Our time is running out

Part 7 Frank Iero

Gerard was practically paralysed when the tattooed man actually had woken up. He had believed that he was doomed because of the damage the wound had caused.

The tattooed man's hand swept over his leg to find out that Gerard had wrapped it in a tight bandage. His hazel eyes stared at Gerard with confusion lying like a fog over them.

Who are you?" he hissed, his deep voice hoarse and thick. Gerard got out of his paralysed state and opened his mouth to answer the wounded man.

"I'm Gerard." Gerard answered. Your guardian angel, he thought but didn't actually say out loud.

The wounded man groaned. Gerard figured that it was because of his leg. Sweat poured from the stranger's pores and his jaw was tightly clenched. He calmed down after a while though and sunk back to the mattress in silence. The pain seemed to come in waves.

"Why did you do this? Why save me?" the wounded man grunted and gestured to his leg. Gerard didn't know what to reply because he simply had no idea. Those questions were something he really had to ask himself. He grasped the words that popped up in his mind first and put them to life.

"Because something in me told me to," Gerard said and it was the honest answer. The stranger nodded and let his head rest against the dirty mattress. He had a scary smile on his lips. Gerard was surprised that the smile looked so real. He had never succeeded with copying a smile so authentic.

"Who did that to your leg?" Gerard asked when he couldn't hold back his curiosity anymore. The stranger's smile grew wider and he propped himself up on an elbow, putting his weight on his arm. "The scared kids who can't accept a rebel like me," he said calmly and let another smile be worn on his chapped lips.

The flood of questions Gerard wanted to ask was never-ending but he knew that he had to pace himself. The stranger would have lots of time to answer his questions.

"A rebel?" Gerard asked and leaned so much towards the stranger so that their faces was just inches apart. The stranger raised his perfectly sculpted dark eyebrows in surprise.

"You don't know who I am?" he asked amusedly. Gerard now felt like the joke was on him and he felt uncomfortable. He shook his head as a reply.

"Frank. Frank Iero." the stranger said.

Something clicked at the sound of the stranger's name and he could

remember hearing about him. Frank Iero, the man who had decided not to die like everyone else. Before the day he turned thirty he simply killed himself and was reborn. The rumour said that Frank had been around even before the curse of misery was laid on earth by 'God'.

"Why do you want to live on this bad planet? Why haven't you just waited to accept the reward of letting your soul rest?" Gerard blurted out.

Frank looked at Gerard, his eyes now warm and kind.

"Let me ask you a counter-question. Why let yourself fall into oblivion?" he asked and smirked. Gerard shrugged.

"Life is a beautiful thing I don't want to throw away," Frank said and put an end to the discussion as he closed his eyes. Gerard kept asking Frank questions but he was either sleeping or simply ignoring him.