FicWad

Chapter 7

It had seemed as if winter was over, so it came as a shock to everyone in Belleville when they woke up on February fourteenth to almost two feet of snow. The usually gray, littered suburbs were now hidden under a soft blanket of pure, white snow, hiding the town’s deepest, darkest secrets. Icicles the size of all the smashed wine bottles, hidden under the snow, now seemed like the only threat, hanging from rooftops like silver daggers and making adults and children alike forget that they still lived in one of the most dangerous towns in America.

Schools were supposed to stay closed that day, though to everyone’s disappointment, enough snow was removed from the roads to allow everyone access to school. Well, maybe not everyone was disappointed. This was the day Gerard would finally win Frank’s heart. February fourteenth. Normally, both of them hated the day, and all the fuss people made about it, but this time it was the perfect opportunity.

Stepping out onto the icy driveway, Gerard wondered how many people would actually show up. If Frank stayed home, his entire plan would go to hell and he’d have to wait until school was over to speak to him. That’s if Frank even wanted to talk to him after everything that happened. They hadn’t spoken since then and Gerard was worried that his best friend hated him. To be honest, he wouldn’t blame Frank for hating his guts. He made it seem as if he really liked Frank, then broke his heart the next day. It was a really shitty thing to do.

The walk to school from his house was so short that Gerard barely noticed when he got to school. Shaking the snow from his boots, he stepped into the warmth of the school building and removed his coat. He was immediately surrounded by crowds of excited teenagers, walking around in their cliques, going on about snow and Valentine’s Day. In fact, Gerard didn’t hear a single conversation that didn’t involve one or both of those two topics. There was only one person who stood out from the crowd. Gerard’s heart skipped a beat as he looked up and saw Frank slumped against a wall, head down, hood up, headphones in and one hand in the pocket of his black skinny jeans while the other flicked through songs on his iPod.

The temptation to walk over to his best friend and start a conversation the way he always did was incredible, but Gerard knew that if he wanted to really surprise Frank, he’d have to wait until the Valentine’s cards were given out, in registration. Besides, it would be too awkward to just start speaking again after days of awkward silence and text messages that ended up never being sent. Instead, he walked over to one of the card stalls and dropped fifty cents into the jar. “One card, please.” He whispered, surprised at how hoarse his voice was.

The girl behind the stall smiled at him sweetly, handing him a red, heart-shaped card and a squared envelope. “Here you go. Write the lucky girl’s name and class on the front of the envelope and put the card in that box.” She pointed to a large, decorated cardboard box with a slit cut out in the top.

Gerard smirked at the girl’s mistake, though he would never admit that he was actually sending a card to Frank. He simply took the pen and walked over to the nearest wall to lean on, so that nobody would see the message he was writing.

Meanwhile, as Frank looked up from his iPod, he gasped seeing Gerard for the first time since… then. His heart snapped in half as he saw Gerard scribbling a long message inside a card. Of course, there was someone else. A girl. He moved away from the wall, then turned and disappeared through the glass double doors and around the corner.

Gerard finally finished writing, signing off with ‘xoxo - Love, Gee’, when he heard it. He immediately froze hearing chuckling right behind him, a cold breath on the back of his neck. Someone had been reading what he was writing, and he knew perfectly well who it was.

“Beautiful! I think I’m going to cry!” The soccer team captain clapped, mock-crying and sniffing as he clearly struggled to hold back an eruption of laughter. They were all there. All the guys who chased him and Frank into that hole in the woods last Halloween.

“So, who’s the unlucky guy?” One of the smaller soccer team members chuckled. Terrified for Frank more than himself, Gerard decided to throw another glance at the card and make sure that he didn’t use Frank’s name in the message. He might not be ready for the world to know, the way Gerard himself wasn’t ready. Though as he shifted his gaze at the card, a large, powerful hand ripped it from his grip, hovering it over his head as the big guy read it out loud, tears of laughter forming in his evil eyes, before turning away and striding out into the middle of the crowded school foyer.

“Hey! Excuse me! Attention!” He screamed, as people turned their heads in his direction.

“NO!” Gerard screamed and broke into a run, but another pair of powerful hands pulled him back by the collar and covered his mouth. He attempted to scream and set himself free, but instead all that could be heard was mumbling, coming from behind the rest of the team.

“Hi, sorry to interrupt your day,” The guy smirked, “but we found a homo over here!” Seconds later, the school erupted with laughter as Gerard was shoved violently into the middle. The big guy grabbed hold of Gerard’s wrist, causing the boy to squirm in pain, and lifted it into the air so that everyone could see who it was. One of Gerard’s feet lifted off the ground when his arm couldn’t stretch anymore. That guy was so much taller, and definitely a lot stronger. As he let go, Gerard fell to the ground, grabbing his arm in pain. It wasn’t long before an apple hit him over the head. The laughter didn’t die down; if anything, it got louder.

He attempted to stand up, but a heavy foot squashed him to the floor, suffocating him for several seconds. As the pressure from the foot eased gradually, the card he wrote for Frank dropped next to him. Without thinking, he grabbed it and crawled away, stumbling as he stood up. He was now being showered with crumpled paper, apple cores and various other items. If only he could make it to the bathroom…

His hand locked around the handle of the bathroom door and he pushed it without hesitation, running inside and slamming the door, leaning against it in case someone tried to attack him. And it was rather likely, especially considering that the school bathrooms had no cameras. People were violent. Gerard never understood what was wrong with being gay. Why did they even care? It was his life, not everyone else’s.

“Having fun?” Gerard’s heart leapt up to his throat as Mikey emerged from one of the cubicles.

“Mikey! What are you doing in here?” Gerard screamed, his eyes beginning to fill up with tears as he realized that whatever life he had was practically over. “Can you please just leave me alone?!”

“I came in here to get away from the mob. And no, I can’t leave.” He replied emotionlessly, tracing the writing on one of the walls with his finger. He and Gerard hadn’t spoken since they had a fight, and Mikey, still mad at his brother, was enjoying his pain. Or at least acting as if he did.

“Did you…” Gerard began to sob. “Did you tell them to look over my shoulder or something?”

“Mikey scoffed. “I’m not as terrible a brother as you. I would never sink to that level. I guess it was just luck…” The boy now moved on to writing his own messages with his finger on the only unbroken mirror.

Out of nowhere the bathroom door was flung open and Frank stormed in, his expression unidentifiable. Mikey was now stood silently in the corner between the back wall and the sink, arms crossed and forehead wrinkled. Gerard was between them, hunched over slightly. He gasped and hiccupped, jumping about ten feet into the air at the sound of someone entering the bathroom.

“Gerard!” Frank’s voice, despite being full of rage and confusion, was ringing with deep concern. “What’s going on out there? I keep hearing your name in all the chaos…”

Gerard immediately spun around at the sound of his best friend’s voice, looking a lot like a lost lamb, small, scared, shaking as the streaming tears spread his eyeliner down his red, swollen face. Before Frank could utter another word, Gerard leapt up and embraced him in a tight, apologetic hug.

Frank felt everything melt from his mind at that point, and he hugged Gerard back the second he realized what was actually happening.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I let things get so awkward between us after what happened and I should have called you and I’m just so sorry!” Gerard sobbed, his voice merely a shaky whisper.

“Gee, it’s all my fault that things got-”

Gerard cut him off, his embrace tightening significantly, making Frank gasp in surprise. “No, Frank! No, it isn’t. It isn’t, it really, really isn’t. If anything, you made things better. Trust me when I say so…”

Mikey rolled his eyes, turning his head away and biting his lip to stop tears from coming on.

As soon as Gerard released him, Frank took him by the shoulders and looked deep into his vacant and stained, murky, hazel-green eyes. “Gerard, now look at me. Why has everyone suddenly tuned against you?” The seriousness in Frank’s voice gave him just about enough strength to speak.

“I-I-I…” He sobbed and stuttered, shaking helplessly, “I may have wr-written you a c-card…” He finally managed to choke out.

“What kind of card?” Frank’s voice remained calm, compared to the chaos just outside. “What did it say?” Despite his stern tone of voice and firm grip on Gerard’s shoulders, Frank was close enough to melting into the ground. A card. On Valentine’s day. What else could it be…?

“It… it…” Gerard sobbed and hiccupped violently. “It said…” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the card. It was torn, stained and crumpled from when it was taken off him. With a shaking hand, he hesitantly handed it to Frank, who looked up at him from behind his eyelashes as he took it.

To the most special guy in my life: I don’t know how to even begin to apologize for everything… I know I acted like a complete ass, though I did have reasons for saying what I said. But I want you to know that everything I said was just a lie to cover up how I really felt. You are the only guy - only person – I could ever Imagine myself with, and I hope you can forgive me for behaving the way I did. I’ve liked you a lot for a long time now, and I hope that you really do like me too. Xoxo – Love, Gee.

Frank stared blankly at the words, rereading them over and over in his head. He could feel his heart racing and his eyes swelling. He could still hear Gerard’s sobs, though they seemed much more distant now. Everything seemed distant now. Everything except for the words he’d just read; they were the only thing in the world that still felt real. Gerard really did love him back and he’d been worrying for nothing. Everything was going to be okay. There was a happily ever after…

His heart continued to race as he looked up from the card into Gerard’s stained, swollen eyes. Without hesitation, he leapt up, flinging his arms around his neck, and let their lips collide once again. The love, the joy, it was all there. The world around them disappeared and everything was complete.

The click of a cell phone camera brought them back down to Earth. Mikey’s smirk changed the atmosphere from joyful to evil and toxic in seconds as he stood against the back wall, holding his phone up to his face. “That’s the perfect shot.” He grinned.

“Wh-” Frank’s eyes widened in shock at the sight of Mikey, and they continued to widen as he noticed the boy holding his phone up. “M-Mikey…? How long have you been here?” He began walking towards him slowly.

“Shit…” Gerard whispered to himself.

“The whole time. I was talking to Gee when you came in. Did you really not see me?” The smirk never left Mikey’s face as he tapped the screen of his phone a few times. “That was quite a scene, too bad I didn’t get the whole thing on video. But I do have a photo of the kiss… Man, I’d kill to know what that card said…” He trailed off the subject slowly.

“Mikey, please, delete that picture…” Frank demanded sternly but cautiously, his voice shaking a little. He reached for the phone but Mikey’s height made it impossible for Frank to reach. He was already small enough without standing next to a giant.

“Nuh, uh!” The younger boy chuckled, moving his thumb across the screen. “One more step and I press send…”

Frank moved away obediently, confusion mixed with rage and fear contaminating his widened eyes. “Why are you doing this…?” His voice shook as he asked the question hesitantly.

The boy pointed at his older brother, squinting. “Why don’t you ask your new boyfriend? He’s the one that betrayed me…”

Gerard took a step forward, gasping as Mikey’s thumb twitched, so close to the send button. “So you’re going to take it out on Frank?” He screamed, suddenly remembering what just happened to him; the angry crowd, the apples and paper thrown at him, the foot on his back, the kicking, the laughter. The humiliation... He couldn’t let that happen to Frank. He couldn’t let his brother send the picture.

“I know how much you care about him…” The younger boy’s eyes were overflowing with hatred, though even that was not enough to mask the hurt behind it.

“Yes…” Gerard admitted, his voice cracking under the pressure of the lump in his throat, his arms falling helplessly by his sides. “Yes.” This time he said it louder, looking up and taking a step towards his brother, whose thumb moved even closer to the button that could ruin Frank’s life. “And I know how much you care about him too…” Mikey’s expression softened, lowering the phone slightly and letting his brother continue. “Would you really do that to someone you care about this much? It’s me whose life you should be trying to ruin right now…”

Mikey opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Instead, letting his arm drop completely, he closed his mouth and simply stared at the dirty, littered floor. It was his way of showing that he was contemplating not sending the picture. Frank, however, wasn’t convinced. Seeing this as the perfect opportunity, Frank leapt forward in an attempt to snatch Mikey’s phone and delete the picture. But the younger boy was too fast. A quick wave of shock ran through him and his eyes widened behind his thick glasses as he noticed Frank moving towards him. He immediately stepped inside the back cubicle and slammed the door, trapping Frank’s skinny, white fingers for a split second.

“Argh!” Frank exclaimed, gritting his teeth and grabbing his hand, after quickly pulling it out of the plastic door. Squinting, he crouched down and hissed in pain.

“Frank!” Gerard’s eyes filled with fear and concern as he placed a hand on his shoulder. “Frankie, are you okay?”
Seeing Frank nod, he turned back to Mikey, whose head was poking out at the top of the cubicle door after stepping on the edge of the cracked toilet seat. “What the hell?!” He raged at his brother. This time Mikey’s face displayed guilt.

“I’m sorry! It was just a reflex!”

At that point, they all froze. Before anyone had the chance to say anything else, the bathroom door flung open and an angry principal stormed in.

“What in the world is going on?!”

Shocked, Mikey jumped, suddenly slipping letting go of his phone. As he found his balance, his jaw dropped when he heard a splash, and only seconds later, it floated back up to the surface, the screen black and the keys no longer lit up. Simultaneously, Gerard let out one last surprised hiccup, immediately slapping one hand against his mouth in embarrassment.

“The entire school burst into this massive riot and someone told me that Gerard Way had something to do with it all! Everyone is in class now, though, except for the three of… you…” The principal trailed off, his gaze shifting from Gerard, with his hand still covering his mouth, to Frank, crouched on the floor, gripping his hand, to Mikey, whose head was just about visible in the gap above the cubicle. All three boys were wearing the same expression of shock and embarrassment, each one holding his breath, awaiting the end of the tense and awkward silence. Eventually, Gerard decided to speak, but the principal cut him off.

“I’ll, uh, exp-“

“I don’t even care, just go to my office.”

The three boys followed the principal obediently, Gerard chewing on his lower lip, Frank still clutching his hand and Mikey at the end after cautiously stepping down to the floor and out of the cubicle.

The walk to the principal’s office was a silent one, and felt like the longest walk Gerard had ever taken. Out of the corner of his eye he could see other students leaning back in their chairs, their mouths forming words he couldn’t quite make out, their hands forming gestures he knew all too well, some pressing their faces against the rectangles of glass in the soundproof classroom doors. In his head he could already hear the different theories they would come up with to explain what they were seeing, and they were ones he didn’t want to imagine. Shutting his eyes tight and gritting his teeth, he tried his best to block out everything other than the fact that he was finally with the person who means the world to him.

“Frank, Michael, Gerard, sit down.” He opened one eye at the sound of the principal’s stern voice to notice that the door was being held open for him and the other two boys were already inside the office. The heavy wooden door slammed the second Gerard took a hesitant step forwards, causing him to jump slightly and bury his head even deeper in his shoulders.

“Sit.” The principal repeated, walking around to the other side of the desk and doing just that. Gerard obeyed. Feeling someone’s sight on him, he turned his head slightly to the left. Frank was looking directly at him, offering a small, comforting smile that seemed to convey all sorts of different emotions. He attempted to smile back, dropping his gaze to Frank’s slightly swollen hand for a second, then let their eyes reconnect once again. Frank’s expression suddenly changed to one of fear and embarrassment.

“Please, don’t tell.” He mouthed silently to Gerard, who blinked slowly in response and gave the slightest, almost unnoticeable nod. Sighing in relief, Frank turned to face the principal again, and Gerard copied. Mikey had been staring at the opposite wall the whole time, clearly attempting to keep up his angry and tough act. However, the fear in his eyes and excessive lip biting were giving him away.

Sighing, the principal leaned forward on his desk, interlocking the fingers on both of his hands with an exhausted expression showing through the wrinkles on his forehead and silver and brown stubble on his chin. “Would one of you care to explain what happened today?”

Silence.

“Okay,” He sighed heavily, “I think I’ll pick on Gerard, since his name came up a lot today…”

Gerard was frozen, his eyes slightly widened and his thin, pale lips parted. Frank shifted in his seat uncomfortably, at the sound of Gerard gulping, before deciding to break the silence and say something.

“Gerard’s cousin has bad handwriting.” Frank clenched his jaw, feeling Mikey shift in his seat and turn to look at him. On his other side, he heard Gerard relax and sigh quietly. The principal froze with his gaze now fixed on Frank. He had opened his mouth to say something, but closed it straight away. His gaze dropped to the desk, then shifted from side to side as he reconsidered it, before finally speaking.

“What?” The question was short and snappy, but the time it took to ask it had given Frank enough time to come up with what he would say next.

“Yes. Gerard’s cousin has really bad handwriting and she wanted to send someone a card for Valentine’s day, but she wanted it to look nice…” Frank explained slowly, keeping his eyes on the principal to see if he was buying it. “And Gerard has really nice handwriting…” He added.

“That’s right!” Gerard exclaimed. “My cousin… Patricia! Patricia Stump, you might know her. She gave me the message she wanted me to write inside the card. While I was writing the card, some jocks snatched it and… umm… got the wrong idea… They thought that I was writing it for a guy. Which I wasn’t!”

Mikey’s arms were now folder, his lips pressed tight together. His eyes were darting all over the place, but refusing to meet the principal’s gaze. He didn’t particularly want to get involved in this lie. It’s not like it was a serious lie, but he knew that if he opened his mouth, the truth would come flooding out, just like the tears which were still threatening to fill up his eyes.

“Yes. Then the riot happened and Mikey and I ran into the bathroom to make sure that Gerard was okay…” Frank confirmed.

“Very well…” The principal sighed. “Could I by any chance speak to Gerard alone? I’ll have to talk to you two again at some point, but I don’t think you’re in any trouble if what you’re saying is true.”

Frank got up slowly, hesitant to leave Gerard on his own. Meanwhile, Mikey immediately jumped to his feet, nearly knocking over his chair. If he stayed there much longer, he’d spill the truth, and that’s something he couldn’t do, no matter how mad he was at Gerard.

“Straight to lessons, boys!” The principal called through the narrowing gap in the door, before it shut completely and the two of them were left alone, surrounded by suffocating silence and the kind of tension you’d only ever feel in a horror movie. Gerard was sitting on his hands, his back straight and tense, an expression of terror displayed on his pale face as he chewed his bottom lip nervously. He thought about how he froze before, and how he’d relied on Frank to come up with an explanation. He thought about how much he hated lying. He thought about how much he wanted to cry. He thought about already having to keep a chunk of his life secret. And he thought about Frank.

“Right, umm…” The principal was now biting his own lip, which Gerard found strangely comforting. “I, uh, did you… I mean, did you by any chance lose a sketchbook?”

At that moment, the world seemed to crash around Gerard. His heart leapt in shock as it suddenly dawned on him that when he walked into school that morning, he was holding a book. The book. The one containing all the drawings of Frank… Nearly every single one of his muscles turned to stone, the only visible movement being his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as he gulped, and the zip of his hoodie shifting slightly with every powerful heartbeat. Was this what it was like to die? Was it even possible to die from embarrassment? If yes, was he about to? Maybe he could just wake up and everything would be over… Better still, maybe he could wake up in heaven. Or hell, he didn’t really care at the moment; he just wanted to disappear off this planet. His vocal chords began to become responsive once again, though his heart rate remained dangerously fast.

“D-Did…” He uttered, his voice coming out as a hoarse whisper, “Did you look through it…?”

The principal bit his lip again, scratching his nose and letting his gaze drop to the desk again. “I, umm… I didn’t have to…” His voice, too, sounded strangely quiet, but more like a mumble than a whisper, as he picked up the book and handed it to Gerard. The very second he stood up and took it, at least fifty drawings slipped out onto the desk, all torn out, some crumpled and stepped on. Gerard’s jaw dropped, his hand remaining in the same position, in midair, clutching the worn out spine that once held all these drawings together. Subconsciously, he let out a quiet whine, letting his body drop back onto the chair.

“These were scattered all over the floor. I picked them up…” The principal explained, still refusing to meet Gerard’s gaze. “These are, umm, actually really good. You’re very talented. That other person in the drawings… that’s Frank, right?” The man finally looked up, in an attempt to distract Gerard from the shock he was in. The boy, however, remained frozen, his unique eyes exploding with terror, shame and distress, all of which were slowly becoming overshadowed by a curtain of bitter tears, threatening to spill onto what once were pages of a book, but had now become meaningless scraps of paper. He eventually turned his head away and jumped to his feet, letting his chair slide right back and hit the wall behind him. The tears fell as Gerard shook his head rapidly and took several steps back, until the wall didn’t allow him to go any further. It took a few silent attempts before he finally managed to utter anything.

“No.” He whispered, panicking, his breaths loud and shaky. “No, no, no, NO, NO!” The whispers turned to screams. “This wasn’t supposed to happen!! It wasn’t meant to happen…” Collapsing back into the chair and burying his swollen, red face in his hands, Gerard sobbed loudly. Anywhere else in the world, this may have been an overreaction. But not here. In addition to being one of the most dangerous towns in America, it was also one of the most homophobic. Once people knew, he would lose his part-time job, and he would never be able to get another one. And he needed one. Badly. As far as everyone knew, his mother was an alcoholic with severe social anxiety. Only he and Mikey knew that this wasn’t why she never left the house. Only they knew how ill she was, and only they could pay for her medication. The medication that caused her to believe that they were evil. The medication that meant neither of them could spend their teenage years the way other teenagers did, because they had to take care of a mother who thinks that she hates them, even if it is just due to chemical unbalance in her brain. And it’s not like they didn’t try to explain. It’s just that nobody would believe. Because she really did go through a phase of alcohol, years and years ago. On the day she left rehab, healthy and clean, she came home to find her sons home alone, with a note from her husband informing her that he had left and was never coming home. And that was that. She never went back to alcohol, though, despite everything, but the damage she’d already done to herself was enough to provoke a life threatening illness. Since then, their lives were all about the meds. The chemicals. Work for them, get them, give them to her, work for more, get more, etc. And what was his life now? Still full of chemicals. But at least he’d found romance, and he couldn’t have that taken away from him. Not now, not ever.

“Gerard, calm down. There’s no need to overreact, it’s really not that big a deal.” The principal leaned over the desk even more, using the calmest voice he could manage.

Gerard immediately lifted his head up from his hands. “No! You don’t get it! You don’t get it!” He cried, wanting to explain everything, but not knowing how to. “There is so much more to my life that nobody gets and this just ruined everything! I can’t save her life now! I can’t save her life!” He considered the possibility that maybe he really was overreacting, but it was too late now. Eventually concluding that this was probably the regular amount of hysterics for the situation that he was in, he decided to stop screaming, and sobbed instead, letting his body rock back and forth gently as his fingers combed through his hair.

After a lengthy pause, the principal finally cleared his throat and spoke, “I’m going to send you home… I’ll call your mother and have her pick you up.” With that, he proceeded to pick up the phone and was about to start dialing the number he’d found in the database on his computer while Gerard was panicking. However, the boy stopped him.

“No! She… Can’t get out of work… I’ll walk.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you walk home in this state. Are you sure your mother can’t get off work until tomorrow? Someone needs to drive you home and make sure that you’re okay…” The principal insisted. Gerard simply shook his head, still sobbing. The principal sighed. “Right… Let me just make a quick call to the main office.” He then picked up the phone once again and pressed a single button. Several seconds later, Gerard could just about make out the receptionist’s muffled voice on the other end of the line.

“Could you just sign me out? I need to nip out for a while, I’ll be back in forty-five minutes tops. I also need you to email Gerard Way’s teachers for today, tell them that he’s not feeling well and has gone home. Great, thanks, Cheryl.” He sighed again before putting down the receiver and getting to his feet. “Right, get all your stuff, I’m taking you home.”

Gerard simply looked up in shock. It was better than walking and risking getting beat up, but… wouldn’t it be awkward? Without questioning it, he stood up, gathering his drawings and stuffing them into his old, worn out backpack. Involuntary sobs still escaped his mouth every few seconds, but aside from that, nothing was said as he followed the principal down the back staircase and out into the teachers’ parking lot around the back of the building. As they stopped outside a sparkling new BMW, Gerard felt a wave of jealousy. It wasn’t fair. Nothing was fair. He worked his ass off and spent almost every penny on his mother’s medication and food while still attending school, while some people did so very little and could still afford luxuries. If you think about it, it’s sick. There’s no point in having a car like that around here, because the windows will get smashed and the wheels will be stolen within a week. Unless, of course, you have a fancy house with a garage and working security system. Which brings us back to, unfair.

“Don’t you have any warmer shoes?” The principal asked in surprise, looking down at Gerard’s worn out, old hi-tops. He’d painted the Converse logo on them a few years ago, but even the good fabric paints Frank gave him one Christmas were fading.

“I… uh… I’m wearing really thick socks…” He muttered his lie, drawing patterns in the snow with his left foot.

The principal’s face displayed concern as he reminded Gerard that two feet of snow fell overnight, as if he’d somehow forgotten. They then stepped into the warmth of the BMW. Not used to being in a car, Gerard fumbled with the seat belt before realizing that he was trying to fasten it the wrong way.

“Without sounding creepy, where do you live?” The principal asked, watching Gerard struggle with the seat belt. The boy quickly explained, before the engine was started and the car fell silent. It was only halfway there that Gerard got the courage to break the silence.

“Isn’t this illegal? You taking me out of school without a guardian’s permission…” The principal glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, but remained silent, which Gerard took as a yes. Another few minutes of deafening silence passed before it was shattered once again.

“Can I ask you something, Gerard? It’s about something you said.”

Gerard glanced at the principal for a moment, before agreeing, despite the fact he probably wouldn’t like whatever it was he was about to be asked. Something he said… It could be anything; he said a lot of things.

“What did you mean when you said that you ‘can’t save her life’?”

This required a lot of thought. He would have to explain his whole story, which could get a lot of other people involved, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted that. On the other hand, maybe they would hold a fundraising event… But they were two minutes away from his house, and the story would take much longer than that to tell. And maybe he’d rather work and continue living the way he does rather than having everyone know what’s going on in his life… If they all knew that story, along with everything that happened today, they would have the power to completely destroy him. Although, they probably already do.

The principal quickly scanned Gerard’s face to see if maybe he’d passed out or just forgotten that a question, unless rhetorical, requires an answer. However, seeing that the boy was clearly in deep thought, he decided to wait.

“I… I don’t know… did I say that? I don’t even remember.” Gerard lied after finally snapping back into reality. “I say a lot of things when I’m in full on panic mode.” Still involuntarily sobbing every now and then, he turned to face the window in order to avoid crying again, only to see that Frank’s driveway was just down the road. That means… He turned to look out of the window on the driver’s side, but the car was already slowing down and turning, before coming to a complete stop. That was quick.

“This is the right house, isn’t it?” The principal asked, wanting to make sure that he didn’t pull up in a stranger’s driveway.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Gerard grabbed the door handle, then paused and turned around. “Thank you.”

“Are you sure you’re okay now? I obviously can’t stay and make sure you’re alright until your mom gets home – in fact, I’ve already broken the rules – but you should have somebody watching you right after a breakdown like this…

“I’ll be fine. Thanks again, though. And don’t worry.” He threw a smile at the principal and watched as the car reversed onto the snowy road, then turned and disappeared around the corner at the end of the street. Gerard turned around as well, marching up the path like a soldier in a black parade. He knew this path so well. Every rock, every hole in the ground, every little imperfection. But today, frozen and hidden under a white blanket, it seemed so alien and unfamiliar. His footprints from his morning had been covered with fresh snow, which made it seem as if this morning had never happened. If only…



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“Mommy! I want to go home!” a little boy’s shriek could be heard in the distance. Four-year-old Gerard heard a woman’s voice coming from the same direction, but couldn’t make out what she was saying. Peering out of the window didn’t help at all, as the view was blocked by a monstrous moving truck. Wait… a moving truck…

Sprinting through the door into the warm, summer air, he gazed at the vehicle parked a few houses down on the opposite side of the street. He knew that he wasn’t allowed to cross the road on his own, but curiosity had gotten the better of him. What could be behind that big scary truck? A big scary lady, like the one that lived there until a few weeks ago? Looking around for cars, Gerard decided it was safe to cross the road.

“Mommyyyyy!” More whining, followed by what sounded like sobbing. Curious, Gerard decided to explore the moving truck. He felt like a true explorer, right up until an enormous man emerged from behind the truck holding a pickaxe.

“Oh, hello there.” The man’s loud, deep voice echoed slightly. This was enough to scare a four-year-old into running away. And that’s exactly what he did. He ran, and screamed, not even bothering to check if the road was clear. Thankfully, it was, and it seemed as if he was going to make it home safe. Until… THUD! The last thing he remembered was his shoe getting caught on the big rock right in the middle of the path. Without hesitating, he let out a deafening cry, followed by a series of sobs and whines. As he slowly lifted himself up and sat up on the dusty path, hugging his knee, he noticed the scary man running towards him. At that point it didn’t matter. All that mattered was this ‘life-threateningly serious’ little scrape. As long as it was bleeding, it was serious enough to panic over – that was the child logic.

“Are you okay?” Gerard hadn’t noticed the skinny, brown-haired little boy before, but now he was standing over him, holding out his hand with a look of concern spread across his childish face.

“No!” Gerard cried loudly, shaking his head.

“Nah, he’s fine. It’s just a little scratch. We can get that cleaned up in no time.” The large man chuckled, kneeling down next to him.

“I’m not okay!” Gerard wailed, rocking back and forth slightly, still hugging his leg.

“Oh, my world!” The front door flung open and his mother hurried outside, one hand in front of her face to mask her shock. “What happened here?”

“Mommy!” He continued to sob and wail, holding his arms out as his mother picked him up. “I fell down.”

“Oh, sweetheart! How many times did I tell you to be careful? That path has rocks in it. It’s very easy to trip up and get hurt.” She hugged her son, moving his hair out of his eyes and wiping a tear with her manicured thumb. “Come on, we’ll get this cleaned up!” She then turned to the new neighbors. “Thank you for rushing over. Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee? I think we also have some juice for, umm…”

“Frank.” The man smiled, ruffling his son’s hair.

“Right. Hello, Frank.” She smiled. In response, the boy put both hands up to his mouth and buried his face in his father’s leg, causing the adults to burst out laughing, for some reason that Gerard didn’t understand.

*

It was much later that evening that their father came home in his suit, setting down his briefcase. “Hey, honey! The kids asleep?” He asked while taking off his shoes and tie, then stepping into the living room. “Honey?” No response. Then he saw it. The bottle. No glass, no cork, just the dark green bottle, emptied so effortlessly.

“Daddy!” Baby Mikey was in the corner, stacking blocks and placing a TV remote on top. He’d clearly been pressing buttons, because the TV was on at full blast, showing high-speed police chase scenes and an excessive amount of shooting. He giggled as the volume rose right to the top.

After snatching the remote off Mikey and switching off the TV, their father wandered over to the coffee table, picking up the hollowed out bottle, which threatened to crash to the ground at any second. His wife was spread out of the couch, breathing heavily in her sleep. The crimson circle created by the bottle was beginning to dry out, which meant that it had been a while since the bottle was finished. That’s when he heard the noise. A faint scraping sound in the gap between the large chair and the wall. Walking cautiously towards the noise, he found his other son, drawing, as always.

“Hey, Gee…” He greeted him slowly. Gerard didn’t respond. There was a short silence before his father spoke again. “What you drawing, there?” At that point Gerard looked up, his eyes slightly red, and slid the piece of paper across the wooden floor, towards his father, who picked it up. It was a wine bottle. With an angry face… Some of the glass was shattered and the bottle was bleeding, or leaking wine, it was hard to tell. Next to it, was a drawing of a person dressed in black, pointing a gun at the bottle.

“What’s this…?” His father’s eyes widened.

“It’s Frank, my new friend. He can help me shoot the super villain that makes mommy sleepy.” He pointed to the bottle. “Do you like it, daddy?”

“It’s, umm, very well-drawn…” His father avoided actually answering the question. “Now come on, take Mikey upstairs, you two should be in bed by now!”

Gerard obeyed his father’s command and stood up, walking over to his little brother and taking him by the hand, leading him up the creaking stairs.

Their father sighed, dropping into the chair with the drawing on his lap, and stared at it for a minute. He then reached over to the small table next to the chair, picked up a pen and a Post-It note, and scribbled a message.

“Gerard drew this today. You have a problem, talk to me when you’re sober.” He then placed the note on the coffee table with the drawing beside it, then followed his sons upstairs, rubbing his forehead.

It’s not just that it happened. It’s that it happened for the third time that month.


Crap, sorry, I kind of abandoned this story for a while! It's back now, though! Yay! ¦) I should probably mention, I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote 'Patricia Stump'. I couldn't think of a name so I looked at my posters. Anyway, hope it wasn't too crappy!