Take the Fight From the Kid

Frank hid inside of his room with Zacky and started to throw his things into a duffel bag. He was sick of it here. His life had only gotten worse since Gerard had taken him in claiming that he would help him. Zacky had already packed and was insisting to stay by the mute boy’s side in case they needed to communicate with people. Quietly, Frank swung his bag over his shoulder and pushed open the heavy iron door. Jasey and Gerard were grabbing coffee so they crept to the window at the bottom of the corridor and climbed out of it. Both boys were very wobbly and clung to the guttering for dear life when they remembered they were in fact six floors up. Zacky felt himself gaining cuts all over him but Frank was very nimble and scurried down within a matter of seconds. He must have been climbing out of his room a lot in his teens though Zacky because as he fumbled and failed his friend was very elegant. Finally though, Zacky made his way to the bottom a little worse for wear and followed Frank down the road in quick strides. Inside the building, alarms had been sounded and a very concerned Jasey was running up and down the hospital to look for them.

When they were out of the hospitals area, Frank and Zacky stopped to catch their breath. They had never done much exercise within the hospital so they had to keep stopping. Frank had to keep pulling Zacky out the way of traffic as it attracted his short attention. In the end they finished up in a bookstore, with Frank reading a book about sign language and Zacky playing with the kids toys as if he was five years old. They were there a few hours before it was closing time and an old woman walked over the Frank to ask him to leave. Much to Frank’s distress, she didn’t know sign language and he had to try writing down that they had nowhere to go as she shooed him out the building. His mother had been dangerous but she’d shaded him from reality and people were a lot harsher than he expected. In the end, he took Zacky by the hand and they walked together to a youth hostel where they could spend the night for a few pounds which Frank had found lying in the drain. When they arrived at the hostel, they went straight to a room and took their beds. Zacky clung to Frank’s side as more and more drug addicts filed into the room where they would be staying. Zacky swore in the middle of the night one of them stole his shoes…

After leaving the hostel in the morning, Frank started to notice posters and broadcasts with his own and Zacky’s images on them claiming that two mental patients had escaped and needed to be brought back to their ward. Frank started ripping down the posters in a flash of fury as Zacky stared at him. The mute boy was beginning to terrify his friend with his break out of rage. It was as if something inside him had just snapped. Pained screeches rippled from his throat yet they sounded incredibly strange as no sounds were really being formed. Zacky took a few steps back and watched as his friend kicked at the alley and have a complete breakdown.

Zacky could hear footsteps coming down the alley but couldn’t tear his eyes from Frank to see Jasey and Gerard coming down in a frenzy. Jasey immediately wrapped her arms around Zacky and started to lead him down the alley back to their van while Gerard tried to get Frank. Somehow, the elder managed to catch the young boys arms and get him into a straight jacket while he kicked and let out his strangled screams. Gerard dragged him down the alley and threw him in the back of the van where he continued to scream and kick. Zacky cowered in the corner away from his broken friend.

Gerard sat in the front thinking this isn’t the Frankie I used to know… I need to help him