Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 84868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“Mom and Dad can go through this and decide what to keep and what to donate,” Colt had said, as he moved the box into the hallway.
I glanced out the window and saw it was now dark. Then I looked around the room. The furniture still remained. Almost everything else that was Grady’s had been removed and the room was now spotless.
The last two remaining items were the white envelope and the brown journal.
Colt dropped to the bed and fell back. “I’m emotionally and physically drained.”
I sat next to him. “Same.”
He reached for my hand and laced his fingers with mine. “Thank you for doing this with me. I thought it would take us a couple days, but I’m glad we knocked it out in one. I’m not sure if I could come back tomorrow and do this.”
All I could do was nod.
“I’m stalling.”
“I figured,” I replied softly, as I lay down on my side and looked at Colt.
He slowly shook his head. “I need to do something.”
Frowning, I asked, “What do you mean?”
“I need to do something for Grady. Or, not exactly for Grady, but in his name. Imagine all the people out there who feel the same way he did. Like life had nothing left to offer them. Grady could have lived a full life with his disease. I think we could have assured him of that, if he’d just told us. I’m certain we could have helped him. We’ll never know for sure, though, will we?”
I reached over and ran my finger down his cheek. “We may not have been able to save Grady, but maybe we can save others.”
He turned his head and looked at me, his smile sad. “You’ll help me?”
“Of course I will.”
He gently squeezed my hand as the smile slowly faded. “We know the reason why now. And I honestly thought if I knew, it would heal something in me. It feels like it opened an old wound instead.”
“I think maybe it’s because we know the reason, but we still feel helpless that we weren’t able to do anything for him.”
Colt nodded. “Yes, that’s it.”
He turned and looked back at the ceiling. “I guess we should head downstairs. I can hear the TV going, so I know my parents are still awake.”
After getting up, Colt reached for the envelope and the journal and handed them to me. As we left the room, he turned back and looked at it once again. “Goodbye, Grady. I love you.”
I quickly wiped a tear away and drew in a deep breath to get my emotions under control. Colt gently shut the door, reached for the box, and headed downstairs.
When we walked into the living room, Lynn and Jacob both looked up at us. Jacob muted the TV.
“This box is what I thought you might want to keep and go through at your discretion. It’s trophies, medals, and some personal items that were Grady’s.”
Lynn nodded and watched as Colt set the box on a side table. Then her eyes swung to me…and what I was holding.
“What is that?” she asked.
Colt and I exchanged a look before he took the envelope and walked over to his parents. He sat down on the coffee table and faced them both.
“We found this in Grady’s room, as well as a journal he kept.”
Lynn’s eyes went wide, as Jacob asked, “A journal?”
“Yes.”
“Does it…did he write about why?” Lynn asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Colt nodded, and a sob broke free from Lynn. She covered her mouth with her hands.
“Grady had an eye disease.”
Confused, Jacob asked, “What do you mean, an eye disease?”
Colt drew in a breath and quickly blew it out. “Dad, you already know that Grady wanted to be a pilot.”
Jacob nodded.
“I guess he was having issues with seeing at night, and some other things that popped up. He went to see an ophthalmologist, at Gina’s suggestion.”
“Gina’s the woman Grady was dating? The one who was giving him flying lessons?” Jacob asked.
“Yes,” Colt replied.
Lynn drew in a shaky breath. “Why is it that I think you’re about to tell us something terrible?”
Colt rubbed the back of his neck before finally speaking. “Grady had something called retinitis pigmentosa. It sounds like it starts with trouble seeing at night and then your vision becomes decreased until you’re seeing through a pinhole, and then eventually…”
His voice faded.
“You go blind,” Jacob whispered. When Colt and I looked at him in surprise, he sighed. “My great-grandfather had the same thing. Although, I don’t know if they knew what it was back then. He could see when he was younger, he used to tell us, but then his vision grew worse and worse. He was completely blind by the time he was forty-six.”
“It sounds like it’s a pretty rare genetic eye disorder,” I added softly.
Lynn had taken the journal from Colt, and it was clear she’d turned to the very last few entries. She looked up, tears in her eyes. “That little bitch left him?”