Brick by Boring Brick

“What the actual fuck, Mikey?” I groaned as I woke up, my brother jumping beside my bed and smiling towards me; how could he be so fucking happy in the morning?

“C’mon, time to wake up, bro!” He said, yet again an enthusiastic tone filling his voice; of course, he had all the reasons to be so fucking happy, didn’t he?

Mikey had always been the loved one in our family; the precious thing, if you know what I mean. I was the black sheep, ignored and constantly forgotten. I remember one day we had to go to a meeting with my father and when they asked how many kids he had, he replied “one, it’s my Mikey over here!” with all the excitement present in his voice; Mikey saw what that did to me, but he couldn’t help but put a smile on his face for all the strangers he was being introduced to. I didn’t felt like I belonged here, and my parents certainly felt the same; they never cared if I was beaten up in school, if I had bad grades, or anything. I could probably burn the fucking school down and they wouldn’t care; or worst, I could die and they wouldn’t even give me a decent funeral. They were just like that; Mikey was their only child, I was just an intonaco, a little bug stuck in their way.

“Gee, come on! You know mom will be mad if we aren’t down there in time for breakfast!” Mikey called me again, making me chuckle sourly at what he said.

“No, Mikey, she’d be mad if you aren’t down there in time for breakfast.” I stated, making Mikey frown at me; I rolled my eyes, knowing what he was about to say.

“Gerard, you know that, deep down, she cares for you as much as she cares for-” He was saying, but I didn’t even give him time to finish.

“We both know that’s bullshit, Mikey. I could die in front of her, and she wouldn’t even care” I told him, looking at the ceiling of my room, most known as the house’s basement; I finally got up, just so I wouldn’t piss my brother off, the only person who still cared about me.

“Don’t… Fuck, Gerard, don’t ever say that again, please” my brother pleaded, looking at me with very sad eyes, tears forming at their corners. Trust my brother to make me feel bad about something I say.

“Sorry Mikey, but we both know that is the cold truth” I said, as I took some clothes from my closet and instantly dressed up; if you’re asking, yes, I sleep only in my boxers, ladies and gentleman!

“Gee…”

“Mikey, don’t even start me up on fucking justifications” I replied, by the time I was completely dressed and decently ready to go upstairs for some shitty breakfast with my shitty family [apart from Mikey, of course]. “Let’s just go, okay?”

Without even waiting for his reply, I opened my bedroom door and started to ascend the stairs, thinking about my dream, the night before. I rolled my eyes, tripping on my own feet and almost falling as I ascended the last step of the wooden staircase, remembering the eagerness of Frank when it came to roll down the hills; almost every night we ended up doing the same, despite the fact that I wasn’t exactly thrilled by it. Well, at least it was better than to just face reality.

As I sat down at a, yet again, empty table for me, I stretched my back quietly, trying to figure out if my back were hurt by my dream boy’s entertainment, last night; nothing hurt, and I smiled, thinking on how stupid I was. Hell, he was just a dream, nothing could ever get out of a dream to face you in real life, not even the pain you get there; how was I dumb enough to even care about that?

I chuckled slightly, waiting for Mikey to finish his breakfast so we could leave this hell of a house; he looked at me when I laughed, a confused look on his face, but I just shook my head at him. When he finished his bowl of cereals, my mother looked at him and kissed his forehead, as I stared and my small smile disappeared instantly.

“Good day of school, sweetheart” she told him, all the love she felt for him very well present in her voice; my heart, which I thought wasn’t even in my chest anymore, gave signs of still being there as it broke a little bit more. What did I do to deserve all this?

“Thanks, mom” Mikey said, quickly escaping the hug she was now giving him, knowing how much it hurt me to present those kinds of affection exchanges between them. I didn’t want to private him from the love my parents had towards him, though, so I quickly left the kitchen, waiting for Mikey by the front door; when he came, I opened the door and let him pass through me, then following him and closing the door behind me.

On our way to school, I wondered what my parents saw when I opened or closed any door, or something like that; did they saw I was there, or did they thought it was a ghost who was doing all those things? If I talked to them, would they think they were hearing voices from the after-life? Would they try and contact a witch, or even call a priest to exorcise the house, thinking there were hidden demons inside of it? Or wouldn’t they hear me at all; did they not see me and hear me when I passed through them? Did they think the basement was haunted? Did they think I was just a ghost?

As I got inside the school enclosure I understood that never ever I could be considered a ghost; the kicks the brainless jocks from my school were giving me proved to me that I was seen by everyone around me. Mikey tried to stay by my side and shove away those assholes, but I shook my head at him as one of them pushed him away from me. I had to thank that guy later, when he had finished ‘making me feel real’.

Two seconds; it only took two seconds for me to be on the ground, Samuel in front of me, kicking my ribs really hard, and the others around me laughing their asses off. Yeah, I was just a joke; I deserved to be laughed at. My parents didn’t care for me, I was gay, the only discipline I was fairly good at was Arts, I loved comics; what reason did I have to not be beaten up till I bled so much I thought I would pass out right there and die bloodless?

I was facing Samuel as he spit on my face, then laughing as his disgusting saliva slid through my cheek. I was eager to his final kick, his final move, his final laugh; though, today, that final kick never came.

I was bleeding, and I knew I was pretty hurt, but I couldn’t be delusional; at least, not yet. He was there; my dream boy, my Frank, was there. He bravely put himself in front of me, kicking Samuel right in his balls, making him bend over, a little scream erupting from his throat; the guys around us tried to get Frank away, but he kicked them as well and they ended up running away. If they ran away, he had to be real, right? They couldn’t be scared that they’d hurt me too much and simply ran away, now could they? I didn’t have the time to think about that, though, ‘cause my vision started to blur and I knew I was about to faint; I was still able to see Frank bend over me, though, picking me off the ground. How had he become so strong, suddenly? And why was his lip shinning in the sun?

-~-~-

I woke up in the nursery, like every single morning; I hadn’t dreamt of Frank, though, which led me to believe even more that earlier that morning I had only imagined Frank had saved me and taken me to the nursery. I didn’t ask the nurse about that, though; I didn’t want her thinking I was completely insane.

“Oh, you’re awake, Gerard” the nurse said, smiling towards me; I was shirtless, some bandages covering my torso, and some plaster around my ribs. Was it really that bad? “How are you feeling, sweety?” she asked, sweetness filling her voice.

I took my hair away from my face before answering; I checked my injuries, noticing my head hurt a bit, but it was nothing big, so, I didn’t care.

“I’m feeling good, Miss…” Oh, wait a second! That wasn’t the nurse I was used to see. “Where’s Miss Davies?” I asked, looking at the new nurse.

The new nurse looked nice; she had long blonde hair, a beautiful semi-toned skin, was kinda short, and well, she looked nice, as I’ve said before.

“Miss Davies retired; I’m Linda, sweety” she said, offering her hand for me to shake it; okay, this was weird.

“How do you know my name?” I asked, confused as to why she had called me Gerard on the exact moment I woke up.

“Hum, a boy told me; tall, he had glasses, and I think his name started with an ‘M’” she replied, her eyes closing a bit as she concentrated on remembering the name; I knew who she was talking about, though, and I would save her from some weird headache.

“Mikey” I said, and she nodded, smiling towards me. “Yeah, he’s my brother” I added, smiling as I thought of my baby brother; he should be so fucking worried, and I was there, talking to a nurse. “Mm, I’m sorry, but I gotta go; Mikey must be worried” I apologized, getting up from the bed that there was in the nursery room; I felt a little dizzy, but I really didn’t want to spend too many time in there.

“Okay, sweetie; as long as you feel fine” she said, leading me to the door, although I knew perfectly were it was; I could even walk there with my eyes closed, so many times I had made my way from that bed to the door. “If you feel something isn’t right, just come back here, okay?” She offered, and I smiled towards her in a grateful way.

“Thanks” I replied, then opening the door and leaving, instantly spotting my brother leaning against the wall in front of me.

Okay, maybe I should’ve said something about my slight headache; I was seeing things, things that weren’t supposed to be in front of me, next to my brother. Or better, I was seeing persons that only belonged to my dreams.

I considered walking back inside the nursery and tell Miss Linda about my headache and my illusions, but Mikey had already seen me and was walking towards me, Frank following him. Frank looked different, though; he had tattoos on his knuckles and arms, and piercings on his lip and nose. I started to hyperventilate a bit, scared he’d do something like hug me or something, and Mikey would see me hugging the air and be scared of me. I was scared he’d just ask me to go with him and roll down a hill. I was scared…

“Dude, are you okay?” Frank asked, looking at me, some concern filling his eyes.

Wait, wait! He wasn’t supposed to call me ‘dude’! He should be calling me ‘baby’ or ‘love’ or even ‘Gee’; and his eyes… those beautiful hazel eyes of his, that now had a thick line of black eyeliner surrounding them, should be filled with love and worry, not confusion and a little bit of concern; what had happened to my dream boy, my love?

“Gerard, are you okay?” Mikey asked, snapping me out of my thoughts; I looked at him, and nodded, answering both Mikey and Frank. At least, that way he wouldn’t suspect I was going insane. “Gee, this is the guy who saved you, Frank” Mikey said, and, before I could stop myself, I was already replying.

“I know” I said, eyeing Frank, expecting him to smile at me and come and kiss me; only then I understood Mikey actually saw him, and I got scared. “Wait, what?”

“Frank was the one who got Samuel and all of those fucking assholes away from you and brought you to the nursery room” Mikey explained, looking at me suspiciously as I looked at Frank wide-eyed.

“Hi” Frank said, a small smile gracing his features; how could that smile be even brighter than in my dreams?

“Hi” I replied, reaching my hand out so Frank would shake it; he did, and I felt his silk-like skin brush against my own, making me blush slightly.

How could my dream boy be standing right in front of me in my school, when I was wide awake?