Frerard - Remember Me!

6

Gerard's breathing visibly quickened as he stared intently at the image on the screen. Again he swept his fingers across Mikey's face.

"You mean my bother that's dead?" he bluntly asked.

"Huh?" Frank quizzed with a puzzled expression on his face.

"My fucking brother that I killed" Gerard began to shout, his body becoming rigid at the weight of the words he was speaking. "In that stupid fucking car accident?"

"What? No Gee" Frank spoke up, interrupting Gerard's increasingly desperate confusion. "Why do you think that?"

Gerard turned to Frank with an unbearable hurt expression on his face and grabbed a hold of Frank's hand.

"You don't have to keep protecting me Frank. I know what I did, but not remembering him somehow made it not real." Again he looked down at the photograph. "But now, you know......."

"Gerard" Frank sternly spoke. "Listen to me!"

Gerard slowly dragged his eyes away from his brother's face and looked to Frank once again.

"Mikey is not dead. You're just confused. You must remember a little bit about the accident, but you've got it wrong Gee. He's not dead" he said a little softer.

"Yes he is" Gerard shouted, snatching back his hand. "I know he is. I was fucking driving and I pulled out in front of a truck and he and my parents were killed."

Gerard began to openly cry at the 'memory' that he had clearly gotten jumbled in his head.

"I killed my entire family and I don't deserve to be here."

Frank shook his head in utter bewilderment. "Your parents? No. Gee they weren't even there. You're getting it wrong!"

"I'M NOT" he shouted in retaliation. He stood and paced around, all the while pulling at his hair as if trying desperately to remember it in more detail. "Lindsey's told me everything. She's explained how 'lucky' I was to survive, but how is that luck Frank? Tell me how I'm lucky to be responsible for my entire family's deaths, and be left like this – a fucking idiot that can't do shit for himself? Tell me!"

"Fucking Bitch" Frank shouted, before turning his attention back to his friend.

"Gerard!" he said in a demanding tone, to ensure he would listen to him. "Sit down! You need to shut the fuck up and listen to me. Understand?"

Gerard nodded his tear-stained face and sat back on the wooden bench.

Frank waited until he was a little more settled, before taking hold of his hands and beginning.

"I don't know why you've been told what you have" he began. "But that is not true. None of it."

"Yeah but..............."

"No. Shhhh" Frank rebuked. "Listen to me!"

His eyes were stern and Gerard nodded and sat quietly.

"Your wife, for whatever fucking reason, has told you a pack of lies. Your parents weren't even there Gee. They were in a completely different state at the time of the accident."

Looking at Gerard he could see him shake his head a little and had a confused look on his face.

Frank held his hand up to stop him from speaking before continuing.

"Mikey was in the accident Gee. Along with me, Bob and Ray" he pointed each of them out on the photograph on his phone. "We were a band Gee. We were headed to a gig and we had an accident. Yes you were driving, but it wasn't your fault" he assured.