Chapter Four

As soon as I walked through the door, I burst into tears. I couldn't believe I'd actually done it, I'd told him. But now, I had no friends. I couldn't stay with Gee and the others, it would be too awkward and painful. I looked around my small, empty house and knew what I had to do.

Thank God I lived alone.

A couple of hours later, I heard a knock at the door. I jumped guiltily, then carried on. I ignored the person knocking at the door, until they called out.

"Chloe, I know you're in there. Come on, let me in." It was Gee. I sighed, and went over to the door. I couldn't do this to him, he was one of my closest friends. As soon as I opened the door and saw him standing there with a look of hurt and confusion, the tears sprang back to my eyes and I launched myself into his arms. After a couple of minutes I let him in.

"What's with the bags, Chloe, going somewhere?" I looked back at my bags. "Have you seen Mikey yet?" Gee shook his head. "Well, I can't stay here now. I told him everything, and I think that if I stay away from you guys it'll be easier to get over him. Then I realised I don't actually have any other friends here, no family, nothing to keep me here. I'm leaving town." Gerard looked around at the almost empty house. "Well, I can't argue with you there, you'll just be miserable if you stay…" "You know, I would ask you to come with me. But I can't ask you to leave Mikey. You guys are closer than anyone else and I don't want to put you in an awkward position." I looked at him and he looked away. "You're right. It's awful, but I couldn't leave him." There was a slight pause, then I sighed and said "Can you help me load this into the car?" He nodded and did so.

Soon, everything was packed, and there was nothing to stop me from leaving. Well, almost.

"You know, everyone's gonna be upset that you never even said goodbye." I turned around to look at Gee, who was standing behind me with his arms crossed. I had a flash of an idea.

"Is there any way I could say goodbye to them without him being there?" Gee sighed. "No. You know he'd be the most upset that you just upped and left." "Then I can't do it. I'm sorry." He looked down at the ground. "It's probably best you don't tell them you saw me, too. I'll write a note and you can say I'd already gone when you got here." Gerard just nodded, still looking at the ground. I quickly ran inside, searched the empty shell of a house for a pen and paper, and wrote:

'I'm sorry. You all know what has been getting to me recently, and I've decided I can't stay. It would be too difficult and awkward, and I just can't do this anymore. You guys were the only thing keeping me here, and now I'm losing you there's no point in me staying and hurting myself and everyone around me. I'll see you in another life."

I signed my name and a kiss, turned to leave, and then wrote on impulse "Merci pour le venin" at the bottom. It was a joke between us; we had all taken a couple of weeks out of college and gone on a random trip to France, and while there Frankie (who was supposedly fluent in French) had ordered us some drinks, and when the waitress brought out something completely wrong, he got mad and got in an argument, and as we left he turned and shouted to her "Merci pour le venin" and stormed out, leaving the rest of us in hysterics. I smiled to myself at the memory, and wiped away my tears as I walked back out the door with the note. I handed it to Gee, who read it, saw my late addition and pulled me into a tight hug.

I don't remember how long we were like that for, but eventually we pulled apart, and I got in the driving seat of my car. I got all ready to go, and then turned to look at Gee. "Please don't try to contact me. I'll change my number, my email, everything. I'll just disappear." Gee just looked at me, so I smiled and said "I'll come to all your shows when you're famous." This made him smile, making it just a little easier to leave.

I pulled out of my drive, and drove off into unchartered waters.