The Horror from Across the Ocean Part II

Trent went into Burt's office in Washington on Thursday morning still blissfully unaware of the crisis that had broken in New York the previous evening; his friends had not wanted to put a dampener on his graduation day as well as their own. Burt had told him that he could take a few days off, but he had declined to do so, knowing that there was a lot of work to be done, particularly as the President was trying to launch another crackpot scheme to destroy people's lives. He was already taking the weekend off to head to Dalton, and he had time off during the summer as well when he planned to head to Ireland with Rory to visit the latter's grandmother. Burt was already at his desk when he arrived, working through a pile of letters from his district; missives from people with problems and concerns, or just an axe to grind. Like most Democrats, Burt also received a fair amount of hate mail from Republican voters, all of whom seemed to feel that any attempt to block the machinations of the Oval Office was unconstitutional. These could usually be spotted very quickly, and were set to one side of his desk; if from there they happened to fall directly into the shredder, then so be it.

Trent greeted Burt, then headed to the in-tray to assist in the process. His attention was almost immediately drawn to the large brown A4 envelope at the bottom of the pile, which had been sealed with tape and bore a large number of stamps with the head of the Queen upon them. That latter fact made it all the more interesting. He took it first, and then carefully opened it with a letter opener. He slipped out the single sheet of paper it contained, and began to read…

"Dear Mr Hummel, I don't know if you will remember me, as we have only met briefly on a few occasions. My name is Drew Symons, and I was wondering if you could possibly forward the enclosed for me. I am unable to post it directly for reasons that I'd rather keep to myself. My thanks in advance…"

Trent's attention was now entirely directed on the envelope in front of him; the apocalypse could have begun, and he would not have noticed. For a start, the hand writing on the envelope was wrong. He knew the penmanship of all of his fellow Warblers so well, and what he saw before him was so very, very wrong; it was sloppy, amateurish and crooked. 'It's as if he was writing with the wrong hand,' thought Trent. He dug into the envelope and found two more A5 envelopes inside, one addressed in the same poor handwriting to Thad Harwood, and the other, much to his surprise, addressed to Trent F Nixon…

"Anything that I should be worried about?" came a voice, startling Trent out of his reverie. He handed the covering letter over to Burt, whose smile began to fade as he read it. "Drew… He was the one that more or less caught Clarington at the New Yorker? He lives in England now?" Trent nodded, and Burt went on. "Do you know any reason why he would write to me, and not straight to you and Thad?"

Trent sighed, then spoke. "His girlfriend doesn't like the fact that he is so close to his 'stupid bird-brained school friends', to quote her word for word. I guess that he didn't want her seeing that he had addressed letters to us, but a letter to a congressman, well that is different - she couldn't complain about that as much. There is one thing about all of this that has me really worried though. Drew won a prize whilst he was at Dalton for his calligraphy. His penmanship was always so neat and correct, but the writing on those envelopes…"

Trent stopped, and Burt didn't need to ask any more. "Well, you can take that one with you to Dalton tomorrow," he said, pointing at the one addressed to Thad, "and you can see if what is inside yours will allay any of your fears. The rest of the mail can wait a while…"

With a sinking feeling in his heart, Trent opened the envelope, and found it contained a standard sized letter envelope, and a letter for himself. The name on the other envelope was no shock; carefully placing the letter to Ethan on one side, he began to read the pages that had been enclosed with it…

I have chosen to write this to you, Trent, as you are probably the most level headed and calm of our little circle of friends. You will not overreact, or find yourself running to the airport to fly thousands of miles. So, the facts of the situation are this. On Sunday, I found myself railroaded into something that I think I might come to regret. It might well be common knowledge by now, but I married Lucy on Sunday. Her grandmother hasn't been very well, and on that fated day, Lucy told me in tears that she was dying, and her greatest desire was to see her granddaughter married before she did. I have always liked the lady in question, and well, Lucy can be quite persuasive…

The thing is that after all of the ceremony had taken place, I found myself left alone with the old lady, and in the course of our conversation, she told me three things; for a start, she wasn't dying at all; then she told me that her late husband had been a manipulative, abusive bully that had made her life a living hell; and finally, that she knew that Lucy was exactly like him, so her advice to me was to run like the wind whilst I could.

She was right of course, but it isn't that easy. I can't just run away as Lucy needs my help; I love her so much. You are probably thinking that I am mad, and you would probably be right, but I'm sure that I can change her. That's the reason why this will be the last any of you will hear from me for a while. I miss you guys and Ethan so much, but I have to respect my wife's wishes. The letter enclosed for Ethan is my attempt to explain to him why he couldn't be here. I need you guys to look after him for me. He is such a special person, but he needs to find himself someone else to care about and forget about me.

Thank you for being my friend Trent. Take care of yourself and Rory,

Drew.

Trent had found that as he read the final lines his eyesight had begun to blur as his eyes had filled with treacherous tears. He could read between the lines well enough. The bad writing, along with the comment about her grandfather could direct him to only one conclusion. How on earth was he to tell Ethan not to worry about his best friend when his own mind was filled with nothing but concern for the man in question?

In the end, Trent handed the letter over to Burt to read whilst he attempted to dry up his own tears. The older man's face quickly took on a pained expression, but then he spoke in a quiet but authoritative tone. "Love is blind; it makes us turn the other cheek and ignore the faults and failures of those around us. It also gives us hope; hope that through it we can save those that we hold dear from themselves. That is what your friend is attempting to do. I think Carole said that she talked to the young lady in question very briefly at the Christmas wedding. Her feelings were that the girl had all the makings of a good doctor - passionate and caring towards her patients - but that personally, she was cold and aloof. She saw that so many times in her work at the hospital. Love can change someone, but it needs to be a deep love; a devotion if you like, and it takes a very strong person to deliver that. Your friend must really love her. He has to be able to see something in her that the rest of us don't."

"She hits him," said Trent bluntly. "At least, that is the implication that I get."

"Me too, but she can't be doing it all the time, or someone outside would have noticed by now. He works, doesn't he? He must go out in town and be seen by the neighbours. People would be quick to report something off these days…"

"Yes, they would, if it was the other way round, if he was hitting her..." whispered Trent. "And maybe the abuse isn't just physical, though I am thinking that she has done something to his hands, because his writing is all wrong. Maybe it is mental abuse. He isn't allowed to call any of us, and he seems to be unable to write to us either. She is isolating him from his closest friends, helped by miles of ocean."

"The problem is that you don't know any of that is true, and can't prove it either. Let's assume that you are right and she is hurting him; there has to be conclusive proof before anyone will act. The police will do nothing without that. Call them with your suspicions, and if they don't dismiss them, and they turn up on the doorstep, then what happens. Chances are he will deny it is happening, because he knows that she will probably be able to get away without being charged. Then, once they're safely away, he will be attacked worse than ever. Trent, son, much as it pains me to say this, there is nothing you can do. All that you boys can do just now is look after Ethan, as he asks, because he will blame himself for leaving him alone with her in England. It is irrational, of course, but that is how he will see it; if he hadn't come home, if he had been around, then maybe he could have stopped it."

"But he couldn't have done!"

"Try to tell him that… After all, I recall someone who thought that he could have stopped my son and two other people dying if only he hadn't drawn Blaine's attention to what was happening with the Warblers during his senior year…" Trent nodded, recalling his own guilt four years ago; a guilt which he still felt sometimes even now. "Sometimes we just have to resign ourselves to the unpopular stuff; all we can do is pray that it all comes right in the end," finished Burt, hoping for the sake of all of Drew's friends that it would do.

Trent resolved that he would not mention the letter to anyone else until he had had the chance to hand over the one addressed to Thad the following day, and then he could see what he wished to do. At lunchtime, he received a call from Jeff, and after a quick discussion of flight times the following day, Jeff moved on to the real reason for his call. Trent pretended that the fact that Drew was married was news to him, as it was the only way to keep his silence about the letter. He almost cracked when Jeff confided in him how worried they all were for Ethan, who had called in sick, and was refusing to eat. The mention of the meeting on the issue didn't exactly please him, but he knew that it was inevitable. He just had to ensure that he got to Thad first. To achieve that, he had to alter his plans. He was blessed with an understanding husband in Rory, and a good boss in Burt; a few phone calls and the airline were also only too happy to change his flight from the first one the following morning to the last one that night. After heading home and picking up his already packed bag, Trent headed for the airport. He sat in silence the whole time, and had to blink back silly tears when he heard the call for the flight to London.

On his arrival at Columbus, Trent took a taxi straight to Dalton, now quiet as curfew had begun. The security staff at the gate recognised him, and had let him in, calling Thad up to let him know he was on his way. It meant that the Head Warbler was waiting for him as he approached his front door. Once inside, the door closed against the night, Thad turned to him. "I know that you have a reputation for being punctual, Trent, but you are much too early for graduation! Was there some sort of problem with the flights tomorrow?"

Trent said nothing, just dug into his pocket and pulled out the envelope. He handed it over, then went to slump down on the sofa. After a moment, Thad joined him, and then quickly scanned through the letter, which Trent would later discover said more or less the same as his own. Thad set is down, and shook his head. "Well, this confirms our suspicions; David and I thought there was something not quite right when we met her, and now Drew has admitted it. Of course he won't leave her, out of a mixture of love and his own foolish pride. The whole thing is a mess, and we are powerless to do anything. All of us feel so helpless, and that includes Wes, Blaine and Kurt. I guess we just have to turn our focus to Ethan for now…

Trent nodded, then dug in his pocket again, handing over the second letter; the unopened one addressed to Ethan. "So, what do we do about this, Thad? Will its contents make things better for him, or worse? What on earth do we do?"

"The thing that we can't do is open it," said Thad decisively, "And that fact makes our dilemma worse. If we knew precisely what he said in the letter, then our choice would be an easy one. The fact is that Drew entrusted you with it, because he knew that you would give it safely into Ethan's hands. If we give him it, then it might well be a positive thing; it might well contain some words that will soothe him. On the other hand, it might be negative, and that will just make things worse. However, if we don't hand it over out of that fear, then we run the risk that one day he will find out about its existence, and betrayal is the most negative of all the emotions… Could you live with the knowledge that this letter exists and still keep it secret? More importantly, would Burt agree to that?"

Trent shook his head sadly. "We don't really have any option, do we? We have to hand it over to him and just pray that he is okay afterwards…"

"I suggest that we have the meeting whilst he is occupied by the Carmichaels as planned, then when we send someone to fetch him…"

"I am guessing that I will be that someone? I go and hand him the letter, not mentioning that you know anything about it. That way I will have the Carmichaels on hand for support, and his reaction is not in front of everyone…" Trent glanced up at the clock, and on seeing the time said, "I'd best go. I still need to get through to Lima tonight. Burt gave me the spare key for his place…"

"Don't be stupid! I have a spare room, so you can stay here with me - unless, of course, Burt has some specific task he needs you to carry out in Lima?"

"No, there isn't anything like that, so yes, I will happily accept your kind offer. The only thing that I will need to do is order something for dinner; I didn't have time before my flight, and I'm a little hungry."

"You could - or you could risk sampling my cooking. I'm not Nick by any means, but I do have some left over pasta in the fridge which I could heat up for you, and it wouldn't take me two minutes to rustle up some garlic bread to go with it." Trent happily accepted Thad's offer, and not much later, he had to admit that Thad's culinary skills had come on leaps and bounds in the last few months. Then they sat and just enjoyed each other's company for a while, catching up on news, before they headed to an early bed…

The graduation ceremony at Dalton the following day passed off with a hitch. It was a little odd for the alumni Warblers at first that Thad was not sitting with them but rather with the staff, but they got used to the idea eventually. Flint had confessed quietly on his arrival that he and Beats had been forced to all but drag Ethan to Dalton, and his downcast face immediately attracted the attention of all those that did not live in New York and who were unaware of the story. Thad had managed to break the news only to David beforehand; he had sworn continuously at the top of his voice for several seconds, much to his best friend's shock and horror, although fortunately they had been out of earshot. He had wanted to pass the news on, but it was more or less impossible given that Ethan was in the room. Instead he had to be content with passing out a note to all those not in the know, stating that he required a full Warbler meeting in the Junior Commons after the ceremony. The fact that it was being held in that room raised a lot of eyebrows. It was just another precaution that he had chosen to take to ensure that Ethan did not find out that he was the hot topic of conversation that day.

The moment the ceremony was over, the Carmichaels came over and more or less abducted Ethan. Jasper nearly blurted out that he couldn't go, as there was to be an emergency meeting, but got no further than the words "Excuse me, Sir, but…" before he felt the glare of several sets of eyes on him, and he instinctively held his tongue. Thad had no choice but to go and speak to the parents for a while, and so he asked David to chair the meeting in his place. He was pretty sure that his friend would immediately designate that responsibility to either Trent or Nick…

"Okay, so why are we in here?" said Mitch the moment that the door to the Junior Commons was closed behind them.

"Necessity," said Trent, as Nick nodded in agreement. "This is an emergency meeting as we have a major situation that concerns Ethan…"

"…which is why the Carmichaels were asked to whisk him away," completed Nick. "Just in case he gets away sooner than we expect, we had to talk somewhere that he won't head to straight away."

"Makes sense, I guess," said Brad. "So what has Ethan done?"

"Nothing," said David. "It is actually Drew that has done something. Two nights ago, from what I have been told by Thad, Ethan checked out Drew's profile on Facebook, as he does regularly, and saw that it had been updated for the first time in over a year. What he saw sent him reeling, and left him howling in anguish and pain."

"Essentially, five days ago, Drew got married," stated Nick. From those that already knew there was silence; from the rest there was initially the same, and then a rising amount of anger and indignation.

"He got married, without even telling us! That's awful!" exclaimed Jasper.

"He didn't even tell Ethan!? How could he do that to his best friend," said Cameron.

"We think - well, we kind of know that he was pushed into marriage at the very last minute. Even if he hadn't been, his wife…" - Nick stopped as he grimaced at the very word - "…well, she hates all of us, so none of us would have been permitted to attend in any case. We are also pretty sure that Drew is in no position to be able to argue his case either."

"I know he isn't," said Trent, earning himself a look from everyone, even David and Nick. "He actually wrote to me, but via an envelope addressed to Burt. Ethan doesn't know this yet, but he as good as told me that if he speaks out, if he voices an opinion she doesn't like, then she hits him…"

"I'm sorry, I thought I just heard you say that she hits him," said Louis, breaking the stunned silence in the room after Trent's statement. "However, if that is indeed the case, then I am sure that the majority of us will want to be jumping on a flight to England right now to rescue him!" His comment was greeted with a murmur of approval from most of those present; indeed, Mitch pulled out his phone and with Gabriel looking over his shoulder, began to Google flights. Trent for his part hand handed Drew's letter over to Nick, who was now scanning it along with David, and the anger in both of them was growing by the minute.

"Okay, so there are still quiet a few seats available across the London flights tonight…" began Mitch.

"No-one is going to London!" came an authoritative voice from the doorway, and they all looked up to see Thad standing there, his hand reaching for Mr Bangy. "I know why you want to go, but what will it actually achieve? We can't force Drew to come back here with us, and in any case, it's not just his wife that keeps him there; he has his work too. If we go there mob handed and start casting aspersions, stating things that we have no actual proof of, then all we will achieve is getting him punished by her again."

"Are you seriously saying that we just have to leave Drew, our friend, our brother, where he is? Are you saying that we are not going to aid one of our flock when he is suffering and in danger?" asked Brad.

"Yes, Thad is, and I am right behind him on that," said Trent. "He has made his own choice to stay where he is. He has decided to cut himself off from all of us. He makes it quite clear that he doesn't want us to fly in and rescue him. We have to respect his wishes on this."

"Even if it appears that Drew has lost all his marbles and every bit of common sense he ever had," sighed Sebastian. "It is his choice to make; reluctantly, I have to side with Thad and Trent on this."

"I think that I speak for myself and Nick when I also back them," said David sadly.

"Me too," added Jeff, "much as it breaks my heart…"

"Our priority now has to be Ethan," said Flint, who had until then been unusually silent. "This news has hit him so hard. I mean, if it was me that was getting married, and Izzy and I eloped and got married without Beats…"

"It would feel like you had ripped my heart out of my chest, stamped on it, minced it up, then set it on fire," admitted Beats. "It would be the worst pain I had ever experienced. Guys, I have seen Ethan first hand since he found out. This is his worst nightmare come true, more or less. He has to be our priority just now; we can plan how we are going to rescue Drew later. Just now, we have to care for the half of Drethan that's here…"

"We do, don't we," sighed Jasper. "I guess that Drew will have a phalanx of angels watching over him…" He stopped, as he suddenly remembered that there was one person in the room that still couldn't see or hear the angelic Warbler alumni like the rest of them.

"I'm not sure that is enough of a comfort to me, Jasper, but I do admire your faith," said Cameron with a hint of scepticism. "So, what is the plan to fix Ethan?" He was answered by silence because, to be frank, none of them had a clue as to how to achieve that…

Not that far away, in the sitting room of the Carmichaels' house, Aaron was thinking much the same. The moment that Thad had told him that Drew had been more or less forced into marriage, he had recoiled in horror. He knew at once that Ethan would be hurt, but the moment that he set eyes upon him that morning he realised that he had grossly underestimated how badly it would hit him. Ethan's eyes were dull, and red rimmed from tears, dark bags underneath them from lack of sleep. His hair was unkempt, and his attire wrinkled and incorrectly worn. His wife had stepped in, and had taken the boy aside - they would always be boys to her - to sort his hair and clean his shoes, just to make his appearance a little better. He had been there in body but not in soul during the graduation ceremony, his mind in another country. Now all he could do was try and get some of Ethan's spark back…

His wife had set out tea, sandwiches and cake on the table, but he hadn't taken any; in the end she had forced it into his hands, and in her best motherly tone had told him that if he didn't eat, then she would stand over him until he did. Once he started to eat, his hunger took over, and he was soon eating as if he hadn't for days; from what he had been told, that was indeed the case, and now his body was gratefully taking the opportunity to replenish itself.

Now, however, the hard part was about to begin. The table had been cleared, and Mrs Carmichael had sat on the sofa next to the young man he had to try and console. "Ethan, do you recall the conversation that you and I had in New York last summer?" Aaron began, and he received a nod in return. "The position that you find yourself in is a tough one, and it has to hurt, but…"

"…I have to carry on?" Ethan interrupted. "After all, Drew would want me to carry on… What if I can't, or don't want to? This is all her fault, and I hate her, because she is hurting him. She is slowly but surely erasing the Drew Symons that I know and changing him into someone else. A man that isn't a fighter, but a victim. I want her to die. I want to kill her! I blame myself, because I always had my suspicions about her, how she was too perfect, but I never spoke out. Perhaps if I had, he would be here right now, safe and single. Instead, he had just got married to a psychopath. I promise you this, sir; if she hurts him, then I will kill her…"