Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > Hotel Bella Muerte
Chapter 24:
Gerard got up in a good mood this morning. He was so glad that Mikey was here, it had been ages since he had last seen his younger brother and they had always been very close, Gerard couldn’t wait to see what he had been up to in the last few months.
As he began to get up and ready he remembered something else. Something that didn’t make him happy at all, though for the life of him he couldn’t fathom why. Something about what had happened last night made his stomach tightened, he almost felt resentful of it. Which was absolutely crazy, Kerry hadn’t done anything, just a friendly goodbye at the door. Yet for some reason it was like she had crossed some sort of invisible line. Gerard tried to push this feeling away, but it carried on nagging at him.
There was a third factor contributing to his mood that morning, and again it was a person. His beloved Cassie. Though of course, he reminded himself, she was no longer his anymore. Just Cassie. It made him feel almost sick to think it. He still had absolutely no idea how he was going to begin to get over this. Kerry had been a distraction over the last couple days, but when he was left alone waves of misery crashed down on him and he felt so empty. Like when she had left she had taken part of him with her. Which Gerard supposed she had.
Gerard shook his head from there morbid thoughts, they were no use to him now. At this moment his main priority was going to catch up with his brother, and who knew, maybe he could help Gerard out with some stuff. He wouldn’t get his hopes up, but it was possible. Mikey had had his fair share of heart breaks, so he would at least be able to empathise with him. Though admittedly, Mikey had never gotten close to proposing to someone. Had never gotten that serious. Gerard stomach tightened again. He had been so sure of their relationship, how could she have seen it so wrong? It seemed impossible. Maybe Gerard had just been deluding himself, thinking they were stronger than they were. Fooling himself into thinking she loved him.
Technically, she had never actually said it herself, never the three words, but she would always say “me too” or something alone those lines when he said it to her. The more he looked back on it, the more obvious it was of how blind he had been. Perhaps he had even been blind to his own feelings. Did he even love her?
The pain he felt at that thought seemed to answer for him. Gerard sighed, he would deal with that issue later.
Shaking his head and slipping into his leather jacket, he checked the room number once more and headed out the door.
***
Gerard knocked on the door three times. He could hear shuffling inside the room and the sound of a laptop being closed, then footsteps towards the door. Mikey opened the door smiling at Gerard.
“Hey, come in Gee.” He said, leaving the door open as he went to sit on the sofa in the main part of the room.
“Hi,” Gerard said, following suit. “So what have you been up to?”
“Ah nothing that thrilling, just travelling around places, met a few people, guy called Jake, I think you’d like him, he’s very into Iron Maiden, said he was going to buy a recording studio in Ohio.” Mikey said, shrugging at the idea.
“Cool, sounds good. So that it, just travelling around America?” Gerard asked, keen for details.
“Yeah, you should do it too sometime, there’s a lotta cool laces out there, though I was living on next to nothing for a little while.” Mikey said, smiling.
“Next to nothing?” Gerard frowned, “how’d you afford this place?”
Mikey’s face fell for a second, but Gerard missed it, “interesting story that, was in a restaurant in Seattle, and suddenly this guy two tables across for me starts choking. For some reason everyone else just kinda froze, so I got up and gave the poor guy the Heimlich. He was very grateful after and said he owed me one, I tried to tell him it was nothing, but he wouldn’t let me leave until I thought of something. I had plans to visit you guys down here, so I asked if he could just get me a hotel in New York. I had no idea he’d fork out this much, guess he’s rich or something.”
“Wow. My brother, the hero! Fancy that. You seem to save the right people then.” Gerard said, nudging him.
Mikey gave him a strained smile, “so…what about you? How the hell did you afford this place?”
“You say that like I’m some sorta hobo.” Gerard said defensively.
“Come on, Gee,” Mikey said, raising his eyebrows, “both you and me know how much this place costs. It’s a little outta your budget.”
“Well, I pulled in a few favours too, got a few lend outs… I wanted to do something special for…” Gerard broke off.
“Cassie?” Mikey said cautiously.
Gerard just nodded once, lips tight together.
“But she aint here anymore…” Mikey said, still wary.
“No.” Gerard managed to breathe out.
“Look if you don’t wanna tell me, it’s cool.” Mikey said.
“Nah, it’s ok. Gimme a minute.” Gerard said quietly.
“Take as long as you need.”
Gerard paused and took a deep breath in.
“Cassie…Cassie left me, said I wasn’t going anywhere in my life… I don’t think she ever really loved me either.” Gerard’s voice broke on the last words, saying it out loud just made it all the more painful.
“Jesus.” Mikey said, “I’m really sorry, Gee.” Gerard just nodded again, “blimey, not many girls would do that after a guy offers them a room in a place like this. What is she on?”
Gerard remained silent, but gave a shrug.
“Hey, don’t worry about it, she clearly isn’t worth it, she may be a bit flipping mental though.” Mikey tried to laugh, Gerard did not join him, “listen, it’s not so bad. I know you really liked her and everything, but it’s not like it was going anywhere, you weren’t planning on marrying her or something crazy like that.”
Gerard looked up at him with wounded eyes.
“Fuck. Can I ever say the right thing?” Mikey said, in shock, “you…you asked her?”
“Was gonna,” Gerard said hoarsely, “the night she left me.”
“Ouch.” Mikey winced, “god, well at least you know now, I mean, could have got a lot worse the longer you stayed at it. Her dad was a nasty piece of work anyway, wasn’t he? And you know she’s a bit of a daddy’s girl.”
Gerard looked down at his feet. Not really listening.
“What about that other girl then?…Katie or something.” Mikey asked.
“Kerry.” Gerard said flatly, still feeling some weird resentment towards her.
“Yeah, she seemed nice, how’d ya meet?” Mikey asked, clearly trying to switch the subject.
“She found me drinking the night…it ended.” Gerard said.
“Drinking?” Mikey’s eyes looked panicked, “again, Gee? You shouldn’t drink so much. You drink more than anyone I know. It’s crazy. Dangerous.”
“I’m fine. Alcohol isn’t the fucking problem here.” Gerard snapped. He looked up to see the hurt in his brother’s eyes, “sorry…it’s just…ya know.”
Mikey sighed, “yeah, I do… So Kerry what? Helped you up to your room?”
“Yeah, then she stayed with me that night,” Gerard said, seeing Mikey’s raised eyebrows he sighed, “…cos apparently I told her to.”
“While you were drunk?” Mikey asked.
“Yeah, wouldn’t let her leave apparently.” Gerard said, a hint of thought in his voice.
Mikey’s eyebrows set further up in his head so they disappeared beneath his hair, “you wouldn’t let her leave the room? You made her stay there all night?”
“Yup.”
Mikey laughed.
“What?” Gerard demanded.
“Your subconscious is winning you over.” Mikey said, reading Gerard’s bewildered expression.
“What the hell are you on about?”
“You like her.” Mikey said, gleefully.
“Did someone slip you something in your drink?” Gerard said bitterly, turning away.
“Nope.” Mikey said calmly, “I saw the way you two were looking at each other in the lobby. And now I find you can’t bear to part with her.”
He laughed again.
“You’re nuts, I was drunk. And last night I was just feeling low about stuff. She was helping me out. It’s what friends do.” Gerard said, annoyed.
“Whatever.” Mikey said, still smiling.
“Come on! You can’t pin this on a drunken night and one glance. You always do jump to conclusions.” Gerard scowled.
“Sometimes they’re right.” Mikey pointed out.
“Yeah, but 9 times outta 10 they aint.” Gerard reminded him.
“True.”
“Besides, I still love Cassie.” Gerard said, wincing at her name.
Mikey’s face fell, “yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“Nah, it’s cool.” Gerard said, but his voice still sounded cold.
There was a short pause, “listen, Gerard, about the money thing…”
“What about it?” Gerard asked, lifting his head.
“I could help you out…” Mikey said.
“Mikey, I don’t need your hep, it’s cool.” Gerard assured him.
“No, really, I can help out, its no biggy.” Mikey persisted.
Gerard looked at him suspiciously, “thought you didn’t have enough money to book this yourself?”
“Well, no, but I’m sure I can get the money, it’d be fine.” Mikey said, his voice with an edge of panic.
Gerard’s brow furrowed. He looked at his brother more carefully. His clothes were a lot cleaner and smarter than he had remembered. They looked more expensive, the material finer. Gerard glanced over at the desk where the laptop sat, its shiny silver surface reflected the sunlight coming through the window and it looked professional. Gerard continued looking round the room where he noticed several other object which he was sure Mikey would have never been able to afford.
“Mikey…” Gerard said in a shocked tone, looking round at his brother again. Mikey’s face had gone very white. “Mikey… how did you afford all this stuff?”
Mikey bit his lip, “Gerard, please, it’s nothing. Just drop it.”
Gerard frowned deeper, “Mikey, what the hell is going on?”
“Nothing” Mikey answered a bit too quickly.
“Mikey, don’t lie to me. What have you done?” Gerard said, his voice deadly serious.
“Just, don’t get mad ok…and please just don’t jump to conclusions. It’s not so bad, really-”
“Is it illegal?” Gerard demanded, cutting him off.
Mikey didn’t answer, but his lips formed a thin line and his face drained of all remaining colour.
“Mikey.” Gerard whispered in a shocked breath, “fucking hell, what have you done?”
“I just… I got in debt, Gee. I had to do something… I couldn’t go to you, or mum… you would have tried to pay for me, and it would be too much…you wouldn’t be able to afford it…mum would lose the house… I couldn’t do that…I just couldn’t Gee.” Mikey said, not able to make eye contact with his older brother, but had his head bent down, in his hands.
“Get to the point, Mikey,” Gerard said through gritted teeth.
“Well, I had there friends… I was living in a rough part of town you see… and they, well, they told me a few ways to get my money back… where it wouldn’t damage the people who lost it and -”
You STOLE it?” Gerard almost yelled, outraged.
“No, not exactly,” Mikey answered quickly, “I…I, my friends… they were… kind of…con artists.”
Gerard breathed out a long low sigh, “you, you conned people out of money?” this was unbelievable.
“Not just any old people, Gee, I targeted people who didn’t deserve to have the money they got, I picked them carefully. The others didn’t mind. I did. If I was gonna do it, I was gonna make it as best as I could. I took it from people who gained the money in cruel ways, who were mean to people, who didn’t work for it.”
“And that made it better?” Gerard asked in disbelief, eyes wide.
“No. No it didn’t.” Mikey said, hands pulling at his hair and his voice hollow, “but it was all I could do, Gee.”
“No it was not, you had plenty of options, even if you didn’t wanna involve mum and me.”
“Name them.” Mikey challenged.
“I… I don’t know, I‘m no good at financial stuff. But I’m sure there would be a way.” Gerard persisted.
“There wasn’t. If there was I would have taken it, I promise you.” Mikey pleaded with his brother’s understanding.
Gerard put his hands to his face and breathed out, “and this hotel…what’s it done exactly?”
“I did my research. The hotel’s owned by one, Daniel Hammond. He’s a horrible person, Gee, he took out other hotel’s, destroyed others livelihood, so that his would be on top. He abuses his workers, pays them as little as possible, works them harder than they should be worked, gives them horrible quarters. If you’ve been down there, Gee, it’s nasty, like the opposite of up here. He gives them no medical, no benefits, no nothing. Things they should have. He gives them as little as possible, but gets away with it, the only thing he pays for is clothes so they can keep up appearances. No one complains because they know what Daniel Hammond is capable of. He’s from a bad crowd and isn’t afraid to use it to his advantage. Mostly the employees don’t know this is not the way things are meant to be run, he picks out first time job seekers, ones with the least experience. At least for the small jobs. The higher class jobs are better treated, and better experienced. It’s madness, Gee.”
“Mikey it is not your place, no matter what this guy has done, to play god and punish him. This isn’t you Mikes. This is crazy. Think about what you’re doing.” Gerard said, having not interrupted Mikey’s explanation.
“I know.” Mikey said hopelessly. I don’t know what to do Gerard.”
“You have enough so you’re out of debt now?”
“Yes.” Mikey whispered.
“So why not stop now?” Gerard pleaded.
“Because, Gerard, I can get more money for us, for you and mum, we can live things a little easier. I want to help.”
“You think mum wants money from this? You think I do? You think this is right?” Gerard asked, “for god’s sake Mikey, stop it now. Get out of it and get a job. Just leave the hotel now. Please.”
“I have to finish the job.” Mikey said firmly.
“Are you mad?” Gerard shouted, standing up, “’finish the job’? Why? Get out of it now!”
“No.” Mikey said. “I’ll do this then I’ll stop.”
“You’re unbelievable.” Gerard said, his eyes maddened. “Listen to yourself. It’s like your addicted to this. I don’t believe you will quit.”
“I will.” Mikey said.
“Yeah, cos you wouldn’t lie to me would you?” Gerard snapped, “hey that Jake guy, does he exist or did you make him up?”
Mikey swallowed, “made up.”
“The guy you gave the Heimlich?”
“Same.”
Gerard’s hands flew up and he gripped them behind his head. “I don’t even know you anymore. This is not the Mikey I remember. What happened to you?”
“Gerard-”
“No!” Gerard yelled again. “I- I can’t deal with this. I gotta go…”
Gerard headed out towards the door.
Mikey stood up and chased him. “Gerard, please don’t. Wait. Listen. Please, Gee.”
“Bye Mikey.” Gerard said in a dead voice. Then he walked out the door.
Oh dear, bad Mikey. What's he gonna do. Well you'll have to read on to finf out! :P Please review, all suggestions and critisisms welcome :)
Thanks x x x MWITFS
Gerard got up in a good mood this morning. He was so glad that Mikey was here, it had been ages since he had last seen his younger brother and they had always been very close, Gerard couldn’t wait to see what he had been up to in the last few months.
As he began to get up and ready he remembered something else. Something that didn’t make him happy at all, though for the life of him he couldn’t fathom why. Something about what had happened last night made his stomach tightened, he almost felt resentful of it. Which was absolutely crazy, Kerry hadn’t done anything, just a friendly goodbye at the door. Yet for some reason it was like she had crossed some sort of invisible line. Gerard tried to push this feeling away, but it carried on nagging at him.
There was a third factor contributing to his mood that morning, and again it was a person. His beloved Cassie. Though of course, he reminded himself, she was no longer his anymore. Just Cassie. It made him feel almost sick to think it. He still had absolutely no idea how he was going to begin to get over this. Kerry had been a distraction over the last couple days, but when he was left alone waves of misery crashed down on him and he felt so empty. Like when she had left she had taken part of him with her. Which Gerard supposed she had.
Gerard shook his head from there morbid thoughts, they were no use to him now. At this moment his main priority was going to catch up with his brother, and who knew, maybe he could help Gerard out with some stuff. He wouldn’t get his hopes up, but it was possible. Mikey had had his fair share of heart breaks, so he would at least be able to empathise with him. Though admittedly, Mikey had never gotten close to proposing to someone. Had never gotten that serious. Gerard stomach tightened again. He had been so sure of their relationship, how could she have seen it so wrong? It seemed impossible. Maybe Gerard had just been deluding himself, thinking they were stronger than they were. Fooling himself into thinking she loved him.
Technically, she had never actually said it herself, never the three words, but she would always say “me too” or something alone those lines when he said it to her. The more he looked back on it, the more obvious it was of how blind he had been. Perhaps he had even been blind to his own feelings. Did he even love her?
The pain he felt at that thought seemed to answer for him. Gerard sighed, he would deal with that issue later.
Shaking his head and slipping into his leather jacket, he checked the room number once more and headed out the door.
***
Gerard knocked on the door three times. He could hear shuffling inside the room and the sound of a laptop being closed, then footsteps towards the door. Mikey opened the door smiling at Gerard.
“Hey, come in Gee.” He said, leaving the door open as he went to sit on the sofa in the main part of the room.
“Hi,” Gerard said, following suit. “So what have you been up to?”
“Ah nothing that thrilling, just travelling around places, met a few people, guy called Jake, I think you’d like him, he’s very into Iron Maiden, said he was going to buy a recording studio in Ohio.” Mikey said, shrugging at the idea.
“Cool, sounds good. So that it, just travelling around America?” Gerard asked, keen for details.
“Yeah, you should do it too sometime, there’s a lotta cool laces out there, though I was living on next to nothing for a little while.” Mikey said, smiling.
“Next to nothing?” Gerard frowned, “how’d you afford this place?”
Mikey’s face fell for a second, but Gerard missed it, “interesting story that, was in a restaurant in Seattle, and suddenly this guy two tables across for me starts choking. For some reason everyone else just kinda froze, so I got up and gave the poor guy the Heimlich. He was very grateful after and said he owed me one, I tried to tell him it was nothing, but he wouldn’t let me leave until I thought of something. I had plans to visit you guys down here, so I asked if he could just get me a hotel in New York. I had no idea he’d fork out this much, guess he’s rich or something.”
“Wow. My brother, the hero! Fancy that. You seem to save the right people then.” Gerard said, nudging him.
Mikey gave him a strained smile, “so…what about you? How the hell did you afford this place?”
“You say that like I’m some sorta hobo.” Gerard said defensively.
“Come on, Gee,” Mikey said, raising his eyebrows, “both you and me know how much this place costs. It’s a little outta your budget.”
“Well, I pulled in a few favours too, got a few lend outs… I wanted to do something special for…” Gerard broke off.
“Cassie?” Mikey said cautiously.
Gerard just nodded once, lips tight together.
“But she aint here anymore…” Mikey said, still wary.
“No.” Gerard managed to breathe out.
“Look if you don’t wanna tell me, it’s cool.” Mikey said.
“Nah, it’s ok. Gimme a minute.” Gerard said quietly.
“Take as long as you need.”
Gerard paused and took a deep breath in.
“Cassie…Cassie left me, said I wasn’t going anywhere in my life… I don’t think she ever really loved me either.” Gerard’s voice broke on the last words, saying it out loud just made it all the more painful.
“Jesus.” Mikey said, “I’m really sorry, Gee.” Gerard just nodded again, “blimey, not many girls would do that after a guy offers them a room in a place like this. What is she on?”
Gerard remained silent, but gave a shrug.
“Hey, don’t worry about it, she clearly isn’t worth it, she may be a bit flipping mental though.” Mikey tried to laugh, Gerard did not join him, “listen, it’s not so bad. I know you really liked her and everything, but it’s not like it was going anywhere, you weren’t planning on marrying her or something crazy like that.”
Gerard looked up at him with wounded eyes.
“Fuck. Can I ever say the right thing?” Mikey said, in shock, “you…you asked her?”
“Was gonna,” Gerard said hoarsely, “the night she left me.”
“Ouch.” Mikey winced, “god, well at least you know now, I mean, could have got a lot worse the longer you stayed at it. Her dad was a nasty piece of work anyway, wasn’t he? And you know she’s a bit of a daddy’s girl.”
Gerard looked down at his feet. Not really listening.
“What about that other girl then?…Katie or something.” Mikey asked.
“Kerry.” Gerard said flatly, still feeling some weird resentment towards her.
“Yeah, she seemed nice, how’d ya meet?” Mikey asked, clearly trying to switch the subject.
“She found me drinking the night…it ended.” Gerard said.
“Drinking?” Mikey’s eyes looked panicked, “again, Gee? You shouldn’t drink so much. You drink more than anyone I know. It’s crazy. Dangerous.”
“I’m fine. Alcohol isn’t the fucking problem here.” Gerard snapped. He looked up to see the hurt in his brother’s eyes, “sorry…it’s just…ya know.”
Mikey sighed, “yeah, I do… So Kerry what? Helped you up to your room?”
“Yeah, then she stayed with me that night,” Gerard said, seeing Mikey’s raised eyebrows he sighed, “…cos apparently I told her to.”
“While you were drunk?” Mikey asked.
“Yeah, wouldn’t let her leave apparently.” Gerard said, a hint of thought in his voice.
Mikey’s eyebrows set further up in his head so they disappeared beneath his hair, “you wouldn’t let her leave the room? You made her stay there all night?”
“Yup.”
Mikey laughed.
“What?” Gerard demanded.
“Your subconscious is winning you over.” Mikey said, reading Gerard’s bewildered expression.
“What the hell are you on about?”
“You like her.” Mikey said, gleefully.
“Did someone slip you something in your drink?” Gerard said bitterly, turning away.
“Nope.” Mikey said calmly, “I saw the way you two were looking at each other in the lobby. And now I find you can’t bear to part with her.”
He laughed again.
“You’re nuts, I was drunk. And last night I was just feeling low about stuff. She was helping me out. It’s what friends do.” Gerard said, annoyed.
“Whatever.” Mikey said, still smiling.
“Come on! You can’t pin this on a drunken night and one glance. You always do jump to conclusions.” Gerard scowled.
“Sometimes they’re right.” Mikey pointed out.
“Yeah, but 9 times outta 10 they aint.” Gerard reminded him.
“True.”
“Besides, I still love Cassie.” Gerard said, wincing at her name.
Mikey’s face fell, “yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
“Nah, it’s cool.” Gerard said, but his voice still sounded cold.
There was a short pause, “listen, Gerard, about the money thing…”
“What about it?” Gerard asked, lifting his head.
“I could help you out…” Mikey said.
“Mikey, I don’t need your hep, it’s cool.” Gerard assured him.
“No, really, I can help out, its no biggy.” Mikey persisted.
Gerard looked at him suspiciously, “thought you didn’t have enough money to book this yourself?”
“Well, no, but I’m sure I can get the money, it’d be fine.” Mikey said, his voice with an edge of panic.
Gerard’s brow furrowed. He looked at his brother more carefully. His clothes were a lot cleaner and smarter than he had remembered. They looked more expensive, the material finer. Gerard glanced over at the desk where the laptop sat, its shiny silver surface reflected the sunlight coming through the window and it looked professional. Gerard continued looking round the room where he noticed several other object which he was sure Mikey would have never been able to afford.
“Mikey…” Gerard said in a shocked tone, looking round at his brother again. Mikey’s face had gone very white. “Mikey… how did you afford all this stuff?”
Mikey bit his lip, “Gerard, please, it’s nothing. Just drop it.”
Gerard frowned deeper, “Mikey, what the hell is going on?”
“Nothing” Mikey answered a bit too quickly.
“Mikey, don’t lie to me. What have you done?” Gerard said, his voice deadly serious.
“Just, don’t get mad ok…and please just don’t jump to conclusions. It’s not so bad, really-”
“Is it illegal?” Gerard demanded, cutting him off.
Mikey didn’t answer, but his lips formed a thin line and his face drained of all remaining colour.
“Mikey.” Gerard whispered in a shocked breath, “fucking hell, what have you done?”
“I just… I got in debt, Gee. I had to do something… I couldn’t go to you, or mum… you would have tried to pay for me, and it would be too much…you wouldn’t be able to afford it…mum would lose the house… I couldn’t do that…I just couldn’t Gee.” Mikey said, not able to make eye contact with his older brother, but had his head bent down, in his hands.
“Get to the point, Mikey,” Gerard said through gritted teeth.
“Well, I had there friends… I was living in a rough part of town you see… and they, well, they told me a few ways to get my money back… where it wouldn’t damage the people who lost it and -”
You STOLE it?” Gerard almost yelled, outraged.
“No, not exactly,” Mikey answered quickly, “I…I, my friends… they were… kind of…con artists.”
Gerard breathed out a long low sigh, “you, you conned people out of money?” this was unbelievable.
“Not just any old people, Gee, I targeted people who didn’t deserve to have the money they got, I picked them carefully. The others didn’t mind. I did. If I was gonna do it, I was gonna make it as best as I could. I took it from people who gained the money in cruel ways, who were mean to people, who didn’t work for it.”
“And that made it better?” Gerard asked in disbelief, eyes wide.
“No. No it didn’t.” Mikey said, hands pulling at his hair and his voice hollow, “but it was all I could do, Gee.”
“No it was not, you had plenty of options, even if you didn’t wanna involve mum and me.”
“Name them.” Mikey challenged.
“I… I don’t know, I‘m no good at financial stuff. But I’m sure there would be a way.” Gerard persisted.
“There wasn’t. If there was I would have taken it, I promise you.” Mikey pleaded with his brother’s understanding.
Gerard put his hands to his face and breathed out, “and this hotel…what’s it done exactly?”
“I did my research. The hotel’s owned by one, Daniel Hammond. He’s a horrible person, Gee, he took out other hotel’s, destroyed others livelihood, so that his would be on top. He abuses his workers, pays them as little as possible, works them harder than they should be worked, gives them horrible quarters. If you’ve been down there, Gee, it’s nasty, like the opposite of up here. He gives them no medical, no benefits, no nothing. Things they should have. He gives them as little as possible, but gets away with it, the only thing he pays for is clothes so they can keep up appearances. No one complains because they know what Daniel Hammond is capable of. He’s from a bad crowd and isn’t afraid to use it to his advantage. Mostly the employees don’t know this is not the way things are meant to be run, he picks out first time job seekers, ones with the least experience. At least for the small jobs. The higher class jobs are better treated, and better experienced. It’s madness, Gee.”
“Mikey it is not your place, no matter what this guy has done, to play god and punish him. This isn’t you Mikes. This is crazy. Think about what you’re doing.” Gerard said, having not interrupted Mikey’s explanation.
“I know.” Mikey said hopelessly. I don’t know what to do Gerard.”
“You have enough so you’re out of debt now?”
“Yes.” Mikey whispered.
“So why not stop now?” Gerard pleaded.
“Because, Gerard, I can get more money for us, for you and mum, we can live things a little easier. I want to help.”
“You think mum wants money from this? You think I do? You think this is right?” Gerard asked, “for god’s sake Mikey, stop it now. Get out of it and get a job. Just leave the hotel now. Please.”
“I have to finish the job.” Mikey said firmly.
“Are you mad?” Gerard shouted, standing up, “’finish the job’? Why? Get out of it now!”
“No.” Mikey said. “I’ll do this then I’ll stop.”
“You’re unbelievable.” Gerard said, his eyes maddened. “Listen to yourself. It’s like your addicted to this. I don’t believe you will quit.”
“I will.” Mikey said.
“Yeah, cos you wouldn’t lie to me would you?” Gerard snapped, “hey that Jake guy, does he exist or did you make him up?”
Mikey swallowed, “made up.”
“The guy you gave the Heimlich?”
“Same.”
Gerard’s hands flew up and he gripped them behind his head. “I don’t even know you anymore. This is not the Mikey I remember. What happened to you?”
“Gerard-”
“No!” Gerard yelled again. “I- I can’t deal with this. I gotta go…”
Gerard headed out towards the door.
Mikey stood up and chased him. “Gerard, please don’t. Wait. Listen. Please, Gee.”
“Bye Mikey.” Gerard said in a dead voice. Then he walked out the door.
Oh dear, bad Mikey. What's he gonna do. Well you'll have to read on to finf out! :P Please review, all suggestions and critisisms welcome :)
Thanks x x x MWITFS
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