I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember
Chapter 57: Power Outage
The next day, Frank was walking up the steps of his aunt and uncle’s porch to knock on the front door when it was quickly yanked open to reveal Gerard, his children’s babysitter, fully dressed and about to step out somewhere. Frank jumped back in surprise when he almost walked into him, and felt his cheeks flush pink at how close they were to each other for that split second. “Shit, Gerard, you scared me!”
Gerard quickly reached his hands out to hover above Frank’s shoulder just in case he fell on his back onto the porch or worse, down the stairs. He stared down at Frank with wide eyes of surprise himself that swiftly changed into a deep intense stare. “I uh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there. Are you okay?”
Frank nodded as he placed a hand over his pounding heart and took deep breathes to calm it down. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. Why were rushing out of the house so fast? Are you headed somewhere?”
A smile spread across Gerard’s face as he recalled the reason why he was rushing out the door. “Yeah, actually. I was planning on taking the twins out to some new painting pottery place that just opened in town. I heard it on the news and thought it would be a lot of fun for them.” He lowered his eyes to his feet and shrugged quite bashfully. “I uh, I was going to invite you out with us, but I figured you probably had work today.”
Frank’s eyes widen with excitement as he grinned, showing off all of his pearly whites. “Are you serious? That sounds like fun! I would love to go, I mean if the offer still stands of course. I got the day off so I don’t have to ditch you guys at any time today.”
Gerard was shocked to find himself so unbelievably happy by the news. “That’s fucking sweet! I’ll get the back seats open and we’ll get the twins piled in and get going right now.”
In minutes the duo and their twins were sitting in the Painting Pottery store painting pottery. They were allowed to pick any decorative pottery they had available in the store to paint, even Lorenzo and Venetia chose their own when Gerard and Frank lifted them up to view the shelves of pottery. The twins seemed to enjoy the activity of picking and painting their pottery, but were still carefully watched by Gerard and Frank, who barely got to paint their own potteries because they had to prevent the kids from eating the paint. They didn’t mind their unfinished artwork, and rather focused on helping the twins finish their own. Frank was a pro with both of the children, and Gerard was shocked to find out that he himself was too. He still didn’t think he’d have the patient for the little ones and their easily distracted nature, but he actually did. He found he had all the time in the world when it came to them, and that continued to floor him time and time again, even after the couple called it quits and decided to head on back home. Gerard pulled his wallet out and paid for all four potteries, which Frank tried to argue against but was shushed every time he tried to open his mouth. Finally relenting, the couple left with the twins and piled back into the car again. When they finally pulled up to the driveway they were both surprised to find Frank’s parent standing beside their own car waiting for them.
Frank jumped out of the car and flashed his parents a look of confusion. “Hey guys, what brings you over today? Is everything okay?”
Margo looked over at her son and placed her hands on her hips. “Seriously, pumpkin? You forgot already?”
Frank didn’t see Gerard grin at his pet name, and frowned in thought as to what his mother could be referring to. When it suddenly came to him, he let out a gasp of shock as his eyes lit up. “Oh crap, I did forget!” He turned to Gerard. “My parents do this weekly thing where they take the twins out to spend time with them. I was supposed to tell you when I came over, but it must have slipped my mind. I’m sorry.”
Gerard gave him a smile as he stared deeply into his hazel eyes. “You’re always forgiven.”
“Is this the babysitter?” Frank Sr. asked Frank as he stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. Frank jolted in surprise at having been knocked out of gazing deeply back into Gerard’s hypnotic light brown eyes. He watched his father hold his hand out to greet Gerard. “I’m Frank Iero Senior, please to meet you, boy.”
Gerard was staring at the man who’d probably wanted him dead if he knew that he was the one that had kidnapped and raped his son. Not scared in the slightest, he flashed the older man a warm smile and shook his hand firmly. “Pleased to meet you too, sir. My name is Gerard Way.”
“Do you mind if we help get the twins out of your car and be about our way. We have a special appointment at their favorite Rainforest Café and it’d be a shame if were late.” Frank Sr. asked him, pointing towards his car where the twins could be heard babbling through the small open gap in the window.
Gerard nodded. “Yeah sure, let me help you.” Leading the way, he and Frank Sr. got both of the car seats with the twins still inside out of his car and into the Iero’s car. Gerard oddly found himself already missing the twins when he was buckling them in and closing the car door on them. The Ieros were hugging and kissing Frank goodbye when Gerard returned to stand beside him on the sidewalk. After they broke away and were making their way to their car, they called out a list of reminders that Aunt Edith and Uncle Peter had already drilled into Frank’s head before they left. Frank rolled his eyes and assured him he was well aware of the rules, but they continued anyway until they had the car started and were driving off down the road with the twins secured in the backseats.
Having told his mother that he was going to stay and keep Gerard company, Frank had suggested binge watching a bunch of horror movies he kept stashed at his Aunt and Uncle’s house whenever he slept over. The old timers weren’t into horror movies, they preferred romantic comedy and simple films like that. Anything horror or action was too much for them. It was dark by the time Frank noticed that he was still covered in paint from helping the twins paint. Surprisingly enough, Lorenzo and Venetia barely got any paint on themselves, and more so on him and Gerard. Frank was pretty sure that if the twins did actually get any paint on themselves his mother would have most likely used the baby wipes she kept in her purse to help clean them off already anyway.
They had just finished the second movie before Frank looked at Gerard, who, unbeknownst to him, had been staring at him throughout the entire movie. “Hey, before we start the next movie, could I take a shower really fast. I got paint in places that don’t even make any sense to me at all and it’s starting to bug me.”
Gerard licked his lips at the thought of Frank naked in the same house as him. “U-Uh yeah, sure. No problem. I’ll be down here making some popcorn for us.”
“Sweet. Don’t worry, I won’t be too long, I promise.” Frank called over his shoulder as he hurried towards the stairs. He wasn’t going to spend an hour taking a shower and keep poor Gerard waiting downstairs. Instead, Frank planned on 10-20 minutes at the most…unfortunately that all changed when the second he turned the shower faucet off all the lights in the bathroom decided to go out at the same exact time.
Frank jumped and let out a fearful gasp as his wide eyes darted around the pitch black room for any amount of light. His ears couldn’t pick up anything other than the sound of his own heart racing with…dread? Frank’s hand came up to press against his chest as he tried to calm his own breathing, but it became impossible when flashing images of the dark room that his kidnapper had used to discard him in as punishment vividly appeared before his eyes. Frank began to quickly hyperventilate when he heard what sounded like a household of muffled voices on the other side of the walls surrounding him. Simultaneously, he smelt the strong scent his own body odor, urine and feces in the air. The smell was so strong Frank became certain that he was indeed back into the house of his kidnapper and was once again being held in the dark room. Frantically shaking his head, he let out a bloodcurdling scream as tears instantly sprang into his eyes. “D-DADDY! MO-MOMMY!”
All the way from downstairs, Gerard had been searching the kitchen for candles since a power outage had stolen the entire neighborhood electricity. While bending down to search the bottom cabinets, Gerard felt his heart stop when he heard the familiar sound of Frank’s scream that he hadn’t expect to hear so soon, considering he hadn’t been kidnapped yet. Jumping to his feet, he lifted his eyes to the ceiling, his brows furrowed with uncertainty as he waited for another scream to confirm he had indeed heard what he thought he heard. Unfortunately he did, because not even 2 seconds later he heard another scream for help. Eyes narrowing with the need for blood from whoever thought it was a wonderful idea to come into his temporary home and touch what was his, Gerard charged for the stairs, taking them two at a time, and raced towards the bathroom. “FRANK! FRANK WHERE ARE YOU!?” Gerard had already memorized the setup of the house out of his Killjoy habit, and so he moved through the corridors and stairs like a graceful bird even in the pitch black darkness, never bumping or tripping along the way.
“FRANKIE I’M COMING!” Gerard called before he reached the bathroom where immediately tore the bathroom door off its hinges and dived into the small room. Blindly his hands groped in the direction of Frank’s sobs until he found him curled up on the floor of the tub. When Gerard opened his mouth, he completely forgot he was Gerard the babysitter and instead became Poison the Killjoy. “Frankie, Frankie baby what’s wrong!? Did somebody touch you? Where the fuck is he, tell me where he is! I’ll fucking kill him!”
Frank shook his head, forgetting that the room was even filled with darkness. “G-Gerard? Y-You’re here?”
Snapping back into Gerard the babysitter, he reached down to cup Frank’s face in his hands, his thumbs stroking his cheeks comfortingly. “Of course, I am. Now tell me what happened here. Why were you screaming?”
Frank shook his head, his trembling hands coming up to desperately grip onto Gerard’s wrist. His tears were pouring out of his eyes as he fought to catch his breathe. “P-Please just get me o-out of here. Please!”
Gerard quickly reached his hands out to hover above Frank’s shoulder just in case he fell on his back onto the porch or worse, down the stairs. He stared down at Frank with wide eyes of surprise himself that swiftly changed into a deep intense stare. “I uh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there. Are you okay?”
Frank nodded as he placed a hand over his pounding heart and took deep breathes to calm it down. “Yeah, I’ll be okay. Why were rushing out of the house so fast? Are you headed somewhere?”
A smile spread across Gerard’s face as he recalled the reason why he was rushing out the door. “Yeah, actually. I was planning on taking the twins out to some new painting pottery place that just opened in town. I heard it on the news and thought it would be a lot of fun for them.” He lowered his eyes to his feet and shrugged quite bashfully. “I uh, I was going to invite you out with us, but I figured you probably had work today.”
Frank’s eyes widen with excitement as he grinned, showing off all of his pearly whites. “Are you serious? That sounds like fun! I would love to go, I mean if the offer still stands of course. I got the day off so I don’t have to ditch you guys at any time today.”
Gerard was shocked to find himself so unbelievably happy by the news. “That’s fucking sweet! I’ll get the back seats open and we’ll get the twins piled in and get going right now.”
In minutes the duo and their twins were sitting in the Painting Pottery store painting pottery. They were allowed to pick any decorative pottery they had available in the store to paint, even Lorenzo and Venetia chose their own when Gerard and Frank lifted them up to view the shelves of pottery. The twins seemed to enjoy the activity of picking and painting their pottery, but were still carefully watched by Gerard and Frank, who barely got to paint their own potteries because they had to prevent the kids from eating the paint. They didn’t mind their unfinished artwork, and rather focused on helping the twins finish their own. Frank was a pro with both of the children, and Gerard was shocked to find out that he himself was too. He still didn’t think he’d have the patient for the little ones and their easily distracted nature, but he actually did. He found he had all the time in the world when it came to them, and that continued to floor him time and time again, even after the couple called it quits and decided to head on back home. Gerard pulled his wallet out and paid for all four potteries, which Frank tried to argue against but was shushed every time he tried to open his mouth. Finally relenting, the couple left with the twins and piled back into the car again. When they finally pulled up to the driveway they were both surprised to find Frank’s parent standing beside their own car waiting for them.
Frank jumped out of the car and flashed his parents a look of confusion. “Hey guys, what brings you over today? Is everything okay?”
Margo looked over at her son and placed her hands on her hips. “Seriously, pumpkin? You forgot already?”
Frank didn’t see Gerard grin at his pet name, and frowned in thought as to what his mother could be referring to. When it suddenly came to him, he let out a gasp of shock as his eyes lit up. “Oh crap, I did forget!” He turned to Gerard. “My parents do this weekly thing where they take the twins out to spend time with them. I was supposed to tell you when I came over, but it must have slipped my mind. I’m sorry.”
Gerard gave him a smile as he stared deeply into his hazel eyes. “You’re always forgiven.”
“Is this the babysitter?” Frank Sr. asked Frank as he stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder. Frank jolted in surprise at having been knocked out of gazing deeply back into Gerard’s hypnotic light brown eyes. He watched his father hold his hand out to greet Gerard. “I’m Frank Iero Senior, please to meet you, boy.”
Gerard was staring at the man who’d probably wanted him dead if he knew that he was the one that had kidnapped and raped his son. Not scared in the slightest, he flashed the older man a warm smile and shook his hand firmly. “Pleased to meet you too, sir. My name is Gerard Way.”
“Do you mind if we help get the twins out of your car and be about our way. We have a special appointment at their favorite Rainforest Café and it’d be a shame if were late.” Frank Sr. asked him, pointing towards his car where the twins could be heard babbling through the small open gap in the window.
Gerard nodded. “Yeah sure, let me help you.” Leading the way, he and Frank Sr. got both of the car seats with the twins still inside out of his car and into the Iero’s car. Gerard oddly found himself already missing the twins when he was buckling them in and closing the car door on them. The Ieros were hugging and kissing Frank goodbye when Gerard returned to stand beside him on the sidewalk. After they broke away and were making their way to their car, they called out a list of reminders that Aunt Edith and Uncle Peter had already drilled into Frank’s head before they left. Frank rolled his eyes and assured him he was well aware of the rules, but they continued anyway until they had the car started and were driving off down the road with the twins secured in the backseats.
Having told his mother that he was going to stay and keep Gerard company, Frank had suggested binge watching a bunch of horror movies he kept stashed at his Aunt and Uncle’s house whenever he slept over. The old timers weren’t into horror movies, they preferred romantic comedy and simple films like that. Anything horror or action was too much for them. It was dark by the time Frank noticed that he was still covered in paint from helping the twins paint. Surprisingly enough, Lorenzo and Venetia barely got any paint on themselves, and more so on him and Gerard. Frank was pretty sure that if the twins did actually get any paint on themselves his mother would have most likely used the baby wipes she kept in her purse to help clean them off already anyway.
They had just finished the second movie before Frank looked at Gerard, who, unbeknownst to him, had been staring at him throughout the entire movie. “Hey, before we start the next movie, could I take a shower really fast. I got paint in places that don’t even make any sense to me at all and it’s starting to bug me.”
Gerard licked his lips at the thought of Frank naked in the same house as him. “U-Uh yeah, sure. No problem. I’ll be down here making some popcorn for us.”
“Sweet. Don’t worry, I won’t be too long, I promise.” Frank called over his shoulder as he hurried towards the stairs. He wasn’t going to spend an hour taking a shower and keep poor Gerard waiting downstairs. Instead, Frank planned on 10-20 minutes at the most…unfortunately that all changed when the second he turned the shower faucet off all the lights in the bathroom decided to go out at the same exact time.
Frank jumped and let out a fearful gasp as his wide eyes darted around the pitch black room for any amount of light. His ears couldn’t pick up anything other than the sound of his own heart racing with…dread? Frank’s hand came up to press against his chest as he tried to calm his own breathing, but it became impossible when flashing images of the dark room that his kidnapper had used to discard him in as punishment vividly appeared before his eyes. Frank began to quickly hyperventilate when he heard what sounded like a household of muffled voices on the other side of the walls surrounding him. Simultaneously, he smelt the strong scent his own body odor, urine and feces in the air. The smell was so strong Frank became certain that he was indeed back into the house of his kidnapper and was once again being held in the dark room. Frantically shaking his head, he let out a bloodcurdling scream as tears instantly sprang into his eyes. “D-DADDY! MO-MOMMY!”
All the way from downstairs, Gerard had been searching the kitchen for candles since a power outage had stolen the entire neighborhood electricity. While bending down to search the bottom cabinets, Gerard felt his heart stop when he heard the familiar sound of Frank’s scream that he hadn’t expect to hear so soon, considering he hadn’t been kidnapped yet. Jumping to his feet, he lifted his eyes to the ceiling, his brows furrowed with uncertainty as he waited for another scream to confirm he had indeed heard what he thought he heard. Unfortunately he did, because not even 2 seconds later he heard another scream for help. Eyes narrowing with the need for blood from whoever thought it was a wonderful idea to come into his temporary home and touch what was his, Gerard charged for the stairs, taking them two at a time, and raced towards the bathroom. “FRANK! FRANK WHERE ARE YOU!?” Gerard had already memorized the setup of the house out of his Killjoy habit, and so he moved through the corridors and stairs like a graceful bird even in the pitch black darkness, never bumping or tripping along the way.
“FRANKIE I’M COMING!” Gerard called before he reached the bathroom where immediately tore the bathroom door off its hinges and dived into the small room. Blindly his hands groped in the direction of Frank’s sobs until he found him curled up on the floor of the tub. When Gerard opened his mouth, he completely forgot he was Gerard the babysitter and instead became Poison the Killjoy. “Frankie, Frankie baby what’s wrong!? Did somebody touch you? Where the fuck is he, tell me where he is! I’ll fucking kill him!”
Frank shook his head, forgetting that the room was even filled with darkness. “G-Gerard? Y-You’re here?”
Snapping back into Gerard the babysitter, he reached down to cup Frank’s face in his hands, his thumbs stroking his cheeks comfortingly. “Of course, I am. Now tell me what happened here. Why were you screaming?”
Frank shook his head, his trembling hands coming up to desperately grip onto Gerard’s wrist. His tears were pouring out of his eyes as he fought to catch his breathe. “P-Please just get me o-out of here. Please!”