Death Wish

Chapter 5

A DAY EARLIER

"Ack!"

Frank topples out of the portal, back into the graveyard. He hits the dried up grass and slides face first into a headstone. He groans, lifting his head from the dirt he uprooted on the ride in.

He swore he had this thing down. He rolls to his feet and brushes himself off. "Guess I need more practice." He mumbles to himself.

"Yeah, you're pretty awful at that."

Frank looks up from his dirty jeans, "Well you can kiss my firm, white -" He stops, seeing nobody's there. He frowns. " . . . Ass."

Huh. Somebody's a fast runner. He shrugs and moves on. He has a job to do, he ought to do it. Gerard's kind of bent on finding Mikey, not whoever's got the guts to tell Frank off.

He does a once-over the graveyard. Well, this is the logical place to start looking for a dead person. He starts walking through and whistling to himself.

Man, this place is empty. "Where am I supposed to look, Gerard's already looked everywhere." He mutters under his breath.

"Hello . . . ?" A voice says impatiently. "You gonna ignore me again?"

Frank furrows his brows and looks around once more. Seriously, he can't see anybody talking to him, but he keeps hearing someone.

Damn ghosts, huh? They're messing with him, distracting him from pleasing his friend. He huffs.

"Alright, whoever's in the living universe for today, could you screw off?" Frank snaps.

Silence.

"Thanks."

Frank stops by Mikey's headstone with a sigh. He's at a loss of how to even begin to help. Gerard's going to be disappointed, huh. Well, he ought to come up with some sort of plan . . .

Maybe with lunch? He nods to himself. Yeah, lunch. He floats off, away from the graveyard.

Frank sits up at the bar, picking at a plate of fries and a tall pint. He sips and thinks to himself.

"Aye. Frank."

Maybe he could just go back to Gerard and Ray and say he found nothing. Really there's nowhere for him to look that hasn't already been looked at, he's in a dead end.

But they'll be so disappointed. It hasn't even been a day since he left. Would it be too early to go back?

"Frank...Frank. Frank!"

One of his fries flicks against the side of his head. He blinks and looks up. Nobody again. He growls, "Who the hell . . ."

Another fry lifts from the platter and flings itself. It bounces off Frank's nose. The same voice from before speaks. "Frank, c'mon man, listen!"

Augh, fine! "What!" Frank snaps.

"I've been trying to talk to you forever, it's me, Mikey."

Frank squints. "Uh huh . . ." He says, skeptical of the voice, "I thought you would've shown up way earlier."

"I'm kind of dealing with somebody," He quickly says, "This is the only chance I have to say something before he shows up again. You have to help me get him."

"Who?"

"He's the reason I'm dead, it's not Gerard's fault, I'm damned because of him -"

"Hold up." Frank interrupts. "Why don't you just show yourself for a sec."

"I . . . I . . ."

"And if you're damned, it's to Death. How're you even here." Frank says.

"I . . ." A deep sigh. Eventually a man fades into sight. He's nothing like Mikey, he's taller with facial hair and a blonde fringe. "Fine, I'm not him."

Frank looks him over. "How d'you even know about us?"

" Uh . . . I'm pretty much the Fallen Angels' secretary." He says, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, "I kinda write everything that happens down. But I was serious about Mikey, he was really possessed by a malicious soul before he died. It's what made him do horrible things at night, it's what made the Fallen Angels decide to kill him off before he made anymore damage. But the soul got away, and it's really important to find it."

Frank takes another slurp from his drink. "Will this get me any closer to actually finding Mikey."

"It could be a thing."

Well . . . this is as close as he can get to making things up to Gerard. He'll maybe find Mikey, bring him back, and save the day. He can see it now . . .

Frank puts his glass down and wipes his mouth with a hand before offering it."Deal. Name's Frank."

The ghost's hand just passes through Frank's when he tries to shake. He sighs. "Just call me Bob."