*Gerard's P.O.V*
Lily and I were having an intense tickle war on her bed. I was laying down, and she was straddling my hips, tickling my sides. Damn, why did I tell her I was ticklish?
She suddenly stopped and looked at me with sadness in her eyes. I wondered why for a split second before I realized the sleeve of my leather jacket had risen a little bit.
"Gerard, why do some of these scars look brand new?" she asked.
I gulped and looked away from her. The cuts were still bright red, open and surrounded by dried blood.
"Gerard, answer me," she said sternly.
"I-I..." I managed to choke out. I didn't know how to answer her.
"Is it me?" she asked, a tear rolling down her cheek.
"No, no! It's not you," I whispered, trying to soothe her.
"I shouldn't have pried into your personal life. This is all my fault. I rushed you into this relationship. Fuck, I'm sorry" she rambled, little sobs coming out in between her words.
"Babe, none of this is your fault. You know I love you. In fact, I'm much better now than I was before I met you. You've helped me so much. It's definitely not you," I said, pulling her off of my lap so I could hug her. She wrapped her arms around me and cried into my chest.
"Tell me why," she whispered.
"Because everybody at school fucking hates me. I have math class with a bunch of jocks and they make my life a living hell. That's also why I didn't want to get on the bus. Today they just got to me. I snuck out of math class and did this in the bathroom," I admitted, feeling one tear slip out. I felt Lily reach up and brush the tear away. "I'm sorry I have so many scars. I'm disgusting," I mumbled.
She quickly pulled away from my chest and shot up to look at me. "Hey, don't say that! You're not disgusting!" she said. "I have them too," she reminded me as she pulled off some of her many bracelets to show me her scars.
I looked up at her sadly. "Why do you do it? It's not me, right? Fuck, did you do this back when I was such a prick to you?" I asked frantically.
"No, Gerard. It's not you. It's just... Everything. It's my parents. It's the orphanage. It's Samantha. It's my loneliness. It's how much I hate myself. It's everything," she answered sadly.
I pulled her back into my chest and she continued to cry into it. I gently rubbed my thumb over some of her scars in an attempt to soothe her.
"I love you," I whispered.
"I love you too," she whispered between sobs.
"Please tell me before you do it again. I don't want to lose you like I've lost everybody else," she sniffled.
"You won't lose me. I'm here to protect you. I'll keep you safe," I whispered.
"You don't need to save me. You need to save yourself," she protested.
"I'll be fine. We'll both be fine. I'll make sure of it," I said, holding her even tighter.
"I really love you," she whispered.
"I love you too," I said again.
Once her sobs had turned into sniffles, she looked up and placed a kiss to my lips. I felt safe whenever I was with her, and I knew it was my duty to keep her safe.
~*(Time Skip: three weeks.)*~
*Lily's P.O.V*
The month with the Ways had gone by so fast! Donna was practically like a mother to me, and Mikey was the brother I never had. I loved Gerard even more now. He truly was my hero.
Samantha had gotten home the day before, but we spent that entire day catching up. We watched movies, ate ice cream, and talked about what life was like while we were apart. Now it was Friday. Gerard had said he'd spend the night, but he never showed up. "Sam, can I go to the Ways' house real quick? I think I forgot something over there," I lied. I really just wanted to check on Gerard.
"Alright. Be back soon," she said with a small smile. I slipped my shoes on quickly and went running across the street to the Way house.
I knocked on the door a few times before Donna answered. Her blonde hair was a mess and there was mascara running all over her face. My heart sank.
"What happened?" I asked frantically.
"Gerard ran away. We can't find him anywhere," Donna sobbed. "Please tell me you know where he could be. We need help," Donna bawled, bractically begging. I just nodded. I knew one place he could be.
"I'll be back," I said, as I took off running as fast as my legs could take me in the direction of the forest. By the time I made it to the forest, I was panting. I hadn't even realized it until I stopped running. I ran up to the little house and immediately kicked the wooden door as hard as I could. I knew he wouldn't let me in otherwise.
The door flew open and I was immediately hit in the face with a strong smell of smoke, booze and blood. Sure enough, there was Gerard curled up into a small ball in the corner. There was a bottle of vodka in one of his hands and an empty bottle of Xanax in the other. An empty pack of cigarettes and his lighter sat on top of a pile of broken glass. I realized I had been frozen in place and ran over to him. I shook his shoulders but he didn't budge. The bottles fell from his hands and I realized he was unconscious. I did my best to pick up his lifeless body but I ended up failing.
I ran out of the small house as fast as I could. When I got back to the neighborhood, Donna was waiting outside for me. She looked panicked and I could tell I probably looked the same.
"Call an ambulance," I shouted. She looked horrified, but she ran inside to go call an ambulance. Meanwhile, I ran inside to tell Samantha what was going on.
"Sam!" I yelled as I entered the door.
"What? Shit! What happened? You look like you just saw a ghost!"
"Gerard needs our help. Come on!" I said. I didn't have time to explain any further. Samantha ran after me as I led her to the small house in the woods. She gasped when she saw Gerard's lifeless body, and she helped me carry him towards where the ambulances had already started to arrive. The paramedics loaded him into the ambulance, and they let Donna and Mikey ride with him. Donna wouldn't let Mikey, since she didn't want him to see Gerard like this. She made him go home. Samantha took me to the hospital in her car.
When we got to the hospital, it was bad. Gerard was in a coma now.
"C-can I have a minute alone with him?" I asked Donna and Samantha. They agreed to it, and I began speaking.
"Gerard, you need to wake up, okay? You're the only thing keeping me sane here. I love you. You mean the world to me. Please wake up!" I exclaimed. I held his cold, lifeless hand and began crying. What if he doesn't wake up.
Just then, the slow, steady beeping of his heart monitor began to speed up. I panicked as the loud, fast beeping filled the room.
Was this really it?
