Ghost In The Snow

Chapter 3: Shocking Stairs

I followed Mikey and Frank around the rest of the day, like a foal would follow its mother. I was scared that they thought I might be an annoying, clingy person. I'm just scared of everybody else.

I walked out of the school alone, hurried my way home, the emo brothers followed me. "Hey Tess!" I turned around, waved at them, but they ran up next to me. "You live on this road?" Gerard was short of breath for a second. "Yeah, in that house." I pointed at a classic, American house, not much to say. "What, we're almost neighbors!" Gerard laughed in a happy way. Can you even laugh in a sad way? "There's like, uh, let me see, three houses between our homes?" "Yeah..." I like the emo brothers, but right now I just wanted to go home alone. "Well, see you tomorrow!" I yelled, as I walked up to my front door. "See you!", I heard them call, when I slammed the door.

Sigh. I took my shoes of, looked down myself. School uniforms. Yuck. I ran up the stairs, into my room on the left hand. I closed the door. Enjoying the complete silence.

I looked around in my room. Two windows, my bed against the wall, a small bedside table, a desk with my laptop on, my closet, mirror, some big pictures and paintings, a tv and a rug. Simple. And of course, the white vase on the bedside table with feathers from pheasants in. And the skull from my first (and last) rabbit. That's a must-have for a weirdo like me.

I opened my closet's doors and looked at the amazing collection of black clothes and band T-shirts. I found a random striped sweater and some leggings. Who cares. I changed my clothes, and finally I didn't feel naked. Pants. Covering the whole leg. Nice. I threw my school uniform on my desk, leaving socks and bra on the floor. I was home alone today anyway. I stumbled over to my bed, fell down on it, hugged my covers tight and fell asleep.

Sound, nah, noise. I woke up, annoyed that I had to get up, to answer whoever was outside the door. I rolled out of bed, sat on the floor for a second before getting up. I looked over at a clock. 5:18 pm. I stood up, felt dizzy as I saw the grey and black dots in front of my eyes. I stumbled out of my room, down the stairs. Felt like I could throw up any second. I opened the front door, the natural sunlight surprised me, and the person outside on the veranda didn't make it easier to act normal.

"Hi..." I yawned, and some tired tears is in my eyes rolled down my cheeks. I couldn't see a thing. I blinked rapidly, then I saw Gerard. "Hello, Tess!" Gerard smiled, and I just smiled back in a lazy way. "Why are you here?", I asked sleepily. This was embarrassing. Me, only half awake, probably looking like a homeless llama, in random, not matching sleepwear, no bra and smudged eyeliner. Him, in a nice shirt and jeans, looking like a god, and yeah, just perfect.

"I uhhh... Well, the family who lived here before, yeah, I was good friends with their son, Bob. I kinda wanted to see how your family decorated the house." He tried to peek inside the house, with a small smirk of a smile. I couldn't care any less. If I already had ruined my chance of being a cool kid in school, I might as well invite the emo inside in my home.

I hid my face with my hands. Just trying to forget everything. That Gerard was marching around the house, without me knowing where exactly. For god sake, he could be in my bedroom right now! Fuck no. I shook my head and ran up the stairs. Bad idea, when you still can't see clearly, because you're tired as fuck.

I just saw Gerard opening the door to my room, then I saw the stairs step. Close up.

"Tess?" I was lying on the steps, trying to get up, but seriously, this wasn't good. I looked up, saw Gerard come closer, so he could help me. "Ye-yeah, I'm fine, shh, just, eh", I stuttered as I got up. I held my hands in front of me, looked at them shaking like crazy. "Fuck...", I mumbled unclearly and walked up the stairs again. Gerard followed me closely, his eyes were wide, bit confused I guess. "I'm sorry", he said. "What, you didn't do anything", I said in a low voice. I wiped my nose with the back of my hand, but when I looked at my hand, it was red.

"Your nose is bleeding", Gerard said, not really helping the situation. "I see", I mumbled in an irritated tone. I walked down to the bathroom, Gerard still following me. I was stressed, I just couldn't take it. I turned around and said: "Go away, just..." I held my bloody hands in front of me, as if I was trying to push him away. I sighed. I could taste the blood in my mouth now. That disgusting taste of iron. "Sorry", I said quickly. "I'm just not in the mood of contact with other living things right now."

Gerard laughed. A chuckling and giggling sound, so cute, so precious. I smiled, though I just told him to fuck off. "I feel the same way sometimes", he said in a low husky voice, still smiling. He looked down, but then looked me right in the eyes. So beautiful. There was an awkward silence. I didn't really know what to do. Like, what the fuck was even happening. Gerard, the handsome emo boy, was in my house. My home. The cutest boy ever. So of course, of course, I chose to say: "Why isn't Mikey with you?"

I was screaming at myself. I'm a murderer, killing awkward silences and make them even more embarrassing and weird for everybody. But Gerard actually answered: "He was playing bass when I left. Probably playing video games now." I smiled. "He likes music?", I asked. "Yeah, he loves to play bass, well, that's his job in the band." Gerard looked around, scratched his neck softly. "What band?", I ask again, this was getting serious. Bands are my life, so if Mikey is in one, hey, that's pretty cool. Gerard looked me in the eyes, a smirk on his lips. "My band."

"What?!" I simply lost it. "Me, Mikey, Frank and Ray have this kind of a band. We play music together at my house twice a week." I just glared at him. "That's so cool..." I didn't really know what to say. They could be the worst band in the world. Better not set my expectations high.

Gerard left after I had showed him my home and my room. I fell asleep again, but I woke up at 2am, couldn't sleep anymore. My parents didn't wake me up for dinner, so I was starving. I just took some cereal with me upstairs, so I could eat, while I was watching movies on my laptop. I didn't really watch. I just sat there in my dark room, gazed at the bright screen.

I was woken up by my alarm at 6:30am. Holy shit, what a mess my bed was. I sat up in the bed, looking at my laptop, still showing some kind of movie. I noticed it was an another movie. The bowl of cereal stood on my nightstand, but the spoon laid on my pillow. I sighed and began to get ready for another day in prison, sorry, school.

Being late on your second day isn't good. I was late for school because the first time I walked out on the pavement, I noticed that I was wearing black jeans and a grey long sleeved shirt.

As I ran through the streets, I saw Frank on the other side of the road. I slowed down, stared at him for some seconds. He saw me and waved. I didn't know how to respond, so I just ran over to him. "Hi", he said with his hoarse, low voice. "Uhm, hi. Why are you late?", I asked with confusion in my voice. "I could ask you the same thing, but I literally woke up ten minutes ago." He stared down at the pavement. I nodded. We went to school together, and the rest of the boring Thursday wasn't exciting. History, English, Math and Biology. Boring as fuck, all of it.

I lost the guys in the crowd of students, so I walked home alone in the streets. I thought, I would like to be alone, but to be honest, I missed them a bit. My gaze was fixed on the pavement. My mind was empty. I hadn't talked with the guys all day actually, not since this morning, when I met Frank. I hadn't talked to anybody at school. I saw the guys in the break, but then I remembered I had some homework to do before the next class.

"Hey!", someone yelled. I was ripped out of my empty thoughts. I looked at the road, where a car with some ugly fuckboys were. They slowed down, driving in the tempo I was walking. "Wanna party tomorrow night, huh, new girl?" My mind panicked. I stared at the three boys, all blonde, disgusting and with way too much hair wax in their short hair. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I stood still. "Can't you speak? Freak!" They all laughed, and the driver hit the gas. The motor growled, and the car rushed down the road.

I'm a freak from their point of view. At least they won't annoy me anymore, I thought.