Is That Mom

Part 8 of Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

The First Real Lead

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Part 8:

Increasing Tension

Days had passed since Ethan found his mother’s journal in the attic, and each day felt heavier than the last. The tension in the house was palpable, a thick, suffocating presence that lingered in every room. Ethan carried the journal with him everywhere, tucked safely in his backpack, as if it were a shield against the unknown forces he was now entangled with. But the more he read its cryptic entries, the more questions it raised, and the deeper his frustration grew.

His grandmother seemed to sense the shift in him. She had always been good at reading his moods, but lately, there was a distance between them, as if an invisible wall had been erected. Ethan noticed how she would watch him from across the room, her gaze lingering on him when she thought he wasn’t looking. It was a look filled with concern, but also something else—guilt, perhaps, or maybe even fear. Ethan wasn’t sure, but he knew that she was hiding something. The way she avoided certain topics, the way her expression would tighten whenever his mother’s name came up—it all pointed to secrets she was unwilling to share.

One evening, as they sat across from each other at the dinner table, the silence was deafening. The clinking of silverware was the only sound, a stark contrast to the warmth and chatter that once filled their meals. Ethan’s grandmother kept her eyes down, focused on her plate, while Ethan pushed his food around, his appetite nonexistent. He was tired of the silence, tired of pretending that everything was normal when it was anything but.

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He set his fork down and looked up at her, his voice low but steady. “I need to know, Grandma,” he said, breaking the silence that had settled between them. “What happened to Mom?”

His grandmother froze, her hand pausing mid-air as she was about to take a sip of water. For a moment, she didn’t respond, as if she hadn’t heard him. But Ethan could see the tension in her shoulders, the way her knuckles turned white as she gripped the glass. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. “Ethan, we’ve talked about this…”

“No, we haven’t,” he interrupted, more forcefully than he intended. “We’ve never really talked about it. You always change the subject, or tell me that there’s nothing more to say. But I know that’s not true.” He pulled the journal out of his backpack and placed it on the table between them. “I found this in the attic. It’s Mom’s. She was writing about things that scared her, things she was trying to protect us from. Why didn’t you ever tell me about this?”

His grandmother’s eyes widened when she saw the journal, and for a moment, she looked like she might cry. But then she quickly composed herself, her expression hardening. “Ethan, some things are better left in the past,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “I didn’t want to burden you with things that wouldn’t make any difference now.”

Ethan’s frustration boiled over. “That’s not your decision to make!” he snapped, his hands clenched into fists. “I have a right to know what happened. You can’t just keep hiding things from me and expect me to be okay with it.”

The words seemed to hit her like a slap. She took a shaky breath, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I was trying to protect you, Ethan,” she said softly. “I thought… I thought if you didn’t know, you could have a normal life. That you wouldn’t have to carry the same fears that your mother did.”

“Protect me from what?” Ethan demanded, his voice rising. “From the truth? Because all this silence is just making everything worse. I’m not a kid anymore, Grandma. I can handle it.”

There was a long, agonizing pause. Ethan could see the conflict playing out on her face, the way her jaw tightened as she struggled to keep her composure. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely audible. “Your mother… she was involved in something dangerous. Something that she never should have gotten mixed up in. I tried to warn her, but she wouldn’t listen. She was determined to do what she thought was right, even if it meant risking everything.”

Ethan’s heart pounded as he listened, his mind racing to piece together what she was saying. “What do you mean, ‘something dangerous’? What was she involved in?”

His grandmother shook her head, as if she couldn’t bear to say the words out loud. “I don’t know all the details,” she said, her voice cracking. “She didn’t tell me everything. But she was… investigating something. Something that had to do with the clinic.”

“The clinic?” Ethan repeated, his stomach twisting with a mixture of fear and anticipation. “The one on the receipt I found?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “She was trying to find out the truth about what was happening there. But the more she looked, the more she realized that it was bigger than she thought. There were people who didn’t want her to know… people who would do anything to keep their secrets hidden.”

Ethan’s breath caught in his throat. “And that’s why she disappeared,” he said, the realization hitting him like a punch to the gut. “Because she got too close to the truth.”

His grandmother didn’t answer right away. She just looked at him, her eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow and fear. “I don’t know, Ethan,” she said finally, her voice barely audible. “I don’t know what happened to her. But I do know that whatever she was involved in, it was dangerous. And I was afraid that if you started looking into it, you would get hurt too.”

Ethan felt a surge of anger and frustration. “You can’t keep me in the dark forever,” he said, his voice shaking. “I’m already involved, whether you like it or not. I’m going to find out what happened to her, and I’m not going to stop until I do.”

His grandmother’s eyes filled with tears, and for a moment, she looked like she might plead with him to stop. But then she nodded, her shoulders slumping as if a great weight had been lifted off of them. “I know,” she said quietly. “I just… I don’t want to lose you too.”

Ethan’s heart ached at the pain in her voice, but he knew there was no turning back. “I have to do this,” he said, his voice firm. “I need to know the truth. For Mom. For me.”

The room was silent, the air thick with unspoken words. Ethan’s grandmother reached out and took his hand, her grip tight and desperate. “Just promise me one thing,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “Promise me you’ll be careful.”

Ethan nodded, though he wasn’t sure he could keep that promise. The truth was, he didn’t know what he was getting himself into, or how dangerous it might be. But he couldn’t walk away now. Not after everything he had learned. He squeezed her hand gently, trying to offer some semblance of comfort. “I promise.”

As they sat there, holding hands across the table, Ethan realized just how fragile everything felt. The distance between them had been bridged, if only for a moment, but he knew that the secrets they were keeping could easily tear them apart again. The tension in the house had only deepened, and Ethan could feel it closing in around him, like a storm gathering on the horizon.

He had a lead, but he also had more questions than ever. The clinic, the journal, the mysterious warnings from John—it was all connected, but he didn’t know how. And he was terrified of what he might find if he kept digging. But he also knew that he couldn’t stop. Not now. Not when he was finally starting to get closer to the truth.

As the night wore on, Ethan retreated to his room, the weight of the conversation heavy on his shoulders. He knew the path ahead was dangerous, but he also knew he had no choice but to follow it. His mother had risked everything to find the truth, and now it was his turn to do the same.