If I Knew Who You Were

I sat out on the swing that we had on the porch, unsure of what to make of the whole situation. I didn't completely understand the whole thing, but I'd worked out that Frank was Linda's son and that Frank had been living in my house, his whole life. That helped me understand why he never let me know where he lived, and probably why he didn't go to school, but the one thing that I really needed to know, which was the one piece of the puzzle that I hadn't worked out, was why?

The front door opened and Frank stepped out onto the porch. I heard him sigh as he shut the door, and when I looked at him, I saw that he only had one suitcase with him. He also had eyeliner running down his face, indicating that he'd been crying. Obviously a tearful good bye with his mother - Linda. Wow this was strange. He stepped off the porch, pulling his suitcase with him. Not even noticing my presence.

"Frank, wait," I said, quickly, standing up and following him. He stopped walking, but didn't say anything, and didn't turn around and face me. "Please tell me what's going on." I pleaded as I stepped in front of him. His eyes flicked to my face for a split second before he looked away again, sighing and shaking his head slowly.

"I can't. I don't think you'd understand." he chuckled bitterly.

"Try me." I replied. He looked at me again, this time, long and hard, almost as if he was thinking of how to tell me.

"You remember that Halloween when you were four, and you told Linda that you thought she should go on a diet?" he asked slowly. I thought back, and did in fact remember the day, but I didn't understand how he knew about it or what it had to do with anything. "I was born that night. That's the reason she was so big. Apparently only 10 minutes after I was born you tried to get into the room to see me.."

"But my Dad stopped me." I finished for him, remembering vividly now. That was the night the singing started. Then another question with the same three letter word popped up. Why did he stop me?

"You remember getting home from that Halloween party this year, where Lilly dropped you off?" I nodded. "You saw someone jump off of the porch and run away. Well - that was me too,"

"Why couldn't I know about you?" I questioned bluntly.

He looked at me helplessly. "Because I'm not like you Gerard," he said slowly, I just raised an eyebrow, eager for him to carry on "I'm not from a rich family with parents who seem to have had everything planned out since before you were even conceived. I was a mistake into a poor family. I was unwanted, as soon as my Dad found out I was coming along, he left. As soon as my Grandparents found out, they left the picture too. All I did was cause shit for people and I wasn't even out of the womb" he sighed.

"But, why should this stop me from knowing you?" I asked, growing slightly impatient.

"Your Dad sent you and Mikey to the best schools for a reason. He didn't want you to mix with the poor kids, or the kids from the broken homes" he paused, letting out a bitter chuckle. "or the kids from no home. That was the main reason, it was almost like he was looking out for you and Mikey and making sure that you had the best friends that you could have, and you weren't influenced by lower class kids.

"There's also the reason that he wanted to make his own money. He didn't want to be a charity case, he didn't want people to know that he'd taken in the pregnant homeless woman, and given her a place to stay, he wanted to make his own money, and good on him" he said, eyes filling with tears. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go" he said, walking past me. He got half way down the drive and paused, turning back to me. I was in the exact same place as I had been when he'd first walked away, I was just coming to terms with all this. "Gerard" he said, catching my attention. "I'm sorry for lying to you." he said sincerely. He started to walk away again, but this time I caught his attention, by running after him and grabbing his arm, turning him to face me.

"Where will you go?" I asked calmly.

"I'll find somewhere" He said solemnly.

"Well - Let me know" I smiled sadly, putting my arms around him in a hug that he didn't return. I pulled away from him and looked into his eyes, to see that he was looking over my shoulder. I looked back, and saw my Dad looking out of the window with a stern look on his face. By the time I'd turned around, Frank was practically at the front gate.