Chapter Two

Frank's POV

The ninteenth time that I saw Gerard was very different from all the rest. All the times before had been when I was hurting, from being bullied, hit by my parents... even when I was going through breakdowns from exam stress and other things. This time was different though. I had been out one night with my best friends Ray and Mikey. We were at the park sitting on the swings as there was not much else to do in this town at this time of the evening. It was October, so it was already dark and it was only about 7:30pm. Mikey had been quiet all day, and hadn't really spoken at all. Only when spoken to did he reply in short, one word answers. We were starting to worry about him.

"Mikey, tell us what's up" Ray asked. "You've been upset all day again and you never tell us why".

It was true, this happened occasionally, and Mikey had never told us before why he got like this. It couldn't be problems at home could it? His Mother and Father were always so nice to him and to us. Mikey looked down at his feet as he swung a little on his seat, and shrugged. We sighed, this was what always happened.

"Mikey" I said, and he looked back up to my face. "Please"

He sighed. Mikey and I had been best friends for 5 years now and always told eachother everything. The only thing I had never told him about was Gerard, and this was the one thing he wouldn't tell me. He looked up to me and saw the pleading look on my face - I really wanted to know so that I could help him, and so did Ray. Mikey coughed a little and then mumbled something that was way too quiet for anyone to hear.

"What?" asked Ray.

"Today, October 17th" Mikey began, "Is exactly 7 years since my brother died"

Mikey had a brother?! How did I not know this? Surely they must have had pictures of him somewhere in their house or some sort of clues? I had never seen any evidence to Mikey having a brother and I practically lived at his house.

"How old was he?" Ray asked, reassuringly patting Mikey on the back.

"Ten, and I was seven" Mikey replied, biting his lip. I thought for a moment. Mikey was roughly one year younger than me which meant that when his brother died, I was eight. So it was the same year that my parents split up and I saw Gerard for the first time. I guess I wasn't the only one that had an awful year. That had happened four years before I had met Mikey, and that date, October 17th, was exactly 2 months before I saw Gerard for the first time. So if that happened 4 years before Mikey and I met and we had been best friends for 5 years, that would mean that Gerard would have been 19 now - 2 years older than me.

I was sure that Gerard had brought Mikey to me as I had been going through a terrible time when we met, and Gerard had promised me that I would never be alone. I guess this worked out for Mikey too, since he had lost a brother and we were close enough to even be considered brothers. But then again, I hadn't even known about such a significant part of Mikey's life. I felt ashamed.

We comforted Mikey for a while until it got quite late and we knew that we would need to go home. Mikey was staying over mine that night so we walked with Ray to his street and then said goodbye to him, and then carried on until we reached my house.

Once inside, we walked through my house and to the stairs. I was relieved to see that the floor had been cleared of all the old cigarette-butts and various things that were usually scattered everywhere - this meant that my Mom was sober today. I knew that she loved me and that my Father had been lying when he said that they both hated me, but she had a drug problem and could be very abusive and rude to me when she wasn't sober. I was stronger than her now anyway, but I refused to hit my own Mother, and just took her punches. Today was one of her better days though, so she would be fine. Mikey was used to seeing the state that my Mother and house were in, as over the past 5 years he had been over so many times. At first he said that it was horrible and that I should call childline or get someone to help us, but he's gotten over that now and accepted my life for what it is. My Mother was one of the last people I had in my life to stop me from being alone, and I wasn't going to let anyone take her away from me.

We walked across the hall and to my room, stepping inside. My room had changed a lot since I was eight, the old crayon drawings on the walls were now replaced with band posters, and the floor was covered with CDs, clothes, my two guitars and various other things. I still had the chalkboard that Gerard had written on that day, but the message had gone as quickly as it had appeared, and I kept the chalkboard at the back of my cupboard now.

Mikey and I decided to play on my X-Box for a while, but then it became apparent to me that he just wasn't in the mood. I switched it off and turned to him.

"Sorry for how I've been today..." Mikey sighed, linking his hands together in his lap.

"Don't be silly, you had a reason to be upset. It's not an easy subject Mikey" I reassured him.

"It's just... that day was the worst day of my life. I had been pushed over at school and hurt my leg and the other children were laughing at me. I came home after school as my Mum used to pick me up and let Gerard walk home because he liked to stop at the comic book store on the way. He normally got back not much later than I did, but that day, he didn't. I stayed by the window waiting to see him walking down the street to come home, but he never came. It got late and my parents got really worried and called the police and they went out to search for him. We found out later that some kids from the older school had been picking on him on the way home, shoving him off of the path when he was trying to just walk away. Messing about, they pushed him again into the road without realising a car was coming. He died that day and everyone there just left him there. They left him on the road to die, Frank!" Mikey burst out in tears, head in hands.

I shuffled over and hugged him, holding him close to me. That was awful, I couldn't believe all of that had happened to such a wonderful person like Mikey. And his poor brother... he was only ten! Mikey sniffed a little and then began to speak again, stuttering as it was clearly hard for him to keep speaking.

"A-after that things just got worse. I was constantly bullied every day and some people even insulted my brother, saying he deserved to die. I got into fights and always ended up getting hurt, and tried to fake being ill to be allowed to stay at home by making myself sick and stuff" He gulped. "I was losing all hope and I didn't know what to do anymore without my brother. He was my life. I always looked up to him and he protected me.. and they took him away!" He cried into my shoulder. He attempted to keep speaking. "That was when I moved schools and met you, and I finally had a friend again. Of course I still miss my brother every day, but you helped to numb the pain". Mikey said. I really meant that much to him? "You stopped me from being alone anymore, and I'm so grateful for that".

Mikey was scared of being alone. Just like I was. I thought of Gerard, how he had promised me I would never be alone, and brought Mikey to me. Maybe he had done this to help Mikey too? But did Mikey have a connection with him like this? And plus, I didn't even know who Gerard was. And Mikey would probably think I was mental if I told him that I had an 'Imaginary friend'.

"I know this sounds crazy" Mikey began. "But sometimes I swear I can still hear my brother talking to me. He just helps me when I'm hurt - he's still there for me like he always was. Is that crazy?" He asked.

"That's not crazy at all" I said, stunned. This was sounding all too familiar. I decided to pursue this subject. "So do you just hear him, not see him?" I asked.

"Yeah, I thought I saw him the first time I heard his voice, but I was in a state as it was only a few months after he died, so I must have imagined it. But I swear I do hear him sometimes still, I can't be imagining that" Mikey said.

So I could see someone but not hear them, and Mikey could hear someone but not see them? There was no way that this could be a coincidence. This was all too familiar, and it was scaring me. I couldn't remember what Gerard's voice had sounded like when he spoke to me, but I knew that it had happened.

"And you're 100% sure that it's your brother's voice that you're hearing?" I asked.

"Positive. We spent every single day together as children. I'll always remember his voice"

How was this happening to both of us? Mikey didn't know anything about me being able to see someone and have similar experiences. But were there two ghosts communting with us... or possibly...

I gasped. It couldn't be true. There was no way. Was I crazy? But that would make Mikey crazy too. I just knew that I had to make some sense of this, and I had to know if what I suspected was infact true. There was just one thing I had to ask Mikey, and it was going to change my life forever.

"Mikey, what was your brother's name?" I asked, looking straight towards him.

He looked back and without hesitation, said the one thing that I had been hoping he wasn't going to say.

"His name was Gerard"