it was a good idea that they just didn't talk.

Parker was leaning his head against the chain link fence. The expression on his face was sad. "I'm sorry that I can't fight him. It's been so long and I'm just--I think don't think I'm ever going to be saved. Maybe you will, but I don't think I'll make it out of here. And if Adam asks, I'll do things--and I just--I'm just really sorry."

Murphy looked at him for a minute before he slid back down off of his bed and he crawled across the floor to get to the chain link fence where Parker was sitting. "I won't leave you here." he said softly. "I won't fight him either, and then he won't hurt you and he won't hurt me, okay?"

"You don't have to promise me that, I understand." He worried about Murphy's ability to run, but he knew he couldn't really deny him the desire to get the fuck out of this place. He let his fingers touch against the metal of the fence. "I don't think about Callaway when Adam has sex with me anymore. It's like he's just not there anymore." He knew the man had probably moved on. "I guess I'm Adam's now, so you shouldn't trust me. I don't even know who I am anymore."

Murphy hooked his fingers into the chainlink fence and he let them brush against Parker's fingers. He had been there for over a month and he coudln't even imagine what it must have been like for Parker to have been there for so long. "You're still you." he said softly. "You could think about me, if it makes it easier." though he didn't know if it would or not. "Unless you like thinking about Adam. And then that's okay. He's... I dont know, he's not what I thought he was."

Glancing up at the other, he frowned with a bit of confusion. "I should think about you fucking me instead of Adam?" In a situation like this, it was kind of a sweet gesture. He looked at the way their hands touched and he smiled a little though he felt guilty for it. Callaway was with someone else by now, he knew it. No one would wait for someone they thought had just walked out on them. "And what is he if he's not what you thought?"

"I guess I didn't think about it like that before I said it." Meaning him fucking Parker. "I tried to think about my boyfriend, but I'm already starting to feel like... I don't remember everything about how it feels when he touches me and Adam is different."He shook his head. "And he's sad. He's... I thought he was so angry and mean and just... he's not. He's sad. He's lonely.'

The sex wasn't really about sex to Parker. He just wanted to be close to someone, feel alive and forget what the fact that he wasn't with the one he really needed. It made his body feel good when he let go and it was a moment of mindlessness that he could latch onto. "I was sad and I didn't kidnap people and rape them."

"But I think your brain is probably wired differently than his." Murphy couldn't help but try to see the good side of everyone. He could tell that Parker was sad and he wanted to try and make him feel better but he didn't know how. "I wish I could make you feel better. I wish I could get us out of here."

He frowned. Was Murphy actually defending Adam? Pulling his hand away from the boy, he went quiet for awhile. His breathing was rhythmic and seemed to fill the small space between them as it remained steady even through Parker's rise of being upset. "You're making me feel better now, I guess. Though I don't think you should be trying to understand Adam."

When he pulled his hand away from the fence and he let it drop down to his lap. The touch had been nice while it lasted but he could already tell that he had said or done something wrong. "I am not trying to understand him." But it was happening anyway. Thinking about what he was the way he was. "I think that I might end up dying here." he told him softly.

"I think that we all will, Murphy." Parker wasn't about to sugarcoat it for him. Elijah might have been a better one to talk to for optimism and even he was losing his hope rapidly. "He has no intention of letting us go and while I don't think he'll kill us on purpose--sometimes he gets really angry."

Murphy nodded a little bit. He knew that it would take far less for Adam to kill him, even if it was on accident. "How have you managed to last this long?" He whispered, his voice getting quiet because he was sort of uneasy about what they were talking about now.

Parker leaned more heavily against the fence, putting his hand back up because he could sense in Murphy's voice that he needed comforting. Sometimes Parker could manage that. "Who says I've managed to last? I'm alive. I guess it's because I gave up fighting any of it; I just deal with it."

Murphy frowned and he leaned against the cage. He put his hand back up and he tried to let his fingers brush against Parker's. He had started to tremble, thinking long and hard about what was going to happen if he did die. If Vegas would know.

"Maybe thinking that he's sad and lonely will help you. I guess I've always just thought he was a fucking psychpath." But it did help him to realize that Adam probably didn't have all that much control over his actions; Parker understood that because sometimes it felt like he didn't have control over his own.

"Does he ever let us into the same room?" Murphy was in serious need of a hug and he thought it would be nice to be closer to one of the other boys for a little while. "I don't sleepv very well alone."

"He does sometimes. Elijah asked once and Adam was all right with it." Parker didn't mind, though he would never initiate something like that. Maybe he was punishing himself for leaving Callaway like that; he didn't really deserve to have someone comfort him or hug him.

"I slept okay last night because I was just so tired, but I get scared and I don't want to be by myself." Murphy let his fingers rub gently along the side of Parker's and he just looked at the other boy through the fencing. "i think I need my inhalers." He pulled away, feeling like he was going to cry.

"You should try to go without them as much as you can," Parker advised, pushing his fingers harder through the fence so that he could try and catch Murphy's hand. "Just stay here and breathe. I used to have panic attacks, and I know that's not asthma, but my therapist taught me how to breathe through them."

When Parker made a grab for him he just stayed put so that he didn't have to try and reach him through the fence. He frowned alittle but nodded, agreeing to try to just breath through it because if his inhalers ran out he'd be fucked. "If I am ever having a really bad attack, sometimes caffeine helps. Like strong coffee."

"You should tell him that." Not that he wanted Murphy to give away all of his secrets, but if Adam knew that he'd be better able to help the boy if an emergency ever happened. "It's strange, being so dependent on him yet knowing he's the reason you're here."

"All right well I just want you to know because if it happens you can tell him. I just don't want him to feel like he doesn't have to get me my inhalers, because I am going to need those too."

Parker understood and he nodded. After a moment of silence, he started talking again. "You said you don't like sleeping alone. You have a boyfriend?" He was pretty sure that all of the men Adam took were going to be gay, he didn't think that was a coincidence.

"Yes. I spent every night with him and if I didn't sleep with him then I would sleep in my brother's bed with him." It was something he had always done. "I never slept alone until coming here and I just couldn't sleep."

"What's your boyfriend's name?" he felt a little like torturing himself today. "What was the last thing you said to him?" It sounded like something that Parker needed to hear, a mixture of curiosity and desperation.

"His name is Seth. We met in high school but we didn't start dating until the summer after we graduated." He sighed softly and kept his head leaned against the fence. "We were going to get married when we got older."

"That's sweet," he let his voice go a little hollow, unable to hide the fact that his words were mere niceties and not necessarily what he genuinely felt about that statement. Married.

Murphy sniffled a little. "I know that you don't mean it." He pulled his hand away from the fence and wrapped his arms around hisknees. "What about your boyfriend?"

"I'm sorry. I'm just jealous. The last thing I told Callaway was to just leave me alone. He didn't want me to move in and so I left." He'd trained himself to recount that without any emotion to it and so his voice remained cold.

"I think if he loves you then he would wait for you." He frowned and laid back on the floor so he could rub at his chest. "I just want to go home and see Vegas and Seth." He was feeling a little weepy but he kept it together because he didn't want to be crying at the the drop of a hat. "I bet Callaway is looking for you."

"He isn't. He has no reason to look for me. I said I was leaving and he knows me well enough to give up on me. He probably just thinks I've shacked up with someone else, fucking them senseless because that's how I deal with shit. I just shut off and fuck, or I drink, or whatever I want."

"I don't think so." Murphy said softly, as if he really knew whether or not Callaway would wait. "I think he's waiting."
because if he couldn't be optimistic then he really know what the point in living was for. "What will you say to him if you have the chance?"

Parker frowned. "Don't do that. Don't pretend that I'll see him again. If you want to believe that you'll see your brother and boyfriend again then that's fine, but don't bring me into it."

Murphy went quiet then and he just kept rubbing at his chest. Usually he didn't feel this bad all the time but he couldn't really get back to normal without taking his medication everyday and doing his breathing treatments.

When Murphy went quiet, Parker got mad but more at himself than the other boy. He stood up and went to his bed, leaving Murphy at the fence.

Murphy stayed there long enough to catch his breath and then he went to his bed too. He figured if Parker wanted to talk to him again he could but he had no desire to try another conversation at this point.