Discovering the Past

The next day, I went out very early, I had already talk with Mikey’s assistant; she told me that I could go to the Studio office in New York at 8 am.
I entered to the big building; Mikey’s record company was on the 11th floor. The assistant received me at the reception desk and made me pass into a small conference room.
She told me to wait there.

“Dad?” A male voice came from outside.
I looked to see who it was, it was a boy, He stood by the door. He was maybe the same age as me. Maybe one year older. He entered the room.
He was tall and skinny, wearing black pants and a black coat, he was cute with straight brown hair, he was also wearing glasses. His T-shirt said something that called my attention: Mikey Fucking Way.

“Oops, sorry. I thought….” He said when he noticed I wasn’t the person he was looking for.
“Are you the new pop singer Mr. Way is going to sign?” He asked.
“Err no…” I said raising my eyebrows. He smiled at me. For some reason I felt weird.
“Good, I thought you were Britney’s daughter or something.” He sat in front of me. I smiled.
“I’m waiting for Mr. Way.”
“Hahaha” I looked at him. His laugh sounded familiar,
“Then you found me.”
“Are You Michael Way?”I said without believing. There was no way, he couldn’t be Mikey!
“Yep”
“You cannot be, you’re too young.” He opened his eyes bigger, understanding.
“Oh shit. It was too good to be true that a cute girl was looking for me.”
I felt the red in my cheeks.
“You want to see my dad. I’m Michael Way,” He stretched his hand in my direction. “Jr.” He added. We shook hands.

The door opened again and a man entered, he looked like Michael, but older, much older, and not wearing glasses, his hair was very short and had some gray hairs.
“Jr.? What are you doing here?”
“Michael, dad. Not Jr, remember?” The boy said annoyed. He signed deeply. “You have a visitor.” Michael pointed at me.
“Oh…” He noticed me. He had this strange look on his face, like if he was daydreaming. I found him funny. I t was like in the videos I saw, he still had this mikeyness that I adored.
“You must be Rose,” He smiled kindly at me.
“Yes.” I stood and went to him, we also shook hands. I couldn’t help but smile; even in his forties he was handsome still.
“Brian was right; you look a lot like Frankie.” I smiled, all the My Chem guys had told me the same.
“Jr., what are you doing here?” He turned in the direction of his son, like suddenly remembering he was there.
“Can’t I visit my dad? “ He said innocently.
Mikey looked at him suspiciously.
“I’m bored! I don’t know anyone in New York. When are going back to L.A.?”
“What are you doing with my t-shirt? That is a piece of-”
“History I know… It looks cooler on me that on you…”
Mikey made a face.
“Wait for me outside, okay?”
“But…”
“Please, don’t be difficult now.”
Michel made a noise that sounded like a mad dog, I suppressed a laugh.
Before leaving the room he turned and smiled at me
“Bye …Rose”

I just waved my hand at him like a five year old.
Mikey sat on the large table and looked at me smiling.
“What can I do for you?”
“Well, Mr. Way. I’m trying to find my uncle.”
“Call me Mikey, please.”
“Mikey” I repeated.
“I don’t know…”
“Yeah nobody knows where he is, but I thought you could put me in contact with Gerard.”
“Why is that?” He crossed his arms.
“I thought maybe he could have a clue about Frank’s location. They were friends right?”
“Were.”
“But, they must still be in touch-”
“No, they haven’t seen each other since the band broke apart.”
“Oh the band…you were so great. Like totally amazing.”
He grinned. “Yeah, we were.”
“What happened?” I pretended not to know a damn thing.
“They fought. The band split” He wasn’t being rude or anything, he even smiled every time he answered, he just wasn’t going to tell me anything.
“I had a feeling that he could give me the clue I need to find Frank.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know where my brother is right now. He was on vacation, last time I checked.” He looked at the floor.
“What?”I couldn’t believe it, he was lying for sure.
He looked me seriously and took a deep breath.
“Listen Rose,” He said my name calmly and slowly. “They are things that must be forgotten, Frank …”
“Nooo!” I was a little upset. “How can you forget Frank just like that, not knowing if he is still alive?”

He opened his eyes bigger, like if had never considered the possibility of Frank being dead.
“You’re right, but it’s been so long. I wish I knew where he is, he was a great friend and I truely miss him, but I don’t think Gerard wants to talk of the subject.”
“Why’d they fight? They looked so close,” I said calmly now.
“Close, what do you mean by close?”He was nervous all of a sudden. Just like Ray. They knew. About Frank and Gerard being more than just friends.
“I’ve seen the videos, Brian gave me lots of them. I’ve seen everything,” I emphasized the word everything.
He opened his eyes again, but cooled off.

“Things changes, people change, life carries on, we carry on.”

The spiritual adviser of the band.

“But what happened? Please?” I was now holding back tears.
He noticed that and went next to me, putting himself in one knee. Next to the chair I was sitting on.
“Listen, I can’t help you with Frank’s location, but I might have something you want…” He smirked.
He took my hand and guided me to another room.
“We have the majority in LA….but I have some things here.”

He opened a door, and I gasped at the image. A gold record was hanging on the wall and a picture of the five guys holding each other, they were crying. I looked amazed the rest of the things, there were a guitar and a bass. There also some drums sticks and a costume like the one Gerard used in the black parade concerts.
But one guitar called my attention and Mikey noticed.
“It was his.”
I looked at him excited.
The guitar was white.
“He used it when we played in Madison Square Garden.”
“Really?”
He grinned, “Yeah, we rocked so hard that night, one of the best. One of the last.”
I touched it lightly with my fingers.
“Do you play any instruments?”
“I’m trying to play guitar….but I kind of suck.” I said a little ashamed.
“That’s not possible, You’re an Iero…you can’t suck at music. You have it in the blood kid.”

I smiled sadly. Since I knew about Frank being my dad I was practicing a lot more guitar…but learning on your own didn’t help a lot.
“You can have it.”
“WHAT!???”
“The guitar, you can have it.”
“Are you sure!???” I started to do little jumps in place. He laughed. “Thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!” I said clapping.
“Some things never change”. He shook his head and smiled.
“I guess, if he had a son or daughter, but he didn’t, so…” He took off the guitar from the wall. “You are the closest relative.” He looked at me for a minute.
“Take it.”
I almost cried when he said that and immediately took it from his hands.
“Thanks.”
After a couple more tries to find Gerard’s location, I left not without a hug from good old Mikey.
I was heading to the elevator, guitar on my back.
“Hey…”
A voice called from behind me. I turned around to see Jr.