Chapter 3
Frank's POV
Holy shit. The ghost that had been with me for nearly nine years now and helped me through all that had happened to me.. was Mikey's brother. I couldn't believe it. I knew that I needed to tell him, he had a right to know. And then together we could try and work out why Gerard was communicating with us. There had to be a reason - some sort of unfinished business he had to do before he could go to heaven, like in the movies. But what?
I knew that I needed to be sure that Gerard was definitely Mikey's brother first though, and that it was not just some sort of weird coincidence.
"Are you okay Frank? You've been silent for a few minutes now" Mikey asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"I'm fine, sorry about that. I was just wondering - do you have any pictures of Gerard? I've never seen any" I asked him. I could remember Gerard's face well, so if I saw a picture, I'd be able to tell if it was him.
"Yeah, most are in our attic but I have one here.." Mikey said, getting his wallet out from his pocket and pulling a load of his cards out to get to the picture, finally finding it, and pulling out the photograph. He brought it over and handed it to me and I looked at it. It was a family photograph. The first person I recognised was Mikey, he looked about 5 or 6 here. His mousy-brown hair was hanging over his face and he had a broad, cheesy smile on his face that was quite amusing. Mikey was holding hands with his Mom, who looked much younger back then than now. On her right was Mikey's father, and on her left was his Grandma, Elena. I had seen her quite a few times and she was lovely, and always knew exactly how to cheer people up. And they were clearly very happy, with matching grins on all their faces.
But it was the other person in the photograph that made my heart stop, my head go dizzy, and my breathing cease. Next to Mikey with his arms wrapped tightly around Mikey's shoulders, was Gerard. My Gerard. He looked about 9 here and was wearing a batman top with the symbol on it. His hair was slightly shorter than how I had always seen it, but it was still hanging messily over his face in the same way. He had a cheeky smile on his face like the others, and was leaning in to Mikey. It was clear that they were really close as kids.
The thing that really got me though, was what was different about Gerard. Whenever I saw him he was always glowing, with that strange white mist around him. He had pure, angelic skin and gorgeous, bright green eyes. In this picture he wasn't glowing, and he just looked... real. He was a person. A real person. He was alive. I liked seeing him like this.
I felt tears come to my eyes as I realised what a beautiful family they had all been together, and how Gerard had been cruelly taken away from them, wrecking everything. The only thing to stop me bursting into tears right then was the sound of Mikey's voice next to me.
"This photo was taken about 5 months before he died, we had all had a picnic at the park because I had just turned six that day and we were all so happy so we took a picture together, it's the last truly happy memory I have left of him" Mikey said.
"That's... Awful" I said. I really didn't know what else to say. I was upset and angry that such a beautiful person had lost his life, especially in such a stupid way. And the fact that no one even tried to help him as he lay dying on the road...
Gerard had been helping me for all these years even though we never actually knew eachother, and I knew that I needed to do everything I could to help him. I needed to tell Mikey the truth, and then maybe we could talk to Gerard together and find a way to help him.
"Mikey, I need to tell you something. I think you should know tha-"
I was cut off by my Mom screaming up the stairs (and she was loud!)
"Food's down here boys! Come down now!" she shouted.
"Tell me after?" Mikey said, wiping his tear stained eyes and patting me on the back. I nodded and we went downstairs. It would just have to wait for now.
