Chương 178: Chapter 178
Erik hung up the phone. They were all in Pearl's cottage now. "Found him." He said. He looked at Dylan. "Come with me?" Erik asked. Dylan nodded and grabbed his jacket, following Erik out of the door. The rest of them looked at each other without a clue.
The car pulled in to the Saint Louis Cemetery and Erik got out, with Dylan following. "Why the hell is he here?" Dylan asked.
"I don't know." Erik said. They walked down a few lines of graves and found him, sitting with his back against the wall of a stone mausoleum, with his knees up, drinking a bottle of bourbon. His eyes were red and swollen like he had been crying. Dylan sat down next to him and Erik stood a few feet away.
"What's up, man?" Dylan asked. "We were worried about you."
Blake took another swig off the bottle. He shook his head. "My dad died last night." He said.
Dylan looked up at Erik. "I'm terribly sorry for your loss." Erik said.
"I'm not." Blake said. "That's a lie. My fucking heart is ripped to shreds and I hate that it is. All over a man whose idea of showing love was calling me a waste of life and to see how much physical pain he could inflict."
Erik put his head down.
Dylan looked at Blake and said, "I'm sorry, man." He said.
"I told him I had a record deal and he laughed in my face. Told me that even if I had a million bucks in the bank I still would be the same worthless, shit for brains he ever met." Blake said. "He almost killed my mom more than once. Broke her jaw, her nose twice, beat in her eye socket so bad she lost vision in it."
They remained quiet. They knew he needed to let this out.
"That's why I started playing drums. To let out all the aggression I couldn't take out on him when he was pulverizing me and my mom. And now he's dead and I'm mourning the loss of never having a dad more than the loss of his pathetic life."
"I know it isn't easy, moving past violence like that at such a young age. But I believe, with all of my being, that light can be found again, if you look for it." Erik said.
"What the fuck do you know about it? Privilege is your middle name. I bet the only pain you've ever felt was a fucking hangnail." Blake said, laughing and shaking his head.
"I had a mate. A best mate, when I was small child. He was the only mate I was able to find that I got on with. I wasn't good at making friends. His father was a lot like yours. I witnessed a lot of it when I would sleepover at his house. One day he didn't come to school, so I went to his house to check on him. I walked in the back door and found him and his mother beaten to death with a tire iron. His face and tiny body was beaten in so badly, I couldn't tell it was a human at first. I was ten years old." Erik said.
Blake and Dylan looked at him. Dylan wiped a tear running down his cheek.
"I'm so sorry I said that." Blake said.
"Don't be. You're in pain. I understand." Erik said. "Anyway, I started a charity after university for women in abusive homes, to help then successfully leave and not have to go back, and that's how I met Pearl. She gave a speech at an event about her past. I knew right then that she was the light I had been searching for. She understood. And most importantly, I gave her a chance to understand. And though I don't know you well, Blake, I think you have the potential to move past this. You survived. Many do not. Face the pain, heal and move on. Iris seems to care about you a great deal. I call it destiny. That even the powers of time and hurt and anger can be altered for a single purpose. And the luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds… true love." Erik said.
Blake stood up and hugged him. Dylan stood and put his arm on Blake's back.
"Thank you, Erik. I'm ready to go back to my girl, now." He said.
They walked back into the cottage and Dylan told them Blake was back is his room and wanted to see Iris. She got up and ran to him. The rest of them went back to their rooms so they could get packed for LA. Erik kissed Pearl and excused himself to get the jet ready for all of them. Dylan and Pearl were the last ones left.
"Can I talk to you?" Dylan said.
"Yeah, what happened with Blake?" She asked.
"His father died last night." He said.
"Oh god, is he ok?" She asked.
"He's much better than he was." Dylan said. "Because of Erik."
Pearl looked at him. Dylan told her what had happened.
"I have never seen or heard anything like it. This man loves you and this man is a good man. I wanted you to know what he did today. I want you to know the kind of man he is when you're not around. It's important you know it." Dylan said.
Pearl hugged him. "Thank you." She said.
He smiled and left her. Her heart actually hurt, it was so full of love. She wanted to be his forever.
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực