Pain Remains

We had found Mikey. He had been in shock, cold and wet. He was floating, half conscious in a river, just at the edge. He had tightly held onto some grass all night, and never let go. He was just blankly staring ahead, only moving slightly when Gerard stood in front of him, shouting his name. Sam had sat in the van all night, wanting to help, but Bob wouldn’t let her. Not with her being pregnant. She had come in now though, sitting by Mikey’s bed side, holding his hand even though he was sleeping deeply. Me and Frank were sat on his bed, right at the end, backs up against the railings that seemed to be there for no apparent reason. We found out later, mind, that they were able to be swung round and create an almost cot like bed for Mikey. When I asked a nurse why, she coughed and said, ‘Well he’s fallen out of bed before. We don’t want him to hurt himself.’ I asked Mikey if he had, and he said he never remembered falling out of bed, they just said that the bars were there for health and safety purposes. He had been tricked into sleeping like a caged animal.

‘How is he? I asked the nurse as we all sat around in the waiting room for Mikey’s test results.
‘It’s a bad case of pneumonia. Nothing more.’ she smiled confidently, but I wasn’t sure that she was telling the whole truth. I turned to Frank after the nurse had gone and asked him what he though about that.
‘I think there may be more to it than it seems.’ he said quietly, then said louder, ‘Come on Georgie, let’s go get some coffee.’ he winked and pulled me out of the waiting room.
‘Where are we going Frank?!’ I asked as he dragged me to a door.
‘We’re going to speak to the real doctor of this place. He never lies. At least, he never lied to me.’ he grinned and the door opened.

‘So, yes. Michael will…’
‘-Mikey-’ Frank corrected the doctor again.
‘Well, Mikey is going to be here a long time. Unless you want someone to come in to where you live and care for him. He’ll need it.’ the doctor said simply.
‘Mr.… Doctor.’ Frank began, shrugging. ‘Do you… um… realize who we are? We’re a band. We tour. We go out and play music around the world! We don’t stay at home.’
‘Can you play without a bassist?’ the doctor simply asked.
‘Well…. No. We can’t.’ Frank replied, just as calmly.
‘Okay, it’s clear then. You’ll have to cancel.’
‘WHAT?!’ Frank yelled jumping up. ‘No way! NO FUCKING WAY!’ he screamed in the doctor’s face. He kicked back his chair, and stormed out of the room. I stood up, turned to follow him, then came back, downed the rest of the free coffee, and left after Frank.
‘Sorry,’ I mumbled as I went out the door, leaving an equally embarrassed and shocked doctor behind me.

Frank was sat by Mikey’s bed. Pleading him to get better. Mikey wasn’t listening though, I could see Frank was about to make him cry. I stepped in.
‘Frank, babe? Could you go get me some… uh… um, coffee? I need to talk to Mikey a sec.’ I asked Frank. He looked up at me, tears welling in his own eyes. ‘Oh… Frankie. Come here. One sec, Mikey. Can I just… uh… talk to Frank a moment?’ I asked the older man. Mikey nodded, and I walked with Frank out of the room. Once we were out, I turned to him. ‘Frank honey. You… you gotta… stop pleading Mikey to get better. He can’t. He can’t do this alone, not without our help. You need to show him the way to get better, not just force him to think he’s okay.’ I said gently, trying to tell Frank how much he was hurting Mikey.
‘But, Georgie. We’re having to cancel tours! We’re having to stop playing… stop playing to people that need us! We are having to stop saving lives, we need to get out there and help theses people!’ he protested.
‘No, Frank. Listen. Mikey is only human too. He’s just as vulnerable as those people that you have to stop playing to. It’s a hard choice, but if you abandon Mikey for these strangers, then you’re going to lose him, too. Frank, you have to give you help to Mikey. You need to save his life. Please, Frank. See what I’m talking about.’ I said quietly.
‘Yeah, it’s… it’s… either Mikey or the crowd... the career… the life. Everything. Either we lose that… or Mikey goes. ’ he said slowly. Upsettingly.
‘Yeah, Frank. I’m sorry but it is.’ I put my arms around him and rubbed his back. He sniffed, then buried his head deep in my shoulder. ‘Aw Frankie! Come on, don’t do this. Come on… sit down.’ I said, and led him over to a chair.

Frank saw sense. He went into Mikey, apologized for pestering him, and they kissed and made up. Literally, kissed. Gerard came in and pulled a sick face.
‘Guys!’ he whined. ‘Please stop it. This is a sick ward! AND MIKEY’S SICK!’ he yelled. Thankfully, the door was closed, so no one could hear us. They jumped apart, well, Frank jumped. Mikey was in bed, so he couldn’t really jump anywhere. Frank grinned, and came over to kiss me.
‘No, Frank! You just… but Mikey… NUUU!’ I yelled theatrically, pretending to faint to the floor. Gerard caught me, then Frank grabbed me. He kissed me, and I waved my arms around a bit, them kissed him back.
‘Do I taste like Mikey?’ he asked me, pulling away.
‘I don’t know. I’ve never kissed Mikey before.’ I replied with a grin. He smiled back and laughed.
‘You should. He’s good. I’m going for coffee.’ Frank said, and we all yelled after him to get us one. One each, not to share is what we meant. But… being Frank, he had to buy us one to share didn’t he? Idiot.

'So.... Mikey?' I asked when there was a lull in the conversation. 'What are you doing... what are we doing about the band situation?' I paused, and Gerard took over.
'Yeah, come on bro. You can't have meant it. I mean, you were confused, angry, and shocked from being in here in the first place.' Gerard told his younger brother reasonably. 'Are you gonna...... come back to us?' he asked, and raised one eye brow at Mikey. This made him laugh, his tired face breaking into a smile finally on the subject of the band was good.
'Oh.... go on then. I suppose I couldn't leave you guys hanging for too long on your own. What are you without me, your spiritual leader of the band?' he asked jokingly. But, we all agreed anyway. We knew Mikey was the most scatter-brained of the lot. Never trust him. With anything, except your life. I think he'd try hard enough at that.