Under Jersey Skies

Frank’s POV

I felt like shit for the way I acted yesterday, honestly; I’d seen it coming. I knew Gerard liked Jackie, I could tell from the minute they met, Jessica had come to me saying that she was worried Gerard was losing interest in her since Jackie had arrived, and had made me promise I’d never tell anybody. It was a promise I still kept, even more now than ever since she died.

I walked up the footpath, the fight from yesterday replaying in my head. I reached the door and knocked, five minutes passed, and there was no answer. I peered in through the window, only to see Gerard’s Dad asleep on the couch. He didn’t look good. Gerard had told me he’d been a mess since Elena died, but I didn’t know it was that bad.

Donald used to be so lively, and he used to spend so much time with us kids. He’d take us to see bands play, even bought me my van so we could get our stuff to and from shows, Donna had pitched in for the trailer. But now, he’d gained a shitload of weight, and the empty bottles that littered the floor and the sauce stain on his singlet told me that he definitely wasn’t in a right frame of mind.

I fished my phone out of my pocket and dialed Gerard’s number, but it rang out. Gerard was probably asleep; he had a tendency to ignore his mobile when he was sleeping. I tried Mikey instead, who picked up on the third ring;

“Hello?”
“Hey man, it’s Frank.”
“Oh, hey.”
“Hey look I’m at your door, I feel heaps bad about yesterday, I was wondering if I could have a chance to apologize to Gee.”
Mikey was quiet for a moment, thinking on it, and then he sighed. “Yeah, okay, hang on a minute.” He said, and hung up.

A few moments passed, and then Mikey opened the door. He smiled briefly, and stood aside to let me in.

“Gee’s in his room, just go on up.” He said.

I nodded in acknowledgement, and started off up the stairs. Mikey followed behind, but parted ways with me on the second floor, heading for his room. I knocked on Gerard’s bedroom door, but there was no answer. I opened the door, and saw Gerard splayed out on his bed, asleep.

“Gee.” I said, walking over and nudging him. “Wake up.” I nudged him.
He didn’t wake up.
I nudged him a little harder. “Gerard.”
Mikey appeared in the doorway, noticing Gerard wasn’t getting up. “Hey Gee, wake up bro.” he said a little louder. But Gerard still didn’t wake. “Gerard?” there was concern in his voice now, and he came to the bedside.

His eyes suddenly caught sight of something on the floor, and he knelt down to pick it up. He stood up again, and I noticed it was a bottle of Jack. I caught sight of something else in the corner of my eye, and turned to see the empty bottle of sleeping tablets on Gerard’s bedside table; I snatched it up, and looked at Mikey.

Mikey’s eyes widened in horror, and he snatched up Gerard’s hand. “Shit.” He gasped. “Dude, his pulse is really slow.”
I lowered my ear to Gerard’s mouth, and realized he was barely breathing. “Mikey, call a fucking ambulance, NOW!” I panicked. “He’s barely breathing.”
Mikey whipped his phone out of his pocket, and died the number. “Hello? Is this emergency? ……. I’ve just now found my brother unconscious and unresponsive ……… we found an empty bottle of Jack Daniels and an empty container of sleeping pills beside his bed …………. Yeah, 23 Otter Drive …….. Thank you, please hurry.” He hung up. “They’re on the way.”
“Good.” I said, before turning back to Gerard, I tapped his face gently. “C’mon Gee, wake up.” But he still didn’t respond.

Mikey and I resorted to just placing a cold flannel on Gerard’s forehead, and painfully waited out the fifteen minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive. Fifteen minutes that felt like hours. Paramedics came upstairs and helped us to carry Gerard downstairs and out to the ambulance.

Mikey and I rode with him to the hospital, where they took him straight through, but the two of us had to remain in the waiting area while he was being treated.

“Someone should be in there with him, if he wakes up, he’s gonna freak out.”
“There’s nothing we can do Frank, we just gotta wait.” Mikey said.
“I know but… He’s all alone in there.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I should call Jackie, god, she’s gonna flip out.” I fished my phone out.
“I should call Mum.” Mikey fished his own phone out. “Seeing as Dad’s not gonna get off his fat ass and come up here.” He growled, dialing his mother’s number…