Runaway Scars - Frerard

Chapter 19

The sun was finally up. He hadn't even thought about this hotel before. It was probably the only place in town he hadn't checked yet. But he was tired, god, so fucking tired. He'd been out all night. He didn't think he'd ever been this tired.

He strolled towards the hotel, approaching the front steps when something caught his eye. He looked to his left and saw something; SOMEONE behind one of the bushes. They were sleeping; SHE was sleeping...

"Chantal?" he whispered. Nothing. "Chantal!" he said louder.

She perked up and smiled at him. "Jimmy!" she exclaimed, jumping up and hugging him. Jimmy, still shocked, just simply wrapped his arms around her tightly and didn't let go for a long time.

"How...how did you...you—you broke out..." he mumbled as he stepped back.

Chantal nodded guiltily. "Yeah, I did." She admitted.

Jimmy smiled and kissed her hungrily. "Fuck I missed you, you sexy piece of ass..." he growled.

Chantal giggled. He stopped and took her hand, heading towards the doors of the hotel. "Come on, we can hide here until tomorrow and then drive to New York. After that I was thinking we head towards Florida; always wanted to go the—"

"No!" She interrupted him, breaking her hand away. "We—we can't do that, Jimmy. I don't want to."

Jimmy paused. Then he chuckled. "Alright, alright, we can go to California. I don't know why you love it over there so much, just a bunch of wannabe—"

"NO!" She said again. "I—I don't want to leave. I'm tired of this."

"Chantal, we HAVE to go," he demanded, "They'll find us, and you'll be in even MORE trouble!"

"So are we just gonna run our whole lives?!" she yelled, "I don't want to live my life in fear and running around the world for something I should have just accepted."

Jimmy took a deep breath and stepped closer to Chantal, taking her hand. "I need to marry you. I love you. I don't want to lose you because of this. I WON'T lose you because of this."

Chantal scoffed. "This isn't about ME. This is about how much you just don't wanna go to jail."

"Well no one WANTS to go to jail, Chantal."

Suddenly, Chantal was in tears. Jimmy came over to comfort her, which she almost declined. But no matter how mad she was, she still loved him, and always looked to him for comfort. "I'm scared, Jimmy, and I'm tired of running. When I was breaking out, I was just thinking about you. I was thinking about finding you...but I dreaded what came next; all the running. I'm ready to take what I have coming. If you can't do the same, then...I just don't know anymore."

Before Jimmy could reply, he heard something. They both turned their heads and saw two cop cars approaching at full speed with their sirens on. Jimmy linked their hands again and started running, but after a few feet, Chantal let go and pulled away. Jimmy turned to her.

"No." She stated. "I'm done."

Jimmy stood wide eyed at her and speechless, and then a popping sound filled both their ears. His eyes darted to a cop with a gun, shooting towards both of them.

"Chantal, RUN!" Jimmy ordered as he pulled his gun out.

But she stood still. And with another pop of the gun; another bang, she was down. Her arms found her stomach as she fell on her back. Already the crimson was spreading and leaking onto her skin. Jimmy screamed. The cop was stunned, shocked at what he'd done, still pointing the gun and frozen in his place.

Jimmy looked at the cops, all pointing guns at him, and then back at Chantal, who was still holding eye contact with him. He put his gun down, raised his arms, fell to his knees, and stopped it all with three words.

"NO MORE RUNNING."

**

Every single day before this one had seemed so worthless. It was like they were just mocking him, pushing him around and making a fool of him. He looked up at the ceiling and thanked god he still had one; and it was one he wasn't paying for. (not yet, anyways...) His dreams were no longer filled with the misery of being trapped or the feeling of being unloved. Oh how times had changed.

Every single day before the death of Chantal Claret was golden and pure; untouched by the sins that they'd all brought together. It took one morning to end the pain and to free those who were looking for an escape, but it wasn't their ideal escape. Death is the most selfish and unnecessary escape. It would be cruel to view it as some sort of 'human sacrifice'. Frank saw it nothing like that. He mourned her, as did the others, especially Gerard, for she was kind and understanding to them. She was the sane version of Jimmy.

But unlike before, when he first fell in love with Gerard, he did not regret his failed attempts to escape safely. Now, he was proud of it all. It was a journey; and now, he has his scars to show for it. Some inside, only a couple on the outside. Gerard's idea that he was filled with dozens of scars from all his runaway attempts was crazy to him at first. But they were growing on him, comforting him when he began to believe that it was all for nothing. Every single day before now was important, but not as important as he thought they would all lead up to be.

Frank wiped his tired eyes and sat up in his large bed, reaching for a phone that was no longer there. He did not sigh with frustration, but of amusement. That was about the tenth time he'd done that. Not only had be broken it, but if it HAD made it out alive, his mother would have broken it for him. He was more grounded than ever. And god did he love it.

Frank did not care anymore; he did not mind much. And for the first time, that was a positive thing.

"It's on Sunday." Gerard stated as he threw his half eaten sandwich in the trash.

Frank perked up and nodded. "Are you going?"

Gerard sighed and looked off into the distance. Kids were playing soccer at the park while Gerard and Frank took advantage of basically their only time together. There was no way after school was happening, and they had one measly class together. The red team scored. Gerard shrugged.

"Would she want us there?" he questioned.

"I'm sure she would," answered Frank, "You were like her best friend."

"What if Jimmy's there?" he asked, not even listening to Frank.

Frank shrugged. "Do they let people out for funerals?"

"I don't know." Mumbled Gerard.

Frank pushed his food aside and Gerard took that as an invitation to move closer to him. They stayed with their arms draped around each other for a few minutes as they both thought.  Gerard ended the silence with another statement.

"I don't want to go."

Frank nodded. "That's fine, Gee." He reached up and kissed his cheek. "That's fine."

Time was quickly slipping away from them as lunch came to end. They threw their things away and headed back towards the school. Later that night, they would get dressed insuits and go back to the school.

Gerard was graduating that night.