Save me from my self destruction.

Chapter 3

Frank dropped to his knees, ignoring the sharp pain from the glass that dug into him. Tears started falling fast as he pulled Gerard’s head onto his lap, cradling it like a mother with her child.

‘’No, why Gee? You could have talked to me about it about instead of this. Never this…’’ He sobbed harder, pressing Gerard’s forehead to his own. He felt a tickle as his hair moved slowly up and then down again. Frank imminently stopped and grabbed Gerard pale wrist. He pressed his thumb onto the paper like skin and felt a slow beating. Frank gasped and quickly reached for his phone, quickly dialling 911. He’s still alive. He’s not gone. I can save him.

____

Frank held Gerard’s hand all the way from the apartment to the hospital. Through the entire journey Frank clung onto him, occasionally squeezing his hand in the hope he might squeeze back. He remained still, ventilator pushing oxygen in and out of his lungs, heart pumping round the excessive drugs he had taken earlier that evening.  Frank stared at him the whole way. Tears had since stopped falling, slowly drying round his eyes and on his cheeks. Why would Gerard do something like this, try and take his life again? Years had passed since he last tried to do this. He had promised Frank that if he ever felt like that again he would talk to him about it, not keep it bottled up. Though the two had been distant since the band split. They had spoken a few times, via twitter and the annual holiday and birthday calls, but the rest of the time in had been silence. They were nothing like they were before, back when they were together touring or recording in the studio with the rest of My Chemical Romance. Those were the days when they couldn’t help but talk to each other about everything and anything that might be bothering them. Frank missed that time in a way, but what could he do about it now? They were over, done and there was no point in arguing more about it again. Besides Frank had more important things to worry about at the moment.

 Frank was made to let go of Gerard when he was rushed into surgery, leaving him to wait alone in the brightly lit changing room. He sat down and waited but soon became restless. He needed to call Jamia to tell her where he was at 2 in the morning and he was in desperate need of coffee. Soon after the short chat he had with his wife he walked around the white, sterile hall in search of a coffee machine. As he walked he couldn’t help but think that maybe this was partly his fault. Maybe if he had picked up the phone more than once and asked how he was doing, visit him even, he might have not resorted to this. But no, Frank had been too absorbed by his work and family to even stop and think that his best friend may be suffering.

Frank returned to the brightly lit waiting room with a cup of hot, heavenly liquid in his hand. The room was for the most part empty. There was one other man, no older than Frank, pacing the length of the room, starring at his feet. Frank wondered why he was here. Did he also have a dying friend in there? Maybe his partner or even, gods forbid, his own child. That was the thing about hospitals, everyone in there was complete stranger and yet they all had one thing in common. They were either dying or praying that someone else isn’t going to die. It was a cruel similarity.

‘’Mr… Iero?’’ said a deep voice from behind Frank. He turned around to see one of the doctors who had brought Gerard in, clipboard in hand.

‘’Y..yes?’’

‘’We’ve got news about Mr’’ he looked down at his clipboard ‘’Way. You were the one who found him and called the ambulance correct?’’

‘’Um yes, yes I did.’’ Frank swallowed hard. What if this was it. What if he was… no he could even think that that might be the case.

‘’Ah good, well we’ve managed to stabilize him, most of the pill he took have been pumped out of his system, although there is still large amounts of alcohol and Fluoxetine, from the antidepressants, in his blood stream. He may not wake up until most of this has cleared out of his system, which could take up to 2 weeks. Now I can’t make any promises but once his blood has cleared up and we’re sure he hasn’t got alcohol poisoning, it looks like he’ll make it.’’