Black Heart (SoulScape #2)

Chapter 4

Ron McNeil worried about Frank. Worried about him a lot. Ron and Frank had been friends since high school, and the guy had always possessed a heart of gold, a passion to help his fellow man. Robby Sykes had been the reason Frank went into the field of psychiatry. Robby –a freshmen when Frank and Ron had been seniors –was a troubled boy who kept to himself. Often bullied for his odd behavior –or what others perceived as odd –Frank had taken it upon himself to be the boy's friend. Frank's gentle persistence and genuine care for Robby's well-being had eventually broken down the boy's walls. Although he remained distrustful and distant with others, Robby began to open up to Frank and talk to him about his problems, his concerns and fears and insecurities. By the end of the school year, Robby was making new friends, becoming more outgoing, even joined the baseball team.

Watching the boy emerge from his troubled cocoon and become a functioning, happy individual had ignited Frank's passion to help others find their way out of the darkness and into the light. His future had been bright and promising. Ron hadn't been crazy about the idea of Frank going to work at the asylum, but his friend's passion ran deep and strong, and he longed to treat those that society had given up on. The forsaken ones, Frank called them. Then he would quote the bible verse 'I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.'

Frank believed it was his calling from God.

Home in his own kitchen, Ron poured himself another drink. Stronger than the beer he and Frank had been drinking at the bar. He retired to the living room and kicked back in his recliner.

Even in that dark place, Frank had shone like a bright light.

Ron tipped his glass to his lips, his heart heavy.

Until an impenetrable darkness came to reside within those cold walls. Something about that boy had gripped Frank and refused to let go. But rather than banish the darkness within Alec Strom...that darkness began to extinguish the light within Frank. The desperation to save the boy consumed him, pulled him under. He had never really been the same again since taking Alec Strom into his care.

Ron had hoped that with Alec's death, Frank would eventually revert to his old self. He now feared that whatever damage had been done during Frank's years with Alec –was irreversible. Frank only spoke of his guilt in failing Alec. A failure which in turn caused the death of Dr. Kim Delaney. A guilt that was entirely unwarranted. Yet Frank didn't see it that way.

Still, Ron worried that maybe there was more going on than old fashioned guilt. He'd watched Frank with Alec while visiting the boy at the prison. And he saw things he hadn't been privy to before, as Ron rarely, if ever, encountered Alec during his limited trips out to the asylum. He witnessed the way Frank looked at the young man, that something in his tone when he spoke to him –the unbearable grief clutching the man in the face of Alec's impending execution.

At the start, Ron had suspected the bond was that of a father and son. But after seeing Frank with Alec up close, it struck him with painful clarity –Frank Harlan had fallen in love with Alec Strom...a boy who had no concept of feelings or emotions.

And two years following Alec's death –Frank still grieved the loss of the disturbed young man.

Ron swallowed more of the liquor. He'd told Frank just tonight that it was over, in the past. But it wasn't over for Frank. The darkness was holding on, enveloping his heart...and slowly draining the life from Frank. If he didn't let go –he would die in its cold embrace.

Swallowing the remainder of his drink, Ron wiped his mouth. "Well, that isn't going to happen, my friend," he murmured with a rasp. "If I have anything to say about it."

Since he'd began treating Alec, Frank's social life had plummeted until it was rendered non-existent. Outside the asylum, Ron had remained his only mentionable friend. His only real connection to the world. Frank was no longer a part of the asylum, yet in many ways he was still cut off from society.