So Long, Not Goodnight

Chapter Fifteen

Frank stared down at Gerard's fake serenity, his face was glossy in the murky shadows cast from what little light they had. "Frankie..." A gasp from ghostly white lips beneath him.

As he slid himself out and off of Gerard, Frank felt the back of his hand against Gerard's glistening forehead and it felt like his palm was pressed against a flame. "Shit, Gee, you're burning up."

Gerard's eyes remained closed as his breathing pitched again, but his body was shaking feverishly. "Frankie... I.... I'm so close..."

Blood pulsed from Gerard's nose and rushed over his lips and dripped from his chin, a dam had burst. Frank found his soiled shirt and wiped at the rush that continued to run red. The room was suddenly a furnace and the candles bounced and their flames grew surrounding them in a ring of fire. Frank lifted Gerard's naked body into his arms and fled the room to the opposite on the other side of the chapel. Placing his body back onto the familiar small bed, he returned the sheets to their original position tucking Gerard inside, as safe as he could be and nestled snugly. "You stay right here and I promise I'll be right back."

Frank kissed him on his burning scalp and descended back into the cavernous chapel to extinguish the flames from the other room. As he made his way back to the far space, all the candles were still and dark, their wicks black and withered. There was a ring of soot that linked them all together, remnants of where they torched. As he turned to leave, the room felt unusually dark. Frank glanced over his shoulder and noticed the portrait was blacked out. There were no angels, no eyes, no blood crosses, nothing. Just a black hole in the wall. He turned around and stepped towards it, his hands out to catch him just in case it was some turned portal, but his palms met mortar. 

As confused as he was, Frank left the room in darkness and rushed back to where Gerard was and remained. He sighed in relief and made his way to the small bathroom. The red towel hanging from the side of the sink would make a good cold compress. Frank drew water from the tap onto the towel and wrang it, twisting the cloth until it was just damp enough and returned to the bedside. Placing the compress just above Gerard's eyes, it was an immediate relief as Gerard slumped into the mattress. Frank found the abandoned glass of water from earlier and brought it to Gerard's lips as he poured small amounts into his mouth and hoped that he could extinguish this black flame, but he was absolutely terrified of what if he couldn't.

There was still a pinkish stain rimming Gerard's nostrils and cupid's bow that was vibrant against the moonlit white of his face. Frank continued to pour him sips of water with one hand while his other gripped tightly at Gerard's limp wrist. He was so warm, but he looked lifeless; a ghost like the one chasing them. A light funeral march floated into the room over them. Gazing down at the bed, Frank pressed his eyes shut tight and reopened them. Was this all a hallucination? He found himself standing at the altar still holding the glass of water in his one hand and Gerard's hand in his other, except he was leaning not over his bedside but his coffin. Gerard's dark hair fanned in greasy waves over the plush, snowy lining and entirely shrouded in black except for the dried, pink blood on his neck and nose. His hands crossing over his darkly dressed chest holding her rosary interlaced through his fingers like how schoolchildren play cats cradle. 

Frank sucked in his lips, tucked his chin, and felt himself falling. The glass floated through the air and shattered on the splintered wood sending sparkles up to the roof and on all the surrounding walls. The open lid of the casket glittered in their shadows of diamonds reflecting Gerard's face in a diluted rainbow and catching the powdery white of the backs of his hands seamlessly blending in with the cushions that surrounded him and would rot next to him for eternity. "Gerard!" Frank sobbed, feeling widowed. "Come back to me, Gerard!"

His sobs rained down onto Gerard's face each turning cold and rose red as they touched his ghastly face thinning into sharp cuts. The music slowed, a music box that needed to be rewound. A stray tear struck Gerard's fanned out eyelashes and his eyes shot open and were entirely blacked out, thin worms of veins wriggled back and forth. Frank gasped as he felt Gerard's grip on the rosary and his hand tightened, slivers of nail puncturing Frank's knuckles. "Gee?"