Chapter 18 Treatment
+8 Pearls
“He even took my makeup! He’d sneak into Mom’s room, sleep on her bed, and ruin her dresses. I’m sure he stole Mom’s stuff to sell it for cash!” Maddy jumped in.
Wendy glanced from Indy to Maddy, staying quiet for a moment.
She then turned her attention to Maggie and David.
Both of them knew about Joshua’s little thefts. Their daughters had complained about him taking things more than once.
But it didn’t seem like that was the real issue here.
“We need to find him first! Once we do, we’ll get to the bottom of this!” David said.
Wendy gave her father a look and sighed inwardly.
It was obvious her parents hadn’t clued into the bigger picture.
What Wendy was concerned about wasn’t the petty stealing–it was that Joshua might not have had enough food, clothes, a blanket, or even shoes to wear while he was with the Frasers.
He had been mistreated. Mistreated, indeed.
Wendy’s mind raced as she remembered all the times she had seen Joshua at the Frasers over the past four years. The more she thought about it, the clearer the picture became.
When Joshua first came to live with the Frasers, he was shy, nervous, and too scared to even say hello to strangers.
Their mom, Maggie, would often snap at him for being impolite.
As he got more comfortable, he started hanging around more.
But Wendy had been too wrapped up in her job at the time to pay much attention to this new brother. She just had the security guard send him away when he showed up.
Wendy knew the truth: Joshua had never been truly accepted by the Frasers.
It wasn’t just her who was aware of it–her sisters were just as clear.
They would often joke about Joshua on Snapchat, sharing embarrassing or gross stories about him.
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Chapter 18 Treatment
Shirley and Maddy even uploaded videos of them scolding him, their group chat buzzing with laughter at his expense.
Wendy also knew her parents didn’t care much for their son either. They were harsh with him, constantly punishing him–whether it was through yelling, beating, making him stand for hours, or locking him up in his room.
Just last year, they had locked Joshua in his room for three days straight, not allowing him to leave.
And the number of times he’d been forced to stand as punishment? She couldn’t even count them.
Before, Wendy hadn’t given these incidents much thought, but now, reflecting on it, the realization made her feel uneasy, almost suffocated.
She quickly called out, “Mrs. Locker, can you come here? I need to ask you something!”
“Oh! Of course!” Mrs. Locker hurried over.
Maybe, to Joshua, living with the Frasers felt like being trapped in a terrifying cage.
No one in the family seemed to like him, and he was constantly punished.
Wendy had heard that Joshua liked sneaking into their mother’s room, always being shady about it, sometimes even sleeping in her bed. The thought grossed everyone out, especially her sisters, who quickly reported it to Maggie.
When Maggie found out, she was livid. She had punished him several times over it.
Wendy wasn’t sure if one of those punishments had been so severe that he never dared go back to their mother’s room again, but those incidents hadn’t happened in over a year.
As for whether Joshua would still sneak into their mother’s room, that might still be the case.
Wendy suddenly remembered that about six months ago, Maddy had sent a video, catching Joshua sneaking into their mother’s room again.
Whether he was stealing things or not was another matter. Their mother had never mentioned anything valuable going missing.
Wendy’s mind raced–she had to ask Mrs. Locker about all this.
She was the only one who seemed to have any sort of bond with Joshua, the only person in the Fraser household who treated him the best.
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Chapter 18 Treatment
+8 Pearls
It was ironic, Wendy thought. They were his family, his blood relatives, but in the end, a stranger had treated him better than any of them ever had.
Mrs. Locker didn’t know what Wendy wanted to talk to her about, and she was a little nervous as she hurriedly followed Wendy to the living room on the third floor.
There was another living room here, and Wendy’s room was here as well.
Once they were seated, Wendy got straight to the point. “Mrs. Locker, after Joshua lost his phone, did he ask anyone in the house for another one?”
Mrs. Locker shook her head. Sighing, she explained, “He didn’t say anything about it, but he did end up buying a phone.”
“He bought one?” Wendy asked anxiously as she stared at the older woman. “Do you know his number?”
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