I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember

Chapter 184: The Mention of Blood

Upon reuniting with his twins after exiting the dark vacated house behind with the bodies locked deep inside, Gerard opted to call tonight’s Halloween to an end. His children weren’t too happy with his decision and had made it known with pouts on their faces and stomps of their tiny feet on the ground. He didn’t let that sway him though. Their bags were practically brimming with candy already, there was no way they could continue on unless they asked any of the neighbors for plastic bags for them to deposit more candy into. Gerard didn’t feel like pestering any more neighbors for the night though. Taking each twin by the hand, he led their displeased faces back to the house. Earlier that night before Gerard had left the house, Margo and Frank Sr. had assured him that if he wanted to call it quits early tonight they would happily take his place and let the twins get more candy. Depending on how Frank felt when he got home, that might have to be the case. Then again, he wasn’t too sure he wanted the twins out again tonight. He had already had to eliminate two people simulating Killjoys tonight while innocent children were out trick or treating. Lord knows if there were more out there wandering around!

Nope, that’s final! His children will NOT be going out again tonight!

“Daaaaddy! Dey git candee!” Lorenzo lamented, pointing a tiny chubby finger towards a trio of Hogwart kids chaperoned by two lanky teenagers who resolved not to dress up for Halloween. Each one was carrying a bag filled with candy while the little ones carried their smaller second bags that weren’t even a quarter filled.

“Your bags are already full of candy, you two.” Gerard reminded them coolly, his mind preoccupied by what had arisen in that dark house and what the cops would discover. “There isn’t any room for more.”

The twins let out a whine that was cut short by his sudden stop and then the dark look from behind his Darth Nihilus mask. They didn't have to see his face to know he was getting heated with them. Clamping their mouths shut, they silently moped all the way back to their porch. The grandparents were nowhere in sight. As soon as Gerard opened the front door, the twins went stampeding inside, calling out for their mother. “MOMMY! MOMMY! WE BACK!”

Frank had been coming down the stairs in some sweats, a T-Shirt and black socks. The second the twins rounded the stairs to tell him about their trick or treating and all the candy and costumes they’d seen, he lifted up a finger to his lips to signal them to lower their voices. “Shh, your brothers are upstairs sleeping.”

“They’re sleeping? This early?” Gerard inquired with a curious frown, setting the bags of candy on the kitchen table and removing his mask from his face.

Frank nodded with a smile, assembling the twins close for a hug. “Yeah, the grandparents decided to take them out a little ways. Jovani got scared of the costumes so they had to come back early.”

The twins had put their own fingers to their lips in response to their mother. Venetia whispered out against hers. “Mommy, we have candee.”

“Oh, you do?” Frank asked them, receiving two eager nods. “That’s awesome! Can I see?”

The twins nodded again before racing back to their father who was erasing the black makeup off of his face with some baby wipes sitting on the table. They simultaneously reached out to clasp onto his black Jedi robes and tugged on it with one hand while pointing to their mother. “Daddy! Mommy wants candee!”

Opening the garage door, Margo stepped through and nearly jumped at the sight of the black robed man her grandchildren were hanging on. Her hand flew to her heart when she realized it was only her son’s fiancee garbed in the Darth Nihilus costume they had purchased for him for Halloween. Not that his skeleton concept was a bad idea in the beginning. It was just...he was gonna be a part of their family soon and so they wanted to show their appreciation to him by procuring a costume that matched their Star Wars theme. “OH! Goodness me, Gerard! You scared me half to death with your costume! I almost didn’t recognize you.” Something on his leather gloved hands caught the light, and quickly her attention. She frowned at the look of the dark liquid before recognizing what it was. Laughing, she pointed to his gloves. “Ooo, nice added touch with the fake blood on your gloves, Gerard! It most certainly gives a deadly flair to your character.”

Gerard stilled, his wide light brown eyes snapping to her. His heart began to race in a panic. He hadn’t put any fake blood on him for Halloween. The blood she had noticed was from the Killjoys he killed.

“Blood? What blood are you talking about over there?” Frank demanded to know, a frown on his face. For some reason, there was a sickening feel in his stomach when his mother mentioned blood on his fiancee. Rising from where he had been crouched by the kitchen table with the candy his children had amassed throughout the night, Frank walked around Gerard so he was in front of him now and looked down at his hands. He saw the droplets then and gasped. His hazel eyes shot upwards to stare at Gerard. “Baby, where did this come from? How did you get blood on your hands?”

“Pumpkin, calm down!” Margo consoled her son, not seeing why he was getting riled up over some Halloween spirit. “Need I remind you it’s Halloween? It’s just a little fake blood, is all. If he didn’t put any on at home then he must have got it from out there in the streets. You know they still haven’t caught that group of teenage boys that like to run around spraying people with fake blood every Halloween. Gerard was probably another poor victim of them tonight. You and your friends were a dozen times before, remember?”

At the reminder of that bothersome group of boys, Frank simmered down. They did go around spraying people with fake blood every year. It had become such a headache that even the cops were called in to get involved for that brief time they never took the calls too seriously obviously cause those boys were still out running rampant even to this day. Overcome with remorse for jumping to conclusions, he stepped forward to take the wipes from Gerard’s hand and help him erase the rest of the black makeup off of his face. “I’m sorry, Gee. I don’t know why I’m suddenly on edge at the mention of blood. Forgive me?”

“Apology accepted.” Gerard smiled, setting his hand over Frank’s hand with a smile. Perhaps he shouldn’t have forgiven him so easily for suspecting him of probably killing someone tonight with their children in tow, but just seeing the beautiful short man again was enough to lighten his heart.

Margo smiled at the same time her son smiled up at Gerard. The couple were so precious to her she almost didn’t see that the twins had some ‘fake blood’ on their hands as well. “Ah, looks like our little Jason and Snow White got some on them too. Here, let Grandma clean it off.”

Gerard’s face paled as he turned his head and watched his children’s grandmother wash the supposed fake blood off of their little hands. The drops of blood were specks, not easily noticed in the dark of a Halloween night. If he would have seen them he would have removed them as well before they returned home, but he hadn’t. Feeling sick to his stomach he got blood on his kids, he had to look away and busy himself by placing Lorenzo’s candy bag on the floor alongside Venetia’s bag so the twins could explore their treasure trove of sweets. “Excuse me, I-I need a glass of water.”

Frank watched him go, still feeling guilty for believing the blood was real. He didn’t know if he believed Gerard to have maliciously butchered someone tonight or if they simply ran into trouble like his mother had suggested. Leaving the twins with their grandmother, Frank followed Gerard into the kitchen. He opened his mouth to issue a better apology for assuming the worst when he noted how still Gerard was standing at the kitchen sink, his face appearing paler than normal and his face seemingly dazed. Frowning with concern, Frank stepped inside and asked. “Gee, are you okay? What’s wrong?”

“Hmm? Oh, nothings wrong, I’m just tired.” Gerard lied, spinning around to face him with a bogus smile as he leaned his hip against the sink. “Have you seen what’s going on out there? The majority of New Jersey’s population is currently jamming themselves into our neighborhood and the neighboring ones too. Holy shit, Frankie, there's a ton of people out there! It’s like an ocean!”

Frank laughed, knowing it to be true but also finding it funny. Stepping closer, he leaned his hip against the counter beside the sink so they were facing each other. “Yeah, I know. Would you believe it if I told you that this is actually the average amount of people we see every year? This gated community is renowned for Halloween decorations AND having the best candies. Everyone comes over here.”

“And would you believe me if I told you that there were dozens of times I got scared of looking down in case I’d find out I lost the kids and had been strolling around with someone else’s kid?” Gerard joked with a playful grin. He was almost serious. It had been packed in their community. He had to look down just in case because there had been a close call with Venetia when someone had stepped on her dress and had torn her hand from his. He’d nearly had a heart attack as he saw the many bodies filling the gap between her and him. He’d managed to get a hold on her and was forced to ferry the twins up on his shoulder a few times. It had been the most complicated Halloween ever for him, and he loved it.