Bloody Plums

CHAPTER FOUR

Ray knew. Oh, Ray Toro knew everything. Of course he did. Oh but, how?
Well..

With Gerard, he had found out a few weeks ago. He just happened to walk in on Gerard A. Way, skinning an older man. Only, he didn't let Gerard know of what he saw.
Ray just simply and slowly walked back up the stairs, wide eyes on Gerard in case he'd have to run. The curly-haired pal then quietly stepped out of the house, and pretended to inspect some mushrooms out by the driveway. He "inspected" the funky little fungi until the newly-discovered pyscho suddenly appeared beside him.

"Why're you just staring at mushrooms?" Gerard asked quietly.
Ray shrugged, "Why not? I thought they looked interesting."
"I mean..sure." The psycho said. "Anyway, come on inside. I'll make some coffee."

Coffee. Warm and sweet. Maybe bitter.
Kinda like..

"Sure!" Ray said with a grin.
He felt... He wasn't sure how he felt.
He had just discovered that a friend of his was, what he assumed, a serial killer.
A serial killer.
He killed people.
Yet Raymond Toro was barely even fazed.
Sure, it was crazy.
Sure, it was scary.
But it was Gerard. And Gerard wasn't scary like that..well he apparently was but that's not the point.
The point was: Ray wasn't frightened by this new discovery. In fact, this excited him.
Why?
Maybe Ray's just a weirdo.
Maybe this just isn't that surprising.
Maybe Ray just doesn't mind.
Or..maybe it hasn't hit him yet.

"You good?" Gerard asked, sipping his coffee. Black. No sugar. No cream.
"Yes." Ray said, lifting his mug. "Why wouldn't I be?"

· × ·

For Frank, well that took a while.
But not too long, thankfully.
Frank Iero was the careful kind of guy, almost too careful at keeping his secrets. At least it was only Ray, at the time of course, who found out though.

It started with the way that he ate.
Very quick. Oddly quick.
Always looking around carefully, and making sure that his plate really was empty. Grease and all.
He never shared, nor offered. Although quiet and timid, he was very adament on the fact that what he ate was for him and only him. No one else. Not even his dogs.
Yet Frank seldom brought his mystery meat out into public, which struck itself as maybe the oddest part. It was always kept at home. In his basement.
Speaking of, that's how Ray kinda just..caught him.

He was visiting and had come out of the bathroom when he saw the basement door open. Just a bit.
Ray had only seen the basement when Frank had just moved in. Since then, he hadn't seen much. Curiosity filled his gut, although the feeling twisted uncomfortably, and so he peeked through the door. And his eyes immediately caught onto something.
Not the band posters, or the brown boxes either opened or sealed with tape.
But Frank himself, bent over into one of the deep freezers. Ah, and the corpse laying in it. A sense of deja vu seeped into his brain.
Ray sighed quietly.
Another one of my friends a serial killer? He thought. Different methods I suppose..
He made no sound as he made his way back into the house. He silently stepped into the living room and sat on the couch, pulling out his phone and pretending to be occupied.
It didn't click together until Frank entered from the basement, carrying multiple packages..of meat.
Corpse.
Deep freezer.
Meat.
The word 'cannibal' almost slipped out of Ray's mouth. On his handsome face he wore just utter shock -- wide eyes and all.
Frank's boy-ish face was anxious, almost stressed. Like he had something to hide.
Well, he did. He was a fucking cannibal.
Just all the pieces seemed to fit together. All the weird bits of Frank seemed to now be connected.
Always anxious.
His meat. Not just that but the fact that he made such a secret out of it.
That was really it. But people talk-

"Hey, Ray."
"Hey, Frank." Ray smiled warmly.
"Whatcha thinkin' about? You were staring off." Frank put the..packages into the sink.

No, I wasn't thinking about your corpse downstairs.
No, I'm not nervous about continuing this friendship.
You don't scare me, Frank. Although you may be eating people..you are still my friend.
But you're also short and too weak to take me down.

Okay, okay. This is making Ray sound like a nosey person. He isn't.
He isn't.
He just notices things and stays silent.
He knows too much, probably.
Poor man.

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