Special

After what Mikey said, he forgave me. I didn’t think he would – he looked like he was about to bite my head off at the time. He didn’t tell his mother that it was my fault and told her it was their neighbors. She huffed, shook her head and said, “Damn Dave, smoking in front of my son, who does he think he is . . .” Then she walked out, probably to shout at this ‘Dave’ character.

That happened hours after Gerard ran up to his room. Mikey wouldn’t tell me what happened. He kept saying, “I told you, you wouldn’t understand,” over and over again. It just got me curious about Gerard. I wanted to know what was so special about him.

“There’s nothing special about him,” he would answer. I didn’t believe, judging by the loud thudding sounds and shouts that were coming from Gerard’s basement. I decided to wait; he’ll tell me sooner or later. We were friends. Friends tell each other these things, right?

The next day was Sunday, sunny, bright, happy Sunday. The day for family, rest.

A day for church. Something I didn’t particularly enjoy, you might’ve guessed.

It was strange for Mikey to drag me with him to church that day. Donna didn’t even hesitate to let me come. This impressed her in some way, I guess. This left Mikey laughing in the back ground. He probably thought that this was as funny as hell, since it was a complete and utter lie. That Mikey made.

I can’t say that I regretted going. I can’t say that I enjoyed going, either. To put it simply, I never want to do it again. It’s hard to explain why, it was just the whole experience. It was good and bad, at the same time.

Learning more about Gerard was strange. Actually, everything about him was strange. The way he spoke, the way he moved, his routines. Everything. I just knew there was something different about him, but nobody was willing to tell me what it was.

The Way family – except Mikey - were a pack of religious people. Every week, they would go to church with their relatives, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. I was basically shunned from every conversation. Not that there was actually one, they were all silent during mass, only once opening their mouths to respond or sing.

I sat next to him the whole time. Gerard. I watched him the whole time. The way he sung, prayed, how his left eye twitched every time everybody started singing. I wanted to ask, but every time I’d call his name, he refused to look my way. His attention was too turned to the ceremony to even notice.

It was that time where everybody would hold each other’s hands and lift them up, to sing again. Maybe my favorite part. Gerard didn’t hold hands the way everybody else did. He tapped me on the shoulder twice, looked at me for a minute with a smile. His eyes went to the ceiling before returning to me. “Frank.”

He slipped his fingers into the spaces in between mine and held on. He lifted it up, all on his own, without even asking me if it was okay. Any other person might’ve punched his face for acting creepy but the smile upon his face was too innocent. I could hear Mikey laughing at the back.

I didn’t mind anything after that. I just stared, a smile sometimes slipping in my face when I realized we were all sitting down again, but he still wasn’t letting go. I don’t know why I didn’t either. I was tempted by my curiosity. I wanted to know what would happened if I let go, but I couldn’t.

“I’m sorry about Gerard’s behavior,” Donna said. I didn’t know what she was sorry about – there was nothing wrong. “Gerard hold hand like that to everybody. I hope you’re not upset or –“

“Don’t worry about it.” Words were flying from my mouth. I would’ve said anything just to make her forget about what she saw.

“I understand, completely.”