Sweat dripped down my face and fear clamped my eyes shut. Tears forced their way out, my breathing heavy and labored. He hit me again, over and over and over. I cried out in pain as his fist slammed into my torso.
"Dad!" I pleaded. "Please stop! Please-"
He punched the same spot much harder. His anger only seemed to grow. My dad wasn't in there anymore. The man who took me to see my first concert, who sang misfits to me at bedtime, who hugged me and said 'I love you Frank'. He was gone. This entity before me was cruel, unlike the father I knew.
He hit me again and again until I was crumpled on the floor.
Dead.
I woke up in a panic. My eyes were brimming with tears, threatening to spill over. I wiped a few stray drops off my cheeks and cried into Gerard's shirt. He woke up, startled.
"Oh, Frank," he yawned. He pulled me into a hug. "The terrors again?"
I nodded into his chest.
"You didn't scream this time," he noted. His shirt soaked up my sobs.
"Hey," he said, "It was only a dream Frankie. I'm here, just focus on me and breathing and listening to heartbeats."
"No," I whimpered. "This one was real."
Expect of course I didn't actually die. I felt dead though. Something inside me definitely did.
"It's okay," he sighed, rubbing my back gently. "Just heartbeats okay."
"Okay."
My ears tuned into the frantic sound of my heart mixed with the delicate one of his. Just heartbeats. Just his heartbeat.
"You're alright."
"What if I'm not?" I whispered, barely audible.
"Then I will keep you just the same."
+++
We woke up again at noon. The sunlight was harsh in my eyes from the stupidly drawn curtains.
"I told you to close the curtains last night," I yawned, shifting out of bed.
"I did, didn't I?" he replied groggily.
"No," I said, "They're open."
"Oops."
I sighed. "Please close them next time. I don't want to be spied on by the neighbors."
"Mkay," he yawned, stretching out onto the bed. I slumped into the kitchen and started making a bowl of Cheerios.
Little round circles of happiness.
Gerard came out shortly thereafter, stepping into the living room and fiddling with the record player. After a few seconds, song poured into the apartment. The first song we danced to. Elvis Presley really was a genius.
"Wise men say only fools rush in,
but I can't help falling in love with you.
Shall I stay?
would it be a sin,
If I can't help falling in love with you?
Like a river flows surely to the sea,
Darling so it goes,
Some things are meant to be.
Take my hand, take my whole life too.
For I can't help falling in love with you
Like a river flows surely to the sea
Darling so it goes
Some things are meant to be
Take my hand, take my whole life too
For I can't help falling in love with you
For I can't help falling in love with you..."
"Our song," he smiled, sitting beside me.
I returned his smile, saying, "I want to play this every night. It makes me feel better, less afraid." I paused, finally adding, "I think that's because it reminds me of you."
"I make you less afraid?" he replied. "Of what?"
"Everything," I said.
"How odd," he said, "that's what you do to me."
+++
We visited Susie that night.
The graveyard was foggy and excitement poured through my veins as we ran between graves. We were careful not to run on them though. If there was one thing to remember when being in a cemetery, it is to respect the dead.
I found her quickly, crouching down at the headstone. Susan Crillow. The girl on my arm, or at least the girls we'd imagined on my arm. Our picture of her was a pale girl,with blondish brown wavy hair. She had a tiny sprinkling of freckles across the bridge of her long nose, and along her cheeks. She was tall, and skinny as well. It's not that we were shaming the short and chubby there wasn't anything wrong with them. Hell, I was short. And Gerard was chubby. We weren't inclusive. Susie just felt like a tall, thin girl. The kind that the wind could sweep away.
"Hello," I said, patting the ground beneath me.
"It's good to see you again," Gerard smiled. We probably seemed a little crazy, having a conversation with a headstone, but it's not like it mattered anyways. After a while, we got up to leave.
"So long Susie," said Gerard, picking himself off the ground.
"And goodnight," I added.
Gerard nodded, finishing, "So long an goodnight."
My hand curled into his and we left the cemetery as light broke over the edge of the sky.
+++
A/N
HEY SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN A WHILE.
I've had really bad writers blog for quite some time now. Oh well.
Please comment, vote, and add to your reading lists because that's very fab. I literally live to read and reply to your comments omg.
Thanks for reading!
-maddie
YOU ARE READING
When We Part (on hold)
Fanfiction'He was different, right off the bat. You could just tell there was something wrong with him. His eyes were too sunken in, and glassy. He was oddly pale for the burning summer. He was too jumpy, and anxious. He was so... Strange. Normally I didn't...
