Survivor | T. Drake

[09]

Gotham's graveyard was a cold and desolate place having an abundance of graves and shriveled up trees with ravens lurking in the dry branches. Maxwell had parked the SUV outside the old iron gate and accompanied the two at a distance as Tim led the way.

Ever since he had lost his mother, it was the second time he had come to her final resting place. It was not that he did not want to visit often. The reason was that he felt too saddened as seeing her grave seemed to be a clear fact that he could no longer reach out to her.

Tim had been much closer to his mother emotionally than he could ever be with his father. But due to a sick play of fate, his mother had gone too far from him and even though his father was alive, he too was in an unconscious state.

He stopped in front of the gravestone on which the name Janet Drake was engraved. The flowers he had brought on his last visit had withered, those white petals plucked away by the ravens nesting close.

"Maxwell," Lorena spoke up, and Tim got startled, turning to see what was going on, "please bring some flowers. I will wait here with Tim."

"But Miss, I can not..."

"We will be safe here. I have my phone on me and I will call you if anything goes wrong," she insisted, "go to the closest flower shop and bring the prettiest wreath you can find. Go."

He thought her order over but had to agree, seeing the persistent look she was giving him. "I'll be right back, Miss."

With Maxwell gone, Tim asked her, "why did you send him away?"

"He'll be back any moment. I sent him because it doesn't seem right to come to your mother's grave empty-handed," she remarked, correctly guessing that the grave they had come to was his mother's.

But then she could have read about the attack on the Drakes in the paper, he thought. The press had broadcasted the matter far and wide such that every Gothamite was aware of how the once wealthy and influential Drake family had reached its demise.

Tim saw her looking at the tombstone intently but without the cold stare that he was accustomed to seeing. It made him wonder whether she had lost her mother too and understood his loss.

Lorena wasn't sympathetic but right then her eyes were tainted with an expression that could only be described as sorrow.

"Did your mother adore you?" She asked, her eyes glued to the grey marble still.

"I guess," he replied, "I was much closer to her than I could be to my Dad."

She nodded as if she understood perfectly, "I see. It's a shame she was taken away so soon."

Tim now felt curious as he asked with caution, "what about you? Were you close to your mother?"

She drew in her breath sharply, "no. I don't even remember her."

"Is she..."

"No, she's alive. Must be somewhere far away like Europe or something... I don't know."

"Oh, alright," he didn't ask further.

"Perhaps it would have been better if she was dead," much to his surprise, she added that out of her own accord, her words had turned bitter rather quickly. 

Tim found it strange but didn't make any remark to show it, knowing he was walking on eggshells around her already. Maxwell returned with the flowers that she took from him and ordered him to stay outside by the car.

She gave the wreath to Tim and watched silently as he arranged it on the grave. She had gotten alarmingly silent but lost in thought ever since Tim had asked her about her mother.

It seemed as if that topic had struck a nerve within her and she was thinking about it over and over again. Or perhaps she was intentionally thinking about other things to keep herself distracted.

Tim stayed at his mother's grave for some time, paid his respects, and then stood up. Lorena was still there and nodded seeing that he was ready to leave.

"I don't know why my father is so obsessed with you," she spoke up all of a sudden while they were walking back to the gate. 

Tim turned to look at her, judging her well-guarded expression. There was something odd about the way she said it, a clear sense of envy engulfed her very being.

"Why are you so important to him that he offered to help you in the first place? What can you offer him that he can pay millions for in return?"

Tim did not know the answer to her question but by then he could make an intelligent guess. Still, he chose to keep silent as he had found out from past experiences that indulging her in her whims always turned out alarming.

Her finger tentatively touched his shoulder, making him quicken his pace to ensure the distance between them. "You're just a boy... What exactly are you worth?"

She had stopped walking and Tim had to turn to face her, not at all comfortable at allowing her to strike him from behind.

"I... I don't know either," he answered, suddenly feeling quite suffocated even in the open air that surrounded them. 

She had stepped closer, her calculative brown eyes judging each move and expression he could exhibit. At that moment, she was like a poison slowly leaching out all the air from his lungs, rendering him helpless.

"It makes me jealous sometimes, you know. And then I can't help but think of ways to get rid of you."

He gulped, recognizing the murderous intent in her eyes. If she wanted, she could kill him then and there and no one would come to his help. The only other person close by was Maxwell, a guard loyal to her who would believe anything she said blindly.

Tim was at a clear disadvantage. 

He couldn't run and he couldn't fight back; at least not without a weapon. He really should have paid attention to defensive methods other than the optional sword fighting he learned at Gotham Academy.

"But if I get rid of you, I will be ruining Father's plans. He wouldn't like that," she mused thoughtfully, taking a step back as a gust of cold air struck him.

Tim sensed an underlying hint in her tone, his eyes focusing on her intently to figure out what she meant. 

"And when I do something he doesn't like, the outcome isn't very pleasant," the last sentence was almost a hushed whisper but it gave Tim enough to think about.  "The same warning applies to you too, Timothy. You'd hate to learn it firsthand."

On the surface, it may seem that Black Mask adored and doted on his only daughter unconditionally, but there was a lot hidden underneath.

***