FicWad

Tuesday
Frank

“Hey! Hey, faggot!” Someone behind me whispered loudly. I glanced up at the teacher, sitting at her desk. She didn’t seem to notice. This had been going on for at least ten minutes now. Looking at the clock, I sighed. Only a few more minutes and then class was over.

All of a sudden, I felt something hit me in the back of the head. They just won’t stop. The only thing that stopped me from turning around and beating them, was knowing I only had to deal with it for two more weeks.

A few minutes passed, and the guys behind me fell silent. Maybe they were tired of playing with something that didn’t play back. A few seconds later, the classroom door swung open revealing the principal, Mr. Norton. Ms. Houston jumped up from behind her desk, “Can I help you with something?”

Mr. Norton nodded, making eye contact with me. “Actually, I need to speak to Mr. Iero. There’s been an accident.”

My heart stopped. I could hear laughter coming from behind me. “What? Did his boyfriend do something?” I just ignored them. All I could think about was my mom. If anything had happened to her, I had no idea what I would do. Quickly, I grabbed my things and followed Mr. Norton into the hallway where two cops were standing.

This was bad. “Is my mom alright?” The two cops exchanged glances, and I felt my heart burst. My mom had to be okay. I couldn’t live without her.

“She’s in the hospital. Someone broke into your house and attacked her.” The taller of the two responded. I glanced at his nametag: Officer White.

Someone had broken into our house? This was crazy? We lived in one of the safest neighborhoods in town. Nothing like this had ever happened before. “Is she going to be okay?” More than anything I needed to know if she was hurt.

The shorter cop, Officer Drew, nodded. “We can take you to see her, if you want.”

“Yeah, thanks.” They started heading out of the school and I followed close behind. My mom was going to be okay. Everything would be fine.

As I climbed into the cop’s car, I couldn’t help but think about who could have done something like this. To my mom of all people. “Do you have any idea who did it?” I asked, as we headed out of the parking lot.

Officer White sighed and turned to face me. Shaking her head, he said, “I’m afraid not, kid. But I assure you we will find who did it.”

I nodded, hoping he meant it. I couldn’t live with myself if the person who did this was able to run free. “Was anything stolen?”

Officer White frowned, “No. In fact, it didn’t look like the burglar touched anything.”

I just nodded and looked out the window. After what felt like hours, we finally arrived at the hospital. Once I made it inside, it only took me a few moments to find my mom.

As soon as I walked into her room, relief flooded over me. She was still wearing her work clothes, which meant since they didn’t make her put one of those dresses on, her injuries weren’t serious. When she saw me, she smiled brightly.

I sat down on the edge of her bed, “What happened?”

She sighed, grabbing my hand and squeezing it gently. “Frank, it was nothing, really.”

I just sat there, waiting for her to continue. Eventually, she sighed again. “I went home for lunch, and just as I sat down someone broke in. THey attacked me and I fell unconscious.” She shook her head, meeting my gaze. “I’m not even hurt. I didn’t even want to come to the hospital, but they insisted. They needed to make sure I didn’t have a concussion or anything.”

Hearing what had happened, and knowing my mom was okay, I calmed down for the first time since I heard the news. “Did you see who did it?”

She laughed suddenly. “What are you? A cop?” She paused, her laughter fading, and met my eyes. “No, I didn’t see anything.” She shrugged, “It was probably just a drunk or something. Don’t worry about it.”

Just as she finished talking, the door swung open and a doctor walked in. He smiled, looking at the both of us. “Ms. Iero, you are free to go.” Beside me, my mom started to get up off the bed, obviously ready to get out of here. “I recommend taking it easy the next few days, just in case.” Without another word, he left the room.

I stood up, taking my mom’s lead. She smiled, “Come on, let’s go home.”

Fifteen minutes later we were walking into our house. It took us another five minutes to search the house, only to confirm what the cops had told us. Everything was in its place. Nothing had been taken. I still found it a little strange that someone would break into a house, and not take anything. It was very suspicious.

My mom yawned, walking down the hall to her bedroom. “I think I’m going to lie down. Wake me up about five so I can start cooking dinner.” She smiled at me one last time before disappearing into her room.

Collapsing on the couch, I glanced at the clock. It was a little after three which meant Mikey was out of school. Quickly, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and dialed Mikey’s number. He answered on the first ring. “Mikey, I need you to come over.”

“God, Frank. Where are you? I haven’t seen you all day. I was so worried--” I didn’t let him finish.

“This is important Mikey.” I paused, “Get over to my house as soon as you can.”

I heard him sigh into the phone. “Alright. I’ll be there in five minutes.” He hung up.

Setting my phone on the coffee table, I raked a hand through my hair. The last time I had spoken to Mikey was about my dad, and it had ended badly. Despite all that, he needed to know that happened.

He was the only person I wanted to talk to, the only one who would understand my concern. In the back of my mind, I knew that wasn’t true. I wanted to talk to Gerard just as badly, and I also knew that he would probably understand better.

There was a knock at the door, breaking me out of my thoughts. It took a matter of seconds to reach the front door and pull it open, revealing a very concerned looking Mikey. “If this is about what happened yesterday, I’m sorry. If I would have known about your dad, I never would have said--”

I cut him off. We could talk about that later. “Someone broke into my house.” He frowned and I just continued talking. “Whoever it was attacked my mom. She’s okay, though.”

I moved out of the way, letting him inside. “They didn’t take anything, Mikey. Which makes me wonder if they broke in for another reason.”

He nodded, sitting down on the couch. “Like they were looking for someone.”

I just nodded, collapsing next to him. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. “Do you have any idea who it might have been?”

I shook my head and leaned into Mikey’s side. But I did have an idea of who it might have been. The first person to cross my mind had been my dad. I knew it was crazy. Why, after so many years, would he come back? It made no sense.