Discovering the Past
Little manipulator.
The next morning I arrived home, late.
Or early?
I had stayed at Matt´s, now that we were in some kind of relationship it didn´t seem nice of me to just leave him alone in the middle of the night.
I entered and let myself fall onto the couch. I had several messages on my machine. I pressed the button to hear the message as I closed my eyes.
Message one.
Gee, where are you?
I’ve been calling you.
Just to check on you, big brother.
Love you.
Message two.
Hi Gerard, It´s Brian.
Where are you man?
I need to talk to you.
Call me.
Message three.
Gerard! It´s Rose.
Where the hell are you?
I need to talk to you.
I´ll call you again.
Message three.
Bro, are you home?
I´ll be there tonight , ok?
Are you okay?
Message four.
Okay, I just went to your house,
You´re not there. Where are you?
Are you okay?!?
Please pick up………..Pick up!
Okay, I’ll call you later. It´s Mikes, just in case.
Message five.
Okay, it´s Mikey again, is 3 am, and you still not there.
I´m worried sick and kind of paranoid.
……………………………………..
Call me.
I went to the phone and called Mikey.
“Hello?” A low voice answered me.
“Mikes-”
“GERARD?”
I smiled, he was so worried about me.
“WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!”
Worried and mad.
“Mikey, I-” I tried to explain myself but he just kept yelling at me.
“I´VE BEEN WORRIED SICK, IMAGINING ALL THE THINGS THAT…”
“Mikes. I was-”
“…YOU COULD HAVE DONE, YOU DIDN´T ANSWER YOUR PHONE AND…”
“I was with-” He just keep talking and screaming like crazy.
“AFTER ALL THAT FUCKING DEPRESSION OVER FRANK, YOU CAN´T BLAME ME FOR WORRYNG...”
“MIKEY, STOP!” silenced filled the air. “I was with Matt!”
“Ah?”
“Matt, like a guy… Matt.”
“Oh…”
“We are dating and yesterday I slept at his place,” I said, trying to sound calm.
“Ohh…I see.” He sounded calmer.
“You could have called.”
“Since when do I have to ask permission to have sex??!!”
I could see Mikey blushing through the phone.
“I´m sorry, but-”
“I understand. But I´m fine, really.” I knew that I had been really bad after hearing about Frank´s death, so bad that Mikey started to freak out about nothing, but I understood him; and thanked him for worrying and caring so much.
“Okay, it´s just that-”
“Me too, Mikey, I love you too.”
After more random conversation, we said goodbye.
I was going to take a bath when the doorbell rang.
It was Brian.
“Hey, Gee. Are you busy?”
I sighed,
“No, not really.”
He entered and sat on the couch.
“Well, I´ve been searching for more about Frank,” He went directly to the point, putting a folder full of papers on the little table. But before He could continue I cut him off.
“Brian! He is fucking dead! Let him rest in peace!”
Brain just glared at me.
“Whatever He did is in the past. Just let it go-”
“No, I can´t let it go, until I know what was wrong with him.” He raised his voice and angrily stared at me. He always gave me that glare.
Brian is an intimidating dude.
“And the rest of the guys agree with me. I need to know Gerard. Sorry if is different for you.”
I just remained silent.
“Do you want to know or not?”
I just nodded.
“Okay,” He took a deep breath and softened his features.
“It didn´t make sense that nobody had heard from him for that time. So I tried to search for family, but they are all gone or disappeared. So, I tried to search for who arranged the things after his death, the ceremony and the body.”
I grimaced, imagining Frank´s corpse.
“But, nothing either, good old Frankie had arranged everything months before.”
“What?”
The idea of Frank pre-arranging his death and funeral was a little too creepy.
“He had everything prepared…” Brian said apparently with the creepy part.
“So my last hope was his actions, I found out that someone was still charging for his MCR royalties.”
“Sorry?” now I was interested.
“Yep.”
“So I searched for who the hell was getting the money and a name came up.”
He took a paper out of the folder, it was photocopy of a bill.
“Paul Harner????” Brian just nodded.
“Who´s that?”
“Don´t know. But He´s in charge of all Frank´s money,”
I looked at the name, it didn´t ring a bell.
“Look,” He took out another paper.
“What the hell!!?” It was Frank´s will. Everything was being left to this Harner dude.
“Maybe it was his friend, or partner.”
“Maybe, yeah,” I said, confused.
Paul Harner.
“This is strange for me.”
I looked at him.
“What if this dude killed Frankie…”
“Brian, c´mon…” that was way to bizarre.
“I don´t know, just a theory,” Brian shrugged his shoulders. He always thought up these amazing theories involving the mafia and gangsters.
“I don´t know.”
“Have you talked to Rose?” I asked him.
“Yeah.”
“And?”
He looked at the floor. “She well, she…” He played with his foot.
“…decided to go to London to find him.”
“God,” I took a deep breath, that girl has guts.
“She wants you to go with her”
“ME?”
---
The phone rang.
“Hi?”
“GERARD!! Finally! Where have you been? Doesn’t matter, listen, I need to talk you, it’s about Frank, we can know. It’s so exciting” I wondered how she didn´t drown while speaking so many words in such little time.
“Rose-”
“I just have to tell my mom, I´m sure...”
“Rose!”
“She won’t´ have a problem, if she has one I don´t care, you´re coming with me and...”
“ROSE!!” She shut up.
Finally.
What`s wrong with people not letting me speak today!
“Slow down, we are NOT going to London” I tried to sound mature and reasonable .
“Why?” A little sigh of despair at the end of the word.
“Because….”
“That’s not an answer. I´m coming to your place; Michael take this exit…”
“Rose…”
“To your uncle’s house…” she seemed to be speaking to Jr., probably driving. “Just go...”
---
Minutes later Rose and Jr. where at my house, Rose trying to convince me to go to London.
“I´ll go alone then.”
“What?” Jr. and I yelled.
“Why don´t you go with her?” I pointed at my nephew, by this moment I was close to hysteria.
“I can´t, dad won´t let me.”
“C´mon, Brian,” I try my friend.
“I have business.”
“Try Ray or Bob,” I said to Rose.
“Actually, you are the only one that doesn’t work,” Brian intervened.
“Hey, I have a life, thank you very much.”
“C´mon Gee, don´t you want to find out?” Rose pleaded again.
I thought for a second.
Reasonable excuses.
“Your parents won´t let you.” I crossed my arms.
“We’ll see about that.” She sounded evil.
“C´mon.” Brian pleaded alongside with Rose.
“Brian shut up, will you?” I glanced angrily at him.
“Please.” I just shook my head.
“No.”
“We can even go to the graveyard and leave him some flowers; wouldn´t that be nice?”
Now she sounded like a sweet little child.
“I guess, but-”
“Please. I need this.”
I let out a sigh.
“He was the last person that saw him alive. He knew what was wrong with him, what was he thinking.”
“Rose, It´s crazy-”
“I´ll go by myself,” She said as an ultimatum.
Fuck.
“Okay,” That convinced me. And she knew it.
I couldn´t let her go alone. I had to take care of her. I promised to him.
She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.
“THANKS. Gee!!!”
Little manipulator.
Or early?
I had stayed at Matt´s, now that we were in some kind of relationship it didn´t seem nice of me to just leave him alone in the middle of the night.
I entered and let myself fall onto the couch. I had several messages on my machine. I pressed the button to hear the message as I closed my eyes.
Message one.
Gee, where are you?
I’ve been calling you.
Just to check on you, big brother.
Love you.
Message two.
Hi Gerard, It´s Brian.
Where are you man?
I need to talk to you.
Call me.
Message three.
Gerard! It´s Rose.
Where the hell are you?
I need to talk to you.
I´ll call you again.
Message three.
Bro, are you home?
I´ll be there tonight , ok?
Are you okay?
Message four.
Okay, I just went to your house,
You´re not there. Where are you?
Are you okay?!?
Please pick up………..Pick up!
Okay, I’ll call you later. It´s Mikes, just in case.
Message five.
Okay, it´s Mikey again, is 3 am, and you still not there.
I´m worried sick and kind of paranoid.
……………………………………..
Call me.
I went to the phone and called Mikey.
“Hello?” A low voice answered me.
“Mikes-”
“GERARD?”
I smiled, he was so worried about me.
“WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!”
Worried and mad.
“Mikey, I-” I tried to explain myself but he just kept yelling at me.
“I´VE BEEN WORRIED SICK, IMAGINING ALL THE THINGS THAT…”
“Mikes. I was-”
“…YOU COULD HAVE DONE, YOU DIDN´T ANSWER YOUR PHONE AND…”
“I was with-” He just keep talking and screaming like crazy.
“AFTER ALL THAT FUCKING DEPRESSION OVER FRANK, YOU CAN´T BLAME ME FOR WORRYNG...”
“MIKEY, STOP!” silenced filled the air. “I was with Matt!”
“Ah?”
“Matt, like a guy… Matt.”
“Oh…”
“We are dating and yesterday I slept at his place,” I said, trying to sound calm.
“Ohh…I see.” He sounded calmer.
“You could have called.”
“Since when do I have to ask permission to have sex??!!”
I could see Mikey blushing through the phone.
“I´m sorry, but-”
“I understand. But I´m fine, really.” I knew that I had been really bad after hearing about Frank´s death, so bad that Mikey started to freak out about nothing, but I understood him; and thanked him for worrying and caring so much.
“Okay, it´s just that-”
“Me too, Mikey, I love you too.”
After more random conversation, we said goodbye.
I was going to take a bath when the doorbell rang.
It was Brian.
“Hey, Gee. Are you busy?”
I sighed,
“No, not really.”
He entered and sat on the couch.
“Well, I´ve been searching for more about Frank,” He went directly to the point, putting a folder full of papers on the little table. But before He could continue I cut him off.
“Brian! He is fucking dead! Let him rest in peace!”
Brain just glared at me.
“Whatever He did is in the past. Just let it go-”
“No, I can´t let it go, until I know what was wrong with him.” He raised his voice and angrily stared at me. He always gave me that glare.
Brian is an intimidating dude.
“And the rest of the guys agree with me. I need to know Gerard. Sorry if is different for you.”
I just remained silent.
“Do you want to know or not?”
I just nodded.
“Okay,” He took a deep breath and softened his features.
“It didn´t make sense that nobody had heard from him for that time. So I tried to search for family, but they are all gone or disappeared. So, I tried to search for who arranged the things after his death, the ceremony and the body.”
I grimaced, imagining Frank´s corpse.
“But, nothing either, good old Frankie had arranged everything months before.”
“What?”
The idea of Frank pre-arranging his death and funeral was a little too creepy.
“He had everything prepared…” Brian said apparently with the creepy part.
“So my last hope was his actions, I found out that someone was still charging for his MCR royalties.”
“Sorry?” now I was interested.
“Yep.”
“So I searched for who the hell was getting the money and a name came up.”
He took a paper out of the folder, it was photocopy of a bill.
“Paul Harner????” Brian just nodded.
“Who´s that?”
“Don´t know. But He´s in charge of all Frank´s money,”
I looked at the name, it didn´t ring a bell.
“Look,” He took out another paper.
“What the hell!!?” It was Frank´s will. Everything was being left to this Harner dude.
“Maybe it was his friend, or partner.”
“Maybe, yeah,” I said, confused.
Paul Harner.
“This is strange for me.”
I looked at him.
“What if this dude killed Frankie…”
“Brian, c´mon…” that was way to bizarre.
“I don´t know, just a theory,” Brian shrugged his shoulders. He always thought up these amazing theories involving the mafia and gangsters.
“I don´t know.”
“Have you talked to Rose?” I asked him.
“Yeah.”
“And?”
He looked at the floor. “She well, she…” He played with his foot.
“…decided to go to London to find him.”
“God,” I took a deep breath, that girl has guts.
“She wants you to go with her”
“ME?”
---
The phone rang.
“Hi?”
“GERARD!! Finally! Where have you been? Doesn’t matter, listen, I need to talk you, it’s about Frank, we can know. It’s so exciting” I wondered how she didn´t drown while speaking so many words in such little time.
“Rose-”
“I just have to tell my mom, I´m sure...”
“Rose!”
“She won’t´ have a problem, if she has one I don´t care, you´re coming with me and...”
“ROSE!!” She shut up.
Finally.
What`s wrong with people not letting me speak today!
“Slow down, we are NOT going to London” I tried to sound mature and reasonable .
“Why?” A little sigh of despair at the end of the word.
“Because….”
“That’s not an answer. I´m coming to your place; Michael take this exit…”
“Rose…”
“To your uncle’s house…” she seemed to be speaking to Jr., probably driving. “Just go...”
---
Minutes later Rose and Jr. where at my house, Rose trying to convince me to go to London.
“I´ll go alone then.”
“What?” Jr. and I yelled.
“Why don´t you go with her?” I pointed at my nephew, by this moment I was close to hysteria.
“I can´t, dad won´t let me.”
“C´mon, Brian,” I try my friend.
“I have business.”
“Try Ray or Bob,” I said to Rose.
“Actually, you are the only one that doesn’t work,” Brian intervened.
“Hey, I have a life, thank you very much.”
“C´mon Gee, don´t you want to find out?” Rose pleaded again.
I thought for a second.
Reasonable excuses.
“Your parents won´t let you.” I crossed my arms.
“We’ll see about that.” She sounded evil.
“C´mon.” Brian pleaded alongside with Rose.
“Brian shut up, will you?” I glanced angrily at him.
“Please.” I just shook my head.
“No.”
“We can even go to the graveyard and leave him some flowers; wouldn´t that be nice?”
Now she sounded like a sweet little child.
“I guess, but-”
“Please. I need this.”
I let out a sigh.
“He was the last person that saw him alive. He knew what was wrong with him, what was he thinking.”
“Rose, It´s crazy-”
“I´ll go by myself,” She said as an ultimatum.
Fuck.
“Okay,” That convinced me. And she knew it.
I couldn´t let her go alone. I had to take care of her. I promised to him.
She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.
“THANKS. Gee!!!”
Little manipulator.
♠ ♠ ♠
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