Heal my Heart

Chapter 39 - You don't have to pretend

"Grizz!" Sam called after him.

"Leave him be, Sam...He just needs some time." Gordie told the deaf man.

"Why is he reacting so badly?! I mean, neither of us thought our parents could be capable of something this awful." Will said.

"You don't get it, Will. Ellen Visser wasn't just anyone. I'm sorry to say that but she was one of the smartest and nicest person I've ever met. I'm not saying that she was better than our own parents, but she really was something." Luke said calmly.

"Were they close?" Allie asked him.

"Yeah, really. They were fusional. During his whole childhood, she was the only good thing he could hang on. He always trusted her, and she did too. I've never seen such an amazing dynamic between a mother and a son. They deeply respected each other and sometimes, it felt as if they were truly connected. Grizz was really young though, but they really were on a whole other level than a simple motherly relationship. Their bond was so deep and full of love. They were inseparable and she gave Grizz her love for arts; be it dance, violin or singing. They shared so much." he said sadly.

"I can understand why he feels betrayed then..." Gordie added.

"Yeah, she always was a real model for him. I believe that her death even emphasized the love he felt for her and the abuse Logan put him through after that only reinforced it. It's no simple betrayal for him, I think all his world might be crumbling down right now..." Luke said.

"Well, apparently she didn't love him that much; choosing this shitty painful power for him...What mother wants her child to take all kind of pains for his whole life?!" Will added.

Luke didn't respond to that, he understood clearly how shitty this situation was for Grizz and really didn't need to hear Will insult Ellen any longer. He slowly got up and made his way to his best friend's bedroom. When he passed Sam, the ginger man had a perplex look on his face.

"Let me handle this one, Sam." he told him with a serious face.

"Okay, but please make sure he's safe..." he signed back.

"I will, don't worry."

He knocked slightly at his best friend's door.

"Grizz? It's me, buddy, open up, please."

"Go away, Luke..." he whispered.

"Come on, man. I know you don't wanna be alone right now. I'm here for you, remember? I've always been."

"Alright..." Grizz said, opening the door shyly.

The bedroom wasn't as wrecked as Luke expected it to be but a whole box of old pictures was splattered on the floor.

"What are those?" Luke asked innocently.

"Old pictures. My dad wanted me to get rid of them but I never could. It's the only pictures I have from her." his voice faded at the end of the sentence.

"What do you think about this whole agreement thing, Grizz? Do you believe it?"

"Really, I don't know. I can't figure my mother agreeing on the whole town conducting experiments on us. As I know her, she'd have fought the best she could've to stop them, not be one of the investigators." he paused for a second.

"But on the other hand, what do I really know about her? I was so young when she died, I don't really know what she was truly capable of..." a tear escaped his green eye.

"Maybe she only showed me what she wanted me to see and believe. I don't know. I really don't." he whispered, half-sobbing.

"I understand, man...I remember how she was and I can't believe she'd have agreed on something like that." Luke said, rubbing his best friend's back in a comforting way.