Flash!

Lies
I stared blindly at Audrey’s coffin. The raven haired man sits down beside me and tried to smile at me, but it looked wrong. He would be a terrible model.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, patting my back in what he must have thought was a ‘comforting’ way.

I shot him a cold glare, “Why would you care? You never knew her.”

He shrugged and sank into his seat, “I know. But I can tell she was a good person.”

“Can you just stop talking about her?” He looked hurt when I said that but his face soon went back to his normal, expressionless façade.

We play the silence game for a little while until the guests start arriving.

“Frank… Are you alright?” Raven man asks.

“I’m fine. I’m fine and fucking dandy,” I reply quietly. I know I must look like shit right now but I couldn’t care less. The thing that confuses me most is I still have no idea why Raven man is hanging around. I don’t even know his name.

I ignore him for the rest of the funeral. I ignore everything for the rest of the funeral. I even missed Lesley’s heart felt speech, and I knew how hard it would be for her. But I just stared at the coffin.

“Frank?” I look to my right to see Raven man staring at me.

“What?”

“It’s time to leave now…” I shook my head weakly.

“But Audrey –”

“She’s gone.”

I looked back to the coffin to find it was no longer placed gently on the elevated platform it had been on mere moments ago.

I gasped in horror as I realised my best friend was really gone, “She’s really dead?”

He nodded slowly, “I’m sorry… is there anything I can do?”

I shook my head, “Just take me home.”

-

“Frank, I think you need help.”

I looked up at my agent, Bob Bryar, in confusion.

“I don’t think so,” I replied.

Bob sighed, “Frank, trust me, you need help… or something, a break from modelling.”

“It’s my job,” I stated bluntly.

“I know that, and you’re excellent at it, but you’ve been under too much pressure recently. You’re overworked.”

“I’m not. Bob, I don’t need help, I don’t need anything-”

“Can’t you see? You’ll make yourself sick if you go on like this… I won’t let you go on like this.”

I cocked my head to the side in a rude manner, “What you gonna do, Bob? There’s nothing you can do…”

Bob shook his head, sitting down opposite me on the other side of the desk and tapped the wood in an annoying manner. He’s always been ridiculously good at creating catchy beats with his finger tips.

“You need rest. You’re no good to us when you’re like this Frankie…”

“Like what?” I asked angrily. What on earth was he getting at? Have I suddenly become ugly over night?

“Irritable, restless, tired; today was the final straw, Frank –”

“Today was nothing!”

“You fainted in the middle of a shoot, Frank. In all the years we have worked together not once have I known you to faint or anything of the like. You’re not well.”

I sighed, slumping in my chair. Granted, the past couple of months had been hard for me, what with Audrey’s death and everything. But I’m fine…

“I’ve arranged a holiday to…”

“Please don’t make this one of those ‘Hey Frank! You’re going on holiday to the Bahamas!’ but then you end up in a stupid rehab clinic ‘cause you’re too fat or skinny or fucked up to deal with,” I hissed, I hate giving Bob a hard time. He’s my friend. Friend’s treat one another well… they don’t treat them like I treat Bob.

Bob looked taken aback, “Who the hell does that?”

I sighed, “Audrey’s old agent did it to her when she was fifteen…”

Bob let out a long, low whistle, “Well, I’d never do that to you Frank. You’re going to England.”

My ears pricked up at the word: England.

I’ve never been to England before. I know what you’re thinking. A famous male model must have been to England, right? Well, wrong.

“England?”

“Yep, of course, you’ll have an escort,” I grimaced, “He’ll be trying to make your time most enjoyable…”

“Alright then,” I smiled, reclining in my chair, “Who’s gonna be my chaperone?”

“Gerard Way.”

“Who?”