Elsewhere

4.

CHAPTER 4.

THE FIGHT.

Grin could still feel the doctor's finger running down his backside. And it tingled there as he awkwardly went inside his house and laid flat on the couch after that strange encounter. As he stared up at the ceiling, he couldn't stop thinking about it. His heart raced as though he had been running. A dim image of the doctor's smile came to mind. And how he looked at Grin with such familiarity and admiration. It was all confusing. The doctor claimed to know him well but Grin could hardly remember the man just as much as he couldn't remember his own father. Grin rested both hands on his face, flipping that same image of his smile over and over again, trying to connect his face to any sort of memory buried in the back of his head, but the details were now trickling away slowly. The style of the doctor's hair was blonde and he was balding, his eyes a pale blue, and his nose was long and crooked. He tried to hold on to that picture until he heard the front door opening.

Grin took his hands away from his face, opened his eyes, and stared at his mother walking into the living room.

"Hey." Grin greeted.

"You missed it." His mother smiled at him as she slipped off her heels.

"Missed what?"

"Today's sermon!" His mother said. "It was wonderful. You should've been there."

Grin gave a sigh. "Oh."

"Oh?" She marched over to the fireplace and turned to face Grin. "Aren't you going to ask me what it's about?"

Grin truly wished he could say no but he had no energy left in him to have to deal with his mother's temper. So he politely replied, "What's it about?"

"Obedience." She narrowed her glare at him but Grin only rolled his eyes.

"Oh."

"Oh." She mimicked him still glaring.
"That's all you ever say. Oh this! Oh that!"

Grin felt a prick of annoyance but he didn't say anything and kept his expression neutral. He genuinely couldn't understand why his mother would seize at every opportunity to make a fuss, so he merely continued to watch her silently as she argued with herself. It took her a minute before she finally switched the topic.

"Anyway," She slipped her hand into her big purse and drew out some envelopes. "Why were these left on the driveway?"

Grin widened his eyes. He had forgotten to pick up the mail from the ground after the doctor had left them there.

"I don't know." He lied.

"Mhm," His mother saw right through that lie but decided not to comment on it and handed Grin a bright yellow envelope. "This one's for you."

Grin blinked at the envelope in her hand and took it, squinting at the cursive lettering on it.
"Doctor Gorhol." He muttered under his breath.

His mother observed his face curiously.
"Who's it from?"

Grin turned his attention to her.
"Do you know who Doctor Gorhol is?"

She twisted her face up for a slight minute trying to recollect that name. It didn't take her too long for her eyes to light up.
"Oh, Doctor Gorhol. He was an old therapist of mine. I used to go to him all the time when you were little."

"Why'd you stop?"

"Hm?" She said, breaking herself out of a daze.

"Why did you stop going to him?" Grin asked again.