Purple Hearts

“How the fuck can everyone sleep?” said Tre. He was in the kitchen pacing around, looking a little like a madman; his hair was all over the place and his eyes wild. His face was blotchy from where he’d been crying earlier. He was a mess but it wasn’t surprising.

”Because they’re tired dude, and so are you.” Said Mike. He was sitting at the kitchen table with Billie and Julia. They were the only ones there. Charlie had taken Gerard, James, Adrienne and Jen home. Emily and Ramona had gone to bed though Julia presumed that they weren’t asleep, they probably just wanted to get away and be on their own somewhere so that they could talk about this dreadful situation.

The room was cold because the kitchen door was open. Milton was behaving very strangely, every time he came in, he wanted to go back out again, once he was out he scratched at the door to be let back in. They all thought he was just missing Franky, not even contemplating that Milton knew where she was, just next door.

“I don’t want to sleep. How can I sleep when I don’t know where or what’s happening to Franky? She could be anywhere, what the fuck does he want her for?” Said Tre looking at all their faces.

Billie was quiet and had been since he’d arrived back with Gerard and James. He was still disgusted with Gerard and the fact that he and James hadn’t stayed all that long at Tres. It was obvious that they couldn’t wait to leave. That had really pissed him off. Gerard was marrying Franky for fuck sake. Didn’t he care where she was? Or was it that all he cared about at that moment was his next fix? Yeah that was probably more like it. Billie felt like just punching that motherfucker again to make him see sense but he knew he wouldn’t, Gerard was going to marry Franky and he didn’t want her to see him in that state, she must love him to be marrying him and he’d do this for her. Billie knew someone that would help Gerard and had already told him that he would contact him tomorrow with the guy’s phone number.

“I think you need to get some rest,” said Billie looking at his old friend. He hated watching him in this state but it was understandable. He himself couldn’t think straight, just wanted to get Franky back here where she was loved and needed by everyone. He wouldn’t pester her again by telling her he loved her. He’d already told her probably too many times and because she’d made her decision about marrying Gerard then he’d have to accept it. She just didn’t love him. He’d sort Gerard out for her, of course he would, he’d do anything for her.

“How can I rest when she’s not here? What the fuck does he want her for?” Tre said once again, then pouring some more Jack Daniels into a glass. He’d had three already.

“I’m guessing money,” said Mike who was absolutely dumbfounded by this but he also felt that there was more to it. Billie was acting strange like he was hiding something.

“Well he can have all my money, all of it,” said Tre getting up from the table with his glass and knocking it back. “I just want Franky back.”

“Drinking that stuff won’t help,” said Mike, “Take it easy…”

“Take it easy? Take it easy? How the fuck can I take it easy when Franky’s missing?” Tre said, slurring his words and getting angry.

Julia got up from the table and went to him.

“Tre, how about we go to the other room, sit down quietly and wait for this phone call, come and try and rest, I’ll keep you company,” she said ushering him out of the kitchen leaving Mike and Billie alone.

“I cannot believe this is happening,” said Mike looking at Billie.

“Neither can I Mike,” said Billie who was scratching at his wrist underneath the wristband that he wore.

“You OK? You’ve been scratching at that all evening,” said Mike realising that Billie had been wearing a wristband for ages, since he got back from his disappearance.

“Yeah, its fine, its….oh fuck Mike,” said Billie putting his head in his hands. He just burst out crying and Mike didn’t know what to do so he put his arm about his old friend.

“What is it? Something bothering you? I’m guessing there’s something you’re not telling me.” Said Mike.

Billie looked up at him and wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand but he didn’t speak.

“What is it Bill? You can tell me,” said Mike, concerned now. What was this all about? Was it to do with his split over Adrienne, he thought they’d got over that, they weren’t together and they were moving on, perhaps Billie was having second thoughts.

“Its Franky,” said Billie.

“I know dude, I can’t believe it myself, I can see it’s getting to you. I’m sure once we get the phone call we’ll know what this is all about. I’m sure she won’t be harmed. I’m sure she’ll be back in once piece. Poor Tre.” Said Mike who was chattering on but Billie was hardly listening.

“I love her Mike.” He said looking into his oldest friends eyes. He felt Mike remove his arm from around him and his face change. He frowned.

“What?” said Mike. “You love Franky?”

“Yeah. I love her.”

“Oh Billie,” said Mike who hadn’t expected this at all. He thought it would be about Adrienne, not Tre’s daughter. Tre’s daughter. Billie loved Tre’s daughter.

Billie sighed.

“I thought you’d have guessed, I always felt it was obvious to everyone else, I mean, I must have been looking at her some.” Said Billie.

“I hadn’t a clue,” said Mike. “When did all this happen?”

“Some time back, when we got back from the tour the first time I saw her again because I hadn’t seen her in 18 months she…she looked different, she’d grown up and then I had this trouble with Adrienne and Franky was kind of around for me to talk to. She’s a great songwriter, Mike, I realised how talented she was but it really happened that night at the Grammy’s. I noticed her, really properly noticed her and fell in love with her then.”

“Does she know?” Said Mike who couldn’t realise why he hadn’t picked up on this before now, he’d known Billie for years and felt he could read him well. Maybe it was because he had been busy with Jen.

“Yeah, she does and we…we slept together, before she went off to England. She said we couldn’t be together, she wanted me to get back with Adrienne, she kept on about it Mike, insisted that Adrienne and I were good together and she wanted us to make it work.” Said Billie.

“Does she love you?” Asked Mike.

“I don’t think so, no she can’t because she’s marrying Gerard. That was the reason I went away for a while, to give her time to think about what we could have together, I hoped she’d changed her mind but when I got back I find she’s getting married. I wasn’t expecting that and…it hurts,” said Billie scratching at his wrist again.

“Oh Bill,” said Mike, feeling for his friend.

“I hope she’s alright Mike, I hope whoever has got her keeps her safe and looks after her.” He said, desperation in his eyes and now it was obvious to Mike how Billie felt about Franky. He put his arm about his friend once more.

“I want to show you something,” said Billie. “No one else knows about it, I had it done some time back,” he said moving the wristband out of the way.

“Oh Bill,” said Mike as he saw what his friend had tattooed there, on the inside of his wrist. It was a purple heart with the word ‘Franky’ next to it.

Mike just looked sadly up at his best friend’s face as Billie covered over the tattoo once more and the house phone rang.

**

“Charlie would you like to come in?” said Adrienne. They had dropped off Gerard at his apartment and James said he’d left some stuff there so he followed Gerard in. Charlie wasn’t happy that he’d gone in with Gerard, sure that they were going to do drugs again. He hoped Billie would sort it. He was sure he would.

“I…its late, may be another time,” said Charlie. He practically kicked himself for not going in. Why didn’t he just go in and talk to Adrienne may be find out what she wanted. Billie or Tre? He hoped neither he thought as he walked back to the car. He wanted to take things slowly with Adrienne, she was special after all.

**

Franky had heard the guy on the phone talking to her father and telling him that he wanted money otherwise he wasn’t going to get Franky back. He wanted a million dollars and he wanted it in two days. He gave Tre a place to meet in two days and then he’d tell him where Franky was.

She could hear the guy coming back so she lay quietly on the mattress, feigning sleep. The mattress smelt foul but it was all she had to lie on.

“I know you’re not asleep. I’ve spoken to your father and if he does exactly as I tell him, in two days you’ll be going home.” Said the guy.

Franky didn’t answer, she didn’t know what to say just thought she couldn’t wait for those two days to come and for her Dad to get her out of here. How could they not know she was only next door? Why couldn’t they guess?

“You hear me? In two day’s time you’ll be back with your Daddy,” he said. “As long as he does as he’s told and doesn’t involve the police, then everything will be fine. I have a gun here,” he said. She could hear the sound of the gun being cocked.

“I’m not afraid to use this you know,” he said. “If anything goes wrong, you can kiss seeing your family goodbye.”