Chasing the Monsters: 40

"Todd, stop, come on?  It's mucky and I'm sinking a little," Blair said, following him into the yard.

"Leave me alone, Blair.  Just . . . leave me alone right now."

"No, I'm, not going to leave you alone.  I'm never going to do that.  You don't need to be alone with this.  You need someone right now, and I'm what you've got."

He stopped, and turned.  It was just cold enough to see their breath in the morning air.  He said, "I had to get out of there.  I didn't want to say something that would hurt her.  I can't deal."

"I understand that," Blair said.

"She can't go see him, Blair.  He doesn't deserve to breathe the same air she does."

"Todd . . ."

"He's a killer, a wacko.  No telling what he would do or say.  She's innocent, she's likely to be taken in by whatever he does . . ."

"Todd," Blair tried again.

"He could brainwash her, or hurt her.  He could escape and attack her.  She can't be serious . . ."

"Todd."  Blair said, finally close enough to put her hand onto his cheek, and rest it there a minute.  "Todd, she wants to see him.  She doesn't think of it how you do.  She doesn't know everything you know.  She's fragile, and innocent, sure, but she's a human being, and a woman.  You can go with her, or I can.  We both can."

"No, she's not going.  She's not," he moved himself out of her arm's reach, and turned to walk away from her.  He took a few steps, with his back to her, and pushed his hands into his jacket pockets. 

Her heart broke.  Mitch was the man who had raped Viki, attempted to rape Natalie, and had kidnapped her and held their family hostage.  And, his voice was the last sound Todd had heard when buried alive with the corpse of his father.  He couldn't bear for Bitsy to see him, but more than that, he couldn't bear that she wanted to.  Blair tried to shake off the thoughts, and moved slowly toward his back.  "She doesn't know what we know," she whispered softly, and ran her hands up his back.  She could feel him slightly relax at her touch, and she slid her arms up his body until she was hugging him from behind.  "She's just a woman, and all she knows is that he made her feel good when she was in pain."

He brought his hand up to cover hers.  "Some kind of misplaced hero worship," he said.  "I guess I can relate."

"Let's not start with the self-hate, Todd.  You can't deny that he saved her from Peter.  At least for a while."

"And left me there with him, to rot."  A tone change made him sound angry.  She didn't know how to answer that.  All she could think of was him, as a little boy, dealing with the room, and Peter's type of torment.  She held him tighter.  "My Love, I'm so sorry."

The soft sounds of morning were all that could be heard.

***

Bitsy was just pulling herself together when Jack poked his head into the master bedroom and saw her on the sofa.  "Hey, Grandma."

"Hey," she said, softly, but something in her voice made him know something was wrong.

"Why you in here?"

"I . . . woke up, I heard your parents yelling.  About me."

His reaction was disbelief.  "About you?  I don't see how that's possible, Grandma.  It's hard to get them, but Mom and Dad have a certain thing between them that's just . . . no one can really understand."

"It was about me, I heard it.  At least part of it.  Possibly, it was a mistake to come and live here."

Jack knew she was wrong about that, and ventured into the room, sitting beside her.  "Huh?  No.  For what you've done for Sam alone, I'm sure you're wrong."

"You're wise."

"I'm Todd and Blair Manning's son," he said, smirking.

"Yes, you are," she said, petting his cheek.

"What happened?"

"They were yelling about something, about Mitch Laurence."  Jack's face darkened.  She noticed, and said,  "He's bad, isn't he?"

"He killed Jenna's mother.  He held our family hostage at La Boulaie."

"I know.  He wants to see me, in jail, and for some reason, I want to see him."

Jack was taken aback, and his expression showed his confusion.  "See him?  Why?  All that other stuff he did, to Aunt Viki, to Mom, to Dad.  That's probably why they were upset, then, they don't want you to be involved with that kind of guy."

"What other things?  I only know . . . what he did for me.  He took me out of Peter's torture chamber.  He promised to go back and get Todd, but . . ."

Jack was worried that he had said something, and now, he held information that she didn't have and wanted.  "I, uh, probably shouldn't have said anything."

"What other things, Jack?  What are these other things?"

Jack looked to his feet, and then said, "He . . . did bad stuff, Grandma.  He did terrible stuff.  I can show you newspaper articles about him . . ."

She grabbed his forearm.  "Just tell me, Jack.  It's okay."

"I don't know where to start, except that the list is long.  He raped Aunt Viki and tried to do the same thing to Cousin Natalie.  He kidnapped Mom and held her away from me and Starr and Dad.  He . . . did a lot of stuff."

"He kidnapped your mother?  When was that, Jack?"

"I was puny, Starr was just a kid.  I dunno, maybe tons of years ago?"

"Did he hurt her?"

"No. He would have, but Dad saved her.  That was before . . ."  Jack stopped himself.

"That was before what?"

"I don't know, Grandma.  I'm not sure that I should be the one telling you this stuff."

"That was before what, Jack?"  It was the most forceful he had ever seen her.

"Before Mom and Dad broke up.  It was the last time before he disappeared.  Mom never forgave herself for sending him away that day.  Well, that's what she says."

"Where did he go?"

"He went to get back at Mitch, from what they told me.  Dad says he was being stupid and not thinking.  That his pride and determination to get back at him, once and for all, caused the worst thing that could have happened."

"What was the worst thing?"

"Mitch arranged it so that Dad would disappear, for good."

Bitsy swallowed, and looked to her hands.  Jack could see tears falling when she looked back to his face.  "How, Jack?  How did he do that?"

"He, uh . . . Mitch was a crazy bad guy, Grandma."

"Go on," she whispered.  "How did make your father disappear?"

"He . . . put Dad into the crypt with Victor Lord's corpse, and sealed him in."

"No," she said, after gasping.  "No, Jack!"

He couldn't look at her anymore, and studied his hands instead.  "I . . . knew I shouldn't have told you."

"Oh, God, no," she said, getting up quickly and running from the room.  He followed her, instinctively, and found her in her bathroom, bent over the toilet.  She gagged, and then still leaning over, said, "Go, Jack, I'm fine.  Please."

"I don't feel right leaving you, Grandma."

She continue to empty her stomach contents, and he got a cold towel, as he'd seen his mother do, and put it at the back of her neck.  She stood up, flushed, put the seat down and sat.   He crouched in front of her with the towel, and handed it to her.  She took it, looking into his eyes, and seeing so much of Todd and Blair, at the same time.  She said, "I couldn't help it."

"I know.  I couldn't either.  When I first found out, I needed lots of help with it.  I had a lot of bad dreams from knowing that."

"He survived.  How?"

"This other guy, Tomas, came by and took him out of the grave, and turned him over to the bad guys.  That led Dad to being held captive and tortured for eight years."

She sighed out, raggedly.  "My God, my Todd."  Jack slipped his arm awkwardly around her shoulders.

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