The Horror from Across the Ocean Part III
"I promise you this, sir; if she hurts him, then I will kill her…"
Aaron Carmichael could tell from the way that Ethan's until now dull eyes suddenly blazed as he uttered that threat that he meant every single word; that should Lucy harm his best friend too much, he would head to England, hunt the young woman down, and kill her in cold blood, even though he knew exactly what the consequences of those actions would be. He could understand why Ethan felt that way because if he was being honest, he felt exactly the same way about the situation himself.
"As much as I sympathise with that position, Ethan, I have to ask who that would benefit in reality? If you kill her, then yes, he would be free of her tyranny. However, the one person that he would want in that situation more than any other would now be out of reach. You would be in a prison cell, somewhere in England, locked away for however many years the legal system decided you deserved. Trust me, you would be the one made out to be the villain; her mistreatment of Drew would barely even feature in the trial. So, whilst you are detained at Her Majesty's pleasure, as I believe they say, who takes care of your best friend? The others would try, but none of them will ever be you, just as Flint will never be a replacement for Drew…"
Aaron paused for a moment to let it sink in, then continued, "Worse still, Drew will believe that it is entirely his fault that you were now languishing in jail as a result of a conviction for murder, and that fact would hurt him more than she ever could. Then, at the end of your life, you would be denied entry to the heavenly realms as a result of your decision to kill, and he would have to face eternity without you too. No, the one thing that you cannot do is attack her physically, not if you love him quite as much as I think you do. She will slip up, and she will be caught; maybe not tomorrow, but one day. Or he will come to his senses and make good his escape, and it will be to you that he runs, Ethan. It will be his best friend that he needs. So you see, you have to try and stay calm; you have to carry on…."
Ethan looked up now at his former headmaster, his face full of pain. "I know I have to sir, it's just…." With that, he gave up trying to fight the emotions, and burst into floods of tears again, his whole body being wracked by aching sobs filled with anguish and pain. On hearing them Edith Carmichael, who had been listening in silence, wrapped her arms around the young man and held him to her, letting him cry and trying to instil all the love that she had for the boy into him. Her own tears were falling as she did so, and across the room, her husband was crying too, as his heart broke. Everything that had happened with Hunter had been bad, but it had been stopped, and in the end, he had been able to control the situation. In this case he was powerless, however, with Drew being thousands of miles away, and no hope of his aggressor being dealt with any time soon…
In the Junior Commons by that point, the emergency meeting had drawn to a close with a reluctant agreement that they had no choice but to respect Drew's wishes on the matter, even if they all felt he was mad to have made the choices he had. Thad had made them all promise solemnly that they would not travel to England with the sole intention of trying to see Drew; he could not however stop any of them going there for another reason and meeting him by chance… He had also promised them that if any of them did head across the Atlantic specifically for that purpose, he would expel them from the Warblers, and from that time on, they would be regarded as a leper to them all. It had been no issue to get them to agree to support Flint in looking after Ethan however. With that decided, Thad called an end to the meeting, and ordered them all to head out and join in the festivities, and to put the issue to the back of their minds at least for today.
As everyone rose to leave, Thad held back Flint, David and Nick, apologising to Jeff as he did so for detaining his husband, but explaining that he had a special mission for Jeff, and that was to get everyone else to laugh and smile with his usual sunny disposition. The blond boy had smiled, and promised to do his best. Trent also remained in the room once the others had gone, and took a seat next to Thad at the table. "Okay, so we do have another issue, guys, but it wasn't one that I wished to broadcast right now; the last thing that we needed was a heated debate on this issue as well. Drew wrote another letter; again it was sent to Burt, and the intended recipient this time is Ethan. In the circumstances, it falls to us to decide what we should do with it. Trent and I discussed this earlier, and we are both in agreement that we are obligated to give it to him, even if the contents could potentially tear his heart asunder. We now want to hear other opinions, and we chose the three of you. David, you are my deputy, and always of sound judgement; Nick, you are passionate about laws and rights and will know the legal position; Flint, you are the one that is going to have to handle the fallout, because you are the one he lives with."
"You can't keep it from him," said Nick without hesitation. "No question, he has to be given it."
"I wish that we knew exactly what he said in it, but Nick is right," admitted David. "We have no right to refuse to hand it over to him. If we did, and he found out, then he would never forgive us."
"It is a no brainer…" said Flint with resignation. "When do you plan on giving it to him?"
"Now. We have kept it from him for long enough already," Thad replied.
"Right. I take it that he will still be with the Carmichaels? Their house would not be a bad place to hand it over to him. He would have more privacy there than in any other place in the school," said Flint decisively. "I take it that you will be the one that hands it over Trent, as it was sent to you?" Trent nodded, and with that confirmation, Flint continued. "Well, there is no time like the present. Let's get it done."
Flint got to his feet and Trent joined him. "Wish us luck, guys," the latter said just before he walked out of the room.
"If it is a confession that he is being beaten up, or a note telling Ethan that their whole friendship is over, then they are going to need all the luck in the world," David whispered to the other two as they listened to the sound of Flint and Trent's footsteps vanish down the corridor.
His companions both nodded, and then Thad spoke. "Okay, so if the others ask why I held you back, and I am certain that Jeff will for a start, then tell them the truth. I'm not going to go out and announce it, but if they ask, let them know, as discreetly as you can. That way, if Ethan does go into a complete meltdown, they will all be ready and prepared to assist. He has to be our immediate priority; we have to help him through all of this, and stop him doing something stupid…"
Ethan had just managed to stop crying when the knock came at the Carmichaels' front door. Aaron and Edith both knew at once that it had to be one of the other Warblers, come to take Ethan back to his friends, and that their emergency meeting must now be over. It was the former Principal that went to open the door, his wife still dealing with the last of Ethan's tears. He was not in the least surprised to find that it was Flint and Trent on his doorstep, both with a haunted look on their face.
"Sir, we have made our decision, and have also managed to prevent any of the others from heading off to London on an ill-fated rescue mission by use of the direst of threats," Trent began. "However, we then decided in a smaller group that the letter that Drew wrote to Ethan that Thad informed you about has to be given to him, and now. Given the number of other people in the school at the moment, we were hoping that you would have no objection to us handing it over to him here, were he will have just a little more privacy."
Aaron Carmichael stood in silence for a moment, then replied, "I guess that does make sense. You'd best come in, although I warn you both now that he is more than a little upset already, and this might well be the final straw that tips him right over the edge."
"In that case, sir, we will be here to catch him; to restore him and help him," said Flint quietly. "It is what Wes taught us all to do; to support each other through the hard times. We will not desert him now in his hour of greatest need."
"That is a good thing, because I have a feeling that he is going to need all the support he can get," answered Aaron, who then ushered his two former pupils into the house and in the direction of the sitting room.
The fact that Ethan had been crying was immediately obvious to his two friends the moment they entered the room, due to his red rimmed, puffy eyes. As they entered his first instinct was to try and hide them, but then he realised that was a pointless exercise. Edith Carmichael vacated her spot on the sofa for Flint, then she and her husband left the room to give the boys some privacy; nevertheless they stayed within earshot, just in case they were needed again.
Trent took a deep breath, and then facing Ethan, he began. "Ethan, yesterday morning a letter arrived at Burt Hummel's office from England, addressed directly to him as a Congressman. The writing on the envelope was all wrong, but when I opened it up, it was immediately apparent who had sent it…"
"It was from Drew, wasn't it," said Ethan quietly. "She won't let him write to us, but she cannot stop him from writing to someone in Congress."
"Yes, it was from Drew. Apart from a brief note to Burt, apologising for sending the letter to him, the envelope contained two further envelopes; one addressed to Thad, the other to me. When I opened the latter, it contained another envelope, this time addressed to you. He asked me to pass it on to you, and I considered handing it to you the moment that you arrived, but…"
As words failed Trent, Flint intervened. "The thing is that you were in no state to handle something like that first thing, and as he could see that, he didn't. I agree 100% with his call, because you were in bits. It took all of our effort to get you through the public elements of today as it was."
"Anyway, here it is," said Trent, and he pulled the envelope form his blazer pocket and proffered it to Ethan. "It is still sealed, naturally, so if the contents upsets you, I can only apologise. I can tell you what he said to me in mine, if you wish…"
"No, no, I think that I can guess at most of it," stammered Ethan, extending a shaking hand to take the letter. He took it, and promptly dropped it as his hand trembled out of control due to his nerves.
Flint picked it up, and asked softly, "Would you like me to open it for you? I won't read it, just hand it straight to you…"
"I think that you should, yeah…. God, I am such a screw up just now," said Ethan. Flint carefully opened the envelope and handed the contents to Ethan, then sat back, silently praying that it would all be alright…
Ethan had to blink his watering eyes to get them into focus so that he could read, but in the end the first thing that he noticed was that Trent was right; it was certainly not in Drew's usual writing. That in itself was an immediate cause for concern, and he felt his stomach lurch, but he held the feeling down, as he needed to read what it said first.
'My dear Ethan,
Firstly I am so sorry that all of this has happened. You didn't sign up for this, and all of it is my fault, not yours. I hope that you can actually read this as I am having a bit of difficulty in writing, having broken my right wrist. Everyone is being told that I fell down the stairs, but you'll see straight through that… Lucy does love me, in her own way; it isn't all her fault. I do things that frustrate her sometimes, and she lashes out. Her grandfather was the same, so I have been told, but with his wife's love and support, he managed to bring it under control in the end. I know that I can save Lucy from herself, and it is my job to do so; I love her so much, and I have to try and save her, Ethan; I have to.'
'To do so means that I have to make a big personal sacrifice, and sever all my closest ties of friendship for a while. I don't want to lose you Ethan, because I love you like a brother; you have always been there for me since that day that two freshmen were placed together in a dorm room at Dalton. The problem is that I can't have both of you right now, although hopefully in time, once I have managed to make her well, then I can. Until that time comes, my focus has to be on my wife… I have the feeling that you will already know all about that; it was all so last minute, and I will never forgive myself for the fact that you weren't there for my wedding day. You were always in my plans for such an event, and your absence made the day all the harder for me to bear. If I had been given more than twelve hours notice of the event, then trust me, I would have had you at my side, even if afterwards she had knocked me about a lot. It would all have been worth it to keep my solemn promise to you, my best man…"
Those words from his best friend were all it took for Ethan's composure to break once more, and he burst into floods of tears. He could already see from the wonky writing that she had done something serious to his hand, and now he was actually saying that he would be prepared to take a beating for his sake; that his love for his best friend was so great that ensuring that he was present on the day which should have been one of the greatest and happiest of his life would be worthy of suffering excruciating pain. Ethan's vision was completely blurred with tears, and he could no longer see to read on. He let the pages slip out of his hand; they were quickly picked up off of the floor by a concerned Flint, who was blinking back his own tears as his heart broke afresh as he saw the state that his friend was in. He was quick to place an arm around Ethan's shoulders, not actually saying a word, just letting him know that he was there and that he could feel the pain he was going through.
For Ethan, that warm arm was an instant safety rope, tethering him to the world and stopping his complete disintegration. Flint pulled him in closer to him as he continued to sob, and handed the letter back over to Trent, who now scanned it quickly. He knew in his heart that he shouldn't, but he needed some clue as to what was behind the sudden outbreak of emotion. His quick scan told him all that he needed to know. He looked up at Flint as tears began to fall down his own cheeks, betraying the pain that he now felt.
"Ethan, would you like me or Trent to read the rest of the letter to you? We could start at the point you finished at if you let us know where that was," whispered Flint to his broken friend.
There was silence for a moment, and then the slightest of nods came from the stricken man; then came the words "solemn promise to you, my best man…" in such a tiny voice, strained with emotion, that Flint felt his heart ache all over again. He looked back over at Trent, who was swiping at his eyes, and shook his own head, to indicate to the other man that he should read on for them…
Trent sighed, and then began to read in a low voice.
'I know that this will upset you, and I am truly sorry for that. I would not upset you for the world if the circumstances were normal. So, Ethan, I ask you now to do me one final favour; this one will be hard for you, but I really need you to try. I need you to get on with your life; to stay strong, and live to your full potential. I need you to put me to the back of your mind. Yes, what I am attempting to do with Lucy is crazy, but it is what you do if you love and care for someone. You forgive them, and try to help them resolve their issues. She is always so apologetic after her episodes, and that is when I see the real Lucy; the girl I love and want to spend my life with. I wouldn't have married her otherwise…'
'So this is the last you will hear from me for a while, Ethan. Until I can get her fixed, I will need to maintain silence, but I promise you that once she is, I will seek you out. I can make that pledge because there is an aching hole in my life where you should be. I also promise that if things get too bad, and I am making no progress, then I will leave her, and head to you; trust me on that one. Maybe I don't know what I am letting myself in for, but I have started on this course, and it is too late now to turn back…'
'Stay strong for me, my brother.
With all of my love, your Drew.'
Trent stopped, and decided that he should just let his own tears fall. He could see that in front of him, both Flint and Ethan were sobbing their hearts out, and he was sure that he could hear Mrs Carmichael doing the same in the hall. He let the tears out, as Ethan buried his face in Flint's chest, trying and failing to hide the fact that his whole world was falling apart. The one relief for Trent was that the letter had been kind, and had told Ethan that his best friend still cared. He had feared that Drew might have sent a missive telling him that they could no longer be friends, and that he had to stay out of his life on a permanent basis. It hadn't been, at least not explicitly. That had to be of some little comfort to Ethan in the face of all the revelations of the week….
It would be nearly an hour later before Ethan felt able to head back to the Senior Commons, flanked by Trent and Flint, the latter still with a guiding arm wrapped around his friend and roommate. No words were said as they walked in; there was no drop in the level of conversation as it had already been far more muted than normal in any case. That year's graduating Warblers had sung already, and it had made the entire room erupt with laughter as it usually did, but the hearts of those alumni that had known Drew were elsewhere that afternoon. The youngsters, those that called Thad Mr Harwood, seemed to sense that there was something big going on amongst the older men that had made the annual pilgrimage back to support their fellows, and they had kept their own celebrations shorter than usual; they had also agreed to move on to the main common room in the dorms at Thad's suggestion without any complaint or protest.
Now those that were left in the room made their way solemnly one by one over to Ethan, a gesture of solidarity, to let him know that they were all there for him in his hour of need. He said nothing as each of them came, just acknowledging them with a nod of the head. Thad came last, immediately behind David, and he just held his arms open wide. Ethan stepped into them, and accepted the hug that had been offered with gratitude.
"He said that he would have let himself be hurt just to have had me there, Thad… I want to run there right now, and bring him home, but I can't. If I go there, he won't come and she will hurt him, and I couldn't ever bear for him to be hurt because of something I did. I just have to wait - and pray. Pray that he is okay, and that all of his guardian angels are watching over him. If anything happens to him though…."
Ethan stopped speaking, and Thad unconsciously pulled him closer, aware that in the room around him, not an eye was dry, and the others were hurting too; not as much as Ethan, but the pain was there in every heart. The Warblers of the earthly realm were powerless to act, and could do nothing but stand by and wait; Wes on the other hand would be watching day and night over Drew, and if anything was to happen to him, then his wrath and that of his fellow angels would be great…
The weekend of the Dalton graduation might well have been tainted by the sad news that had arrived from England, and the resultant effect that it had on all of them, especially on Ethan, but as Drew had said in his letter they all had to move on. Once they arrived back in New York on Saturday, Ethan's initial reaction was to retreat into his room and not come out, even to eat. This was initially a cause of great worry for Flint, and in the end he resorted to the kind of tactics that he was sure that parents used on petulant teenagers; he made up a plate of sandwiches, and a thermos flask of coffee and set them, along with a plate bearing two slices of homemade chocolate fudge cake that Nick had brought over outside the door of his room, before slipping a note under the door to say that he was heading upstairs to see Beats.
In the end, he was upstairs for less than ten minutes before he felt the urge to head downstairs to check up, and to his relief, the plates and the flask were gone. He took comfort in the fact that at least he was eating something. He found them in the kitchen on Sunday morning, along with a note thanking him for everything he had done, and telling him not to worry about him….
Naturally, those last words made him do just that; he ran to his room to find the door was now unlocked, and the room was empty. He had several seconds when he just stood and freaked out, thinking the worst, before his inner voice told him to pull himself together. He rationalised the situation in his head and he was quite certain that Ethan would never kill himself; nor would he have headed to JFK and boarded a flight to England….
Still, Flint let out a sigh of relief that evening when, after a day that he had stayed in the apartment, and had even told the others that Ethan was still holed up in his room, he heard the front door open and Ethan walked in. Flint was busy in the kitchen, preparing the pasta for supper, homemade meatballs and sauce already warming through.
"That smells nice," said Ethan as he stood in the doorway.
Flint was just so happy to hear his voice, nearly back to normal, and simply responded "There is more than enough for two. Do you want to join me?"
Ethan nodded, and went to get what was needed to set the table for two. They ate in silence more or less, neither of them wanting to bring up the subject that had dominated their lives since midweek; indeed, Ethan spoke only to add more praise to that he had already made about Flint's growing expertise in the kitchen; the lessons that Nick was giving him were certainly paying dividends.
"I'm going back to work tomorrow," said Ethan as they began the washing up. "I have to be honest and say that I am not in the mood for it, but I can't wallow. I have to do what he wants me to, and move on with life. I would also like to thank you for being such a good and patient friend over the last few days. I've been a complete nightmare since we found out what had happened, and you've just been there. That means a lot to me."
"I'm sure that had the situation been different, then you would have done the same for me. Life has this habit of throwing us all a curveball every now and then, some of them bigger than others. You just have to fight back, then carry on as best as you can. It's the only way to survive…" answered Flint.
"Well, things sure are a lot easier when you have a good friend around to support you. If you hadn't been around…"
"Well, you have got me here for a good while yet, and even once I eventually move out to live with Izzy, you will still be able to call on me anytime you need for support, okay?" Ethan smiled and nodded. He knew that Flint meant every word that he was saying, and the same could be said for all of his close friends from his days at Dalton. Wes had made them all a strong team, and had also built the foundations for the support network that they had all become.
Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Ethan was to discover that it wasn't just his old Warbler friends that he could rely on. The news about Drew had inevitably filtered out to those around them; the first that Ethan knew though was when he had arrived home from work one evening, and as he approached the steps to his apartment, he found himself being pulled into a hug, from Kitty of all people. She held him for a moment, then released him. Before he could speak, she said, "You and Flint should come down and have dinner with me and Artie some evening - or even just you alone if Flint is too busy. After all, we aren't just neighbours; we are friends, and so we should all be looking out for each other more." Still a little flabbergasted, Ethan had promised that he would speak to Flint, and let her know, before he headed up the steps, conscious of a warm glow spreading through his body from the inside…
Santana had approached him two nights later in the Spotlight; she took him to one side, and then whispered that if he ever needed her services in dealing with a certain female, she would be only two pleased to go all Lima Heights on the twisted bitch. He had stared at her for a moment, and had then burst out laughing, telling her he would certainly keep her in mind. Sam made similar overtures about ten minutes later, only his plans also involved Puck and Quinn. He was still shaking his head when Michelle brought him a slice of cheesecake, telling him that it was on the house. She refused to accept any payment, as she was fond of him; he was after all one of the good guys. Yes, Ethan had to admit, he was surrounded by good friends, all supportive in their own way; it did not however make the pain of losing his best friend any easier. He soldiered on though as the summer started to approach; as Flint had said, there was nothing else for it…