The Loving Silence

Chapter 41

The pompous building looked fragile, as if a strong wind would blow straight through the foundation and reduce it all to rubble. There was a small stone staircase leading up to two large wooden doors. It was quite the welcoming entrance for such a dark place.

Rick looked over at his wife and wanted to tell her to stay in the car, but he knew she wouldn't. He then pretended to adjust the mirror in order to discreetly gauge how Arlo was doing.

Penelope still wasn't sure they should have brought him and Rick hadn't been sure either at first. But when Arlo came to him at work, asking if he'd heard anything about Rue, he couldn't just lie and say "No, I haven't." He wasn't one to lie and he certainly couldn't do it to Arlo. Not about this. Not when he saw how worried he was. How much he cared.

In his own way, Arlo was fighting against the regret he felt over his own timidness. He had been scared and unsure and let the chance of love pass him by, convincing himself that he didn't like him that much. That it didn't matter. But it did matter. More so than he realised at first.
When Rue stopped coming by the restaurant, his absence forced Arlo to consider all the things his presence there had made him feel. Rue's visits had somehow become a constant in his life without him realising it. Seeing Rue's face every few days was something he had taken for granted. A weekly happening that he was both nervous and happy about, in equal measures.
They had barely spoken, that was true enough. But there was so much about Rue that he found so fascinating. All of it, in fact. He was intrigued, mesmerised, by all that he said and did. Rue didn't need to do anything at all, nothing more than just be there, exist in his presence, and Arlo would still marvel over him. There was just something about his energy that drew him in. Like a moth to a flame, only unlike that comparison, Rue's flame set his soul alight and made him feel alive. When he was near him, he felt like he was truly living, even though his heart was pounding so hard he felt like he might also be dying.
And now... not having him there, not knowing what the future might hold or if he'd ever get another chance to tell him how he feels, it made him determined. The courage he had been lacking came to him all at once and one way or another, he knew he would see him again. And when he did, he would walk up to him and speak to him. Do so properly this time. Ask him out on a date. Somewhere Rue would want to go so badly that he couldn't say no.
Arlo would make sure to embrace the opportunity this time, make his affection known and, with Rue's permission, he would court him properly.

As long as he got a second chance, as long as he could make his feelings known to Rue, he rather liked the idea of taking things slow. Taking their time together. He wanted to learn everything about him from him, all of it told in Rue's own words. He wanted to woo him and care for him. Treat him so well that he would have to notice him. Open his eyes to all that he could offer, despite their many differences. Age being one of the greater ones, though that was no longer of any consequence to him. He cared about him and no age or character flaw of his own could convince him that Rue was not worth pursuing.
In time, he hoped Rue's heart would open, even if it was just a little at a time, slowly but surely. Then one day... one day he might even dare let Arlo into his world, and into his heart as well.

***

They were sitting in Rick's car outside a former mental hospital, or at least that was how it was being described now. At the time, it had not been called that. Among the few who knew of its true nature, of what they actually did to people in there, it was known as "the death chamber". A notorious institution that you would only enter once, because there was only one way out.
Most of their records had been hidden, some destroyed, and a great deal had happened off the record. Likely the doctors at the time knew they were doing something wrong and wanted no paper trail of their activities. Of their many experimental treatments. A few records had however been made available for the public for some reason, and that is how Bernard could find this out for them. They had found out where Rue's mother had been born. An innocent enough fact to want to look into, yet it turned out to be the beginning of a great secret. Something his family had tried hard to keep hidden. And until now, they had succeeded. But to what end?