Illumination of the End (Frerard)

Chapter 15

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I decided to change the name of this story because Cemetery Drive is kind of a common name for alot of fics so it is now: Illumination of the End  :D

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Chapter 15:

The sound of crunching leaves brought Frank to his feet in an instant. Someone was there; he could feel it. The night had long passed and the rising sun had brought with it the sticky, humid air of New Jersey. Just a reminder to Frank that they needed to get out of there. Somewhere where the air wasn't so familiar. Frank surveyed the area around the tree that they had slept against. Gerard was still lightly snoring with his hands tucked deep inside his jacket pocket. The wind was merely a breeze that only made the humidity feel worse. Frank wondered how Gerard had managed to still be wearing that thick jacket. He must be burning up. He thought about waking him up to help him take off the jacket, but his attention was turned to the crunch of leaves once again. 

Frank's heart skipped a beat as the sound came just to the opposite side of the tree truck. Was it the cops? How would they have found them so fast? 

In a moments decision he decided to whip his head around the tree to get a look at who was the source of the sound. More like what was the source of the sound. A little squirrel scampered away as it realized it was caught. Frank slumped back to leaning on the tree. 

"Fuck..." he mumbled in relief. It was just a squirrel. He quietly chuckled to himself for being so nervous. Well, he had a reason to be nervous... They news stations would surely be showing his picture by now with news titles like 'Highschool Student Murders Cop and is still on the run'. Then they'd probably show some footage of the cameras from the parking lot of the mall, and they'd freeze the picture right on Frank's face telling people to call the police if they see him. It was a scary thought to him.

People out there in the city might recognize him. They would have to be careful of where they go. 

Frank turned his head to Gerard who then did that little thing with his lips that he always did when he slept. Well, at least from Frank's few experiences of sleeping next to Gerard. He pursed his lips tightly together then let out a soft breath. Frank smiled at him and sat there just admiring the features of his face for a few minutes. He hated to wake him, for he was so peaceful when he slept, but they needed to start on their way to Manhattan. 

"Gerard." he whispered.

Gerard's mind awoke to the sound of Frank's gentle voice. He fluttered his eyes open as they adjusted to the light. Frank smiled down at him, for a moment Gerard thought that everything last night was all just one bad nightmare. He was home in bed, laying next to Frank, and tomorrow they would walk with Mikey to school then sit together at lunch, but then he heard the sound of birds in the branched above them, and was reminded of all the events of the previous night. 

"Morning, Gee."

"Morning." he replied with a small smile. 

Frank leaned into him to give him a quick kiss. "You should take your jacket off." suggested Frank.

"Whoa, Frank, we're in the middle of the woods... Right now's not the time for that sort of th-"

"No!" he chuckled. "I didn't mean take off in that way... It's getting hot outside... Although maybe you're right; I just want to see you take it off." Frank winked. 

Gerard shook his head dramatically and laughed his little high pitch laugh that Frank loved so much. He peeled the jacket off and glanced over at Frank.

"Better?" asked Gerard.

"Better." he stated. Frank reached over to where his bag sat, and pulled it into his lap to dig through it's contents. "Shit, we've got no money. How are we going to get on a bus without cash?"

Gerard thought for a moment then fished around in the pocket of his worn out jeans. He pulled out a few crumpled dollar bills and counted them one by one. "I've got eight bucks." he stated. 

"That's not gonna get us very far.." said Frank as he contiued to dig through the few clothes he had. Then he saw it. The bag of cocaine. It was half empty, but he could still sell it for something. He could throw in the few extra joints that were still in the bottom of his bag, and maybe that would be enough to get them to Manhattan. 

"Well, what are we going to do then?" questioned Gerard. 

"Follow me." stated Frank as he stood up. He knew exactly who would take the drugs off of his hands for a little cash. His name was Harvey, and he was one of those people that never left his house. He had lived with his grandmother in that dingy, old house his entire life, and when his grandmother died, he went off the deep end. Harvey had always been a little on the crazy side... I mean, he was living with his grandmother at the age of thirty one... But a few years after her death is when he got the worst. 

Harvey was one of Marcus's main clients. He needed the drugs to forget about life just like most other people, but Harvey took it a little too far. He had overdosed countless times, and now Frank was going to feed off of Harvey's dependency and sell him the drugs. With Marcus in jail now, Harvey was bound to need a fix. 

"Where are we going?" demanded Gerard.

"I know a guy... he'll pay us for the last of my drugs, then we'll have enough to hop on a few buses." he answered. 

"Oh.. Well, how far is it?"

"Only a couple blocks." They walked in the alleys to avoid being seen, and then Frank spotted Harvey's house at the end of the street. The lawn was overgrown with greenery that was no longer very green. Everything was wilted and dry. They walked up to the door and knocked three times. 

Harvey opened the door and the stench of booze and sweat poured out. Gerard crinkled his nose, but Frank didn't seem to notice it. Harvey was obviously wasted beyond even the normal for him. His hair was sticking up in all directions, his eyes carried dark bags under them, and the bottle of vodka in his hand announced that he wasn't quite done with getting hammered. 

"AH! Frankie my boy! I haven't s-seen you since.." he thought for a moment. "A l-long time!"

Frank nodded. "I've got some, uh, stuff that you might be interested in." he said, trying to get to the point of their visit.

"Ohh," he slurred. "Well, in that case come on in." Frank was about to walk inside when he saw Gerard looking at him pleadingly and shaking his head. Frank sighed. Gerard wasn't used to seeing people like this the way that Frank was. He was probably terrified of the helplessly drunk man standing before him. 

"No," said Frank. "We kind of need to make this quick." Harvey stared at him absently for a second then nodded his head. 

"Alright, what do ya got for me?" he asked. Frank pulled out the bag and two joints to show to Harvey. The man nodded his head and held up his finger to ask them to wait a moment. He emerged back at the door with his wallet in his hand. A fifty dollar bill was pulled out by Harvey's long fingers and then placed into Frank's hand. It was more than he had expected to get, and Frank wasn't complaining. 

"Thanks."

Harvey smiled and revealed his darkly stained, yellow teeth. "No, Thank you. Feel free to come back if you get anything else..." 

"Sure thing," Frank lied as he and Gerard made their way back down the pathway to the door. He wouldn't ever be coming back. That was for sure. He was finally free of the burden that those stupid drugs carried with them. They were finally out of his hands for good, and he finally felt like he could breath freely again. 

"Well, now what do we do?" asked Gerard as they walked through a few allies. 

"Good question..."