Hidden From Reality

13

Frank

I watched as Gerard left the music room. Mikey threw one of his picks at me.

"What happened?"

"He got beat up while switching classes."

"And the sunglasses?"

"He, like, wolfed out after he got beat up." Mikey nodded slowly as the band started the next song. He didn't seem focused and only barely tried for the rest of band, though he was still better than I was. Gerard came back just as class was ending. His lip had been stitched closed, and I saw him grimace as he picked up his sax to play with band. He was able to finish the song, though it was time to pack up. I quickly put Pansy away and walked over to Gerard. He licked at the stitches as he put away his sax. He smiled up at me, but I could see the fear and pain in his eyes. I leaned on the back of his chair, watching him click the locks on his sax's case. He carried it back over to the shelf in the corner and slid it onto the bottom rack. He walked over to Mikey, me following close behind. I said nothing as Mikey began to look Gerard over, apparently checking for injuries. The rest of the day went by in a fearful blur. Mikey and I never left Gerard's side , even as we piled into the back of my mom's car. We walked into my house and Gerard immediately went back to my room. I followed him and found him sitting on the bed, attempting to do math homework. He pulled at his stitched with his teeth, seemingly intent on pulling them out. He scribbled an answer onto the homework sheet and closed the book, tossing his pencil down. He noticed that I had entered the room and smiled at me, though it became more of a grimace. I walked over and sat down on the bed next to him, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. I was again reminded of how painfully skinny his frame was. I first found out the day we had kissed at the park, when he hugged me goodbye. I knew he was too skinny, put he seemed to try to hide it. He always wore baggy clothes, so it appeared to fill out his frame by hiding it. He leaned into me and began to cry. I didn't know what to do as I rubbed his shoulder. He cried and cried. It took me a minute to look down at him. He had cried himself to sleep, right on my lap. I shifted until I was out from under him. I moved his school stuff to the floor and tucked him into bed. He curled up into a ball, clutching the werewolf stuffed animal I had given him. I turned off the light as I closed the the door, leaving him to sleep. Mikey looked at me with a look of gratitude.

"Thanks. Gerard's...Well, let's just say our parents haven't been the nicest to him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...Before the whole werewolf thing, our dad lived with us. He was drunk a lot and even when he wasn't, he still liked to beat up Gerard. Most of the time it was unprovoked, so Gee and I were basically living in fear of Dad. When the werewolf thing happened, Dad moved out, saying that he didn't want to live with a monster. Mom blamed Gerard and made sure he felt like a monster, like he was so disgusting and dangerous that he couldn't be a normal human." I processed what Mikey had just told me.

"Wow...That's really messed up." Mikey nodded sadly, then the screaming started.