Survival of the Living

I went sprawling down and crashed into the freezing water, my lungs filled before I even had a chance to realize what was happening. My eyes opened frantically against the water as I tried to find the surface, but I couldn’t see! I trashed uselessly, trying to find which way was up and which way was down.

My limbs started to go numb; the temperature was making it harder and harder to move. Suddenly, I saw a shadow above me; I looked and saw it was Gerard and Lydia! They were both frantically swimming... did they see me? I tried to use the last of my energy just to make my arms move or just to make some kind of signal to show them I was right there! Both of them kept moving, and I kept falling further and further away from them, un-able to breathe or move as I felt my lif-

"AHHH!"

There was Gerard, looking at me with a worried expression and damp hair.

I buried my face in my hands and just cried, I had had another dream. Sometimes the dreams were of what could have happened, sometimes the dreams were from the point of Alicia or Gerard, sometimes the dreams were even from the divers going to look for his body... but never once had they been from Mikey's point of view. What if that really happened? What if he was right there and we just missed him? I physically screamed out as the thought passed through my mind.

"Lydia... come here," Gerard ordered clambering up on bed next to me and locking me in an embrace.

I sobbed un-controllably into Gerard's shoulder and clutched onto him with all of my strength. It felt like if I loosened my grip on him, I would slip away into nothing-ness.

"Holy shit Gerard, I can't keep doing this," I stuttered in between sobs.

He just sat there holding me tightly, knowing that I just had another one of the dreams. He was having them too or something like them I was sure, but they were much scarier. He claimed he had seen Mikey when we were in the water even though everyone knew he hadn't. He was just beating himself up over something he had no control over.

We both sat there in each others arms, only the sound of my terrified sobs echoed softly through the room.

Lindsey POV

I was exhausted, practice had lasted forever and I had been worried about Gerard the entire time. I pulled into my driveway and skill-fully parked in the garage next to Gerard’s car. You’d think with both of us having successful careers that we would be able to afford a large garage. It’s just one of those things, isn’t it?

I pressed my black finger nail to the button clipped onto the visor of my car and turned my key. The engine cut, along with the light in my car, and I fumbled around the passenger seat for my purse. Once I found it, I shoved open my car door and squeezed out into the tiny space. I kicked the door shut again with my shoe (the shoes Frank designed might I add, those things were kick-ass) and shuffled my way to the door.

I half expected Gerard to open the door before I even reached it, just like he used too. He hadn’t done it since the accident but sometimes I hoped that he had gotten better while I had gone to the grocery store, or a friends house, or wherever.

I opened the door with my free hand and pushed it open. It flew out of my hand and crashed against the opposite wall… like always. There was this growing dent in the off-white wall, it looked terrible but both Gerard and I were too lazy to fix it.

I started to feel my way along the wall into the kitchen when suddenly I realized that the lights were off. The entire house was silent and dark. Shit.

“Gerard?” I called out, “Gerard!”

I dropped my purse and keys and flicked on the light switch. I slowly scanned the kitchen for a note or something from Gerard, some kind of a signal that he was alright. I saw the little light on the answering machine was blinking, maybe it was him.

I quickly trotted over to the machine and pressed play only to find that it was a message from my mom reminding me to call her once and a while. Oops. No matter how bankrupt and psycho she was, she always remember to call Lydia and me. Wait… Lydia!

“Gahh,” I moaned.

I turned around and dashed out to my car. Again.