The Dainessetchen Barnacle Tales

Season 1 Episode 5

Gretchen's Point of View

Lainey left our house earlier to go squeeze the truth out of Dylan, so Jesse and I were left behind with Gerard. He had gained some hope from what Lainey had to say, but he was still pretty upset. I was feeling down when I was thinking about Peter's murder and something seemed wrong with Jesse, too. I almost wished someone had brought cake and balloons to our pity party.

So, yeah, there we were, lying on the couch. I sat in the middle. Gerard had his head in my lap and his face turned to the TV screen, which displayed the fourth episode of SpongeBob we had watched since the breakdown. Jesse sat next to me and I had my head rest on his shoulder and he had an arm around me. It may sound awkward, but it was very comfortable.

After that episode, Jesse gently got up and told me he had to leave and gave sleeping Gerard a pat on the shoulder. He quietly slipped out the front door. I decided I wanted to be alone, too, and used a pillow to place Gerard's head instead of my lap. I covered him with his favorite fluffy blanket, one with Mike and Sully from Monster's Inc. on it. The TV didn't need to be on, so I turned it off and went upstairs.

I hopped onto my bed and sighed. When I looked at the ceiling, my fan was spinning and spinning and I got dizzy as I just stared at it. I didn't usually fall asleep on my side, but I rolled over and stared out my window. It was raining. Cool. My headphones were in. If you don't know "Heal" by Tom Odell, listen to it.

"Turn it down, I'm trying to sleep."

I sighed in frustration. "Shut up, Peter."

"Sheesh, you could have just told me it was that time of the month..." I turned my music up louder. I felt Peter shift.

"Look, you didn't have to come visit me, ok?" I said as I ripped my headphones out of my ears and sat up to look at him.

"Oh..." Peter said. I gasped when I took a good look at him. I touched his eyes.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no, no, no..." He didn't know what I was doing for a little, but then his face changed and he took my hand.

"You said it wouldn't be for awhile!" I screamed at him. "You said you weren't going to leave!" Peter tried to pull me into his arms, but I kicked and fought until I was up on my feet off the bed.

"Stop it!" I cried. "Just stop it!"

"Gretchen, I should have told you..."

"Damn right you should have!"

"I know this means I'm going away but..."

"Peter, stop it! Shut up!"

"But I'm not alive. Not fully. I need to leave at some point."

"No, shut up! Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Peter got up and walked to me, forcing me into his arms. I beat his chest with my fists, but it had no effect on him. I eventually stopped as my legs went weak from under me. He lifted me up and I cried into his chest as I wrapped myself around him. Peter gently laid me on my bed and tried to pull away, but I grabbed onto his shirt and didn't let him go anywhere other than under the covers with me. There was nothing that made me feel more secure than when I was lying on top of Peter and had my face nuzzled into his neck. Peter rubbed my back as I shivered and cried.

"I never wanted to hurt you, princess," I heard him mutter. I touched his facial injury.

"And I never wanted you to be hurt."

I remember falling asleep. Then I remember waking up to Peter rubbing my shoulder.

"Gretchen, wake up. Your phone..." I grabbed for it and looked to see Jesse was calling me.