Status: Part I and II- Complete!

All That I've Got

chapter 15

They led him up the stairs for two floors, then they walked down a hallway identical to the one from downstairs. Frank had no idea were they did all their hateful planning or whatever, but it obviously wasn’t here. He’d gotten the feeling that behind each of the metal doors were sealed bedrooms for their experiments.

He was proven right when they turned down another hallway, and the woman unlocked one of the doors. When it was opened, the men hurled Frank forward, and he landed on the ground inside.

Lifting his head, he was met with the sight of the metal door closing again, and then the hollow thunk of a deadbolt. Fuck.

It was more of a cell than a room though, sterile and white. There was a mattress on the floor, and an open bathroom in the corner. That was it. Frank wondered if they rooms were better where they kept Gerard and Mikey. Maybe because they were here of their own free-will, they got better living conditions.

His room had a barred window, and when Frank made his way over to it, he could see out into a trashed and shadowed alleyway. He counted the windows he could see below him, and found out that he was now on the twenty-first story. Too far too jump, and too high to yell.

For awhile, Frank sat by the door, listening for movement, but there was none. So when the light faded completely behind the adjacent building, he went to lay on the mattress. It was brand new, Frank could tell, and at least he had that to comfort him.

Nothing changed the whole next day. No one came to the room, and Frank just lounged on the bed (which he’d dragged so he could se out the window at an angle).

Slowly, though, he became so hungry he considered pounding on the door and begging to be fed. He hadn’t eaten at lunch before the chaos exploded, and now it’d been more than 48 hours.

Eventually, he did resort to kicking the door a bit and yelling “Feed me, you fuckers!” He gave that up soon, and went back to trying to distract himself by counting the cracks in the shitty drywall.

Once again, the sun slipped away and the room went dark on day two. They’d taken Frank’s phone before he’d woken up in the operating room, so Frank had no way to truly tell the time. He wondered what Ray and his friends were thinking: if they were texting his phone, or calling him in as missing, or if they even remembered what had happened at lunch.

Frank no idea how the Jury could cover up the horror they’d brought into the school, but he had no doubt that they would try.

He had just fallen asleep when there were finally voices out in the hall. They were muddled and incomprehensible, but Frank shot up into a sitting position anyways.

The door opened after a moment, and in the bright hallway stood Gerard and one of the metal legged girls.

“Wait here, but let me out when I knock okay, Lily?” Gerard said.

Lily nodded firmly, staring impassively at Frank before the door shut behind Gerard.

The other boy was carrying a food tray that he set down in front of Frank. Very slowly, eyes not leaving Gerard, Frank reached forward and brought the tray toward himself a bit more.

On the tray there were at three Nature Valley granola bars and a bottled water. Frank flicked his eyes back to the standing Gerard. “Oh you guys live well up here,” he said around a laugh that forced its way out.

Gerard kind of shuffled his feet, “Yeah, well, the members don’t live here, so it’s not like there’s a kitchen or anything. Now, please eat,” Gerard finally said, a little exasperated like he couldn’t tell why he was sticking around.

Well that made two of them. But Frank picked up a bar and unwrapped it, unceremoniously shoving it into his mouth after that.

A decision was made apparently then because Gerard suddenly sat down before Frank, only inches away.

Frank finished chewing. “What are you doing, Gerard?” he asked.

In the dark Frank could only make out the whites of Gerard’s eyes and his pale, bowed lips. “I don’t know you. But I remember you,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“You hated me a day ago, though?” Frank said, “And what’s even the difference between those two?”

Gerard kind scooted forward, so his feet nudged Frank’s mattress. “I don’t know you, meaning I don’t know anything about you. But I remember your face, and the way you speak, and the way you stand, and how you make me feel and-”

Hope bloomed painfully in Frank’s chest. “You do?”

“Yes.” Gerard said. “But I don’t know what it means, and I know you said Mikey made me forget but he won’t admit to it.”

This spacey, thoughtful Gerard was the one Frank remembered. And it made him wanted to jump on the boy and hug him as hard as possible.

“I- I just- remember you, that’s all I wanted to say,” Gerard finished lamely, and before Frank could say anything, he was up and at the door. The metal legged girl opened it.

Right before they both disappeared behind it, Gerard looked back at Frank, and the softest pink filled the air. Then it was dark and Frank was alone.

The next day, no one came to Frank’s room, and he was glad he’d decided to save the rest of his granola bars. He was out of water soon, though.

Worse, the hope that had sparked from last night was sharp and distracting in Frank chest. Gerard remembered him, and that made Frank’s heart soar.
♠ ♠ ♠
next chapter's pretty short