Chapter Text
“Alex. What’s going on with you?” Luke asked. “What happened between you and Willie?”
“What do you mean?” Alex replied. “Willie and I, we’re good.”
“Well, ever since you spent last Friday with him, you’ve been moody and lost in thought. If something happened, we want to help.” Reggie said. “We’re family. We don’t keep secrets from each other. So talk to us.”
“Okay, okay, when I was with Willie, I saw my little sister, Sara. Or, I thought I saw her. This girl looked exactly like Sara, but then I realized it’s been 25 years. The last time I saw Sara, she was 11. She’s 36 now. That’s a big change. Is she married or divorced? Does she have kids? She must have kids. Does she tell them about me? Does she ever think about me or even remember me?” Alex was starting to pace. “And what about my parents? Do they ever think about me? No, I bet they're glad I’m gone. Happy their gay son is dead.
Luke and Reggie looked at each other, wondering what to do. They had to do something. “Alex,” luke tried to interrupt him to no avail. “Alex, stop. You’re going to talk yourself into a panic attack.”
“You need to sit,” Reggie added.
But Alex kept going, getting more and more worked up until Luke and Reggie had to physically pull Alex down on the couch and wrap their arms around him. “Just relax and breathe,” Luke said. “That’s it.”
Just then, Julie walked into the studio. “Hey guys, uh… What’s going on? She asked.
“Alex is trying to have a panic attack,” Reggie said. “He’s freaking out about his family.”
“I am not. I just need…”
“You just need answers,” Luke cut in. “We need to go to your parent's house. We need to see what we can find out.”
“Maybe they don’t live there anymore. They might have moved,” Reggie said.
“They still live there,” Alex replied. “I've seen them.”
“You have?” Luke and Reggie asked simultaneously.
“I’ve been to the house a few times, and one time I saw them pull into the driveway,” Alex answered. “They looked different. More relaxed, less uptight. My mom was wearing pants.”
“What?” Luke laughed. “Mary Mercer wearing pants? That I gotta see. Let’s go.”
“No,” Alex said. “I’m not ready. I need to think about this.”
That’s the problem. You overthink everything.” Luke said.
“Well, I’m going,” Reggie said as he poofed out.
Alex frustratedly looked at Luke, who just shrugged his shoulders and poofed out to join Reggie.
“Just go, Alex, get your answers,” Julie said with a look of concern.
Soon Alex was standing next to Luke in front of his childhood home. He looked around. “Where’s Reggie?” He asked. Then with a sigh, “He’s already inside, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is,” Luke said while taking Alex’s hand and lacing their fingers together. “Let’s go.
And with that, Alex was standing in the entry hall of the house in which he was born. The last time he was there, his father had hit him before shoving him out the door, telling him never to come back. The memory of that day sent a shiver down Alex’s spine. It had started as such a great day. Playing at the pier with the band, then grabbing a pizza and rehearsing some new songs. He was happy until he walked in the front door and saw his parents. His mom, sitting in her chair, sobbing. His dad, sitting next to her. He glared at Alex. His mom had found a gay magazine in Alex’s room, and the yelling started. Finally, his dad grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the door. Hitting him in the face and throwing him out the door telling him not to come back.
“Alex, look at this,” Luke said, bringing Alex back to the present. He joined Luke in front of a wall full of family pictures. There were photo’s of Sara, from birth to her wedding and then the birth of her own kids. It looked like she had twin boys. Alex took a step back. There were baby and school pictures of two guys Alex didn’t recognize.
“Do you see what’s missing, Luke? He asked
“You mean the fact that there aren’t any pictures of you?” Luke asked.
“Yep, they’ve completely erased me from the family. I bet they threw out all my pictures as soon as they knew I was dead.”
“What are we going to do about this?” Luke asked with a devious smile.”We need to do some real haunting here.”
“Alex, you have to come in here,” Reggie called him before he could answer Luke’s question.
Alex could tell that Reggie was in the living room. The one room in the whole house that Alex didn’t want to see was the living room, with the furniture covered in plastic to protect it. And on the wall above the couch, a large crucifix with Jesus hanging on the cross. Blood on his head from the crown of thorns and blood on his hands and feet from the nails. He always hated that crucifix.
“Alex, you really do need to see this,” Reggie repeated.
“I’ll check it out,” Luke said as he turned and walked toward the sound of Reggie's voice.
Alex continued looking at the family pictures.
“Um… Alex, come in here. You’re not going to believe this,” Luke said.
Alex hung his head. “Okay, fine,” but the moment he entered, he stopped in his tracks, and his jaw dropped. There wasn't any plastic on the furniture. The room looked like it was being used. But the biggest shock came when Alex looked at the wall above the couch. The crucifix was gone, and in its place were pictures, pictures of Alex, baby pictures, school pictures, and family pictures. All three guys stared at the wall in shock. In the center was a shadowbox frame. On the left side of the frame was a picture of Alex, sitting at his first drum kit with a big smile on his face. It was his 11th birthday. His parents had given him the drums, and he and his dad had spent a couple of hours assembling them. In the center of the frame was the Sunset Curve demo CD with the liner notes coming out of the plastic case, so the band's picture was prominently featured. On the right side of the shadowbox was a pair of drumsticks. The sticks he was going to use at The Orpheum show that fateful night. Alex wondered how his parents had gotten them. He remembered spending over an hour deciding on which sticks to use.
“What the…, What does this mean?” Alex said.
“It means your parents haven’t forgotten you. They haven’t erased you from the family,” Reggie answered as he placed a supportive hand on Alex’s shoulder.
“Let’s see what else we can find,” Luke said as he headed toward the kitchen, dining room, and family room, finding signs of Alex everywhere.
Reggie picked a pamphlet from a stack he found next to Mary’s laptop. In big letters, he saw PFLAG.
“Hey, do either of you know what P-F-L-A-G is?” Reggie asked.
Luke and Alex joined him by the laptop to see what he was holding.
“No,” Luke answered. “What else does it say?”
“P-F-L-A-G is the United States' first and largest organization uniting parents, families, and allies with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.” Reggie read aloud.
Alex grabbed the pamphlet out of Reggie's hand and started reading it to himself. “I can’t believe this,” he said. “My parents are members of this group? How… why… when?”
Luke took Alex’s hand. “Let’s head back to the studio. We’ll talk to Julie about all of this before you freak out. Maybe she will have some ideas on how we can find out more about your parents.”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, okay.” And with that, the guys poofed back to the studio. There they found Julie and Flynn.
Julie jumped up, “You’re back,” Then turning to Flynn. “They’re back.”
“Yeah, I got that,” Flynn responded.
“What happened? What did you find out? Alex, are you okay?” Julie asked excitedly.
Alex slumped down onto the couch looking overwhelmed.
“Julie, have you ever heard of P-F-L-A-G?” Reggie asked, handing Julie one of the pamphlets the guys had found.
“Yes, I have. It’s pronounced P-Flag.”
“Well, apparently, Alex’s parents are members,” Luke said.
“They are? Alex, that’s incredible,” Julie said.
“Is it? Is it really?” Alex asked, his voice going high at the end.
The guys proceeded to tell Julie about everything they had seen in the Mercer house, which Julie had to repeat to Flynn, who still couldn’t see or hear the boys.
“This whole trip was a mistake. I should never have gone,” Alex sighed.
“Alex, why do you say that? We found out that your family hasn’t forgotten you.” Luke said.
“I know. But it’s created a lot more questions for me than it answered,” replied Alex. “How did they get involved in Pflag, and why are they so different from what they were when I was alive?” Tears began to grow in Alex’s eyes. “Why couldn’t they have supported me then?”
“Just as society's views on homosexuality have changed over the years, it sounds like your parent's ideas have evolved. They’ve grown,” Julie replied. “It’s a good thing.”
“I need to know more. Like, how did they find out about Pflag? And what about their religious beliefs?” Alex asked.
“I wish I could help you. It’s not like I can ring your parent's doorbell and ask them about you,” Julie said
“I’m on it,” Julie heard Flynn say as she pulled out her phone.
“What are you doing, Flynn? We can’t just intrude on them like that” Julie said.
“Shh,” Flynn said as she set her phone on the table and put it on speaker.
“What is she doing?” Reggie asked as the phone began to ring.
“Hello, you’ve reached Pflag,” the voice on the other end of the line said. “This is Mary.”
That’s her. That’s my mom,” Alex said, jumping up excitedly.
“Hello Mary, my name is Flynn, and I’m a student at Los Feliz High School. And in my Psychology class, we’re doing reports on various social support organizations, and Pflag is the organization my friend Julie and I have been assigned. I was wondering if you or someone could meet with us?”
“Why yes, I’d be happy to meet with you. Would you like to come by my house this Friday, say around three?” Mary asked.
“Friday will work out great for us. We’ll see you at three. Thank you.” Flynn said as she was about to hang up.
“Don’t you want my address?” Mary asked, a bit confused.
“Your address. Yes, yes, that would definitely be a good thing to have.” Flynn said with a nervous laugh.
After the call finally ended, Julie pulled Flynn into a big hug, saying, “Flynn, you’re a genius,” As the boys cheered.
“Now we just need to figure out what questions we’re gonna ask,” Flynn said.