Richard Stephenson - Collapse

Plus, Monique had never just left him and the kids at church unless it was something they had discussed in advance. It was obvious — his wife was lying to him while he was in the presence of the Lord Almighty.

Did the woman have no shame at all? She couldn’t wait a few weeks for him to leave the country before she started things back up with Bryan? The night before he installed a GPS app on her smartphone and deleted the shortcut from the home screen. It would track her whereabouts anywhere on the planet as long as she didn’t turn it off. He pulled up the app, certain that his wife was not home and he was right. The trusty GPS indicated that she was less than two miles from the church.

Now he had Bryan’s address.

He decided to trip her up and texted her.

“Poor thing, you need me to come home?”

The reply was practically instantaneous.

“No, I’m fine. Take the kids to your aunt’s house for the day. I can’t deal with them today and Martha really wants to see you.”

Richard’s Aunt Martha was a thirty-minute drive from his house, a full forty-five minutes from where he sat at the moment. He replied.

“OK.”

Richard took control of his anger so he could think clearly. He wanted to do some surveillance and relished the opportunity to get his plan underway immediately. The good pastor was known for his very long sermons, so Richard had plenty of time to slip out, drive to the man’s house and check out the situation. He was already thinking about pulling a detailed report on Bryan. He would be back in plenty of time to pick up the kids.

Richard exited the sanctuary, exchanging smiles with a few of the faithful on the way. He had no idea who they were but they clearly knew him. Once he was in the foyer, he stopped and thought for a minute. He realized that he needed to make sure the kids were attended to in case he needed extra time and couldn’t make it back to pick them up.

On his way to Children’s Worship, he knew he had to come up with a reasonable excuse and decided that his wife had already come up with a lie he could use. He was going to tell them that his wife was not feeling well, and he needed to take her home. He was also going to add that his wife really didn’t want the kids to miss church on her account and that he might be late making it back to pick them up.

He made it to the Activities Building and walked in the back, looking for his kids. He scanned the crowd of singing children and began to worry. Seeing the look of panic on his face, a kind old woman suddenly perked up her head and walked over to Richard.

“Hello, dear, are you looking for your angels?” She smiled and placed her hands in his.

“Yes, ma’am.” Richard returned the smile.

“Yes, dear. Things were getting too crowded in here so Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson took some of the younger ones to the nursery to play.”

“Thank you so much.” Richard smiled and turned to walk out.

“Is everything alright, dear?”

“Yes, ma’am. I returned from overseas yesterday, and I just have to see them.”

“Oh that’s just wonderful dear. They are so precious at this age.”

“Yes, ma’am. They sure are.” Richard took a step back towards the door.

“Are you going to stay for the potluck, dear?”

“That sounds great, we just might do that,” Richard lied, trying desperately to leave.

“Look forward to seeing you and your lovely wife; she has the most beautiful voice, and I just think the world of her!”

You wouldn’t if you knew what an adulterous whore she is, thought Richard. The woman finally let Richard leave and once he was in the hallway, he couldn’t remember how to get to the nursery. He could have asked the old woman, but she would have delayed him further, and he was losing time he didn’t have. Richard scanned the hallways and looked for a sign to lead him. Once he finally figured out where he was going, he walked as fast as he could without drawing attention should someone see him.

Once he arrived at the nursery he reached to open the door to discover that it was locked. Why the hell is the door locked? He knew he was in the right place because he could hear the children playing on the other side of the door. He knocked and waited. After a few seconds he heard a click and the door cracked half an inch. He stood back expecting the door to open towards him. It did not. He opened the door and walked into the most confusing thing he had ever witnessed in his life. His mind took several seconds to process what he was seeing and once he was able to understand what was happening, he froze.

All of the children were stark naked.

Thirteen children, ranging in age from two to eight were in the room naked as the day they were born. The children not yet old enough to know shame were running around the room giggling, free from the burden of clothing.

One of those children was his daughter.

Richard knew the trouble his wife had putting clothes on their little girl when she was dried off from her bath. She often slipped out the towel her mother wrapped around her and ran around the house laughing as her mother chased her down to put her into her pajamas.

When his daughter saw him standing in the doorway, she squealed and ran over to him.

“Daaaaaaadddddyyy!”

On the other side of the room, Oswald Jefferson opened his eyes and looked at Richard in pure terror. He had been sitting as close to the table as he could, his right arm pumping up and down, his head kicked back and his eyes closed tightly.

Richard’s adorable girl stood at his feet. She looked up at his face and beamed a smile. Her face looked like a tan porcelain doll. Her mousy little voice practically made Richard cry. “Daddy! We showin Gawd we not shamed our bodies! It’s fun!” Richard’s second born returned to the middle of the room and resumed playing.

Richard had no idea what to do. Tears streamed down his face. He didn’t know if he should grab his children and run down the hall screaming his head off like the devil was chasing him or let his mind snap so insanity could rescue him from this nightmare. He looked at his innocent toddler playing in the room and realized that she had no idea anything inappropriate was happening. She could live the rest of her life and probably not remember this day. It was then that Richard remembered his six-year-old son was also in the room.

Richard scanned the room to find his son and two other boys standing in the corner, cupping their genitals and crying. Richard would find out later from his lawyer that the three boys had tried to cover themselves with toys or books and Oswald spanked them for being ashamed of their bodies. The pedophile also told the boys that if they told anyone about their special worship, they and their families would burn in hell for all eternity.

Richard was shaking to the point of collapse; the blood racing to his head caused it to beat like a drum. The man sitting at the table might have lived had he not opened his mouth.

“Now, now, now…uh…Mister, you just hold on now a minute! Everything is just fine! You hear me? Just fine! I swear things are just fine! This is not what you think, you just don’t understand. Just let me explain! PLEASE!!”

Richard let out an awful moan that began as a cry and slowly escalated into a dull roar.

Seeing the statuesque, chiseled jawed soldier glaring at him, fists balled into rocks, Oswald knew his life was about to end. “Stop now! STOP!! PLEASE!!! Look here now, just listen! I swear I never laid one hand on them, and they didn’t see me do anything down there,” the monster nodded towards his crotch.

Richard’s son looked to his father with complete and total shame; the look on his face would forever curse Richard Dupree’s slumber until the day he died. His son spoke to him through sobs and said the last thing Richard would be able to remember until moments later when he was covered in blood with two broken hands.