So Long, Not Goodnight

Chapter Six

Frank was getting closer. Gerard took the steps two and three at a time until they stopped at the giant wall of rock that Gerard knew led back to the cemetery. He heard the soft soles of Frank's shoes begin to climb behind him. Gerard pushed his entire weight against the solid rock and the door began to yawn open until, suddenly, the fading sunlight of the early dawn almost blinded him. Gerard's body fell, sprawling out onto the icy surface of the gravesite. He pulled himself towards the damp rock, closer to the steps down towards the church. There wasn't a soul in sight. No person nor thing. He was alone as the sun began to crawl into the sky. Shadows began to form behind headstones, dewdrops reflected the small emission of light, and the rusty fence gently raked against it's own links with the slight gust of breeze in the morning. Gerard wondered how long he was down below with Frank.

As Gerard pulled himself back to his feet, he noticed soft footprints, not shoe prints, but naked footprints, leading away from the tomb and towards the old church. "Gee!" Frank stood, hands on his knees, in the mausoleum doorway; his back hitching with each ragged breath he took. "It's gone." Gerard answered weakly still looking around the cemetery.

"We may not know where it is," Frank gasped between breaths, "But that doesn't mean it's gone."

Gerard slowly descended the steps and touched down on the muddied earth. It almost felt as strange as he would imagine it would feel taking a first step onto the surface of the moon, almost. It was all too silent. Even the tomb didn't feel this quiet. A soft squelching sound broke through the silence. Gerard figured that it was Frank. He pivoted towards the mausoleum and his blood ran cold. He saw Frank still gathering his breath in the doorway of the tomb. Letting out a slow and somewhat steady breath, Gerard turned around in his original direction. There was a dark shadow almost fluttering beneath one of the wooden awnings of the ancient church. A black hood gently flapped with the breeze. "Shit." Gerard whispered to himself.

He slowly stepped to the right. The hood turned slightly to the right, following his footstep. Gerard took another step to the right; the hood followed. "Gee..." Gerard heard from behind him. Without looking over his shoulder, Gerard frantically whispered back. "Frankie... The southside awning..."

Gerard couldn't bring himself to blink. He was absolutely terrified that if he did, the creature would use that split second to gain distance between the two and... Well, he didn't quite know, but he wouldn't want to find out. Gerard's eyes darted around the cemetery and then back to the figure to make sure it hadn't moved. Did it? Maybe an inch... A centimeter... A millimeter...? Was his mind playing tricks on him? Was it always just under the lip of the roof or was it further under? Was it always standing there or did it move closer to the right, closer to him, closer to Frankie, every time he looked away? "Frankie..." Gerard swallowed hard and kept his eyes on the shadows. "Frankie... Get back inside and lock the tomb..."

"Not, without you, Gee!"

"Fuck, Frankie! Will you please listen to me! Get the fuck back inside!"

"Did you not hear me?" Frank almost shrieked, but kept his tone closer to a hoarse whisper. "Not without you!"

Even though Gerard's heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest, he kept taking small steps to the right. "Gerard! What the fuck are you doing?" Frank's voice cracked.

Gerard didn't answer. He kept taking small steps, passing grave after grave, slowly, slowly. The shadow kept tilting it's gaze to match wherever Gerard moved next. The pools of mud under Gerard's feet sometimes felt like quicksand with every step he took, causing him to exert more and more effort to free his foot from the muck each time he moved. His shoes began to fill with ice cold water, his steps drunken as he could barely feel his feet. Gerard noticed that there was no cloud of breath forming from this creature, so it must be just what Frankie said it was: a demon. Or it was something worse... something back from the dead. Even though the sun was rising, it bore no warmth and Gerard felt so much of his body grow number and number... or he couldn't feel his body growing number and number... he would be able to feel and then it was like his brain triggered a switch for his nerves from on to off. 'Gee!' Gerard could still hear Frank calling to him, but it sounded closer.

Suddenly, the dark shape grew taller and slowly crept from the shadows into the sunlight and it dragged its shadow with it into the day. The ground below it froze as it crossed, freezing the weeds and wildflowers in it's path. It was moving away from Gerard and towards Frank.

 "Frankie!" Gerard screamed and tried to run in their direction.

His ankles caught on each other and he tripped and fell face first into the cold, muddied green. Just like in his dream... Gerard shook himself from his reminiscence and tried to stand, but couldn't feel most of the bottoms of his legs. His nail stubs dug at the almost frozen ground and he called out, "Frankie! Frankie!"

Frank looked over at Gerard and turned to help him, as the shadow figure approached him from behind. "Frankie!" Gerard stretched out his hand, spitting out a clump of dirt from his mouth from when he tripped.

"Gee!"

"Behind you Frankie!"

Frank twisted his neck and spotted the creature getting closer and closer. A grey, half corpse half skeletal hand reached out towards him. "Frankie!" Gerard screamed seeing it's fingers approach Frank almost in slow motion. "FRANKIE!"

Gerard frantically clawed at the earth below him and willed himself to stand despite the numbness. His feet caught on a fallen headstone and he pulled them free and began to clumsily rise, using the stone as a crutch. Gerard reached out for Frank as the creature's bony fingers grazed Frank's shoulder. Frank hissed in pain and reached his hand into his front jeans pocket. Before the creature could firmly grip Frank, he extracted a small cloth pouch and dumped a black substrate into his palm and blew it into the creatures hood. A high pitched screech filled the cemetery air and the creature quickly disintegrated into a smoke that blew away towards the gate. Gerard fell limp against the tombstone he was leaning against and felt the cold outside air burn his lungs. He could now feel the caked earth on the left side of his face begin to crust. Frank stumbled, grabbing at his shoulder, towards Gerard. "Gee!" He licked his lips and Gerard could see Frank's eyes fading "Gee! Are... Are you... Oh..."

Frank's lips quivered as foam began to froth at the corners of his mouth. His cracked lips began to bleed and mix with the bubbling spittle. Gerard pulled himself to his feet and quickly limped his way to Frank. "Frankie!" Gerard reached out to Frank.

Just as Gerard put both his arms around Frank's hips, Frank exhaled, causing blood and spit to dribble down his cheeks to his chin and drip and mix with the melting snow. Gerard caught him as he fell towards the ground. "Help!" Gerard moaned, trying to finger Frank's fleeting pulse. "For the love of god, help us! Frankie!"

Gerard's eyes began to weep as he noticed that the white stone of the Virgin Mary smiled down at the both of them, watching them die in the cold in fear and offering her hand, which was just out of reach.