The Diaries of the Witness
The Diaries of the Witness
I was really excited over the fact that I was getting to see Gerard again for the first time in at least three or four years. Sure, every now and then he'd drop out and we'd have a few drinks and smoke a few draws, but he'd never stay so I could really get to see him. I was feeling both nauseous and nervous as I boarded the bus yesterday, but I just reassured myself that everything was fine and that Gerard was still the boy I knew when we grew up together.
When I would think back to the summers we had spent together growing up, I could smell the scent of iodine that we'd need after crashing out on those old foot-scooters. I could taste the bitter liquor that we'd steal sips from as toddlers, and I could remember those nights that we'd stay up all night playing wrestling on the Nintendo 64. Of course, we never would play it, we'd just make the custom wrestlers and create them as super-heavyweights and give them half-assed tattoos and stupid clothes so we could make fun of them when we'd take them out and fight them against The Undertaker or someone else who looked pretty damn awesome on shitty 90s graphics.
Good times.
It felt like it was no time before the bus landed, seven hours later, in Newark. The ride was insane and super-uncomfortable, but I thought it was all worth it. I was going to see Gerard again.
His step-mother had picked me up at the bus stop, which happened to be the airport. I loved her little red jeep, and I always did. It had amazing air conditioning. I hated getting out of it, though. You'd have a heat-wave strike you in the face. Newark summers were insane in regards to heat. It made you so thirsty, too. You felt like a fucking stoner always having the pasties cause you'd be stopping at every two-four convenience store for a drink on the way to your destination. It was all worth it though.
I only stayed at Diane's long enough to drop off my bags, drink some orange juice, then I had my cell-phone out and I was texting Gerard to get him to get his ass out of the apartment and down to get me.
Before I continue with my little tale, though, I should probably fill you in on some details of his life that you'll need to know. He had a hard life, he did. He used to live near me until I turned four, which made him nine. His mother called it quits to his father (well, we think he's Gerard's father), she packed up, took him and his brother, then moved to Canada. He'd come home on the summers and stay with me and my Grandmother, she never minded. Mikey would come home sometimes, too (that's his brother), but I was never close to Mikey like I was with Gerard. I don't know, we just didn't click the same way. Eventually, Gerard got kicked out from his Mother's place, then moved down with his Father's new wife: Diane, who, as you know, lives about seven hours from my home.
Anyway, his Mother was a huge slut, and she still is today. She was pregnant when his father first met her. She lost the kid, though. Then she had Gerard. There's a little secret that both the Way's and the Iero's have hidden from Gerard, because they only knew it would make things worse. (Both families are close). Gerard and Mikey's mother, Donna, was fucking around on her husband at the time that she got pregnant. Gerard looks distinctivly different from the rest of their family, and everyone besides Gerard has this gut-wrenching feeling that Donald isn't his father at all. He was going to get a blood test, but honestly? He didn't want to know. He loved Gerard with all his heart (even though it was hard at times) and he wanted so hard to believe that he was the father, so he left it at that. Sure, we all know, the Iero's and the Way's, but we've kept it silent, and I expect you to keep it that way, too.
Anyway, Gerard was always a hard case. He had ADHD and he'd always throw tantrums. He'd sneak out of the house and run away from home, he'd steal from stores and rob homes, then eventually, he got into drugs.
Now, from what he tells me, he pretty much runs Newark. That's another thing, though, you can't believe a word that comes out of his mouth, cause he can lie to you straight-faced and not even flinch. You never can tell fact from fiction with him, but he'll always tell on himself, even though he doesn't mean to.
I guess you want to know Gerard and I's relationship? We were always close. So fuckin' close. We'd tell each other everything, and we'd do it with trust. We were different, though. He was the hard case, and I was the goody-two-shoes. My grades were high, his were low to the point that he dropped out. We were clashable, very clashable, but we clicked perfectly.
Now that you know the major details of his past, I'm going to get back to my story. Where was I? Oh, yeah. I was calling Gerard to get his ass down to get me. Once he walked up the old path to Gray Avenue, we walked down to the Park Place apartments. That was where he was living. He had just recently got a new place and IM'd me to go in with him for a while.
So, we got back to the place and I walked in. First, I was thinking, why is there a shit-load of baby clothes everywhere? Then, when I saw someone walk out through the hall, I was thinking, why is there an obviously pregnant blonde chick staying with Gerard? That was when I put two and two together and got pretty uneasy about visiting.
"Crystal, this is Frankie," he had introduced. "Frankie, this is Crystal." Another girl walked out through the hall, thus my confusion grew even fonder, and the bus ride home was looking very tempting. You could call it jealously, since I assumed I was going to be spending time with him, not sharing him. "And this." He motioned towards the shorter, much younger looking girl who was standing next to Crystal and clutching a baby girl's hand. "Is Cassie and Keira." I smiled at the three of them, what else could I have done?
Crystal, the pregnant one, looked very sour, and I had a sudden distaste for her. Cassie, the younger girl, looked really innocent, and it made me wonder what she was doing caught up with a guy like Gerard. I was still wondering the silent questions, though. Was Keira his kid? Was Crystal's kid his, too? I was afraid to ask because I feared for the answers.
"Well, this is awkward," Gerard laughed, hushing one of his arms around my shoulder and bringing me in for a hug. Crystal rolled her eyes and left to sit down on the couch while Cassie gave me a very jealous glare. It was almost like she had been telling me that I had better back the fuck up. Again, I was getting more and more confused with each passing second.
I glanced up at Gerard after he had let me go. "Yeah," he said, just as if he had read my mind. "We have some catching up and explaining to do, don't we?" I just nodded my answer to him. "We'll, let's roll a joint, first."
"–not in this apartment, you're not," Crystal snapped while staring at the blank television. Gerard just rolled his eyes and paid no heed to what she had been saying. I felt a very uncomfortable tension between all of us, and I instantly regretted ever going in to see him, no matter how much I had missed him.
"You can put your bag in the room," Gerard told me. He pointed down the tiny hallway. "First door on the left," he added. I followed his simple instructions and walked in the room. Not long after I had put my bag on the floor next to the air mattress that was in the otherwise empty bedroom (aside from a dresser and one kitchen chair), a parade of screams and crying echoed through the hallway.
"Get the fuck out!" a girl had screamed. It was the same girl who had been crying.
"Don't you fuckin' worry," Gerard snapped back. I heard a bang then more female screams. The bang wasn't from a gun, though, it was more like a body being shoved against a wall. I froze just like my feet had been super-glued to the carpet.
"Get out!" the girl wailed. I decided to grow some balls and poke my head out through the doorway. I regretted ever doing so. Crystal pushed passed me, giving me a pity-filled look as her hand sheltered her busted lip that was gushing blood down over her face. My heart-rate increased and I felt like shit for moving in on Gerard like I had done.
I skittered out through the hall like a puppy with a tail between his legs. I looked up at Gerard and he looked furious. He glanced down at his fist then wiped it off on his jeans. He glanced over at Cassie who looked equally as freaked out as I had been. He and Cassie glanced over to me at the same time. "That was an accident," he hissed. "She was about to spit on me, I put my hand up to catch it."
More crying roared from the tiny bathroom at the end of the hall. "Bullshit, Gee!" she cried, holding paper towel to her face. "You fuckin' hit me closed-fist!" She was crying even more at that point. Keira was crying, too. I didn't know what to say, or what to do. It was a pretty dramatic introduction to say the least. It almost seemed fictional.
Little did I know at that point, that it was just the beginning. My world was about to change and I wouldn't be quick enough to grasp control of anything.
When I would think back to the summers we had spent together growing up, I could smell the scent of iodine that we'd need after crashing out on those old foot-scooters. I could taste the bitter liquor that we'd steal sips from as toddlers, and I could remember those nights that we'd stay up all night playing wrestling on the Nintendo 64. Of course, we never would play it, we'd just make the custom wrestlers and create them as super-heavyweights and give them half-assed tattoos and stupid clothes so we could make fun of them when we'd take them out and fight them against The Undertaker or someone else who looked pretty damn awesome on shitty 90s graphics.
Good times.
It felt like it was no time before the bus landed, seven hours later, in Newark. The ride was insane and super-uncomfortable, but I thought it was all worth it. I was going to see Gerard again.
His step-mother had picked me up at the bus stop, which happened to be the airport. I loved her little red jeep, and I always did. It had amazing air conditioning. I hated getting out of it, though. You'd have a heat-wave strike you in the face. Newark summers were insane in regards to heat. It made you so thirsty, too. You felt like a fucking stoner always having the pasties cause you'd be stopping at every two-four convenience store for a drink on the way to your destination. It was all worth it though.
I only stayed at Diane's long enough to drop off my bags, drink some orange juice, then I had my cell-phone out and I was texting Gerard to get him to get his ass out of the apartment and down to get me.
Before I continue with my little tale, though, I should probably fill you in on some details of his life that you'll need to know. He had a hard life, he did. He used to live near me until I turned four, which made him nine. His mother called it quits to his father (well, we think he's Gerard's father), she packed up, took him and his brother, then moved to Canada. He'd come home on the summers and stay with me and my Grandmother, she never minded. Mikey would come home sometimes, too (that's his brother), but I was never close to Mikey like I was with Gerard. I don't know, we just didn't click the same way. Eventually, Gerard got kicked out from his Mother's place, then moved down with his Father's new wife: Diane, who, as you know, lives about seven hours from my home.
Anyway, his Mother was a huge slut, and she still is today. She was pregnant when his father first met her. She lost the kid, though. Then she had Gerard. There's a little secret that both the Way's and the Iero's have hidden from Gerard, because they only knew it would make things worse. (Both families are close). Gerard and Mikey's mother, Donna, was fucking around on her husband at the time that she got pregnant. Gerard looks distinctivly different from the rest of their family, and everyone besides Gerard has this gut-wrenching feeling that Donald isn't his father at all. He was going to get a blood test, but honestly? He didn't want to know. He loved Gerard with all his heart (even though it was hard at times) and he wanted so hard to believe that he was the father, so he left it at that. Sure, we all know, the Iero's and the Way's, but we've kept it silent, and I expect you to keep it that way, too.
Anyway, Gerard was always a hard case. He had ADHD and he'd always throw tantrums. He'd sneak out of the house and run away from home, he'd steal from stores and rob homes, then eventually, he got into drugs.
Now, from what he tells me, he pretty much runs Newark. That's another thing, though, you can't believe a word that comes out of his mouth, cause he can lie to you straight-faced and not even flinch. You never can tell fact from fiction with him, but he'll always tell on himself, even though he doesn't mean to.
I guess you want to know Gerard and I's relationship? We were always close. So fuckin' close. We'd tell each other everything, and we'd do it with trust. We were different, though. He was the hard case, and I was the goody-two-shoes. My grades were high, his were low to the point that he dropped out. We were clashable, very clashable, but we clicked perfectly.
Now that you know the major details of his past, I'm going to get back to my story. Where was I? Oh, yeah. I was calling Gerard to get his ass down to get me. Once he walked up the old path to Gray Avenue, we walked down to the Park Place apartments. That was where he was living. He had just recently got a new place and IM'd me to go in with him for a while.
So, we got back to the place and I walked in. First, I was thinking, why is there a shit-load of baby clothes everywhere? Then, when I saw someone walk out through the hall, I was thinking, why is there an obviously pregnant blonde chick staying with Gerard? That was when I put two and two together and got pretty uneasy about visiting.
"Crystal, this is Frankie," he had introduced. "Frankie, this is Crystal." Another girl walked out through the hall, thus my confusion grew even fonder, and the bus ride home was looking very tempting. You could call it jealously, since I assumed I was going to be spending time with him, not sharing him. "And this." He motioned towards the shorter, much younger looking girl who was standing next to Crystal and clutching a baby girl's hand. "Is Cassie and Keira." I smiled at the three of them, what else could I have done?
Crystal, the pregnant one, looked very sour, and I had a sudden distaste for her. Cassie, the younger girl, looked really innocent, and it made me wonder what she was doing caught up with a guy like Gerard. I was still wondering the silent questions, though. Was Keira his kid? Was Crystal's kid his, too? I was afraid to ask because I feared for the answers.
"Well, this is awkward," Gerard laughed, hushing one of his arms around my shoulder and bringing me in for a hug. Crystal rolled her eyes and left to sit down on the couch while Cassie gave me a very jealous glare. It was almost like she had been telling me that I had better back the fuck up. Again, I was getting more and more confused with each passing second.
I glanced up at Gerard after he had let me go. "Yeah," he said, just as if he had read my mind. "We have some catching up and explaining to do, don't we?" I just nodded my answer to him. "We'll, let's roll a joint, first."
"–not in this apartment, you're not," Crystal snapped while staring at the blank television. Gerard just rolled his eyes and paid no heed to what she had been saying. I felt a very uncomfortable tension between all of us, and I instantly regretted ever going in to see him, no matter how much I had missed him.
"You can put your bag in the room," Gerard told me. He pointed down the tiny hallway. "First door on the left," he added. I followed his simple instructions and walked in the room. Not long after I had put my bag on the floor next to the air mattress that was in the otherwise empty bedroom (aside from a dresser and one kitchen chair), a parade of screams and crying echoed through the hallway.
"Get the fuck out!" a girl had screamed. It was the same girl who had been crying.
"Don't you fuckin' worry," Gerard snapped back. I heard a bang then more female screams. The bang wasn't from a gun, though, it was more like a body being shoved against a wall. I froze just like my feet had been super-glued to the carpet.
"Get out!" the girl wailed. I decided to grow some balls and poke my head out through the doorway. I regretted ever doing so. Crystal pushed passed me, giving me a pity-filled look as her hand sheltered her busted lip that was gushing blood down over her face. My heart-rate increased and I felt like shit for moving in on Gerard like I had done.
I skittered out through the hall like a puppy with a tail between his legs. I looked up at Gerard and he looked furious. He glanced down at his fist then wiped it off on his jeans. He glanced over at Cassie who looked equally as freaked out as I had been. He and Cassie glanced over to me at the same time. "That was an accident," he hissed. "She was about to spit on me, I put my hand up to catch it."
More crying roared from the tiny bathroom at the end of the hall. "Bullshit, Gee!" she cried, holding paper towel to her face. "You fuckin' hit me closed-fist!" She was crying even more at that point. Keira was crying, too. I didn't know what to say, or what to do. It was a pretty dramatic introduction to say the least. It almost seemed fictional.
Little did I know at that point, that it was just the beginning. My world was about to change and I wouldn't be quick enough to grasp control of anything.