Frank woke up the following morning to find himself alone. "Gee?" he croaked, twisting in his bed sheets and yawning again. He tumbled out of bed and rubbed his eyes, squinting at the bright morning sun spilling in through the window. "Gerard?" he called out, a little louder this time.
"I'm over here!" Gerard responded, his nasally voice reverberating from the room next door.
Frank followed the sound and saw Gerard sitting cross-legged in front of a huge cardboard box of picture frames, his eyes buried in the array of blacks and whites. "What's that?" Frank asked, intrigued.
"Photos. I found them here in the closet." Gerard pulled out another framed photograph and examined it. "To my dearest son, Bartholomew. Wishing you the happiest of birthdays. From your loving father, Benedict. May 16th, 1903." The photo displayed a father and a son standing in front of the fireplace of their newly bought house, both wearing stone-cold expressions. "Damn, this shit's old."
"What are they doing here? The real estate agent said the house was completely empty..." Frank pointed out. He pulled out another photograph with a frame of ivory. "Wilson family vacation at Vermont. November 27th, 1909." The photo showed a family of seven, standing on the top of a hill in front of beautiful valleys.
"I wonder what happened to the Wilson family," Gerard pondered out loud, placing another frame out on the floor in front of him. "They're all dead now. Isn't that sad?"
"Sure, it is. But everyone dies." Frank walked towards the closed window and stared outside at the glow from the sun, squinting a little.
"I wonder how many of them died in this house..." Gerard's eyes were glued to the range of photographs, utterly captured.
"If they died moving up and down those steep stairs, I'd understand." Frank laughed.
The door to the room slammed shut.
"Shit!" Frank exclaimed, jumping, "I think we need to invest in some door stoppers. Geez."
Gerard untangled his legs and stood up, walking towards the door. He opened it and briefly looked outside then back in the room at Frank. "How...how did it close? There's no windows open for there to be a draft..." He drove his fingers into his unbrushed black hair and furnished a perplexed expression.
"There has to be a reasonable explanation. Maybe the foundations are settling." Frank occupied the empty space beside Gerard and held the wooden door in his hands, gently moving it back and forth.
"This house is more than a hundred years old. I'm sure the foundations have already settled." Gerard weaved his arms together and pulled them into his chest. "You know, things like this make me realise why this house was so cheap." He quickly gathered the photographs and placed them back in the cardboard box before returning it back to the closet.
"What? Are you saying there's something wrong with the house?" Frank tilted his head and stared at his husband. "You know what I think? I think you shouldn't have watched all those R-rated horror movies as a child."
"Well, I think you should run things by me first before you jump straight into them. You know, we are married now." Gerard crossed his arms again and leant against the wall of peeling paint.
"Someone doesn't like surprises…I put so much effort into getting this place and I must say, you don't seem the slightest bit grateful." Frank rolled his eyes.
Gerard sighed. "Look, I am grateful, the house is just a little creepy. Trust me, I'm so glad to move out of my mom's house."
A smile crept onto Frank's face. "When she kept watching Everybody Loves Raymond on full volume in the early hours of the morning."
"Ugh, don't get me started! I'd always wake up at like three in the morning to hear that obnoxious Beethoven intro..." Gerard laughed and shook his head.
Frank smiled. "Come on, let's not fight. For God's sake, it's our third week being married." He embraced Gerard lovingly.
Gerard kissed Frank's forehead. "Yeah, good idea. Let's keep rearranging furniture. It needs to be perfect, okay? Maybe it'll get rid of the echo."
YOU ARE READING
He Who Doesn't Believe Is Aggrieved ☆ FRERARD
Paranormal"If God was a villain, He'd be me." When Frank Iero sees a beautiful Gothic house encompassed between hills and valleys go for Sale, he buys it for him and his husband, Gerard Way, to live in. A steal. Perfect, so they thought. When they begin to...
