Please Save My Soul

Groaning I lazily pulled my arm out from under me and slapped it on my alarm clock. The insanely loud and obnoxious beeping filled my ears telling me it was still on. Searching I tried to find the switch, and finally the noise stopped. I rolled over looking up at my bare ceiling and forced myself to get up. I managed to find a clean pair of my skinny jeans and pulled them on. I reached into my closet tugging a random shirt off of a hanger before switching it with the one I already had on.
“Frank, Hun are you awake?” mom asked knocking on my door.
“Yeah, I’m up,” I replied with a yawn. I waited to see if she had anything else to say and when I came to the conclusion that she didn’t I headed to my dresser. I ran my fingers through my hair and grabbed my eyeliner applying a thick layer. After wards I pulled on my shoes and grabbed my jacket heading downstairs.

I walked into the school, my eyes drifting from person to person as I walked down the hall. I wasn’t one who was acknowledged or ignored, I was just there. The jocks didn’t pick on me anymore because they learned that I simply didn’t care. I kept to myself normally if I wasn’t around friends. I went upstairs and headed towards my locker. I rounded a corner expecting to see Bob and Ray waiting on me, but I wasn’t expecting there to be a third person. I slowed down in sheer confusion as to who this guy was. He was taller, much taller than me and lanky. But I couldn’t shake that familiar feeling I got by looking at him. Ray’s head turned and caught me walking their way. He grinned and said something, and all I caught was my name before the person turned around. Immediately my feet took off running towards him. I couldn’t believe it was him I crashed into his chest making him stumble.
“Oh my god Frankie! I missed you!” he cheered hugging me.
“I can’t believe you’re back Mikey! This is awesome!” I pulled away..
“Wow you got tall.” I stated looking up at him.
“Wow, you didn’t.” he grinned pushing up his glasses.
“Oh shut up, ha, I told you that you would need glasses.” he frowned.
“Oh shut up,” he laughed.
"Ok ladies, let's go or we'll be late." Bob stated as he and Ray began to walk away.
"Do you have music with us?"
"Yeah, here," he unfolded the paper he had pulled from his pocket and handed it over to me. I scanned it over and frowned.
"We only have three classes together."
"Oh well, better than nothing." he stated taking it back as we walked in. We sat down where we usually stayed and chatted. It was then, that I realized something, or someone I should say, was missing.
"Hey Mikey?"
"Yep?" he looked over at me.
"Where's Gee?" his smile fell.
"He's um... he's at home. He'll be here tomorrow though."
"Is he sick?" Ray asked breaking off his previous conversation with Bob.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean?" now I was confused.
"Gerard... he's just... look, I want to warn you all. When he comes tomorrow don't expect him to be the same. Ok?"
"Um once again, what do you mean?"
"Gerard isn't Gerard anymore. He hasn't been for a couple of years.
"What happened?" now it was Bob's turn to ask a question.
"A few years ago he started hanging out with these guys and they seemed a bit off. Mom didn't like him hanging out with them but Gerard didn't care. So one night he went out and didn't come back home. We called around but nobody knew where he was. Another day goes by and still no Gerard. So mom and dad called the cops. They filled out a missing person report and they started looking for him. They started off by questioning his so called friends and they said that he headed home alone. Another day went by, followed by another, then a long week goes by and they find him. Covered in his own blood, disoriented, laying in an old empty parking lot. Someone had called the cops saying they had noticed someone wandering around and thought it was a drunk. They took him to the hospital and couldn't find anything wrong with him, couldn't explain why he was covered in his own blood. He said that he didn't remember anything when they questioned him. He was never the same after that. I couldn't get him to do anything anymore. He's distant, quiet and anti-social. If he's not at school, he's locked up in his room. To be honest, I think he remembers, he just wont tell me." Mikey explained. We sat there in silence before Ray spoke up.
"Does he do anything?"
"Yeah, disappear and draw. That's pretty much all he ever does anymore." he shrugged.

The rest of the day none of us brought him up. Mainly because all of us, including Mikey were stuck between an awful space of denial and shock. But I couldn't erase the image of the cheerful and optimistic Gerard I knew. Only to be replaced by the few details that I knew of him now. It was if they were two completely different people with the same name. To me it seemed impossible for the two to exist in the same lifetime. I went home that afternoon filled with excitement. I told mom about Mikey and Gerard moving back but I chose to leave out the new bits of information on Gerard. She was excited too, as she got ready for work she laughed about old stories, and for some reason they stung. Maybe it was the constant nagging in the back of my head telling that I wouldn't face the same Gerard the next day. Not long after I was left to an empty house with nothing to do and decided upon going to be early. Because tomorrow wouldn't come soon enough, same Gerard or not, it was still Gerard. For the first time in a long while, I fell asleep with a smile on my face.