A Life That's So Demanding

I’d been meeting Gerard nearly everyday for over a month now. He was my best friend. Each time we would meet he would greet me with a warm hug, and then we would play together. I had never had this much fun with Bob or Ray before, Gerard was just so good at making everything interesting and exciting. We even started calling each other by nicknames. I called him Gee and he called me Frankie.

No one new about our friendship though, Gerard said that we’d get in trouble if anyone did find out. We almost got caught once at the palace, but I quickly hid in Gerard’s toy box when an elder servant came in to tell him that his parents had gone to a royal dinner and wouldn’t be back for a few days. I can’t tell you how fast my heart was thumping in my chest that day from the fear of anyone catching us.

Right now were in the basement, playing with some toy bricks. We were making a pyramid, and whilst we were, I began to wonder if this would be what I’d be doing in the future. I knew that I had no other option than to be a slave but I still wanted to be able to see Gerard. I couldn’t imagine being apart from him now for so long.

I looked up at Gerard, just taking in what he looked like. His eyes were big and coloured hazel whilst his lips were small but full and pink. His hair was slightly longer than it was a month ago and his skin was still unbelievably pale. I knew that it wasn’t just because he didn’t have to work out in the sun, his family had travelled to Egypt from across the sea.

“Gee?” I asked him, making his head lift up from where he was focused on our pyramid to grin at me.

“Yes Frankie?” I replied.

“Where did you come from?” I asked, my head cocking to the side slightly.

“What do you mean?” he asked confused.

“I mean, your family came from across the sea, where did you used to live?” I expanded my question. His lips mad an ‘o’ shape as his usual smile returned to his face.

“Mother said that we came from a place named Italy. It’s so far away from here, almost on the other side of the world.” He explained.

“Is that why your skin is so pale? Because the sun is on this side of the world?” I questioned.

“I guess so.” He said, giggling slightly.

We carried on making our pyramid out of bricks. Once we were done we pretended we were huge giants and destroyed the pyramid, which just ended in us laughing on the floor. After that we played leap frog around the room, jumping over each other. One of the times I tried to jump over Gerard I tripped and fell, grazing my knee on the hard floor.

“Frankie, are you okay?” Gerard asked, looking at me with worry as tears clouded my eyes.

I sat on the floor, gripping my knee under the graze, trying to stop the stinging. Gerard ran out of the room and came back with a wet piece of cloth. He sat down next to me, bringing me into his lap as he dabbed at the angry looking skin. It stung worse at first, making me cry out, but the pain stopped after a while. Once the blood was gone he wrung out the cloth and tied it around my knee gently.

He held me in his arms until the tears stopped falling from my eyes and I was left sniffing slightly. I felt safe in his arms, I really couldn’t explain it but I just felt warmer sitting in his embrace. His hand kept rubbing my back softly, rocking me back and forth gently.

“Are you okay now, Frankie?” he asked, his voice soft and quiet.

“Yes, thank you Gee.” I said, turning slightly to face him. He grinned down at me before leaning forward and placing a delicate kiss on my forehead. I felt my cheeks heat up and a grin spread across my face as I snuggled further into his arms.

“I like you Frankie.” Gerard said.

“I like you too Gee.” I replied.