Page 48 of Splintered
“Where will I go?” Evan finally asked.
“You’re staying here. At home.”
“But—”
“For now,” Ben cautioned. “While we see how your treatment goes.”
“Probation.” Evan tried to smile. He failed.
“Dr. Kao and Father Mathew said you have to come off these meds tomorrow. For the…” He almost couldn’t say it. “For the exorcism. ‘Cause your mind needs to be clear. You need to not be ‘impaired by medications,’ they said. Or it might not work.”
“Yeah.” Evan’s voice was small.
“Are yousureyou want to do this? You sure you want to subject yourself to an exorcism?”
“I think it will help. I think I need it. I don’t feel like I’m all here. I don’t feel like I’m alone inside of myself anymore. There’s something else in here with me, and…” He trailed off. Squeezed his eyes closed as he took a breath. “I just want to go back to the way things were. Back to being normal. Back tous.”
“People have died from exorcisms.”
“I trust Father Mathew. And Dr. Kao. And you’ll be there. Most of all, I trust you. Do you trust Father Mathew and Dr. Kao?”
“I trust Dr. Kao. I don’t know Father Mathew as well as you do.”
“And you don’t believe like he does.”
“And like you do?”
Evan nodded.
“There’s something else we need to talk about. It’s your family.”
Evan paled, if possible. Ben watched his Adam’s apple rise and fall. “Do they know what’s going on?”
“Yes. I drove out and told them.”
“You?” Evan grasped the couch cushions and rocked forward and back. “What did you tell them? Who did you tell them you were?”
“I told them I was your partner. Your lover.”
“Oh my God.” Evan collapsed, pitching forward, every muscle in his body going limp.
“Evan.” Ben grabbed him, pulled him up. Held his tear-soaked face in both of his hands. “Your dad wanted me to give you a message.” Evan flinched, and he recoiled, wilting in Ben’s grasp. “He said,” Ben said, stroking Evan’s drenched cheeks, “to tell you he’d never stop loving you no matter what. That you’re his son and you always will be.”
Stillness. The same stillness, the same silence, from Donna and William in their son. Evan stared him down, searching his eyes, his soul. Evan’s tears still fell, but slowed. “He what?”
Ben had planned this conversation, at least in part. He pulled out the photos and cards William had given him from behind a throw pillow and passed them to Evan. “He wanted you to look at these and remember that you’re family. That you’re his son and that he loves you.”
He held Evan’s hand while Evan read every card, stared at every photo. Evan started talking halfway through, explaining the moments captured, stories from his childhood and a life Ben had never been allowed to know.
“What did my mom say?”
“She was pissed you didn’t tell her. But she said we looked good together when I showed her our photos. She said you looked happy and that’s all she’s ever wanted for you.”
If Ben had told Evan Ben was an alien transported from a different galaxy and Evan was going to be the mother of his babies, Evan would have looked less shocked, less absolutely rocked to his core. He’d built his entire existence around the truth that his family wouldn’t accept him. Wouldn’t support him. He’d cut them off, walled them away from his life.
But his life had come completely undone and so had his truths.
“They want to come over and see you. They’re desperate to see you. They’re so worried about you.” He’d called Donna that afternoon to update her. She asked again to come over as soon as Evan was home. Begged, almost. “They’ll be here in the morning. They want to be here for the—”
