The End.

Chapter Twenty-Six: For Better, and the Worst...

xXAlicia’s POVXx

I silently sat in the main room, mulling over my thoughts. What was going on with Mikey? I mean, I knew he was gone, but why? All I really know is that it’s my fault he’s this way. It’s completely and utterly my screw-up.

I felt so bad, I wanted to cry. But I’d cried enough at three this morning, and last night. Hell, for the past week I’d done nothing but crying. I missed my husband so much, and I knew it was such a huge mistake to cheat on him. I honestly don’t know why I did it. But it fucked up my chance of ever being close to Mikey again, that’s for sure.

The rest of the day ticked by slowly. It felt like time was standing still, like there was time given to us. Extra time that I certainly didn’t want, or need. If I keep thinking about this, I’m gonna end up crying again, and I really don’t fell like doing that right now.

“Alicia?” I heard someone say as they entered the room. I turned from my spot at the dinette to come face to face with Frank. I smiled weakly at him. “You okay?” he asked.

I thought about my answer for a minute. A minute too long. i started to cry. “No,” I told him, “I’m not okay.”

“What’s bugging you?” he asked.

“You know,” I told him.

“Yea, but there’s something else. More to the story. You wanna talk about it?”

I nodded my head meekly. He smiled softly and sat across from me at the dinette. We both averted each others eyes for several minutes before Frank began to speak. “Now,” he started, “What’s bugging you?”

“Guilt,” I choked out. He raised a brow at me, “It’s my fault Mikey’s like this. Running away for no reason, and his depression. It’s my fault. I-”

“Hold up,” Frank interrupted, holding up his hand, “How’s it your fault?”

“Because, if I hadn’t left him or cheated on him, none of this would have happened.”

“Hmm,” Frank mulled over the thought for a moment, “You don’t know what’s going on, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

Frank sighed and covered his eye wit his hand. “I thought Gee told you.”

“Told me what?” I had to know.

“About Mikey’s problem,” he emphasized ‘problem’ like it was a curse. An unspoken word that should never be uttered. Especially in front of me.

“What problem?” I asked.

“Well, after you left,” Frank paused, debating whether to tell me or not. He continued, “Mikey fell into a depression and didn’t come out of his room all day. And then Gee found him the next morning passed out on the bathroom floor.” I gasped, and was ready to burst into tears.

Frank went on further, “And Gerard had found an empty sleeping pills bottle later. Then, later that night, Ray had called us, frantic, about the fact that Mikey was out cold on the floor again. That time he was hospitalized.” I was crying by this time. My husband...a drug addict because of me? Oh God...

“But Gerard made a plan,” he told me, “We were going to hold an intervention to stop him from popping pills. But Mikey wasn’t so crazy about the idea. So he ran. Gee chased after him and-” he cut himself off.

“C-Continue,” I persisted. He nodded.

“And he slapped him,” Frank replied, “That was the last of it.”

I was weeping uncontrollably, shaking harder than ever. I couldn’t believe so much pain and suffering was caused by my one little fuck-up. Why’d I slap Mikey? Why’d i hurt him so much, both emotionally and physically? Why’s it my fault? Why?

Frank wrapped his arm around my comfortingly. “Shh,” he cooed, “It’ll get better. Gerard’s with him now, and it’s all gonna be okay.”

“It won’t be okay,” I shot at him through the hiccups, “Mikey’s never gonna forgive me for what I’ve done to him! Never! But, I love him so much...” I sobbed harder.

“He still loves you, ya know,” Frank told me.

I looked up from the floor. “What?”

“He misses you. He told me himself. He said it was his fault that you hurt him. That he shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. He loves you more than you know. And the reason he did this was because he thought this was all a nightmare.”

I sniffled. “I thought he hated me.”

“He doesn’t.”

I wiped away the last tear. I looked at Frank. He smiled at me. I gave him a weak smile back. He got up and walked to the bunk area again.

I don’t know whether to believe him or not, but I really should just leave it as is. At least until Mikey gets back and tells me himself the words ‘I love you.’

At that moment, the bus phone rang. I ran over to it. “Hello?” I asked the person who called.

“Oh my God! Alicia, you need to get here. Quick.”

“Gerard?” I asked.

“Yea. Now listen, you have to get here as quickly as possible!”

“Why? Gerard, what’s going on?”

“It’s Mikey.”

“What about Mikey?” I asked. Gerard remained silent. “Gerard, you’re scaring me. Now tell me what the fuck is happening!”

“Mikey’s on the roof.”

The phone fell out of my hands to the tile below. I heard Gerard call my name a couple of times, but that didn’t snap me out of it. My husband is on the roof of a hotel. He’s not gonna...no. Mikey wouldn’t do that...Would he?

“Alicia? Are you still there?”

“What?” I picked up the phone from the floor and held it up to me ear. “Yea. I’m still here Gee. Tell me where I need to go.”

“Okay. The hotel is-”

I wrote down the directions to the hotel on a piece of scrap paper i found in on of the buses numerous drawers. I hung up and called the guys into the room. I was running around and grabbing my coat when they first noticed me.

“Alicia, what’s going on?” Frank asked. I turned to him, the door open in front of me.

“Mikey’s in danger...”