When we returned from shopping, Theodore appeared, surprising me with his unexpected presence. He never came to just visit.

"What did you do today?" He asked, trying to be friendly to Harry but Harry didn't trust him; I could see it in his eyes as he glanced uncertainly to me and then back to Theodore. "Buy anything fun?"

Harry had gotten a few fun things for himself, a t-shirt and a journal, and of course, I had gotten the telescope for him. I had also bought some books for Harry and me to read together; biographies, in fact, about real-life heroes who fought for equality and freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi.

Theodore took note of the books and raised an eyebrow at me. "Planning on some light reading?"

"Not at all," I said, proving that at least one of us could handle straightforward communication. "I'm teaching Harry to think for himself and to develop his own values."

"With political propaganda," he huffed. He leaned in close to my ear and snarled, "If you turn him against me, it will the be the last thing you ever do."

I was shocked at his bold threat, but unfortunately for him, Harry was already against him. He knew his father didn't truly care for him. I ignored him and went to put my things away. I heard him tell Harry that it was time for his bedtime medications. By the time I returned to the kitchen, he had taken them all; I could only hope that Theodore hadn't slipped something extra into his nightly cocktail.

After that bizarre encounter, I turned my attention to finding out more about Harry in any way I could. I racked my brain trying to come up with a way to get access to Theodore's files. I could plan another day out so I could possibly pick Clive's brain about Theodore's travel habits, but I didn't even know if Clive was his primary driver.

I absolutely hated being locked up in this suite. It felt so inhumane. I had spoken to my parents and sister about it and they all agreed, but there was no real solution except to talk the boss into leaving the door unlocked. I doubted that would ever happen. My family knew about Theodore's strange behavior - including his most recent threat - and his unrealistically low standards for Harry. They had attempted to persuade me, more than once, to just quit and come home, contract or no contract. I already had $20,000 in the bank, so I could live on that for a few months while I tried to find another job. And of course, my parents were always happy to offer me my old bedroom, rent-free, in case I needed it while I got back on my feet.

But I couldn't leave Harry. He was suffering a great injustice and I was the only one who knew it and felt the urge to advocate for him.

Not only that, I felt a certain...passion...about him, for lack of a better word. That seemed an inappropriate way to describe a minor who was in my charge, but I couldn't really come up with a better way to explain my feelings for him. I was fiercely protective over him since he'd never really had anyone to protect him the way a parent should. But I was also in love with his heart, his spirit. It was amazing to me that he could still be so pure-hearted after all that he'd been through. He was also funny and clever, and I genuinely enjoyed his company.

I couldn't possibly imagine my life without him.

And that scared the daylights out of me.

Still pondering my options for finding out more about Harry's past, I came up with one idea that admittedly wasn't very good but it was worth a shot. I called Theodore and asked whether or not he'd be returning to Calgary some time soon. "There's something I was hoping to have you pick up at a gift shop there. I had wavered about whether to buy it and now I regret that I didn't get it." Truthfully, I just wanted to know if he'd be out of the house for any stretch of time so I could sneak into his office. If I could ever even get past those locked doors.

"I don't go to Calgary that often," he answered. 

"Okay, well...thanks," I said, my mind scrambling for any way to get more information. "Are you going on any other business trips soon? I mean, it might be fun for Harry to have another getaway."

"No," he answered unhelpfully and we ended the call. Shit. I was getting nowhere. The next best thing would be to schedule another meeting with him to see if I could steal a glance at his calendar or glean any possible information from him at all.

Or maybe I could compose my own cocktail and trick him into drinking it so he'd fall into a deep sleep while I ransacked his office.

Or maybe I should just sleep with him.

Wait, what the hell? I would never do that! This situation was driving me insane, but I would never stoop that low, no matter how much I wanted to help Harry.

When the pills arrived on Saturday evening, I was shocked to find more - and different - pills. Well, to be honest, nothing Theodore did shocked me anymore but I was livid. He was either trying to poison Harry so he'd die a slow painful death or he had a huge investment in some pharmaceutical company. Why would he be manipulating the medications unless it meant some kind of incentive for him personally? Maybe it did have to do with some kind of government program for families with disabled children and he was trying to keep Harry's true self buried under the side effects of medication. That was really the only thing I could think of. 

I dumped one compartment - his bedtime dose - onto the table to see if I could remember what Harry had already been taking; maybe I could stick to those and somehow dispose of the new ones without Theodore noticing. Nothing had pointed to Harry needing a new or different or better medication, or even higher doses. I picked up a round pale pink pill and rolled it between my fingers, one I knew he'd already been taking. That's when I noticed the numbers and letters stamped on the pills.

"Oh my god, that's it!" I gasped. "I can't believe I didn't think of this before!" I raced to my room to grab my laptop and brought it back to the kitchen table.

I carefully laid out each pill from each compartment and set to work, typing the descriptions into Google: Round pink pill A-011 30. The search result came back: Abilify 30 mg.

I looked up Abilify and found out it was an anti-psychotic drug. I began to read aloud. "Abilify  is an antipsychotic medication. It works by changing the actions of chemicals in the brain. Abilify is used to treat the symptoms of psychotic conditions such schizophrenia and bipolar disorder." I had my serious doubts as to whether Harry had been diagnosed with either of those conditions or any other psychosis. True, I was no doctor, but I had encountered enough kids with bipolar disorder to know that a simple pill didn't usually control the condition with perfect accuracy, and Harry showed no signs of maladjustment.

I began a detailed list and moved on to the next. Small white pill AMB 10 5421: Ambien, 10 mg, prescribed for sleep. There were two 10 mg pills in his evening dose and I knew that was more than he'd been taking. With further research, I discovered that 20 mg was only prescribed in extreme cases of insomnia. Due to its amnesiac side effects and daytime drowsiness, this level was rarely used. Why on earth was Theodore giving him more?

Thank God for the internet because I managed to find out about every single medication that Harry was taking. Lamictal was an anti-seizure medication, Ritalin was obviously a stimulant used in kids with ADD and ADHD but poor Harry probably needed it to counteract the fog from the Ambien he took every night. Singulair and Prednisone were probably both for his asthma, although I seemed to remember that it wasn't safe to take high doses of Prednisone for a long time since it was a steroid. It could cause osteoporosis and inhibit growth in children and teens. Clearly that wasn't a problem for Harry as he was quite tall, at least 5'10" if I had to guess. Still, he was taking 50 mg daily, which didn't seem to fit with his demeanor since it routinely caused agitation, restlessness and anxiety. He was also taking Paxil, an anti-depressant and a few supplements which I was fairly certain were for constipation and digestion. That made sense since many psychoactive drugs caused either constipation, stomach upset, or diarrhea.

I moved on to the new pills and I was particularly concerned about them. The first one, another small white pill, had the name right on it: Reglan. I looked it up and found that it was used primarily for chronic, serious heartburn. I knew that was a crock. In the two months since I'd been there, Harry had never complained of heartburn or digestive issues.

The other new one was Elavil. I recognized that one as an antidepressant, but shit, he already had at least one antidepressant in there.

I Googled a drug interaction checker and typed all his medications into it. As I read through the extensive list of interactions, I came upon a detailed description of dangerous interactions between Reglan and two of the other medications on his list and the possible serious side effect of taking those medications together.

Tardive dyskenisia.

I knew it! That was the syndrome that Charlie and I had talked about, which could be caused by certain psychoactive drugs, especially by specific combinations of those drugs.

Okay, so maybe - and this seemed like a big maybe - Harry's "conditions" were all so well controlled because of the combination of medications. But I just knew in my gut that wasn't the case. If it was the case, why was Theodore adding two new meds to the mix? There were already numerous duplications in his meds, meaning there were two or three medications prescribed for the same condition, so I couldn't imagine why Theodore would think he needed more.

I continued reading for interactions and side effects. Adding the Elavil to the Paxil he was already taking would cause increased sedation, drowsiness and confusion. It could also induce nightmares. There were many, many other moderately severe interactions between all of his medications, especially the two new ones and I sure as hell wasn't going to give them to him. I emailed Charlie the list to be sure, but I hoped I could wean him off at least some of the higher doses of the meds he was already taking to see if they helped with his tics and spasms. I wouldn't dare take him off anything cold turkey because I knew that could cause serious problems, but I wasn't going to stand by and watch this bastard poison his own kid.

"Holy shit," I breathed in frustration.

I fucking hated being in the dark like this! I saved the list and dosages to my computer and sent it to my phone so I could hopefully check with a pharmacist on my next trip into town. Or maybe I could call a pharmacy in the morning. That, combined with Charlie's insight, would be very helpful.

This would be so much easier if I knew whether Harry had any real disorders or whether he had ever been diagnosed with ID at all. And I was going to get my answers if it meant I had to walk into Theodore's office in broad daylight to break into his files.

* * * * *

You guys are on such a roll! We're almost up to 7,000 reads!!! If it keeps up like this, we might see the story in the rankings and I would love that! (hint: share the story if you haven't already!)

Thank you ALL so much! <3