Sleeping Beauty

Chapter 4

Gerard came somewhere around seven and the boys drank some coffee and played videogames and watched a horrormovie. It was just another night for Frank and Gerard.
Frank sat on the floor and turned around just to see that Gerard had fallen asleep on the couch. Frank smiled. Gerard looked so beautiful when he was sleeping. His nose was so cute and his pink lips curved perfectly. His milk white skin looked so smooth and soft that Frank had a hard time controlling himself not to touch it. Gerard was so beautiful. He had always been. For once, Frank wished he could draw, so he could capture this moment. He wanted to remember Gerard like this. Beautiful.

Frank sighed. Gerard stirred a little, but didn’t wake up. Silently, Frank stood up and walked upstairs. He didn’t want to wake Gerard. He looked so peaceful. Frank walked in the bathroom and once again, took out the bottle of pills. He took three pills and swallowed them. Then he went to his own bedroom and checked if he had gotten any e-mails. An a-mail from his parents. They told that they had a great time and that they’d bring him a lot of stuff from there. But there had been some storms and they were stuck on some island and didn’t know how and when they could get away from there. It was funny that they could send an e-mail from there, but they couldn’t get out of there. Frank felt like a fool.
Frank walked in the bathroom and took one more pill.

Gerard woke up when the sun’s rays shone through his eye lids. He moaned. How long had he slept? Then he felt something warm next to him. He noticed that Frank was sleeping next to him. Gerard couldn’t wake Frank. He looked so pretty when he was asleep. So innocent.
Frank would tell him to stop if he knew Gerard was watching him. But Gerard couldn’t help himself.

“Frank? Frank, you should wake up” Gerard tried to wake up the other boy, who refused to open his eyes.

“Fraaank?” Gerard tried again.

“Frank? Frank, wake up!” Gerard said, louder.
Still nothing.

“Fuck, Frank! Frank! Get up, now!”

Finally Frank started to stir.

“Frank?”
“Gerard?”

“Hey, Frank! Don’t scare me like that!”
Frank looked a little... stupid.

“What did I do now?” Frank asked. His head hurt and he couldn’t understand why Gerard was so angry. For Frank’s surprise, Gerard hugged him tightly.

“I couldn’t get you awake. I couldn’t get you awake. Frank, you scared the shit out of me! I couldn’t get you awake!”

“Gerard, I’m sorry. I must have been really tired-“

“Don’t give me that ‘I’m tired’ –crap. I’m sick of it! There’s something more. You’re always tired, it’s not normal” Gerard said. Frank felt a sting of guilt.

“It’s nothing”

“I’m not buying it”

“Then don’t. But Gerard, I swear, I’m okay. You shouldn’t worry about me.”

“Frankie, you’re my best friend. I’m gonna worry about you, no matter if you want me or not” Gerard said, smiling a little.

“Gee?” Mikey opened the door to Gerard’s room.

“Mikey, what’s up?” Gerard asked. He sounded tired. He also looked tired. He couldn’t sleep ‘cause he kept thinking about Frank all night long. All the drawings he draw, looked like Frank. All of the characters he draw, looked tired and reminded him of Frank.

“What’s wrong with Frank?” Mkey asked. His voice sounded so quiet.

“So you’ve noticed it too?” Gerard asked.

“Gee, I’m not stupid. I can tell when my friend is hurt or when something’s wrong” Mikey said, sitting on Gerard’s bed.

“Of course, you’re not stupid, Mikey”

“I miss him, you know”

“I know. I miss him too”
Gerard sighed.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with Frankie. He won’t talk about it, he just says he’s fine, but I know he’s not. I can see it! He looks like... dead” Gerard said and looked down at his feet. Mikey didn’t say anything. The two brothers sat in silence for a while. Finally Mikey stood up.

“Gee?”

“Yes, Mikey?”

“Please, make Frank better.”
After that, Mikey left the room.

Frank stood in front of a mirror. He looked at himself. Gerard was right, he looked like a ghost. At first, Frank didn’t even recognize the person he saw in the mirror. The reflection stared at him, looking tired and miserable.
“I just need some sleep. That’s all” Frank said and reached for the bottle of pills. He took four pills ans swallowed them, this time with vodka.
“I need to sleep. I want to sleep” Frank said and took one more pill.
He felt the comfortable numbness took over his body. He enjoyed the feeling. Nothing was wrong, everything seemed blurry. He could barely keep his eyes open. He tried to take a step, but fell on the floor. It didn’t hurt. Nothing could hurt Frank now. He heard the sound of breaking glass when the bottle of vodka fell to the floor. The cold floor felt nice under him. Frank felt something wet next to his head and reached his hand for it. When he pulled his hand back, it had turned red. But it didn’t hurt. Nothing hurt. Frank was feeling okay. He felt sleepy. He just needed some sleep.

Frank woke up to the sharp pain in his head. It hurt like hell. He couldn’t remember much from last night. He didn’t have a clue how he had ended up to his bathroom floor. He tried to stand up, but felt dizzy.
Finally he got up, with some help from the sink. When he looked in the mirror, he noticed that his right cheek was covered in blood. He touched it. The blood wasn’t wet. He ran his fingers up to his head and felt the sharp pain again.

‘Did I hit my head? I can’t remember. What happened?’ Frank thought.

He took a piece of cloth and started to wipe the blood off from his cheek. Then he carefully tried to wash the blood out of his hair. Everytime the warm water hit the cut in his head, Frank felt a sting of pain and grinned.
‘
What the hell has happened to you? You’re Frank fucking Iero! You don’t collapse on the bathroom floor! You’re Frank fucking Iero’