FicWad

A/N: Well... Here is chapter 25. I hope it was worth the wait. I am going on vacation this Saturday, so I won't have access to internet for a week, so I'm trying to update as much now as humanly possible. That means more updates in the next few days. Hopefully. Maybe. I wouldn't count on it.
Also, thank you all for being understanding about me not updating for so long. It's writer's reality, I suppose.


Chapter 25: Misery road

Nearly three weeks since Gia left, and still no sign of her. Gerard had lost his sense of time as well as hope. All he did was lye on his bed and he would only get up to go to the bathroom. He didn’t eat, he didn’t drink, he hardly ever spoke and even though his days were spent lying on the bed, he didn’t sleep.

The police were doing the best they could, and the search had been expanded to all states. In two weeks they could have gotten anywhere. Gia didn’t have a passport, so it was unlikely that they had left the country. That seemed a pretty extreme option anyway.

Mikey had practically moved to live with Gerard for the time being to watch over him. He didn’t trust his brother one bit. Mikey had tried to sleep in Gia’s room for the first night because there were only two bedrooms, but in the end he decided to sleep on the couch downstairs. Gia’s room had become sort of like a banned area, no one went there anymore.

Frank, Bob and Ray usually came over in the morning and left in the evening. When they weren’t there, they were dealing with the press. While the band wasn’t in the news that often like some other bands or celebrities, the disappearance of Gerard’s daughter had really caught the attention of the public. And now they were dealing with the consequences. Not that it was entirely a bad thing. That way it would be more likely that Gia would be found.

Lucas’ parents came over a lot too. Every time they did, Tina tried to talk to Gerard, but never succeeded. Gerard was determined to block out everyone. The fact that there was nothing he could do killed him. All he could do was wait.

_______________________________________

The girl wiped sweat from her forehead, squinted her eyes in the sun and looked around. “Where are we?” she asked.

“Well, if I’m not mistaken, we should be in Nevada by now”, Lucas said. “Then again, I can’t be too sure without a map.” He shot a meaningful look at the gray dog that was wagging his tail happily, oblivious of what it was being accused of.

“Jersey is still just a baby, he doesn’t know any better. Map equals sandwich," Gia defended the dog. She had grown really attached to Jersey, and he seemed to consider himself as her guardian or something. The only one who could approach Gia was Lucas, other than that Jersey would attempt to attack anyone who seemed threatening. And to Jersey, just about everyone was threatening.

Instead of answering Gia, he kept on walking. Gia and Lucas were getting used to walking all day, and Jersey was just enjoying the exercise. All three were happy as long as they got something to drink and eat every now and then. They had taken the train and bus once or twice, but since it was too dangerous to ride it, they had to sneak in and hide. Besides, with Jersey public transportation became increasingly harder to use.

So far no one had recognized them. While they were glad about that, they were also a little disappointed. Obviously no one was looking for them. They would’ve thought that by now their pictures would be all over the place and that their parents would do anything to find them. Gia and Lucas didn’t want to be found, but it would’ve been nice if someone even tried.

After a while, they spotted some sort of a sign ahead on the highway. They ran over to it and when noticing that the two were running, Jersey thought that something was wrong and started to bark and growl. Gia stayed behind to calm him down and Lucas kept on running.

When Gia and Jersey got to the sign, Lucas was already looking at it with a thoughtful look on his face.
It was a map. Or actually two maps. The other one was of the whole Nevada and the other one was a closer look of the area.

“We’re here now”, Lucas said, pointing at a spot on the map. “And since we’re heading this way, I’d say we’re going to the wrong way.”

Gia understood nothing about maps. They just made her confused, so she just nodded along.

Lucas frowned and muttered something to himself as he examined the map, running a finger on the dusty glass that was covering the paper as he did so.

“There’s a small town about a mile from here. We could go there, buy more food and find a ride. There must be someone going the right way.”

Since Lucas was the map-reader of the group, and surprisingly usually right about directions, they did as he said.

The town was so small that it was basically just a couple of houses, a few small shops and a gas station that also served as a diner.

First Lucas and Gia decided to head to the gas station so they could see if there’s any truck drivers or such that could be going their way. A few days ago they had just walked into a gas station and Lucas had started to chat with a truck driver who bought them coffee and donuts, and to top it off even offered them a ride. It could happen again.

Lucas went straight in, but Gia stayed outside with Jersey so the dog wouldn’t start panicking. Since Jersey was so big, they could never bring him inside with them, and they didn’t have a leash for him so they just had to trust that he was smart. Fortunately the dog was a fast learner and figured out quickly that he was supposed to sit still and wait.

When Gia went inside, a woman who worked there was refilling Lucas’ coffee cup and as soon as she saw Gia, she took out another cup and filled it for her. Gia sat down next to Lucas.

“Where are you two coming from?” the woman asked, just to make conversation. Lucas mostly did the talking while Gia looked around the place to see if there were any people who seemed like they could help them.

“New York”, Lucas answered.

They had agreed that they were Frank and Helen from New York, brother and sister, on their way to California to find their mother who left when they were only 6 years old. It was the perfect cover-up story. It was bound to raise the sympathy of most people, and therefore more people would want to help them.

“You don’t look old enough to drive or travel alone. How’d you get all the way here from New York?” the woman asked in surprise.

“Mostly we walked. Hitchhiked sometimes”, Lucas shrugged like it was no big deal. But in reality this was a carefully thought move. His words alone made the woman take pity on them, but the scared big-eyed look Gia gave her just boosted the effect.

“Well that just won’t do! Hitchhiking is dangerous, especially for someone as young as you two. Do you see the red-haired man over there?” The woman’s eyes started to glow of excitement when she pointed at a man drinking coffee in the corner. “He’s heading to Northern California. I bet he could give you a ride. Should I go ask him for you?”

“Oh, we don’t want to be any trouble”, Lucas tried and Gia looked really worried and hopeful, which made the woman even more determined to help these two kids.

“I’ll talk to him, you two just wait here. Oh, and the coffee’s on the house.”

Lucas and Gia exchanged a victorious grin when the woman walked off.

“You’re a genius”, Gia said.

“I know, I know”, Lucas laughed. “I’m just too good.”

Everything seemed to go as they wished. The man agreed to take them as far as Sacramento, and the woman gave them free food.

Then, someone turned on the TV, and that’s when everything went horribly wrong.

“As of today, it has been three weeks since Lucas Patrick Parker and Gia Micaela Way were last seen in their homes in New Jersey and since then there has been no sign of them. The police --“

Gia and Lucas practically spit the coffee out of their mouths when they heard their names mentioned. They stared at the TV screen in shock. Their pictures were on it, behind the newsreader, and every person in the gas station was staring at the two fourteen-year-olds.

“What now?” Gia asked, worried about what will happen. Everyone knew it was them. The hair dye didn’t fool anyone.

Lucas was silent for a moment. Then he drank the rest of his coffee, grabbed his and Gia’s donuts and stood up. “We run”, he then said, and ran off out of the door with Gia right on his heels.

Jersey jumped up as soon as he saw them and ran too. The three of them ran as fast as they could, until they couldn’t run anymore. They had gotten far away from the town, and gotten to a small forest where they could easily hide.

Gia fell to the ground, panting and holding her sides. She wasn’t athletic at all. Lucas, who was only in a slightly better shape leaned against a tree and then fell down to sit against it. He was out of breath as well. Jersey on the other hand seemed to enjoy running. Happily the dog went to lick Gia’s face in hopes of getting praised about how well he had sat and been quiet, but she just pushed him away.

“Your breath stinks”, she panted, but started petting him anyway.

Lucas was in a bad mood now. His fists were clenched and in his eyes he had tears of anger.

“Are you okay?” Gia asked, resting her upper body on her elbows.

“No I’m not fucking okay”, he answered and to take his anger out on something, he picked up a rock from the ground and threw it. Jersey mistook it as a ball and ran after the rock to fetch it. Soon he returned with the rock in his mouth and dropped it on Lucas’ lap. The rock was covered in drool.

Lucas sighed and pushed the rock away. “This just isn’t going the way I wanted it to.”

“Well what did you expect?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Not this. I guess I didn’t think things through before deciding to run away.”

Gia instantly got worried and went to sit next to him. “You’re not planning on going back, are you?”

“You hate this as much as I do”, Lucas frowned. He sounded really depressed, and he was obviously ready to give up.

“Of course I do! But that doesn’t mean I want to quit! Lucas, we just came across like almost the whole United States. We’re so close now that we can’t give up. You want to see your mom, right?”

For a moment, Lucas hesitated. It took a while before her words sunk in. Then his face spread into the familiar grin and his spirit was back up. Gia was kind of surprised of how little it took to cheer him up, but she was happy anyway. If Lucas wanted to give up, it would only be a matter of time before Gia starts feeling like that too. And she wasn’t ready to give up.

For the first time in her life, she was doing something she wanted to do. Granted, it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but who cares about smart? Gia had learned to throw the rule books out of the window and she wasn’t about to fish them back in just yet.

“Okay”, Lucas nodded and threw the rock for Jersey to fetch again. “Let’s do this thing.”

_____________________________________

Mikey was in Gerard’s kitchen, making him something to eat, even though experience told him that he wouldn’t even touch the food. Mikey did it anyway, because who knows; maybe Gerard would come to his senses and start eating again? And besides, Gerard would have to get up from his bed and start doing something after Mikey breaks him the bad news.

“Gerard, I brought you lunch”, Mikey said, entering the dark room.

The thick curtains had been pulled in front of the windows to block the sun and the room smelled like corpses. Gerard wasn’t crawled under the covers anymore; instead he was sitting on top of them with a sketchbook and a pen in his hands. Mikey took this as a good sign.

Mikey set the tray on the table and stared at his brother for a moment. Gerard hadn’t bothered showering nor shaving, let alone combing his hair, so he looked absolutely dreadful. Mikey wondered how he could break him the news he was about to tell, as the man was already broken enough as it is.

“Are you drawing?” Mikey finally asked after watching his brother for a while. He seemed to be concentrating on the drawing really hard.

Gerard looked up in surprise. He hadn’t even noticed Mikey there. No reply.

“Look, Gerard, I know how you must be feeling, but you have to start taking care of yourself.”

Gerard scoffed and continued scribbling on his sketchbook.

“Lindsey called today again. She wanted to know if you were okay.”

He got no reply, but he knew that his brother had acknowledged the information of the call, because for a moment the pen in his hand stopped moving. Mikey took that as a good sign.

Then again, he was afraid that what he has to say next would make Gerard lose it. Permanently.

“Gerard, do you remember Emily Ross?”

The man was shocked by the mention of the name he dreaded. Emily, the social worker lady, who once had attempted to take Gia away from him. The thought of Gia make Gerard want to crawl up under the covers again and die.

“She called this morning”, Mikey continued. “She’s coming over. Now she has solid proof that you’re not fit to be a parent. And I’m guessing that if – I mean when they find Gia, you’ll want to keep her here at home.”

The look on Gerard’s face was miserable. He put down the pen and the sketchbook. “I don’t know. I’m starting to think that maybe Gia would be better off somewhere else. She’s not coming back. And if she does, she’ll just be taken away from me. Maybe I should just give up. Maybe...”

Gerard trailed off, and Mikey was just about to give him a few well chosen words when a phone rang somewhere in the house.

“I’m going to go get that, but when I come back, you better be up from that bed.”

Mikey left for a moment, and Gerard could clearly hear Mikey’s tone of voice. He couldn’t make out what he said, but he could tell that at first he was sad, then hopeful, then happy. Then he was practically crying of how happy he was. Mikey ran back to Gerard’s room to tell him the good news.

“Someone saw them!” Mikey announced excitedly.

In less than a second, or so it seemed, Gerard was up from his bed, his mind buzzing from the new-found hope. “Where?!”

“Nevada.”

Gerard didn’t stop to wonder what on earth his daughter would want in Nevada, he was too busy running around.

“What are you doing?” Mikey asked.

“I’m going to Nevada!”

“Wait! I’m coming with you!”

“Sure,” Gerard said, but he wasn’t really listening. All he could hear was his thoughts, and all they were telling him to do one thing: to go get Gia home and lock her up in her room for the rest of her life. Nothing else could fit into his head at the moment.

_____________________________________

It was difficult. More than difficult. Actually it was a bloody mission impossible. But they managed to get to Sacramento unseen anyway, thanks to Lucas’ sneaky tactics and techniques.

In every big city they had been to, people had looked at them like they were freaks. Two kids who looked like they had been homeless for their whole lives walking on the streets with a big, angry gray dog wasn’t a sight you see every day. Sacramento was no different.

It was night when they arrived there, past 10PM to be more specific. Gia had never been to a big city before, because when her father travelled, he never took her along, and during this little cross-country trip she and Lucas were having, they had avoided big cities, not wanting to get caught.

“Okay, where should we go now?” Gia asked, glancing around nervously. There were only a few people on the streets, but they all looked at the three of them like they were dirt. And besides, she would never admit it, but she was a bit afraid of the dark.

“I think we should find a place to stay for the night”, Lucas said. It was getting dark and they were all tired. The problem was, they couldn’t really bring Jersey into a hotel, and they wouldn’t have had any money to pay for a room anyway.

“I will not sleep outside in a city,” Gia announced right away. They’d get arrested, and then they’d be shipped back home. “Where did you say your mom lived again?”

“Right outside of Sacramento. It’s a small town, I forgot the name,” Lucas answered. “Okay, let’s go find some place to sit down at least, then we’ll think about this.”

He had a point. Even if they had no place to sleep, the least they could do is rest their legs for a while. It would still take them hours before they reach Lucas’ mother’s house.

After walking around for while, they eventually found a mall with a fountain in front of it. The place was completely secluded and empty, so they were alone.

Lucas and Gia sat by one of the benches by the fountain, and Jersey jumped over the railing, into the shallow water to drink.

“Can I ask you something?” Gia asked him once they had settled down.

“Yeah.”

“What exactly are you planning on doing when we get to where your mom lives?”

Lucas was quiet for a long time. The only thing they heard was the sound of a police car somewhere far away, the water in the fountain, and Jersey jumping around, drinking and playing in the water.

“I have no idea,” he finally spoke with a shaky voice. “Honestly, I’m just making it up as I go. I know that if I go see her, I’ll want to talk to her, and then we’ll have to go back home…”

“Maybe it’s time to go back home,” Gia suggested.

“No,” he said firmly, shaking his head. “I’m not ready to give up yet.”

“Lucas, think about this,” she said. “We have nowhere to go, no money, no food. So, I’d say we’re running out of options.”

“We still have some money!” he argued.

“Yeah, we have 60 bucks. That’s not a lot. What happens when it’s gone?”

“I don’t know,” he sighed. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out. But we can’t go back, that’s the last thing we should do.”

“Why?”

He was starting to look a bit agitated, but that wasn’t a surprise. They hadn’t slept in a long time, so they were both getting a bit stressed. “Are you honestly telling me that you want to go back home? Home to your dad? He who would rather get drunk and have you take care of him than be a father? The guy who ruined your childhood?! When are you going to get the picture, Gia? He’s not going to change. He says he will, but in the end, he’ll just make your life miserable. You deserve better.”

“And this is better?” she asked, raising her voice as well. He had a point, but living like this didn’t make her happy either.

“No,” he answered. “But it will get better. We just… We need a plan. I’m working on it.”

“A plan? Lucas, when are you going to understand that we are 14 years old, with no money, nowhere to sleep, nothing to eat? We have nothing.”

“We have a hell lot more than we did back home! We’re free! Free to do whatever the hell we want, without me having to listen to someone who is pretty much just there to ruin my life, and without you having to deal with a drug-addict, alcoholic, sad excuse of a father!”

“Freedom won’t do much good if we’re dead.”

“You just don’t get it, do you? Okay, fine,” Lucas said, standing up and picking up his backpack. “You wanna give up and crawl back home? Then you can do it by yourself because I sure as hell won’t.”

“You’re leaving me?” she asked in disbelief. It was a fact both of them knew very well that Gia wouldn’t survive alone. Lucas was the one who got the food, he was the one who found them safe places to rest, he pretty much took care of her. While Gia did well in school and would manage a house by herself just fine, she lacked common sense and street smarts, something which Lucas seemed to have more than enough. That is why the mere thought of him leaving her alone in a completely strange city made her so nervous.

“Good luck trying to survive,” he said coldly, and walked away.

Gia felt dizzy all of a sudden. She hadn’t realized how much she had relied on him. The feeling of insecurity and fear didn’t do anything good. She was already tired and hungry, and now her chest felt heavy. Her heart was thumping somewhere close to her throat, like a sledgehammer.

She looked around in the dark nervously, making sure there was no one there. Gia had never been afraid of the dark, but now… Now it was different. This wasn’t the same, safe kind of darkness that surrounded her in her room when she couldn’t sleep. This was cold, unknown.

“Come on boy,” she said to Jersey, who had faithfully sat beside her through the whole fight. “Let’s go find a phone and call dad.”

She already missed Lucas.