Page 86 of Loving Trent
“I’m going to hand you up to Trent. I promise you he isn’t going to hurt you,” I tell the little girl, and wait until I feel her head nodding against my back before I do anything.
When I come out of the hell hole, all the kids are huddled together with blankets wrapped around them. Harley still hasthe girl we found first clinging to her, but she is now standing next to Jenna, who is holding the girl from below. Steve and Jerry are standing with their backs to us, guns pointing at what I assume is the guy that Trent beat to hell. Jenna looks at us and says, “They are ready for you at the main house. I’ll stay here until the ambulance gets here. Betty, April, and Joey are waiting and will lead them here.”
Trent looks at Harley, who shakes her head. The plan was that she would go to the main house with us to watch everything, but I guess she has changed her mind. “Are you sure?” Trent asks.
“I’m not leaving Layla, and she needs to get checked out,” Harley says, looking down at the young girl.
Trent walks over, bends down, and kisses Harley’s head. “I’m so proud of you. Love you.” Then he is walking out of the barn, and I have to hurry to catch up to him.
Forty-Three
TRENT
Leon’s plan fucking sucks donkey dick right now. It’s not what I want to do. The beast inside is demanding that I rip, stab, shoot, and straight up cause carnage to the people waiting in the house. It took all my strength to stop from smashing the fucker attempting to rape that child into dust back there, but I did it. Shawn catches up to me instantly. Without saying anything or looking, I find his hand and link it with mine. I allow his presence to calm me and refocus my spinning mind.
As we round the bend in the road, the night sky flashes with multiple red and blue lights. A million people are standing around, but I’m only focused on the front door standing wide open. A police officer steps up, cutting us off, “Sorry, you can’t go in there. This is an active crime scene.”
Before I can say anything, a man in a black FBI jacket steps onto the porch and says, “They are with me. Let them through.”
The officer steps away, letting us pass. The FBI agent holds out his hand and says, “I take it you are Trent and Shawn. I’m Agent Burrows. Nice to meet you.”
I shake his hand but offer no words to him. He doesn’t say anything as he turns around and leads us into the house. Other men and women wearing the same jacket are moving aroundcollecting evidence. But my attention is on the man and woman sitting on the couch off to the right of the small entryway.
“It’s been a long time,” I say, my voice holding firm, not giving away that inside, I’m trembling. Not with fear because fuck that. It’s rage. Rage that is so hot that if I release it, I’m sure it would burn everything within a hundred-mile radius in less than a second.
Tom and Sandy’s heads snap up at the sound of my voice. Their eyes widen before turning hard and cold-looking. “You,” Tom snarls and spits toward me, but it falls onto his shirt.
“Yes, me,” I say, taking another step toward the demons, I’ve been battling half my life.
Sandy’s eyes shoot to mine, and Shawn’s joined hands. “What the fuck is this? Did my lessons?—”
“Don’t you fucking speak to him,” Shawn says, and the bite of fury in his tone lights me up inside. God, I fucking love this man.
“How does it feel?” I ask, my eyes bouncing between them. When I was younger, they looked larger than life, but now I see them for who they truly are weak, pathetic, and nothing to be afraid of. Tom cocks his head to the side in confusion, so I clarify for him. “How does it feel to be helpless and at the mercy of other people?”
Tom opens his mouth to speak, but Shawn speaks before he can utter a single syllable. “Your reign of terror and pain ends tonight.”
“For years, you have told hundreds of kids how dirty, broken, and disgusting we are for something we can’t control. But now, the whole world is about to see the truly dirty and disgusting truth. Every child you hurt is going to finally get their closure and their revenge for what you put us through. You tried to break us, and you might have succeeded in a small way, but rest assured that we aren’t broken any longer. All across the United States, there are multiple adults who were once scared little kidscoming forward and telling their stories. Nothing was wrong with us, but there has always been something wrong with you.
“Now it’s time for you to be scared. It’s time for the people who helped you hurt us to cower in fear of what will come because it will hurt.” I turn to look at Sandy and narrow my eyes. “I hope that when you tell someone to stop and not to touch you, that you hear my pleas, that it’s my scream in your head.” I turn back to Tom, and the hatred staring back at me doesn’t do anything to me anymore. “I hope when some big fucker in jail is tearing you apart from the inside out, he reminds you of every single child that you tried to break. It’s my genuine hope and wish that when you go to sleep at night, it’s my face and the face of all the other children you see. I hope our ghost chases, haunts, and terrorizes you because that is what you deserve.”
Tom lunges off the couch but doesn’t make it far because Shawn steps in front of me and with one swing lays his ass out on the floor. “What is coming for you is easier than what you deserve. You and everyone else who touched those kids deserves to be strung up and gutted,” Shawn says.
“We’re ready,” Agent Burrows says. Reaching forward, I wrap my arms around Shawn, pulling him into me. I lay my hand over his racing heart and breathe him in.
“Burn in hell,” I say. Turning around, I walk away from my past and the demons that tried to pull me under. Waiting for us are Sonny and Leon, both wearing a look of pride. As I walk out of the house with Shawn at my side, Sonny and Leon behind us, I finally feel free. All the darkness flows out of me in the form of tears racing down my cheeks. The weight tying my heart down releases its grip.
Agent Burrows stops at the top step and looks at the media gathered on the front lawn. Behind them, I see Jenna, Uncle Joey, Ryan, April, and Betty standing together, their arms thrown over each other. Demon is standing behind them withhis arms crossed, watching for danger as always. But it’s Harley who has my attention as she pushes through the crowd. People let her through, and she races up the stairs. Shawn and I grab her as soon as she gets close to us, right as Agent Burrows starts speaking.
“In October, the FBI received a tip about a group of individuals running conversion camps for the past twelve years and in the process abusing the kids in their care. The tip kicked off months of hard work for my task force. When we found out that retired FBI Agent Leon Dawson was linked to not one, but two victims of one of these camps, we contacted him. He agreed to come out of retirement to help bring justice to those affected by these monsters. Ending the reign of terror for hundreds of kids would not have been possible without the help of Leon Dawson, his brother-in-law’s MC, or the bravery of one man in general. I would like to give this man a chance to speak if he wants to, and then I will take a few questions.” Agent Burrows looks over at me and steps to the side.
My family moves with me as one unit. I reach into my pocket and pull out the letter that started this all. “Thank you for coming out and reporting on this injustice that has been done. I’m not going to stand here and recount what I went through or what my newly adopted daughter went through. Instead, I’m going to read you the letter that started it all,” I say, holding up Nina’s letter. “This letter was sent to me over a year ago. It’s written by a girl who was at the same camp as me, and it was her plea that lit the fire that burned up these predators’ operation.” I take a deep breath, squeeze Shawn’s hand, and tell Nina’s story.
In the weeks that followed the raid of an unassuming house on the outskirts of Galloway, Florida, there have been thirty arrests made in connection with a ring of child predators. This all started with a letter written by a sixteen-year-old girl who was sent away to a conversion camp by her parents. As it turns out, the owners and operators of this camp had done the same thing at least six other times. These camps were run by the same two individuals, Stanley and Jules Horrison. The motto of these camps was that they could cure individuals who were homosexual. But as we have learned, that was nothing but a lie, and unfortunately, many children were hurt because of that lie.
Stanley and Jules Horrison are facing multiple counts of child abuse, sexual assault, kidnapping, false imprisonment, money laundering, producing child pornography, distributing child pornography, and murder. If I were to list all the charges for all thirty-three arrests, this column would be full before I got to the end of the list. Instead, I want to focus on the story of the victims. I've reached out to some and want to share what they have to say, but I really want to focus on one person. One victim in particular, Trent Anderson, and what he plans to do to help the other victims. I want to talk about his organization, Nina’s Voice, and how it offers help to LGBTQ+ children and adults.
Story continues on page 5.
