FicWad

As the six emotional adults searched through the belongings of their close friends, they quickly remembered the fond memories they had of the couple that had left them behind. It was clear for any stranger to see that the young couple loved each other completely; they seemed to have the perfect relationship to every onlooker. It was the oldest of the group, and who some consider the leader, who found the small wooden box in the wardrobe of one of his best friends. He slowly unhooked the safety catch and gently opened the delicate top revealing letters and pictures.
“Guys!” his voice croaked from the pure emotion he was feeling whilst thumbing through the contents. He was quickly accompanied by the rest of his band members and their wives. “It looks like photographs and letters they sent each other do you think they would mind us reading them?” Gerard asked looking around as each member shrugged softly.
“I’ll go make coffee and we can look through them?” Gerard’s wife Robyn suggested as everyone nodded their agreement, except for her husband who was lost in one specific picture.

Once they got word the coffee was made everyone returned to the dining room and sat along the solid oak table in the cosy home. The house, which now felt very empty without their friends, had be a comfortable and warm home full of love and affection not only for the occupiers, but for anyone who had entered. There had been many of times each wife or band member had come to the home with a complaint but was instantly relaxed by the usual smell of cinnamon or coffee. Now the house felt cold and lonely as though it too was grieving for the loss of the young bright couple. Gerard set the pictures and letters out along the table in a little pile so each member could pick up one and remember their own memories of the youngest band member who was now gone. None of them really knew how the couple had met, they just kept that to themselves, their own little story for a sad time but hopefully this small box will be the key to letting their friends become part of that secret too.
“Look at this; he looked so happy here and so did she.” Gerard’s brother spoke softly holding a picture gently in his hands. His wife leaning over smiling and making a comment on how young they both looked.
“Look at this one!” Ray spoke this time as he held up one of the band. They all instantly recognised where the picture had been taken. It was their first ever show, Frank had not been part of the band, he was simply a fan, that big of a fan that when they had decided they needed another member they knew instantly he was the right guy. Ray was apprehensive to say the least; he was scared that the younger energetic male would be his replacement in a short lived dream. However, after their first meeting as a band he quickly realised that this kid could teach him more then he knew and from then on the pair had been inseparable when it came to laying down their parts. Ray remembered how on the first record Frank had infuriated him by changing all he had wrote for the younger man but when they heard the track they had recorded he couldn't deny the perfection of them parts.
“Oh man! Look at his hair there! He still had his dreads.” Alicia commented. She herself had taken the picture and had been there when My Chemical Romance was just another dream of the Way brothers. “I will always remember them! They smelt like pot and everything.” She commented fondly with a small smile on her lips.
“Yeah but look in the background.” Ray added pointing to a faint outline of a young woman was looked like she was smiling at someone. “There were 5 people at that show. Alicia, a homeless guy, Frank, a girl and a guy. I don’t remember Eleanor being that girl.” Ray looked at us all hoping to jog our memory as the rest shock their head. “But that’s clearly her.” He smiled.
“Here they are talking.” Robyn spoke picking up another picture where it showed a very smiley Frank and Eleanor who was looking at the floor smiling with a blush probably because of Frank’s undeniable charm. Whenever you was around Frank you could not help but be uplifted by his always positive attitude. No matter how bad his day had been, or the tragedies in the world, he always managed to uplift everyone and make them smile with his stupid jokes or his playful pranks. He is what you would call a cheeky chap and everyone gave in eventually.

As the band exchanged their stories, none really kept watch of the time and they all became aware that the older man sat at the head of the table had not contributed he’d simply sat there staring into space. Robyn every so often would squeeze his knee under the table offering him a reassuring comfort. This was not lost on the lead singer, he would simply look at her smile half-heartedly, his wife sadly knowing that she could do very little to ease the pain he was feeling. “I’m going to get some air.” He spoke as Alicia started to make some more coffee. Gerard slowly walking through the old wooden door leading to the back garden that overlooked the woods where he and his friend would often travel down to for inspiration. He slowly lit up the stress relieving stick which glowed in the dark of the night. He stared out into the woods many questions whizzing around in his head, like why? Why was he here looking through pictures of his best friend when he should be looking at the stupid grin his best friend always had. He noticed that as he began to think these thoughts the bitter wind blew causing the biting sensation on his cheeks. He took this as his best friends warning him to stay happy and strong. But how could he?

Back in the house, the younger of the Ways could not help but look out after his older brother. When he had grown up Gerard had always been there to protect him, often reading him comic book stories he had created for his young brother. Often taking a beating in order to spare Mikey the pain and suffering and yet even though the entire band was feeling the loss of one of their own, it seemed that Mikey could not return the favour to his brother. He could not protect him the pain and suffering when he was most vulnerable, and that was what troubled the young man. Of course the band had their own worries but one which seemed to be an unspoken consensus was whether their older friend would revert back to old ways to help deal with this loss and they all knew should he do that, then that cycle would be very hard to overcome.