Standing Still For Far Too Long

One minute until eight-thirty; Frank was getting ready to wake Gerard up from his nap.

He had been sitting there trying to amuse himself and watching the light from the window get brighter and brighter. He had tried to pick out shapes from the bunk bed, but realized that it didn’t feel right without the second pair of eyes searching for them beside him. He had tried to make picking at the chipping wood on the bed get his mind off of the thoughts swirling around in his head; they were tormenting him. And as the clock on the wall counted down the last second to eight-thirty, Frank made the decision to let Gerard finally know him.

“Gee,” He said quietly.

When that didn’t earn a response he started poking his nose periodically every half second. Soon Gerard’s eyes began to close tighter, signaling that his current dream was being pulled from his mind and he was being woken up.

He opened his eyes slightly and saw the fast paced finger of his friend poking his nose annoyingly. He took one of his hands out from under the covers and grabbed Frank’s hand making Frank laugh, then he let go.

“You could have just pushed me a little,” he groaned quietly. He opened his eyes wider and allowed them to get adjusted to the sunlight, and soon he could see Frank’s face smiling down at him; he couldn’t resist smiling back despite the odd way that Frank had gotten him up.

“Yeah but that’s just not as fun,” Frank said with a smirk, “do you want me to get the rest of them up?”

Gerard shook his head and sat up in his bed.

He cupped both of his hands around his mouth, “hey everyone! Get up right now before the world explodes!”

He shouted it so loudly that Frank almost fell out of the bed in astonishment.

“What the fuck was that Gee?” Frank said as he looked behind him and saw each kid look up from their pillows with an alarmed look on their faces before looking at the clock and shaking their heads.

“That’s how I get them up when I don’t feel like being nice and lightly nudging all of them awake individually,” Gerard said.

Frank laughed and swung his feet off of the bed. He got up, then turned around and faced Gerard, “Today is going to be a good day, I think.”

Gerard gave him a questioning look and got up as well, “And why is that?”

“I don’t know. I just have this feeling,” Frank said nonchalantly, “Are you going to take a shower?”

“No; No I’m not.”

Frank started laughing and nodded, “Yeah, me either. It’s strange but I don’t feel the need to be really clean all of the time here.”

Both boys went around making sure that everyone was awake, and by nine o clock, every boy was sitting in their beds waiting for The Warden’s heavy heels to be heard from down the hallway. This time though, the quiet chatter of all of them was interrupted by the swift opening of the door and a sock-wearing Warden.

Her hair was up in a messy bun and her make-up was smudged on her right eye, making her look like she had a black eye. Her white shirt was only half tucked in to her black pants, and she actually only had one sock on.

Every eye was focused on the disheveled portrait of a woman in front of them. Gerard and Frank looked at each other and tried to stifle their laughter as best they could. Gerard had been at the orphanage for his whole life, and he had never seen The Warden present herself like this. Before anyone could think another though, The Warden’s groggy voice made its’ debut.

“Every one of you…get to breakfast.”

And with that, The Warden was out of sight behind the swinging doors.

“Someone has a serious hangover.” Frank said to himself as he began to get out of his bed for breakfast. As he planted both feet on the ground, he came face to face with a confused looking Gerard.

“What’s a hangover?” He asked curiously.

Frank was about to scoff and shove Gerard as if he was kidding, but he stopped himself. It was hard for him to remember just how closed off the children in the orphanage were. Instead, he scratched his head and answered.

“You know alcohol?”

To Frank’s relief, Gerard nodded.

“Well when you drink too much of it, you usually wake up with a head ache and a lot of the time people throw up; you just sort of feel like shit. Some lucky fuckers don’t get them very often though.”

They started walking towards the door and Frank continued, “I’m not exactly sure that she has one, but if even she can’t stand the clicking of her heals, I’m guessing that she has one hell of a headache.”

“Why would anyone drink if they know that they’re going to get a hangover?”

Frank thought about it for a moment and answered, “Being drunk is fun. You’re right, it sounds kind of stupid. But it’s fun…it’s really fun.”

Gerard laughed and Frank turned his head to smile at Gerard.

All of them got their food for themselves, and they were all relieved to see that the cook had made something that resembled beef stroganoff; it was not the disgusting butternut squash that they were all expecting.

“This isn’t half bad!” Frank said cheerfully.

“Every once in a while Old Trina over there gives us something nice. I think it’s because it’s close to her birthday.”

“Whefs her birdfday?” Frank asked with a mouth full of food.

Gerard laughed, “I don’t know. But every time that it gets to be the end of May, something good comes out of that oven. I like to think that it’s because it’s her birthday.”

They finished breakfast, and once they put their trays away and walked out of the doors, Frank touched Gerard’s arm lightly.

“Do you want to go outside for a second Gee? I mean, are we aloud to?”

“Well if you say that The Warden has a hangover, then she won’t bother herself with coming to look for us…will she?”

Frank smiled, “You learn quick, grasshopper.”

Gerard looked at him with his eyebrow raised, “Why did you just call me a grasshopper?”

Frank mentally slapped himself and sighed, “It’s nothing; let’s go”

I really had to stop making referances to movies and other things that Gee obviously knows nothing about., he thought angrily to himself.

They made their way down the hallway that lead to the back door, and Frank was once again met with the apple trees through the window. Gerard opened the door and Frank exited the orphanage before him. They were met with a calm breeze, and they walked to a cluster of pretty looking trees that hadn’t been touched by the rest of the mucky forest and sat down.

“So why did you want to come out here Frankie?” Gerard asked as he watched two blue birds in the tree above them.

“I just kind of…have a lot to tell you.”