Chapter 11 #3
As they drove around, Camden added, “You do realize that she probably told him how we are out looking for him.”
Devon nodded. “I was thinking that too. I don’t even know what to say to him at the moment. I mean, I’m not really upset at him, and I certainly understand it.”
“Exactly,” he agreed. “And, with that, comes a little more understanding of how much he’s hurting.”
Devon replied, the tears in her own voice evident as she spoke. “We all are. And I don’t know how long this goes on, but I imagine it’s as bad as releasing any addiction. There’s probably a twelve-step plan or something to get through this.”
He smiled and nodded. “I’m sure there are stages of grief, and Toby’s probably learning about that in therapy, but that doesn’t mean it’s going all that well.”
“And, of course, it’s all privileged information.
So, even though I’m their legal guardian—or about to be—the twins will not like it if they think the shrink is telling me stuff that they don’t want me to know.
So, she doesn’t.” She shook her head, adding, “And I’m okay with that because it’s all about keeping their mental health strong and helping them deal with this grief.
… I do send her emails when there’s an issue that I think they may not bring up, like their first birthday without their mom.
But, other than that, I just let it go and let them have the privacy that anybody would want. ”
Up ahead, she pointed out one of the parks that they often went to because it had the bike park for all kinds of tricks they could work on with their bikes. Camden drove in that direction. Devon muttered, “I didn’t even think to see if his bike was gone.”
Camden shook his head. “That’s not the point. He’s looking for a place to get away. So, whatever constitutes that in his mind will be a good-enough spot for him. He’s just looking for a safe place … to hide really.”
“Great,” she muttered. “I’m not sure I’m equipped for this job.”
“Short of his going to full-time therapy, I’m not sure anybody is equipped for this.
Parents don’t come into this world with answers and a boatload of experience,” he pointed out, turning to her.
“Most of the time, they’re lucky if they get any experience before they get hit with something like this. ”
“I know,” she muttered, “and it’s pretty damn hard to deal with sometimes.”
“And yet,” he added, with a smile, “you’re doing just fine.”
She rolled her eyes at that and muttered, “Doesn’t feel that way.
I mean, we’ve got these weird ghostly things floating around in our backyard, and we didn’t know anything about them.
We’re trying to keep the kids from being impacted by them, until we find out that not only have they been aware of them since the beginning, but Toby’s been trying to contact his mom and basically called these things in. ”
“It’s the fact that he called them in that has me a little worried,” Camden admitted.
He could sense more than see her sharp look in his direction.
He shrugged. “I mean, if you think about it, I don’t imagine that is something people do naturally.
And who knows what these entities are looking for.
We’ve got to somehow figure out if he put himself in danger by doing this. ”
“The ghosts haven’t hurt us yet,” she noted.
“I don’t want to scare you,” he began, “but I don’t think any of them are strong enough yet to do that.”
She winced and nodded. “Okay, good point. … So, what you’re saying is there are potential repercussions here that none of us are seeing yet.”
“I’m not suggesting that it’s likely,” he corrected. “I’m just saying that what Toby is doing is dangerous when he doesn’t know what he’s doing. And I can tell that he doesn’t know because he’s not putting any safety protocols in place.”
“Is there such a thing?” she asked, turning to him.
“Yes,” he snapped. “There absolutely is.”
“Okay, so I guess I need to get him some help with that too,” she noted.
He glanced over at her, his heart aching as he realized just how much of her world and her own sanity this was costing her.
“I might get Stefan to talk to him. I don’t know.
All I can tell you is that, at the moment, Stefan is overwhelmed with a couple things going on in his world.
He deals with the police a lot, and, when he gets called away on major cases, it can take a while for him to get clear. ”
“Of course,” she muttered. “As much as I would absolutely love for him to help, we would still need Toby to be on board, and I’m not sure how likely that will be at this point in time,” she pointed out, with a sigh.
“He’s very determined to be himself, and he needs to be.
But it would also be nice if he would allow for some assistance. ”
He smiled over at her. “You’re doing a fine job, you know?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m barely hanging on.”
He didn’t say anything to that. As they drove up to the park, he pointed out Toby, sitting by himself to the side, just staring off into the distance.