Gerard

The room was dark with the exception of the glow coming in through the window from the lamps that were situated in the garden outside. Mikey couldn't block out the light thanks to the thin, cheap, curtains, maybe if he could he could have gotten to sleep. Instead he lay in his lumpy, uncomfortable bed, staring at the window watching the shadow of the branches of a tree show up against the curtains and rock about, because of the wind. Mikey hated this room. The walls were too bright, even in the dark, and the smell of cleaning bleach hung in the air and continued to sting his nose even though he had the window open to try and vent the smell out. Even though he didn't like the smell of bleach it was better than the typical hospital food smell that could be smelt from outside his room, in the corridor. The room was so much unlike Mikey's room at home. Although that wasn't his room anymore, it was someone else's. Just the thought of someone else in his room made Mikey shiver and clamp his teeth together in silent protest.

Mikey's mum knocks on his bedroom door before entering with a sympathetic smile on her face. Mikey lies in his bed staring up at his plain white ceiling, mindlessly picking at his fingernails, for something to occupy himself with.
"How are you feeling, honey?" Mikey's mum asks, coming into the room, carrying a plate of toast and a glass of orange juice. "Are you hungry?"
Mikey shakes his head not bothering to look over at his concerned mother. She was the one that made him stay in his bed with nothing to do in the first place. He didn't even think there was anything wrong with him, he'd much rather be out playing in the sun with his friends.
"I'll leave it here then, in case you feel like it later," his mum says placing the plate and glass down on his bedside table.
She kisses his forehead and walks away to leave. Mikey gives a small smile to himself before he turns on his side and fixes his stare at the blue wall instead of the white ceiling. He resents his mother for keeping him in but he also loves her for caring enough to visit him every half an hour to see if he wants anything. She's always looked after him and he loves that.

Mikey sighed and turned onto his right side towards the window. He got a shock to see a figure sitting in the plastic chair at the side of his bed, hidden in the shadows but and outline still visible. Mikey blinked a few times and raised his eyebrows.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, knowing exactly who the figure was even though the persons face was shielded from view in the darkness.
"What a lovely way to say hello. It's nice to see you again too," the guy, Gerard, said in a voice, just above a whisper. He moved forward and into the lamplight coming in from the window, showing a smirk on his face.
"How did you even get in? It's the middle of the night," Mikey asked.
"I have my ways, you should know that." Gerard said. He stood and went straight to the window, his back to Mikey, looking out into the flower garden that was outside the window. "This place is a joke. They really think that looking at flowers day in and day out is going to make you feel better? And don't even get me started on those pills they make you take,"
"They do make me feel better. Mum loves flowers. She likes to go out and look at them when she comes and visits," Mikey said with a faint smile.
"Mum doesn't visit you." Gerard stated bluntly.
Mikey's smile disappeared and he frowned. "Yes she does, I've seen her," he said.
"Why would she want to come and visit you after what you did?" Gerard said.
Mikey looked away from Gerard's back and turned onto his back again to stare back at the ceiling. Guilt consumed him completely and he closed his eyes to try and will it away. It didn't work.
"I don't want to talk about that." Mikey said, his voice slightly louder than it had been.
"You never do. It's about time you face up to it and technically, you brought it up in the first place," Gerard said turning from the window to face him again.
There was a sudden knock at the door making Mikey quickly look over, just as the door slowly opened allowing a pool of light to flood into the room and the smell of hospital foot merge with the smell of bleach making Mikey wrinkle his nose in disgust. A female staff member peered around the door and smiled sympathetically at Mikey.
"Who are you talking to Mikey?" the woman asked.
"Oh just…" he turned to where Gerard had stood only seconds before but he was now gone. "Uh, no one."
The woman looked at him for a moment before she nodded and gave him another sympathetic smile. "Okay, try and get some rest," she said before disappearing and closing the door softly behind her.
Mikey sighed and looked back to the window where Gerard had reappeared as quickly as he had disappeared, his back to him once again. "Thanks a lot, now she will think I'm crazy and talking to myself," Mikey said.
"One: you are crazy and two: she would have chucked me out if I hadn't hidden from her, did you want that?" Gerard asked.
"Well no, but I didn't particularly want to have to take another of those pills again like I did the last time you did that." Mikey said. What are you doing here anyway?
"I can't visit my brother anymore?" Gerard said innocently, turning to face Mikey again.

The wind blows in Mikey's face as he battles against it, trying desperately to head for the shore. Gerard sits in front of him, also battling against the fierce wind but failing because of the lack of support coming from Mikey.
"I knew it was too rough to go out today, I told you Gerard, I told you," Mikey complains in gasps, as he tries his hardest to row faster, the wind making it difficult to even breathe.
"Will you stop complaining to me and just row? You're not pushing hard enough." Gerald says, his voice seeming distant even though he is right in front of Mikey.
"I'm trying Gerard. I'm trying. It's not easy, I'm just not strong enough," Mikey says, still struggling against the harsh, unforgiving wind, taking the breath out of him and making him wheeze, his asthma making it even twice as hard.
"Don't give up, or we'll be blown out to God knows where and will die." Gerard says bluntly. Still Mikey struggles on, not improving anything.
After another slow five minutes the boys are still no closer to home and no further away, the wind making it difficult to move in any direction.
"Lets switch, places. If I propel the back maybe we can get further," Gerard says already standing.
The motion of the boys standing and the force of the wind make the boat rock. Mikey, scared that it will tip over, crouches low just as Gerard looses his footing and falls, smacking his head off of the side of the boat…

"Not in the middle of the night, without a reason," Mikey said in answer to Gerard's question, turning to look at him when he didn't get a response, all he seen, however was the empty room around him, no one there to respond. The wind howled in through the cracks of the window and the tree outside his window tapped against it making a shadow of the branches appear on the curtains again. Mikey got the familiar shiver down his spine as he swallowed hard and turned onto his back again.