FicWad

I refused to sleep for the rest of the night. Frank had taken a serious risk just walking out into the rain like that. It was stupid, it was dangerous -

And it made me happy. Because I knew he would be alright.

The next day we left the hospital. The sun wasn't out yet, still cowering behind the steel-colored clouds gracing the sky. It didn't bother me, though. I just hoped there wouldn't be too many reporters to deal with.

Like I would ever have that luxury.

'There must be some mistake,' I thought to myself. I could see the crowds outside already, and we hadn't even stepped out of the room. 'They've become obsessed. Don't they care about us at all? Or do they just want more pictures?' I didn't know why I was thinking that way. I knew why they acted so absurdly. It was because of who I was. 'Oh look, it's Gerard Way, everyone lose their sanity!' seemed to be the general thought occupying people's minds whenever I entered a room. It was as if they believed capturing me on film would be like taking a piece of my soul, like I really was a vampire or some other supernatural creature. The way people's minds worked often fascinated me.

"You ready?" Frank asked softly. I nodded, noting that his voice had mostly returned to its normal tone. It was still unbalanced and strange, but it seemed like he had already become used to it. I wondered if I ever would.

I took one step out of that building and I froze.

A sea of people lay before me, all clamoring over each other to get a better view of me. I was instantly blinded by camera flashes, and for a split second I considered running back inside. I half-turned, seeing Frank standing next to me, his eyes wide with fear. I knew he had to be thinking the same thing I was.

We couldn't go back, or the disease would consume us.

We couldn't go forward, or the people would eat us alive.

We couldn't stand there all day because we were blocking the doorway.

Frank took the first step...forward. I followed him, and that's when the onslaught began. Amidst the cries and screams echoing our names, I heard a question. That first question to hit my ears made me want to do something drastic: run back into the hospital, punch out the person asking it, scream, anything.

"What are you going to do about the concerts you missed?"

Right then I understood. They didn't think of us as humans. To them we were merely musicians, mindless robots created solely to create. They didn't care that we had been fighting for our lives, as long as they got new music out of it. This all just a show for them. At that moment I couldn't remember any of our songs, not a single one. My mind was blank and frozen.

Luckily Frank decided to take over the situation. His eyes caught on something several yards away from us, and from the way his jaw was set I knew he was determined to get over to it. He gripped my hand and started running. I didn't know where we were going, but I just decided to follow him lest I be dragged on the ground.

Frank pulled a set of keys out of his pocket and shoved them in my hand. I ignored the small scratches they caused and struggled to match his stride. I couldn't believe how fast he could run for just being released from the hospital. Then again, running from the media can give you a surprising amount of adrenaline.

We reached a black car parked about half a block away. Frank pointed me to the driver's side, and within minutes we were flying down the road. Again, I didn't know where we were going, but at that point it didn't matter. I just felt like laughing, if I could have. Frank was definitely back to normal. Both of us were.

In spite of this, we knew we would have to deal with the press eventually.

After all, the show must go on.