Devil's Work

It’s the middle of the night when I wake up crying, hot and sweaty. The summers are hot here because of the smog. But not only that, I wake up wanting Frank and Gerard to hold me because of something I dreamt.

My crib is still in Frank and Gerard’s room. There is a noise beside me, where the bed is, and then a presence. I feel Frank’s hands on my sides, lifting me up, telling me to shush. He presses his tired lips to my temple, and that somehow calms my shaking. He rubs my back with his palm as my tears stop.

Gerard sits up in bed, rubbing his eyes. The blanket falls to his waist. I find it bizarre that he and Frank sleep shirtless, but tonight is a hot night. “Something wrong?” he groans.

“I’ll just go get her some milk,” Frank yawns.

“Maybe I should come with you,” Gerard says hesitantly. But Frank shakes his head.

“I’ll be fine.” And then he takes me downstairs into the kitchen.

Frank starts humming, to create some other noise in this dead of night. I cling to his skin, because he is shirtless and he doesn’t have a shirt that I can cling to. He groans and shuffles across the kitchen to get a bottle from the fridge. And then he places it in the microwave to warm it up.

“Oh, baby.” He sighs and fixes my hair. It’s thick but it’s dark brown like his so I might almost look like him. He closes his eyes until the microwave beeps. He tests the milk on his colourful tattooed wrist before he gives it to me.

“Kaitlynn, what are we going to do with you?” Frank asks when the milk squirts into my mouth. “You gotta sleep more.” I close my eyes. But all of a sudden, he tenses up. He pulls the nipple from my mouth and I open my eyes.

“What time is it... it’s two a.m. What do they want, what do they want?” Frank asks himself as he turns out the light and hurries up the stairs. He loosely grips the bottle and tries to hold me steady but ends up dropping the bottle and clutching me tighter when we get into his and Gerard’s room.

“Gerard!” Frank is close to sobbing so I begin to cry as well. He gasps, “There are men out there. That car. They’re... oh god, Gerard, I think they’re watching us! Call the police! Please!”

Gerard is awake so fast that I don’t even have time to see the look on his face as he pulls a shirt on and stomps down the steps.

I can hear his rapid voice on the phone as Frank sits on the bed and lets me finish my milk. Frank is still crying, his body heaving tiny jerks against mine. But he tries his best to stop.

Gerard is back upstairs before I have even finished the whole bottle. He raises his eyebrow at Frank.

“There was no one there when I got downstairs.”

Frank goes stiff. “I saw it, Gerard. They looked right at me through the window. The curtain was open just a little, but I could see them.”

“Well there was no one there and the police got pissed off at me again,” Gerard grumbles as he slides back into bed, pulling off his t-shirt. He shoots Frank an unsure look before asking, “Are you sure you saw what you saw, Frank? You know you get hallucinations if you don’t get your sleep.”

“I know what I saw, Gerard,” Frank presses. His eyes are wild, desperate for Gerard to believe him. “Kaitlynn saw too. Didn’t you, Kaitlynn?”

I didn’t see. And even if I did see, there’s no way of telling Gerard. I wish I could have a voice. I would tell them everything.

Gerard sighs, because it’s late and he probably doesn’t want to deal with more of Frank’s accusations. He gestures to the crib and then to the bed, telling him, “Frank, please. Don’t do that to her. Just put her back to bed.”

“She was the one who woke up crying!” Frank pets my head but I can tell he’s just upset at Gerard. I almost want to tell them to both stop but I can’t and that hurts me.

“I think you need to get back to bed, honey.”

Gerard’s soft words make Frank sigh, but he complies anyways. He sets me down and pulls the blanket out of my crib, and I’m already sleepy again. I smile at Frank and he kisses my cheek another goodnight and he heads back to Gerard.

It’s dark again but before I fall asleep I hear their voices.

“I really did see them, Gerard.” Frank’s whisper is scared and breathy.

“Calm down, Frank. What are they going to do, come down and check on us every few days? Shh, baby. Calm down.” Gerard tries to soothe Frank but Frank just won’t calm down. I’m worried for both of them but what can I do?