Philip still remembers it like it was yesterday. That horrible day after work, the disgusting traumatic things that man did to his body. And most of all....the snowball effect afterwards.

It took Philip 3 days to get the courage to tell his boyfriend about the rape. He was so ashamed and embarrassed, but when he finally told him his boyfriend just held him and comforted him. His boyfriend told him everything would be alright and that "he would take care of it". If only he knew what that meant, then maybe he could have stopped what happened next. His boyfriend had hunted down that man who raped Philip and gave no mercy. His boyfriend beat that man to a pulp, each punch fueled by his intense love for Philip and his rage for that man.

The man was hospitalized and his boyfriend got assault charges. God if only it had stopped there, but 4 days later that man had died from his injuries caused by his boyfriend. Suddenly his boyfriend was on trial for murder! Philip couldn't remember exactly what was said in that court room, all he remembers was his boyfriend being dragged away from him with charges of manslaughter and a sentence of 5 years in prison. Philip felt like he couldn't breathe. 5 years! God this was all his fault! He told himself over and over. If he had only fought back! If he had only tried harder not to get raped! Then his beloved boyfriend wouldn't be spending the next 5 years in a prison 7 hours away, and Philip wouldn't be alone.....

Philip made sure to visit his boyfriend every single week, if the prison was closer then he for sure would have been there everyday. He would talk with him for as long as he was allowed, and tell his boyfriend all his life updates. He waited in anticipation for the day he could hold his boyfriend again, for when he could finally kiss him and never let him go. As much as he hoped and prayed that lingering voice stuck in the back of his head, the voice that told him they had been separated too long, that his boyfriend wouldn't love him anymore and he'd leave him. But he tried his best to push it away as the date of his release grew closer.

The day had finally come, after 5 years of waiting his boyfriend would finally be home with him. He wanted to be there to pick him up but was strictly told to wait there and his boyfriend would come to him. He sat on the couch bouncing his leg nervously, all three of his cats were around him, sensing his nerves and trying to ease him. Any moment now he would hear that knock at the door. Any moment now he would finally have his love back.