Heroic ~ GBD

Chapter 4: The Brigde

Grayson and I came to a halt, panting. We had ran all the way across the garden of the mansion with the old gardener-guy chasing us. We fortunately got away when the guy was out of breath.

"That was kind of awesome." Grayson said, wiping his forehead. I pointed at the bridge we were standing in front of, "If we go over that bridge we are at my house." "Wow" Grayson said, shielding the sun from his eyes with his hand. "It really is shorter."
We continued walking. Our footsteps echoed on the metal of the deserted bridge.
When we were just half way across the bridge Grayson stopped me, "can I talk to you?"
"What's up?" I asked surprised. Grayson sat down with his legs off the edge of the bridge. "Don't you want to know why our dad is in the hospital?"
I sat down next to him. This question was kinda awkward, I did know why Sean was in the hospital but Grayson couldn't know. I hated lying to him.

"Yeah, why?"

"He was diagnosed with cancer..."

"That's terrible, I'm sorry."

"You see, we actually live in Los Angles, and our family in New Jersey. We just came here because this hospital apparently has the best treatment for him. But the phone call Ethan got... I'm pretty sure we are going to have to go home pretty soon."

"Well, Isn't that good news for your dad?"

"Of course! I'm very happy he is gaining strength. When he is in the hospital my anxiety always gets so bad. But I don't wanna go home... I- I wanna stay here."

"What's so good about this place?"

Grayson kept quiet for a while.

"Fuck cancer."
Grayson said suddenly. He grabbed a piece of gravel and threw it with a lot of force into the dark river underneath us.

I looked at him, his face all screwed up with anger. I stood up "Yeah..." I also grabbed some gravel "fuck cancer!"

We spend the next couple of minutes betting who could throw their gravel further, while we yelled out things like: "Hey cancer! Catch, you ass clown!"
When I screamed "You can't sit with us, cancer!" Grayson lost it, he grabbed me and we bend over dying of laughter.
"Oh my god" Grayson had his hands on his face. We laughed and laughed until I noticed a small change in Grayson's tone. Like something... broke.
I looked at him. There he sat, with his hands on his blushing face, he wasn't laughing anymore, he was sobbing.
I scooched towards him "Hey" I gently pulled away one of his hands. He grabbed me and buried his face in my t-shirt. My eyes widened and I blushed while Grayson was basically... well, crying into my boobs. Not sure what to do and kinda scared to move, I stroked his back and his hair.

We sat there for a while, my stupid ass didn't know what to say.
Grayson pulled away and rubbed his eyes "thanks for not saying anything." he said, as if my silence had been on purpose.
"Anytime" I said, what a stupid answer.
Grayson looked up while the wind blew through his hair, "people always say stuff."
I kept quiet.
"They always say 'it's okay' or 'don't worry'. But it's not okay and I will worry, there's a chance my dad might die..."

I felt my eyes tearing up. I knew what I needed to say. What Grayson said in the 'you are not alone' video always helped me get through things, maybe it could help him. Maybe he had just forgotten his own words. But, I wasn't good with words like he was. What I wanted to say never came out right. I looked at him, he looked so frustrated and sad. I had to say something, I just needed to make sure it was the right thing.
I began stuttering

"U-uhm, Gray?"
He stared at the ground.
"It's okay. Not that your dad is sick, that is totally fucking horrible. But it's okay that you feel this way"
Now he looked at me.

"It's okay to feel down and have a bad day, it's okay to not be perfect and it's okay to have anxiety.
But remember, you have to focus on the things in life that you can be positive about. Of course you never thought that something this serious would ever happen to someone that close to you, but it did. But instead of saying 'I don't know what to do, this sucks' you should just find the positives that you know there are. Just try to appreciate every moment you are with your dad and your family.
There is always something that you can think about that will make you happy."

Grayson stood up and stuck out his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me up. He looked at me, still holding my hand. "I like your way of thinking." he shrugged.
I felt so accomplished. It looked like he actually felt better. Of course these weren't exactly my words, but I said them.
I looked at our hands. He immediately let go and quietly mumbled "sorry".
We walked over the bridge and to my house in silence.