Twenty Years Later

It had been a week since their biggest gig, Reading festival, over 100,000 people went to watch them, now they were touring with blink-182. the four boys never actually expected to make it this far.

They were now touring America. Gerard had never been happier, well at least until he heard the news that they were visiting their hometown, to do a gig, apparently, it had sold out in less than five minutes. Frank and Gerard spent all nights reminiscing in nostalgic music and memories of their tiny apartment, and the fact they could only afford pasta, so they started playing gigs and now they were millionaires.

The bus windows showed sights of their hometown, it was like traveling back in time, all the memories, good and bad, they all came flooding back. Gerard thought about his parents, maybe they deserved to meet their grandchildren. His husband.

No, they left him, they took everything from him, he wasn't going to let them into his life.

They stayed in the most expensive hotel in the whole place, when Gerard was a kid, he always wished to stay there, to know what it was like to get room service and new sheets. now, hotels had become a common part of his life. his kids either stayed at home with Frank and Gerad's friends or they came along, they loved seeing the world, and their parents loved to make them happy, so they often took them along to shows, however, this time they were staying home.

Gerard hardly slept that night, as memories of broken ribs, cigarettes and drugs washed played in his head like a broken projector, looping all of his worst moments.

Frank lay sleeping next to him, he didn't want to wake him, but he needed to get up and tire himself out, he threw on a plain dark grey top, slipped into a leather jacket, and jeans and headed out into the cold dark streets.

he found himself running and walking with no direction, and before he knew it he had landed band at the front of his high school gates, he hadn't even realised that is where his feet were taking him, but after a decade of walking the same route to school, it seemed to be hardwired into his brain.

He looked up at the school, it was just like it was when he and Frank were beaten up, when they kissed on stage, when he got hit by a they had graduated, they never looked back at the school or anyone that went there, they met Ray Torro, and began to play gigs, people actually seemed to like their music. they had just released danger days, and they were touring the world with blink-182, and yet those school gates made him feel like a kid again. he kept walking and soon ran all the way back to the hotel, exhausted, Gerard fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.