{ #4 } The Darker Side Of The Moon (MxM || 18+)

Chapter 26 - Be Reasonable, Jeremy...

The Darker Side Of The Moon
Book 4 of The Black Moon series
Chapter 26: Be Reasonable, Jeremy...

(Jeremy's POV – Wednesday 26 August 2015)

Fucking fog in my head again!

Though, it's not as thick as it was with the previous drugs and I pull out of my haze faster than the previous time. When I wake up, I feel more alert and it doesn't take me so long to remember where I am.

My year and a half in captivity, the flee, the wandering, the hospital, Gary.

Then my self-disgust. My determination to leave Gary alone.

It will be hard, but I have to do it. I don't want to be a shameful burden for him.

There are new voices that catch my attention, though. Not new in the sense that I never heard them before. No, new in the sense that the persons they belong to were not here earlier. New in the sense that I haven't heard them in so long and they evoke another sort of comfort. One that throws me back to my childhood. I may have had a troublesome and problematic adolescence, but my early years were quite normal, filled with love and care from adorable parents.

Things became more difficult later when I started rebelling, and I slowly became more distant with my parents, but there were never any hateful feelings between us. I was just not close to them and their decision to move to Minnesota and mine to stay in Illinois just helped us to drift apart a bit more, even if we still kept in touch over the phone. Their presence here fills me with warmth. It's not the same warmth as the one provoked by Gary's presence, but it's still something.

Would they let me go home with them? Would they accept to host their almost-25-year-old son back in their home? I'm sure they would. They wouldn't dump me when I am in need for comfort and care. My mother would probably be happy to get her son back. My dad would enjoy my presence too. At least I hope so. But is it really them here? Isn't it my mind playing tricks on me? After all, these people are only murmuring so I can't be sure. The only way to find out is to open my eyes and see for myself.

Which is exactly what I do.

My interrupting their conversation by calling their names surprises them and I am suddenly caught in the turmoil of an emotional and warmhearted reunion. I still have time to see their faces before I am engulfed in my mother's embrace and the least I can say is that I am shocked. They look like they have aged ten years in eighteen months. Their features are strained, marked with more wrinkles. Not the ones you get naturally as you grow older. Rather those enhanced by intense sorrow and worries. Like losing your child. So I just apologize endlessly.

All this time I was held by Andrei, most of my thoughts went to Gary and my friends in Chicago. I did think about my parents once in a while, but never as much as I thought about the man I love. More guilt seizes me because I never imagined my disappearance would affect them that badly. It was stupid because of course, any normal parents would miss their child gone AWOL. I can't begin to imagine what sort of hell they went through.

I push these ideas to the back of my head for now. I just let myself revel in the comforting touch of my father, deeply affected by the tears running down his face, and in the reassuring scent of my mother, feeling her tears on my cheeks as she covers me with soft kisses. After a long moment, they move back a little, allowing me to see that Gary is standing away by the window, staring at us. He seems to be lost in his own thoughts, but his face looks less strained than this morning.

Mom and dad keep telling me how they have been missing me and how happy they are to see me again. It certainly warms my heart and comforts me in my idea to move back with them. Their love and affection for me is unmistakable and I am now certain they will accept me.