Chapter 2

With his eyes still shut he tried to situate himself.

The room was brightly lit and the light made his eyelids an annoying shade of orange. Dry ones had replaced his cold wet clothes, his nasty boots and soaked socks were off too and there was some a nice warm weight on him that was probably a blanket. It smelled like shit still, so he knew he was still in the bedroom.

"Gerard! Dude, you okay?-Guys! H-He's coming around!-dude what happened?" Frank yelled while shaking his chest. Gerard jerked away from his best friend's frantic yells and suddenly felt really sick to his stomach. His eyes shot open as he felt a hot acid race up his throat and he rolled over just in time to puke on the floor. He had no idea where Frank was standing; he hoped none of it landed on Frank.

"Woah Woah! Ew! Dude! Man, Gee! You okay man? Ugh, that's so gross…" Frank hollered. Gerard spit until his mouth felt clean and rolled onto his back hugging his stomach. He closed his eyes to stop the tiny room from spinning. He heard the metal door slide open and two pairs of feet shuffle through.

"Oh, ugh gross…" He heard his kid brother say.

"Should we call someone?" Ray asked unsure. From the way he said it, it sounded like he had a sour face too.

"Gee, do you want us to take you to the hospital?" Frank had calmed, but his voice was still urgent.

Gerard did not want to open his mouth afraid of any other stomach fluid coming out. His head still hurt but he managed to shake his head slightly.

He heard Frank whisper something he couldn't make out and a pair heavy footstep walked out. Despite how shitty he felt, he smiled internally at his best friend.

"Dude we were looking everywhere for you and you wouldn't answer your phone" he heard his brother say with anger rising in his voice. "Frank thought you might've come back to the bus for coffee, we were going nuts you know! This isn't the nicest place we've toured to…"

Gerard was surprised that the thought of coffee made his stomach churn uncomfortably, he tried to open his mouth but couldn't find the strength to speak. He did know that though, this city must have been fucking cursed.

"Yo take it easy Mikey, he's good now…well he could be better, but at least we know he's safe." Frank retorted. Gerard felt a rush of emotion at the sound of Frank's voice.

"I guess, should we tell Lind-" Mikey stopped when he heard a painful whimper come from his brother.

The pain started again, this time escaping his chest stretching through every nerve in his body. His chest heaved and he felt Frank and Mikey shift their weight uncomfortably.

Mikey hesitated a moment and cleared his throat before placing his hand on Gerard's wrist.

"Bro?" he sounded strained.

Frank spoke, his voice careful "Is everything okay with Lindsey?"

Tears flowed down Gerard cheeks now and his throat made choking noises. He hated himself for crying in front of them, but he felt so weak.

Frank was over him now, an arm stretched tightly over Gerard spastic chest. "Gee? Gee? Gee!" His voice was shaky like if he was about start bawling too.

Gerard's eyes burned. He wanted to die right then and there. Disappear from this world. He did not want to hurt his wonderful friends or annoy his beautiful talented wife. He did not want to burden his innocent daughter…

Sometime in between his pathetic sobs and waterworks, Mikey had turned off the bright fluorescent light pulled Frank off of him and dragged him out of the room, leaving Gerard alone in the darkness.