Smiles Echo In My Memory

When I stormed back into the room, Katie and Sydney were close by my side, along with Rhea.
“Oh my god, Sazzy, they told me what happened, are you okay…?” Rhea sympathized quietly, placing her hand on my forearm. I gave her a shaky smile, but she saw through it and gave me a huge hug.
“We need to find Frank,” I mumbled, scratching my head. They all nodded, and started to split us up into smaller groups.
“Sazzy… I’ll come with you,” Sydney said, grasping my hand in hers. I nodded, giving her a weak smile. She was the only one that could really cheer me up, aside from Frank himself. But he wasn’t here.
“Okay, me and Katie will look around the house, you two go round outside, and the kitchen,” Rhea said, with a serious tone. I nodded, pulling Syd to the kitchen with me. Only a few people were scattered around in there, and after we called out ‘have you seen Iero?’ and ‘Frank anywhere here?’ to a bunch of people, they all replied with a shake of the head or a ‘no, sorry’.
After we had asked everyone in the kitchen, we ventured out the back door to the garden. It was quite dark now, and cold. I pulled my hoodie closer to me, zipping it up a fraction. Sydney’s phone started to vibrate violently, playing ‘Basket Case’ by Green Day. She pulled it out of her back pocket, looking down at the caller I.D.
“Charley,” she stated, before accepting the call. After about five minutes of Sydney looking a tad confused, a little bit of yelling, and some angry noises, she hung up, looking at me with eyes full of worry and pity.
“They can’t find him inside. They’re checking round the front and upstairs,” she said softly. I nodded curtly, before making my way towards the back of the garden, where the over-grown bushes inhabited. Sydney didn’t follow, probably knowing that I wanted a little… breaking down time.
I looked up into the starry sky, the lump at the back of my throat forming bigger and bigger, until I finally choked on it, hot salty tears cascading down my cheeks. Sydney walked up to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Sazzy? It’ll be okay… Awwwhe, hunnie,” she whispered, before embracing me in a hug. I clung onto her, sobbing into her shoulder. She made ‘shh’-ing noises, rubbing my back soothingly.
The wind hit me in the face, making my face turn numb. I pulled away from her, wiping at my face. It then occurred to me how stupid we’d been. No-one had actually called Frank!
I pulled out my mobile from the back pocket of my jeans hastily, and dialed Franks’ number. I heard a faint ‘beep, beep’ of the dialing tone, before I heard bursts of ‘Attitude’ by The Misfits coming from the bushes behind me. My eyes widened, hanging up the phone. I followed the noise of where the song had been playing, Syd in tow. I almost didn’t want to poke my head around the edge of the bush, incase it was something terrible that I didn’t want to see.
Finally, after a mental battle with myself, I leaned over, seeing a black silhouette. I gasped at what I saw, fresh tears streaming down my face.
“Sazzy?! Is it… Is that him…?” Sydney asked, shaking my shoulder. I nodded, my eyes closed, tears still streaming down my face. I wiped them away again, trying to pull myself together. I pulled back the bush, motioning for Sydney to hold it in place. I grabbed Frank by the armpits, lifting him out of the ditch and into the moonlight.
His face was covered in blood. He was bleeding from his nose, and it looked like it was because of his piercing as well as the nose bleed. His lips were swollen and purple, a small amount of blood coming from where his lip ring was threaded through. Specks of dirt and mud stained his pasty skin, his eyes closed. I just sat there, staring at his frail, weak appearance.
I don’t know how long I was sat there, but Charley and the others came, trying to pull me away. I didn’t realize that I was clinging onto his dirty Green Day shirt.
“Frank,” I called softly, tears dripping down my face, onto his. I heard people calling my name, the occasional tug at the back of my shirt.
“Frank!” I called louder, shaking him slightly. He still didn’t move.
I felt a pair of thin but strong tanned arms lift me up off the ground, back into the house.
“No! Charley, no! Frank! FRANK!”
I kicked, howling and tearing at my hair. I felt doors kick open, and a soft surface underneath me. I shot up, finding myself in Franks’ room, Charley next to me.
“Sazzy, please. We’re bringing Frank in here. We can’t call the police or the ambulance,” he stated, not looking at me in the eyes, but at the floor.
“What?! Why!?” I complained, wiping again for the millionth time at my face.
“Because,” he started, but then hesitated. I flipped out. I had a right to know why my boyfriend was not going to the hospital!
“Charley! Fucking answer me! For fucks’ sakes, why is no one telling me anything?! I have a fucking right! What the fuck-”
“Because of his history!” Charley yelled, his eyes finally staring into mine. They were puffy, red and watery. He tore his gaze away from me, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“His fucking history. His anorexia. The abuse… They have his records. They’ll think it’s all started up again, won’t they?” he whispered, before walking out. I sat on the bed, clutching at the sides. Charley was right.
I looked up, to see Frank being carried in by Charley. I hated the way he looked.
He looked like a dead corpse.