If your heart stops beating

~*Frank’s Point of view*~

Despite what Mr Marshall said, I still visited Alec. A few weeks before Christmas, he told me his father had tried of get him transferred to an Oregon hospital, but the request had been denied. He said he had asked his father about the Christmas Parade, but apparently he was too busy.
“On Christmas Day? Tell me, Frank, what kind of father is busy on Christmas Day?”
“Excuse the language, but your father is pretty fucked up at the moment.”
He nodded.
“Yeah... he wasn’t always like this. It’s just since the divorce. I’m kinda wondering why he’s even coming to her funeral.”
“Well, she was a big part of his life, wasn’t she?”
He nodded again.
“For fifteen years.”
I put my hand under his chin and tilted his head up to meet my eyes.
“Tell you what. Find out what time your father’s gonna be visiting on Christmas Day and tell me. I’ll come and pick you up and take you to the Parade.”
“I’m not allowed to leave the hospital until I’m discharged.”
“You know that nurse, Rhonda? She loves you. Thinks you’re cute as a button. Ask her about it. Be as nice as you can. But whatever you do, make sure she feeds your father some cock-and-bull story about physiotherapy or something if he comes to visit unexpectedly.”
He laughed.
“I love lying to my father.”
I grinned.
“Then this should be easy.”
I stood up and turned to leave.
“Make sure your father never finds out about it.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m not going to do anything that could possibly spoil my chances of seeing you.”
“Good.”

~*Gerard’s Point of view*~

I was woken up by something heavy hitting me in the face.
“Ah! Fuck!”
I put my hand to my nose and sat up. A red stocking was lying on my bed, stuffed to the brim and spilling presents.
“Oh cool!”
Mikey, across the room, was busy tearing apart the contents of his own stocking. I looked around. A figure in a Santa suit was standing in the middle of the room, taking aim at Ray with another stocking. I quickly checked the beds. Mikey, Ray, Frank-
“Bob.”
He turned around and winked, then threw the stocking. It landed squarely on Ray’s chest and he sat up sharply.
“Who’s that? Oh. Neat!”
Bob took aim with the final stocking, which hit Frank’s back. He didn’t stir.
“Oi! Frank!”
He still didn’t move.
Bob walked over to him and poked him in the neck.
“Wake up, loser, it’s Christmas.”
Frank wriggled away from Bob.
“Not yet... five more minutes...”
Bob grabbed Frank’s hair and pulled.
“Ow! Let go, you asshole!”
“It’s CHRISTMAS!”
“It’s what?” Frank sat up, looking around wildly.
“Ooh! Presents!”
He seized his stocking and tipped the contents onto his bed. I caught Bob’s eye as he turned around.
“Aw, you haven’t got one.”
He shrugged.
“There’s no fun doing one for yourself.”
I leaned over the side of my bed and pulled a box out from underneath it.
“I anticipated the need. Here. Catch.”
I threw a pillowcase partially full of presents at him.
“They’re very generic, so I figured whoever did the stockings would like them.”
“Thanks, man!” He reached into the pillowcase and pulled out a handful of small wrapped gifts. I set to work on my own stocking.

Half an hour later we had all completely explored our stockings. Frank sighed and laid back down.
“And now to get up. There’s so much to do today.”
Mikey gave him a quizzical look.
“Today? It’s Christmas!”
Frank nodded.
“I’m taking Alec to the Christmas Parade.”
We all let the comment pass, although I privately wondered if Frank realised he was heading for disaster, given what he had told us about Alec’s father.