FicWad

This is short and pretty uneventful, a filler sort of chapter. Sorry about that. There's a couple of things I'd like to do differently, some chapters that I'd gladly re-write but since the story is done I don't really want to mess with anything, so that it doesn't change the big picture in the end.. You can always review and tell me how much it sucked lol?




I had a feeling that something was very wrong.. Earlier, when Frank had touched me, for a split second I was the other me again. The other me from the other world. I could smell what she would've smelled, I could hear what she would've heard and I felt what she would've felt.
And now I couldn't sleep.

I didn't know what this meant but it scared the living hell out of me. Was I becoming less human by the hour? Why -or how- could that be happening? Wouldn't my senses be getting sharper every passing minute then, too?
They weren't.
Everything went back to normal the moment I took my hand from his. I couldn't hear anyone's pulse, I didn't have a problem with having anyone's heart beating and I sure as hell didn't want to rip anyone's head off. No bloodlust, at all.

I tried again, as I'd done for the past who knows how many hours, to reason with myself.
I just had a lot on my mind. That's how people were, stress and insomnia went hand in hand. Atleast that's what the Mikey guy had told me, when he had got up for a glass of water and noticed that I'd been awake.

He had said that I was propably stressed out. Which was true. So nothing to worry about.

"You're not breathing" I voice stratled me.
My heart skipped a beat and managed to distract me from what he had said.

"What?" I asked in a high pitched whisper.

"You're not breathing" Gerard's thoughtful, low voice came from behind me. He was just standing there when I was sure only a minute ago I'd seen him sleeping soundly on top of Frank.

"Of course I'm breathing" I scoffed, a little annoyed with him creeping up on me like that.

"You weren't before" His voice was a tiny bit accusing, which made me nervous.

"Do I look like goldfish to you?" I snapped, though my voice came out as a quiet hiss. I didn't feel like waking up the others and involving them in the conversation. I could see Gerard blush and I could tell a little rationality just found its way back into his head.
Why wouldn't I be breathing? How could I not be breathing?
I realized he was propably thinking about the same thing.

"Sorry.. I guess it's too dark to see, really. And with those guys snoring.. Well, you can't really expect to hear someone breathing" He mused, but added "Even if that someone was less than half a feet from you"

"Look Gerard, I'm sorry you didn't get to hear some cool story about me having superpowers, but I was deep in thought and propably just held my breath without realizing" I explained.

"Yeah, for five minutes.." He muttered.

"Hey! How long have you been standing there?" I hissed again "It's not nice to observe people when they aren't aware of you"

"Sorry"

"Whatever" I sighed "If I ever acquire any superhuman abilities, you'll be the first to know. You can go to bed now"
He seemed to think about that for a minute. His thoughtful gaze felt unnerving.

"And if you turn into a goldfish?" He finally gave me a tiny, lop-sided smile as he spoke the last word.

I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see my face,
"I'm sure you'll notice"

He seemed satisfied with that, and left the room. After a minute I could hear various noices coming from the kitchen and eventually I identified the coffee machine glucking.
I made a point check every half minute that I was breathing.
I was far too shocked to think straight. I hadn't been breathing. I hadn't needed to. I tried holding my breath now but after counting to twenty, my body was already begging me to exhale. I did.
I didn't want to think about this now.
In fact, I didn't want to think about it at all.

The only thing I knew for sure was that something about Frank had set this off. It was his fault. I didn't want to hurt him, but if I was changing because of him, I felt a little satisfied with the fact that he would propably also be the first one to suffer the concequences. Not because I wanted that, not now, but because that's what was going to happen if this was going where I feared it was.

A rapid tapping sound interrupted my train of thought and I turned my head to see Gerard on the doorway again, pointing at me and the kitchen, making weird gestures that were propably supposed to look like he was drinking something from an imaginery cup. This guy would make a horrible actor.
I got up, straightening my brand new pajama pants and the matching top and tiptoed across the cold hardwood floor out of the room and into the kitchen.

I almost let out a laugh when I saw Gerard's eyes study my appearance. The way his gaze was directed on my chest to see if I was breathing made me self-conscious, but I decided that the best way to cover my discomfort was to call on his.

"Are you looking at my chest?" I teased before turning to pour myself a cup of coffee.
I heard him mumble something incoherent and as I sat on the other side of the table, he was hiding his blush by pretending he was reading the paper, which, by the way, was the wrong way around.

I stretched my arm across the table,
"See, still no signs of becoming a goldfish" I smiled, knowing I would have to make a joke out of this things about not breathing. I would have to make him feel like he was being ridiculous, even though I knew he was right. I only hoped he wasn't as sure of what he'd witnessed.

He smiled back and shook his head a little "Sorry, I really just kinda freaked out a little. Not the first time staying up late results in shit like that. I have a pretty wild imagination, y'know, I was scared shitless as a kid every night, I was so sure that there were monsters all over the house" He chuckled.
I forced out a chuckle, too, though I was sure there was a hysteric laughing fit on its way if I dared to open my mouth.

I didn't know about his childhood home, but his fears weren't too far from the truth now.. Monsters all over the house, I shook my head sadly and then felt like smacking myself when I realized I had thought of myself as something not human again. I really had to work on that. I was human, I had to be.
I took a sip of the coffee then wrapped my both hands around the cup enjoying the warmth. Gerard was the one to break the silence.

"So.. What are you up to today?" He asked. Good question, what was I up to today? Ray hadn't asked me to come to work today, which I had imediately taken as a bad sign and slightly panicked over the fact before he hurried to explain he had only meant that I had a day off. Huh. What was I supposed to do on a day off?
Walk in the park? Eat ice cream?

"I was thinking about, like, walking in the park..?" I replied a little disappointed in the fact that it came out sounding more like a question than anything else.
"And.. uhm, eat ice cream" I specified.

"No pancakes?" I was startled again by another voice that came from behind me. I jumped and spilled a little coffee on the table.
Frank walked past me to the sink and threw the dish cloth at me.
I was getting really tired of the pancake thing, I had heard about 4739 pancake-related jokes last night, most of them coming from Frank. It got pretty old pretty fast.

"Nope" I answered blankly

"Oh, cause I know this place just 'round the corner" He said with a smirk, repeating the words he'd spoken only a few days ago.

"Take Gerard" I snorted. Gerard's head snapped up and I could see his widened eyes as he mouthed a no at me.

Frank turned to me and stared intently into my eyes. I had to look away.
"No" He said with a pause "I'd really like to take you"

"Fine" was all I managed to say.

So it was going to be another pancake trip with Frank. Ugh, perfect.