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Frank:

Gerard was pacing up and down the bus, pushing his hands through his hair and constantly glancing at the clock. I sighed. "Would you chill the fuck out?" I said. "He'll be fine."

"Six hours," he said. "He's been gone for six fucking hours. He hasn't called, he hasn't texted - what if something bad's happened to him?"

"Nothing bad will have happened to him," I said. "You know what Mikey's like. He'll got on a bus or in a taxi, gone somewhere miles away, found some coffee shop and he'll have sat there all day, trying to cheer himself up with caffeine."

"But... he could've let me know," Gerard frowned.

"Ray, tell him," I turned to the man sitting beside me on the couch.

"Mikey's fine, I'm sure," he said.

"But what if he's not?" Gerard said, sitting on my other side. "What if he got hurt? It was because of me that he walked out. What if something bad happened to him and it's all my fault?"

"C'mere," I put my arm around him. "You worry too much. Mikey's a big boy now. He can look after himself."

"I know but... he's my baby brother, Frank," he said. "I wish he'd just call or something..."

"You try calling him," Ray suggested. Gee sighed.

"I have. I think he's still pissed with me, he won't pick up," he said.

"It's always worth trying again," I encouraged. He nodded and pulled his phone out. He dialled Mikey's number and held it to his ear for a few minutes. Then he shook his head. He was about to hang up, but I held his wrist, telling him to leave a message. He swallowed. "H-Hey, Mikes," he said. "It's me. Gerard. Look, I'm sorry I upset you. I'm worried about you, buddy. Just... call me back or text me when you get this, yeah? Let me know you're safe." And then he hung up.

**

Two more hours later, and I was starting to panic too. Mikey disappeared a lot when he was pissed about someone or something, but he'd never been gone for this long before. He always came back after a couple of hours, reeking of cigarettes and coffee shops. He'd mumble an apology and either hide himself away in the bunks or sit and take a lecture from Gerard for an hour, then spend the rest of the night watching TV with his brother. But he'd been gone for eight hours today. And it wasn't like him to not answer his cell. I could tell Ray was freaking out as well, but we both kept it together for Gerard.

I pacified him with endless cups of coffee and Ray chatted away about some comic book or another. He left every cup to go cold and only respond to Ray in grunts and monotones. When we heard the door, Gee leapt to his feet.

Mikey looked awful. His tee-shirt was dirty and his jeans were torn. His jacket sleeve was ripped right up the seam and the collar had been torn clean off. His cheeks were wet and his nose running - he'd clearly been crying. That worried me. Gerard was prone to tearing up at a movie or breaking down when he fell out with one of us or his wife. But Mikey hardly ever cried. But that still didn't worry me the most.

He had a wound on his forehead, as if he'd been hit with something heavy. There was a dark-red crusted blood stain around it, on his skin and even in his hair. "Oh my God, Mikey!" Gerard rushed to him. "What happened? Where have you been? Are you okay? Do I need to get a doctor?"

"I... I don't exactly know what happened," Mikey said, in a small voice. "I was just walking around and I went up this alleyway. Somebody hit me with... something. I don't know what it was. It knocked me out. When I came around he was gone and I came back here."

"Oh my God," Gee said, breathlessly. "Oh my God. Somebody call a fucking doctor or something!!"

"I'm on it," Ray pulled his cell from his pocket.

"C'mon," Gee tugged Mikey's arm gently. "I'll clean you up."

I followed them to the cramped bathroom. There wasn't enough room in there for all three of us, so I stayed standing in the doorway. Gerard sat Mikey down on the closed toilet lid and started dabbing at his head with a damp washcloth. Mikey winced. "Fuck, I'm hurting you, aren't I?" he said.

"A little," Mikey confessed. "But don't stop. It's okay."

"Right," Gerard nodded, carrying on cleaning up Mikey's head. We were all quiet for a little while, then Mikey looked up at Gerard.

"Gee, I saw him. The guy who hit me," he said.

"What? You did?" Gerard said. "Who was he? Anyone you know? Anyone I know?" Mikey shook his head. "Well then, what did he look like?"

"Gerard... it was the man who was outside the window last night," Mikey whispered.

There was something scary about the silence that followed.