"Oh, hello Jerry," the nurse at the front counter greeted Gerard. He rolled his eyes.
"It's Gerard," he said.
"Who's your friend?"
"This is Frank Iero," Gerard said, even though the nurse had quit paying attention and hadn't heard the answer to the question. Her back was turned and she was talking to a nurse behind the counter.
"Come on," Gerard sighed and led the way to his grandmother's room.
"This place is sad, man," Frank said halfway there with a shudder.
"Yeah, it really is,"
Gerard was once again stopped in the hallway by a little old lady in a wheel chair. Martha moved a crooked finger and Gerard crouched down by her side. She ran a hand across his face and studied it.
"Andrew, you've brusied yourself," she muttered with a displeased frown on his face. She was referring to the black eye Frank had given him that previous Friday. It was now turning a purplish yellow color and would fade away soon.
"I'm alright," Gerard spoke softly. "I got in a small accident. How is my flower doing?"
"Andrew you tease," Martha giggled. "Which way is it to the post office? I'm late to work, I tell you Jenkins wasn't pleased with those turkeys last week, nothing but trouble... the whole place smelled like grapes..." She spoke complete nonsense, and it left Frank confused. Gerard only pretended to know what she was talking about.
"The post office is down this hall and then to the left," Gerard told her, standing up slowly and leaning in next to her. "Have a good day, Martha," he said, kissing her hand. Martha smiled and slowly padded away. Gerard and Frank stood in silence and watched her go.
"What was that?" the shorter friend asked.
"She thinks we're engaged,"Gerard said. "Dimensia, really bad,"
"Oh,"
Suddenly Gerard and Frank heard yelling from down the hall. It sounded like it was coming from the last room, and Gerard could make out his grandmother's voice.
"Come on!" he took off down the hallway and Franky followed him. They stopped outside her door when they heard the shattering of glass and a doctor fled the room.
"Back up, please!" he called down the hallway. When he wasn't looking Gerard and Frank slipped in.
On the floor across from Elena's bed was broken glass, a puddle of water, and a few stray flowers- roses. On the bed itself was Elena, buried under blankets and supported by pillows. She had her knees propped up awkwardly and was resting her bony elbows on them. Her head was buried in her arms as she sobbed.
"Grandma," Gerard rushed to her side and knelt beside her bed. "Grandma, what's wrong?" he asked. She tried swatting him away, but he ducked her hand and stayed at her side. He took one of her small, fragile hands in his own soft, pale on. He ran his thumb soothingly over her fingers.
Frank stood back by the door with his hands behind his back. He felt nervous and awkward in his situation. He hadn't seen Elena for months, and never in the nursing home. He'd seen her last at her house in the March of sophmore year. He couldn't remember why they'd been there, but he didn't recognize the woman in front of him now.
She was small and frail, unlike the sturdy little woman that had existed months prior. Her cottony white hair had been replaced by stray feather like strands. She was nearly bald. Her pudgy, rosey cheeks and twinkling eyes weren't there either. Her face was gaunt and her eyes were sad. Very very sad.
Elena wouldn't speak, just sobbed, but she didn't try to push away her grandson anymore.
"Grandma, talk to me," he pleaded. "Let me in, Elena. Come on, I want to help you,"
A few nurses rushed past Frank into the room and short of pushed Gerard to the side. They quickly hooked Elena up to an iv, and she started screaming. Gerard stood there, frozen in horror as they injected something. Suddenly his grandmother went completely still and silent. The doctor stood over to the side by Frank, but the two did not speak.
"What did you do to her!?" Gerard demanded of the nurses. "What the hell did you do!?"
"Calm down," a male nurse said sternly. "It's simply a numbing medication to make her calm down. We can't have her freaking out like that, it's not healthy,"
"Why not!?" Gerard demanded. His grandmother had been known to get overly angry and worked up her entire life. "What's wrong with her!?"
Gerard was pushed out of the room by the nurses, but he stayed pacing outside her door in the hallway. Frank stood against a wall studying his friend nervously. The door opened and the doctor from before came out and closed the door gently behind him. Gerard confronted the physician.
"What the hell is wrong with her!?" he demanded, nearly backing the doctor back into the door. "That is not the woman I know! What is going on!?" The older man looked taken aback by Gerard's tone with him, but then composed himself and spoke gently.
"Who are you?"
"Her grandson,"
"Ah, I see. She's deep into stage five of the cancer," the doctor said. "The tumors are growing and will soon invade her medulla oblongata..."
"English," Gerard said. "Speak fucking english,"
"The tumors are reaching her brain stem, the area that controls her breathing and heart rate. If her heart rate gets too high it could be very bad and cause things to progress faster. We need to keep her calm," the doctor explained in simpler terms.
"You're the one who got her worked up in the first place," Gerard nearly growled. "What did you do to her?"
"I was talking with her about her options at this stage,"
"Which are?"
"Slim,"
Gerard cursed quietly and his hands clenched into fists. Frank appeared at his side and took one of Gerard's hands in his own gloved hand, making the fist unclench. It helped, if only a little. Remember when you were in elementary school, and you used to walk around everywhere holding hands? his mother's words came back to him. There's nothing gay about Gerard and I, Frank told himself. We're best friends, that's it.
"I'm sorry," the doctor said.
"How long does she have?" Gerard asked.
"It's unsure," the doctor lied.
"Bull shit,"
"You sure know how to curse, for a kid," the doctor gave an amused grin and tried to change the subject.
"How long does she have!?" the teenager demanded, bringing the conversation back to focus. "I need to know,"
"A month, at the most," the older man sighed. Gerard's heart stopped momentarily. A month!? A fucking month!? Gerard thought to himself. A lump made itself noticable in his throat and he couldn't swallow it down. Frank felt Gerard's grip tighten, and he squeezed back reassuringly. He didn't know what it meant, but he hoped it meant something.
"I have to see her," Gerard said.
"Right now she's asleep, and I don't think the nurses will let you in," the doctor said.
"I'll come back every day to see her. Every single day. I need to get Mikey over here," Gerard was talking to himself now. The doctor placed a comforting hand on Gerard's shoulder and shook it gently before walking away with his hands in his pockets. Frank held onto Gerard's hand, and neither of the boys moved. Gerard stared down at the linoleum as if trying to count the specks in the squares. His eyes were wide and his mouth was set in a straight line.
A month, he thought. A freaking month! He wished he didn't know. God how he wished he didn't know the answer to that question.
"Come on, Gee," Frank said softly, pulling at Gerard. Gerard obeyed Frank without really thinking and let Frank lead him out of the nursing home. They passed Martha on their way, and she smiled up at Frank and Gerard. Out by the car Frank let Gerard climb into the passenger seat and he took the driver's seat. He had to move the seat up quite a bit to reach the pedels, and he didn't technically have his license, but he figured it would be safer for him to drive.
They didn't talk the whole ride back to their houses.
"Why don't you come in?" Frank offered as he pulled into his driveway. "We can watch hellboy,"
"Really?" Gerard asked quietly. He knew Frank didn't really like Hellboy. Frank would rather watch Batman than Hellboy.
"Yeah," Frank smiled. "Really,"
"Thanks man," Gerard smiled a tiny little smile and the two boys walked into Frank's house. They watched both movies and turned on the animated series afterward. It didn't take long for them to get lost in a different world than their own and they loved it. Oh the comforts you can get from a screen. Soon though, Gerard realized it was getting late and it was almost dinner. He texted his mom telling her he was spending the night at Frank's, even though it was a school night.
Somewhere along the way of the tv show Frank and Gerard passed out on the couches in the living room. Linda got home from her job as a bar tender at eleven and smiled down at her sleeping boys. She turned off the blaring tv and put blankets over both of them.
"Goodnight, angels," she whispered, kissing them both on their foreheads.