Drowning Lessons

Ch.12- Take My Hand and Never Be Afraid Again

A/N: I know nothing about New Jersey so I'll probably make up town names of i might not even mention a town.  Just go with it...

Enjoy▪▪

It's Thursday night.  The week has gone by very slow yet fast.  But maybe that's a good thing.  Gerard called me  earlier and we discussed everything that would be happening.  He apparently got an old friend to get him a fake ID and license (I think that might be the same thing but idk:/).

According to what I've been told, we are driving straight out of Belleville and into a town about thirty minutes away and probably stopping for a break.  That's about all I know..except for the fact that he wants to leave Jersey completely.

I'm getting excited, but I'm also a bit scared.  Gerard seems like he has this all under control.  The way he talks it sounds like he's had this planned for a while now.  But I can sense the stress.  I know he's just as scared as I am, maybe even more.  But I think we'll be ok.  I hope we will be ok.

It's raining yet again, and I sit in the silence of my room, racing raindrops again.  The foggy glass of my window is littered with small droplets of water, falling and flowing freely, switching paths with every movement.  Raindrop number two has won the race.  I celebrate silently in my head. 

The silence and being alone gets annoying, so I grab my phone and headphones and walk downstairs.  My mom is sitting at the kitchen table, clutching the house phone tightly, shaking, and on the verge of tears.

"Mom? Are you okay?" I ask slowly.

"$5,800 Frank.  We owe them $5,800 dollars." She replies harshly.

"Owe who?"

"The hospital. Well, the institution.  The last one you were in.  We owe them, I owe them $5,800." She replies in a bitter tone.

"Jesus Christ.  That's a lot.  What for?" I ask, shocked at the amount they were asking for.

"Oh gee, I don't know Frank.  What the hell do you think for?" Her tone, still very bitter.  "The treatments, the medicines, the sessions, being there, the fucking damage you caused.." She stops.  "You broke a damn heart monitor.  That alone was about $300.  Lets see, you also broke a computer, a printing machine, nearly every machine they came towards you with, nearly the whole damn institution, Frank.  Lets not forget the fact that you also hacked the system, locking them out of seeing anyones results.  You almost killed another patient, too." She finishes.

"Yeah, I broke a lot of shit.  But I don't see how almost killing another person or hacking a system would supply into the amount of money you owe." I say rather bluntly.

"They had to treat the kid, Frank.  You stabbed him with a needle, repeatedly, then you tried to strangle him.  Then, after the doctors tried to pull you off of him, the minute they let go, you were back at him with a needle.  You stabbed him in the neck and he nearly bled out.  They had to treat him, or he would've died, Frank."

"Ok and...I'm still not getting how that ties in with the money..."

"You did it, you caused it.  They didn't press charges but they  sent us the bill because, dare I repeat it, you caused this.  His parents could've pressed charges, but they are making us pay the bill..I guess that's better." Mom replies.

"Yeah ok, whatever.  I'm sorry you owe so much." I say, faking the sympathy.

"You damn well better be.  If it wasn't for you and your stupid little fucked up head and your fucked up boyfriend and your tendencies to listen so well, none of this shit wouldve happened, Frank. So thank you." She says, her tone growing darker with each sentence.