Death Is Strange

FOUR

Halfway to the dorm, Frank noticed they weren't alone.

"There's some blue-haired guy on the stoop over there," he hissed.

"That's just Mr. Cool. He doesn't give a fuck what the students do. He teaches science, and I swear he spends the whole class period looking at my ass." Gerard broke into a jog. Frank fell into step beside him.

Mr. Cool turned. "Hey! Who's there?"

"It's me," Gerard said quickly.

"Hey sweetie," the teacher said, jogging down the steps and over to them. He wore a leopard print vest, and ripped red jeans. Even in the darkness, Frank could see his eyeliner.

"What are you doing out so late? I– oh, hi there," he said, noticing Frank. "You must be that new student. I look forward to seeing you in class on Monday."

"Oh. Yeah," Frank said.

"Well Gee, I can make an educated guess why you were out." Mr. Cool winked theatrically. "Hope you guys had fun. Have a great night." He walked past them, pinching Gerard's ass as he left.

Gerard made a choked noise, but said nothing.

"Dude, report the shit out of that creep," Frank muttered as they made their way down the hall to the dorm.

Gerard shrugged. "He told me he has a homosexual crush on most adolescents. And told me I could quote him on it. I don't really care."

Frank raised an eyebrow skeptically but said nothing until they reached his room.

"Thanks for tonight, Frank. I haven't felt this alive in awhile."

"Yeah, no problem–"

Gerard kissed him before he could say anything else, pushing him up against the door, cupping Frank's face in his hands. And when he pulled away, he was smiling. A real smile. "Goodnight, Frankie."

"Yeah," Frank said stupidly, letting himself into his room. Frankie. He smirked.

Ray was propped up in bed, reading. "Well?" he asked, "Judging from your face and whatever I just heard outside the door, I'm guessing it went well."

Frank blushed. "Oh shit, did I moan or something?"

"I won't accuse you, I wasn't technically there," Ray said, laughing. "But it got intense for a second."

Frank kicked off his shoes, throwing himself down on the bed.

"So what'd you guys end up doing?" Ray tucked a bookmark into his paperback and set it aside.

"Ate at his mom's diner. Then we went to his house, he showed me some of his artwork, then we made out. His stepdad came in all angry and we left." He laughed shakily. "You obviously know the ending."

Ray raised his eyebrows, smiling. "Get it. Just be sensitive about the whole thing with Bert. He's trying really hard to process it." Ray lowered his voice. "I think he knows deep down that Bert's probably gone for good."

A chill ran down Frank's spine. "You think so?"

"Bert was a really steady guy. There's no way in heck he'd just run off. I personally think he's dead. Someone was out to get him." Ray paused, fiddling with the hem of his t-shirt. "I'm not ready to tell Gerard, but a report from the police came in while you were gone. Principal Dirnt shared it with me. He knew I'd been waiting to hear something. They're not investigating anymore. They're saying there's no way Bert's even in the area. They just think he ran away." Ray shook his head vehemently, his frizzy hair bobbing with the movement. "I think they're wrong. And now that Gerard is active again, will you help me keep an eye on him? Maybe even help him look around, talk to everyone who knew Bert. Even if Bert's gone for good, it'll be good for Gerard to see that we're all trying. Because we are." Ray stopped, rubbing his eyes.

"Gerard said he was the last one to see Bert. What the hell happened?"

Ray was quiet for a moment. "If he tells you later on, act like it's your first time hearing it, okay?"

"No problem." Frank threw off his jeans and t-shirt and crawled under his blankets. "Bedtime story?" he grinned.

Ray smiled. "Yeah. But it's a really sad one." He lay on his side, propping himself up on his elbow. "Gee and Bert spent a lot of time wandering the abandoned roads and areas near the campus. They had some conspiracy about a future apocalypse and called the area Battery City. I don't know much about that. Just heard them mention it a lot. Anyway, Bert had found this old dump and set up a base there. There was this little shack there, and he liked to chill there, you know, drink, look for stuff in the dirt after it rained. So he took Gerard to show him, and they ended up having sex."

Frank's brow creased. "Was that a first or something?" An odd feeling settled in his gut.

"Oh, not at all. It was a frequent thing. But I mention it because after that, they had the bright idea to just sleep in the shack and come back to school the next day. Gerard wakes up the next morning, and Bert's gone. No sign of him. He freaked out, called the police, came back to school all hysterical and goes to Principal Dirnt. Of course in the process, Dirnt finds out Gerard had been gone all night, but he's a pretty chill guy. Guess he figured Gerard had been punished enough."

Frank realized he'd forgotten to breathe. He wasn't sure if it was because of the split second of jealousy he'd felt, or the whole horrific story.

Ray continued. "Gerard didn't really function properly after that day. He spent the whole afternoon and evening making those posters and was going around campus with a staple gun, putting them up everywhere. Then he made me drive him downtown so he could put up more. I thought he'd gone to bed when we got back, but found out later he'd gone to Danny Worsnop for drugs. That's when I knew he wasn't in his right mind. He was sitting there on the floor of his room, surrounded by pictures of Bert, his nose all red from snorting cocaine, eyes bloodshot. I made him get in bed and try to sleep, but the problem is, after that, he wouldn't get out of bed." Ray stopped. "Okay. I've said enough for one night. I'm sure Gerard will tell you more. Like I said, just... handle him with care. There's a wonderful person in there, just... lately he hasn't been able to shine. You know what I mean?" Ray reached for the lamp. "You okay with this being off?"

"Oh, yeah, sure, go ahead," Frank said. "Goodnight, man."

"Yeah. Goodnight." Ray switched off the light and rolled over.

Frank just blankly stared through the darkness, a realization hitting him. My head was quiet when I was with Gerard.

Silence lulled him to sleep.