I'll Never let Them Hurt You
The Meeting - Part 2.
I must have passed out because when I woke up I was in the back of an ambulance with blankets around me. The doors were open and the greenery of the forest came into view, blurry, but I was definitely still in the forest.
I sat up slowly, feeling the pang in my stomach as I did. Gerard and Mikey were sat on the hood of a cop car being questioned, I saw another ambulance across from mine, what the hell was going on? A doctor saw me and came over. He told me that:
My dad's body had been found and put in the other ambulance.
My mom had been called and drove down to confirm it was him.
Gerard and Mikey had been questioned about it.
I had, indeed, passed out at the sight of my father but i'd also been given a knockout drug.
Mikey had driven a few miles from the campsite in an attemt to find a signal.
He called the ambulance and took my phone from inside the tent to call my mom.
The paramedics called the police.
The police called wildlife control and they were still looking for bears, turns out they aren't supposed to be in the forest anyway. Something about a faulty electric fence.
My mom must have been told I was awake because she came running over in floods of tears, shaking and screaming my name. She held me tightly for what seemed like ages. I hugged her back, taking in her warmth, her smell, the fact that she was the only parent I had left. I hugged her tighter.
"Oh Frankie," she said finally, pulling away from me.
"You're lucky you ran into those two lovely boys." She gestured towards Mikey and Gerard and allowed a half hearted smile to sit on her lips, before it vanished as quickly as it came.
"I've invited them to the funeral. It'll be in about two days time." How was she being so calm about this? The memories of my reaction came back and I felt guilty for handling it so badly.
"Can we go home?" I asked her quietly.
"Yeah, honey. Sure we can." She kissed me on the cheek and left the ambulance. I watched her have a brief conversation with a police man and then she waved me over to the car. Before getting in, the Way brothers stopped me. I'd completely forgotten they were there.
"Hey, Frank? If you need anything call one of us yeah?" said Gerard, handing me a slip of paper. On it were their names and numbers.
"Thanks." I smiled and left for the car.
The days to my dad's funeral passed but slowly. The house seemed to get lonelier and lonelier. It was like torture hearing my mom cry herself to sleep. I went into her room bothe nights to sit on the bed and sing her to sleep, she never said it but I could tell she was greatful. Finally the funeral came around.
"You look so handsome," My mom said as I stepped out of my room in a black tux.
"You remind me so much of your father." She smiled and a tear rolled down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away.
I sat at the front with all my remaining family members. During the service I looked for Gerard and Mikey, they were near the back with their mom and dad and I felt a surge of jealously. Anger even. That they had both their parents and I only had one. But the feelings disappeared when I thought about what they'd feel like if it was the other way around.
After the service, everyone came back to ours for drinks and a cake my neighbour made. People expressed their sympathy for me and my mother and lit candles for my dad, placing them on the dining room table around a photograph of him.
It was all getting too overwhelming. I ran upstairs to my room and broke down into my pillow. This was the first time i'd cried since being in the ambulance that day. I'd been staying strong for my mom and it stopped the tears from coming but this, what was happening downstairs, was too much all at once.
Knock, knock!
I wiped the tears off my face and sniffed, "Who is it?" I asked, I didn't want to see anyone and I didn't want them seeing me like this, especially if it was my mom.
"Frank? It's Gerard."