Rose's Journal

Chapter 11: The Mother

At the sight of the house, Reggie went immediately back into a frozen state. He could barely look at it with all of the pain he knew was inside of there. Flynn parked the car and waited a minute, knowing that Reggie would need some time.

"Reg, I know you're scared to face this, trust me I was too when I went to see my parents, but Flynn and I are here for you. We're going to help you through this," Luke said as he reached out his hand for Reggie to take, but Reggie didn't accept.

"I'll be okay, I can face this," Reggie said as he climbed out of the car and took a deep breath.

"Okay, let's go," Flynn said as she saw the car door close behind them.

Flynn and the boys walked up to the door. "Here it goes," Flynn said as she rang the doorbell.

A woman dressed in white scrubs answered the door, "Hello sweetie! How may I help you?"

Flynn looked at the woman. She was obviously too young to be Reggie's mother, "Hello, my name is Flynn, is this Mrs. Elizabeth Peters' Residence?"

"Yes, this is her house, what can I do for you?"

"I'm doing a story for the school newspaper about Untold Hollywood Tragedies for my school newspaper, and I kind of hit a dead end with my research about her son's band. I only found one article, and it was pretty vague. Is there any chance I can ask her some questions?" Flynn asked, proud of her excuse.

"I'm not sure if she'll be much help, but you can always try. I think I have some documents that she kept that I can go find for you. I sincerely hope we can help, but this isn't one of her best times"

"That's alright. Thank you!" said Flynn as she entered the house.

"Reg are you ready?" said Luke, grabbing Reggie's shoulder.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Reggie said.

The three entered the home and went over to the couch where they found Reggie's mom sitting there, doing a puzzle. Reggie just stared at her. Her hair was gray and unkempt, and her clothes barely fit her. Her face had an abundance of wrinkles, and the light that was once in her eyes had vanished. Reggie began to tear up at the sight of his mom like this, a shell of her former self.

"Hey, hey Reggie. I'm right here from you I know how hard this is," Luke said, putting his arm around Reggie's shoulders.

Flynn began to talk, "Hello! My name is Flynn, and I go to Los Feliz High School. I'm doing an article on Untold Hollywood Tragedies for our school newspaper, and if you're comfortable with it, I would appreciate it if I could ask you a few questions."

"Of course, but I don't know how much help I will be," said Elizabeth, smiling widely at Flynn.

"Thank you. I just want to know more about your son, Reggie as a musician."

"Reggie? Well, I wouldn't call him a 'musician.' Sure, he's in the school jazz band, but I don't think his bass playing warrants that title yet. He's still learning!" Elizabeth chuckled.

Flynn was confused until she looked down at Elizabeth's wrist to see a medical information bracelet with the words "Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease" written on it. She wished she could comfort Reggie in this moment.

"So, she doesn't even remember that I'm gone?" Reggie croaked through tears. He didn't want to see his mom like this, but it was almost comforting in a way. Luke turned to him and gave a solemn nod. Reggie rested his head on Luke's shoulder.

Before Flynn could respond to Elizabeth, the nurse came back with a file folder full of documents.

"Here's the file folder of everything I found. I'm sorry if you didn't get any information from her," the nurse smiled.

"Natalie, sweetie? Why don't you go get this girl some water?" Elizabeth said to the nurse. Reggie was now fully broken down, and Luke turned to give him a full hug.

"Reggie, Reggie I know how hard this is for you. I'm so sorry I can't fix this for you. But, I'm right here, and I swear I'll never leave you."

"Natalie... she thinks she's Natalie..." Reggie said through his tears.

"She just thinks that. She didn't replace Natalie nor could she ever. It's just her memory fading,"

"She doesn't remember so much. She doesn't remember going to my concerts. She doesn't remember all our late night talks over milk and cookies. She doesn't remember dropping me off at high school everyday and cranking up her 80's hits too loud, which embarrassed me then, but now I just wish I could go back to that. She doesn't remember Natalie, and how it tore us apart," Reggie cried as the tears soaked Luke's shoulder.

Luke picked up Reggie's face and wiped his tears, "Hey! She still loves you more than anything, okay?" Luke said with tears running down his face. "And she cares about you more than anything in the world and Natalie."

They stared into each other's tear-filled eyes, and in a moment of grief and intense passion, Reggie kissed Luke. It didn't last long, but it was a strong kiss as Reggie felt himself falling into Luke. Reggie was the first to pull away, but before Luke had the chance to speak, Reggie poofed away.

"So, you're sure I can have all of these?" Flynn asked the nurse.

"Yes. We have them all backed up on the computer just in case, but you can keep them until you're done writing your article. Good luck!"

"Thank you so much for all of this. I'll be sure to bring these documents back," Flynn smiled.

Flynn and Luke walked outside to the car. Flynn unlocked it and saw the passenger side door opening instead of the back door.

"Why are you moving to the front? I thought you two were going to sit in the back together again. Is he even here. Where's Reggie," Flynn asked.

Luke reached back and grabbed his whiteboard and marker from the backseat. "Gone," was all Luke could write.