Land of the Lost

Chapter 3

Frank just saw the other guy storm out of the library, not sure what happened. But it must have been important because he forgot to take his sketchbook. And now, he keeps it in his bag, hoping he can see him somewhere to give it back. But he hasn't seen him.

The next day when Frank walks in the library, his seat is empty. As well as the next day. And the next. And Frank doesn't know why, considering he doesn't know him, but he's worried about him.

He just hopes he's okay.

***

Gerard wakes up, his head throbbing in pain and his throat dry as hell.

The blinding light above him makes it harder for him to open his eyes, but he can hear Mikey. 'Gee!' He sounds worried and exhausted, and Gerard has no idea why. 'What the fuck did you do?'

'Huh?' he tries to say but even that seems too hard for him.

'Gerard!' his mom's voice calls him. And he wants to follow it, but he's still under water. 'C'mon, baby. Come back to us.'

He struggles to get back to the shore, his body feeling heavy to carry. 'Ma,' he tries to say, and can hear her calling back.

He hears machines beeping and the voices are getting closer and louder.

The light gets brighter, and someone holds his hand. 'Come back, bro.'

Mikey. He's crying. He can't let Mikey cry.

He holds the hand tighter, and open his eyes again.

His mom runs to hold him and kiss his entire face over and over, while Mikey cries by his side. 'I'm fine, Mikes, I'm fine.'

It takes him a couple days, though. Between the constant nausea and confusion, the brain fog. He remembers Ray visiting a couple times, but he was too out of it to hear what he said. Mikey tries to explain that he was found unconscious in his dorm bathroom. 'What did you do, Gee?' he asks with tears rolling down his face.

Gerard tries to apologize but words aren't enough, and he just reaches to hug his brother. He had promised once to take care of him for the rest of his life, to be there, and he almost left him alone. 'I'm not going anywhere, Mikey.'

'You better not,' he whispers in his ear.

Now he can't break his promise.

He's diagnosed with clinic depression, not that it's a surprise for him.

He has always known it. He was six the first time they took him with a therapist and she told him it wasn't normal for a kid that age to be angry all the time and telling his parents he wanted to kill himself.

'Is everything okay, honey?' his mom asks, when the psychiatrist leaves.

'Yeah, I just –' He doesn't really know how to lie to his parents. He's never been good at it.

'Is school too much? You can take a semester off, it's totally okay.'

'I'm okay, mom.'

'You know you can talk to us, right?' his dad interrupts. 'Just don't forget.'

'But I'm okay. It's just my brain. You know how it's all fucked up.'

'That's why you need to take your meds.'

'But I was doing fine.'

'And see what happened,' Mikey finishes. So Gerard agrees to get back on meds, and goes home with them the next day. He also has to get therapy as part of his treatment, though he's not that excited.