Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > The Devil You Know
“We should get the others, they need to see this,” Bob said after a brief pause.
Frank gave a small laugh. “Well, yeah, it’s significant, but how does it help us? It doesn’t tell us where he is or what’s happened to him.”
Bob turned a hopeless expression towards the shorter man.
“I’m clutching at straws, Frankie, but I need to, because it’s all I’ve got.”
Frank nodded his understanding.
“I’m out of ideas, Bob, I don’t know what to do. I talked Mikey into coming here, he didn’t want to, but I…”
“Hey!” Bob cut in with a commanding voice. “Mikey’s a big boy, he can make his own decisions and you didn’t force him.”
“I did,” Franks voice was barely audible. “When I whispered in his ear, I told him it wasn’t haunted, that it was all fake.”
“You thought it was true,” Bob comforted him.
Frank shook his head. “I didn’t think anything, I didn’t really believe it, but I didn’t know for sure.”
“You thought it wasn’t haunted and said so,” Bob summarised. “It’s not your fault. You have nothing to beat yourself up over.”
“But it is! And somewhere, God only knows where, is Mikey and he’s probably scared stiff!”
“I’m right here!” Mikey screamed for the third time. “I’m standing right fucking next to you!”
“We better get back,” Bob could see he was losing the battle with Frank, he was guilt ridden and nothing was going to change that.
“Bob!” Mikey yelled with no response. “Frank! Why can’t you hear me? Can’t you see me? What the…”
Mikey’s jaw dropped as his friends turned to face him and headed towards the door, passing right through him as they walked. Mikey spun on his heels to see Frank glance back with an expression of curiosity on his face but Bob continued to the door as if nothing had happened.
“What’s up?” asked Bob pausing at the door.
“I… I don’t know,” Frank replied with uncertainty. “Just briefly… no, I don’t know.”
Mikey watched bleakly as they left the room to rejoin the others. Beside him stood a high backed chair facing the fireplace. Hesitantly he edged his hand closer to it, gasping as it passed straight through.
“Oh fuck… I’m dead!”
*
Bob and Frank walked back to the control room in silence. Frank drowning in his guilt and Bob racking his brains trying to find arguments that Frank might even consider to be valid. The truth of the matter was that Frank was struggling to reconcile what he had done against what he had said. There was the small matter of what he had called his experiment – leaving Bob in the cell, awaiting the arrival of the Devil who would come to snatch him away – and telling Mikey that the house was not haunted. How could he justify both? He had either lied to Mikey or been very cruel to Bob. Neither possibility made him feel like a good friend. Added to that, Mikey was missing and very possibly in real danger. The ghost of Lady Alverton had already tried to force Gerard to re-enact her death. The blade had been poised ready to plunge into his heart and only Bob’s quick reactions had prevented it. He couldn’t even begin to think about what she may do to Mikey. Would she kill him? Had she already done it? The mere thought made him feel sick to the pit of his stomach.
“Bob!” Frank finally reached breaking point. “I’m sorry about the cell and I deserved everything you did to me and if I could take it back I would. Hell, I'd take it all back if I could! We should never have come here! How could I do all that research and not even notice that Alverton looked like Mikey?”
Bob smiled sympathetically.
“And if you had noticed?”
“What?”
“If you’d noticed the resemblance what would you have done?”
“Well, I…” Frank sighed; yes, even with the benefit of hindsight he was talking nonsense. “Nothing,” he admitted. “It would only have made amused me more.”
Bob nodded.
“We’ll find him, Frank.” Bob offered his most sincere smile. “Come on, let’s get back to the control room.”
*
A low moan escaped Frank’s lips as they found the control room empty.
“This is getting ridiculous!” he cried as he looked around the small room for the smallest sign, checking all the monitors as he did so. “First Mikey, now…”
“Shhh!” Bob interrupted. Nodding, he pointed to the door to the secret passage network. “I can hear them.”
Sure enough, and much to Frank’s relief, the voices grew louder as Gerard and Ray approached the doorway. As they piled through clutching the map that Bob had found of the passageway layout, they turned grim expressions towards their friends.
“He’s not on the monitors and he’s not in any of the passages.” Gerard’s head dropped and he stared at the floor trying to hide the tears that welled in his eyes but the shake in his voice gave him away. “I can’t find him. He’s not here. Nowhere.”
Frank shivered slightly; the hairs on the back of his neck bristling.
“Well,” Bob began with an element of tension in his voice, “if you don’t mind me being a little blunt? If you can’t find any trace of him at all, he must still be alive at least.”
“Oh, you reckon?” Mikey’s voice dripped heavy with sarcasm.
“I’ll believe that when I see him,” Gerard said quietly, but still with hope in his tone.
Mikey rolled his eyes. “If you could see me, there wouldn’t be a problem, would there!”
“They can’t see you.”
Mikey turned shocked by the sudden appearance of another person in the room. Another person they couldn’t see.
The voice belonged to the ghost of Lady Alverton and was a rich, crystal cut English accent; the kind you only hear in old black and white movies.
“Catherine,” Mikey said automatically, offering a warm smile as he saw her.
“You remember?” she replied returning with her own adoring smile.
Mikey cocked his head trying to understand what was happening to him; how he appeared to have unaccountable memories and thoughts. To his eyes she appeared young, as she was in the portrait. Part of him almost understood; it felt right to be in this house with her, but part of him wanted to run and hide and right now his fear was winning. His next words were, he believed, essentially a statement, but they emerged as a question, and one that he was uncertain he wanted the answer to.
“You killed me?”
“It’s not that straightforward,” she replied cagily.
Mikey sighed. Of course it wasn’t! Why would it be? After all, it was only his life!
“Can you not make it straightforward?”
She offered a partial smile as she reached out a hand.
“Come with me.”
“Where?” Mikey asked, as she took his hand in hers, but the room was already fading to black and he was spinning. Spinning and falling and… nothing.
Frank gave a small laugh. “Well, yeah, it’s significant, but how does it help us? It doesn’t tell us where he is or what’s happened to him.”
Bob turned a hopeless expression towards the shorter man.
“I’m clutching at straws, Frankie, but I need to, because it’s all I’ve got.”
Frank nodded his understanding.
“I’m out of ideas, Bob, I don’t know what to do. I talked Mikey into coming here, he didn’t want to, but I…”
“Hey!” Bob cut in with a commanding voice. “Mikey’s a big boy, he can make his own decisions and you didn’t force him.”
“I did,” Franks voice was barely audible. “When I whispered in his ear, I told him it wasn’t haunted, that it was all fake.”
“You thought it was true,” Bob comforted him.
Frank shook his head. “I didn’t think anything, I didn’t really believe it, but I didn’t know for sure.”
“You thought it wasn’t haunted and said so,” Bob summarised. “It’s not your fault. You have nothing to beat yourself up over.”
“But it is! And somewhere, God only knows where, is Mikey and he’s probably scared stiff!”
“I’m right here!” Mikey screamed for the third time. “I’m standing right fucking next to you!”
“We better get back,” Bob could see he was losing the battle with Frank, he was guilt ridden and nothing was going to change that.
“Bob!” Mikey yelled with no response. “Frank! Why can’t you hear me? Can’t you see me? What the…”
Mikey’s jaw dropped as his friends turned to face him and headed towards the door, passing right through him as they walked. Mikey spun on his heels to see Frank glance back with an expression of curiosity on his face but Bob continued to the door as if nothing had happened.
“What’s up?” asked Bob pausing at the door.
“I… I don’t know,” Frank replied with uncertainty. “Just briefly… no, I don’t know.”
Mikey watched bleakly as they left the room to rejoin the others. Beside him stood a high backed chair facing the fireplace. Hesitantly he edged his hand closer to it, gasping as it passed straight through.
“Oh fuck… I’m dead!”
*
Bob and Frank walked back to the control room in silence. Frank drowning in his guilt and Bob racking his brains trying to find arguments that Frank might even consider to be valid. The truth of the matter was that Frank was struggling to reconcile what he had done against what he had said. There was the small matter of what he had called his experiment – leaving Bob in the cell, awaiting the arrival of the Devil who would come to snatch him away – and telling Mikey that the house was not haunted. How could he justify both? He had either lied to Mikey or been very cruel to Bob. Neither possibility made him feel like a good friend. Added to that, Mikey was missing and very possibly in real danger. The ghost of Lady Alverton had already tried to force Gerard to re-enact her death. The blade had been poised ready to plunge into his heart and only Bob’s quick reactions had prevented it. He couldn’t even begin to think about what she may do to Mikey. Would she kill him? Had she already done it? The mere thought made him feel sick to the pit of his stomach.
“Bob!” Frank finally reached breaking point. “I’m sorry about the cell and I deserved everything you did to me and if I could take it back I would. Hell, I'd take it all back if I could! We should never have come here! How could I do all that research and not even notice that Alverton looked like Mikey?”
Bob smiled sympathetically.
“And if you had noticed?”
“What?”
“If you’d noticed the resemblance what would you have done?”
“Well, I…” Frank sighed; yes, even with the benefit of hindsight he was talking nonsense. “Nothing,” he admitted. “It would only have made amused me more.”
Bob nodded.
“We’ll find him, Frank.” Bob offered his most sincere smile. “Come on, let’s get back to the control room.”
*
A low moan escaped Frank’s lips as they found the control room empty.
“This is getting ridiculous!” he cried as he looked around the small room for the smallest sign, checking all the monitors as he did so. “First Mikey, now…”
“Shhh!” Bob interrupted. Nodding, he pointed to the door to the secret passage network. “I can hear them.”
Sure enough, and much to Frank’s relief, the voices grew louder as Gerard and Ray approached the doorway. As they piled through clutching the map that Bob had found of the passageway layout, they turned grim expressions towards their friends.
“He’s not on the monitors and he’s not in any of the passages.” Gerard’s head dropped and he stared at the floor trying to hide the tears that welled in his eyes but the shake in his voice gave him away. “I can’t find him. He’s not here. Nowhere.”
Frank shivered slightly; the hairs on the back of his neck bristling.
“Well,” Bob began with an element of tension in his voice, “if you don’t mind me being a little blunt? If you can’t find any trace of him at all, he must still be alive at least.”
“Oh, you reckon?” Mikey’s voice dripped heavy with sarcasm.
“I’ll believe that when I see him,” Gerard said quietly, but still with hope in his tone.
Mikey rolled his eyes. “If you could see me, there wouldn’t be a problem, would there!”
“They can’t see you.”
Mikey turned shocked by the sudden appearance of another person in the room. Another person they couldn’t see.
The voice belonged to the ghost of Lady Alverton and was a rich, crystal cut English accent; the kind you only hear in old black and white movies.
“Catherine,” Mikey said automatically, offering a warm smile as he saw her.
“You remember?” she replied returning with her own adoring smile.
Mikey cocked his head trying to understand what was happening to him; how he appeared to have unaccountable memories and thoughts. To his eyes she appeared young, as she was in the portrait. Part of him almost understood; it felt right to be in this house with her, but part of him wanted to run and hide and right now his fear was winning. His next words were, he believed, essentially a statement, but they emerged as a question, and one that he was uncertain he wanted the answer to.
“You killed me?”
“It’s not that straightforward,” she replied cagily.
Mikey sighed. Of course it wasn’t! Why would it be? After all, it was only his life!
“Can you not make it straightforward?”
She offered a partial smile as she reached out a hand.
“Come with me.”
“Where?” Mikey asked, as she took his hand in hers, but the room was already fading to black and he was spinning. Spinning and falling and… nothing.
Sign up to rate and review this story