Come On Angel, Don't You Cry

Chapter 15: Betrayal Or Not?

I fell asleep last night, but barely. I was too consumed in thoughts. Too consumed by the possibilities. I couldn't shut my brain off long enough to close my eyes and drift off. So I just sat there; I sat there staring at the ceiling while Frank buried his face into my chest and refused to loosen his grip, even in his sleep. I could think of nothing, but my dream. I mean, I was dead for godsakes. Frank looked like a suicidal hobo. And I WAS FUCKING DEAD.

I don't get what it fucking means. Usually, I'm good at analyzing the hidden meaning behind things. Normally, I know what something symbolizes. Although this dream seems to be different; it has me completely stumped.

It's all I've been able to think about since I awoke. Normally, in any literature a colorless world that all of sudden has some form of color, whether it be in the form of a person or an object, would lead a person to believe that that object or person has some greater value to the one seeing it. But Frank is a person to me. Honestly, he means no more to me than any random person. Or at least I don't think he does.

This all has me confused. All of it. So, that is why I'm am now sat on the edge of mine and Frank's bed, staring at the dresser and trying to hear something other than my thoughts playing on repeat in my ears. I stare at the dresser, trying to make sense of anything. I stare at the dresser, pushing myself back into reality. Back to reality where my vision won't turn to greyscale. Back to reality where I am alive and breathing, not a corpse in the ground. Back to reality where Frank is ok.

I finally make it back, and as soon as I do, I realize the emptiness of my stomach. I close my eyes, take a few deep breaths and rise to my feet before walking downstairs to the kitchen, where I find a note.

'Dear Whoever Reads This,
       Pete and I have left for town to pick up items for the next few weeks. We'll be gone until around 5pm.' I glance at the clock to see that it is only 2:30. 'Patrick is in charge until we get back. Behave and stay safe.
                                    -xoxofrnk'

I place the note down and walk to the pantry to notice that it is quite bare. I look around for anything that catches my interest, finding a box of girlscout cookies, thin mints to be exact, I am satisfied and walk my way back upstairs.

I pass by Pete and Patrick's room but am stopped by the almost silent sounds resonating from within. They sound almost like crying and frustration combined in into one. I crack open the door hoping that it wont creak and scare Patrick. I already know it's going to be Patrick. Of course, it does creak and startles Patrick who jumps and snaps his head towards me.

"Hey, you ok in here?" I speak first, hoping that he may want to talk about what's bothering him. As selfish as it may sound, whatever problems he's facing will help take my mind off of anything that could flow through my head.

"Um..... yeah?" He says, obviously not sure of himself.

I walk forward a few steps and hold out the cookies, "Hey, you can talk to me. Girlscout cookie?" I say trying to at least warm him up to me a bit.

He shakes his head at the cookies and continues looking at the floor. I sit down next to him and pat his back for a second before keeping my hand to myself. "Really, what's wrong?"

He looks at me,  unsure for second, before closing his eyes and taking in one really deep breath. He opens them again, before looking as though he were choosing his words careful or thinking where to start.

"Can you tell that I really love Pete?" He asks after a minute or so. I think about my answer. Its obvious that Pete loves him, but could I tell that Patrick loves Pete. I believe I could, so I nod in response.

"I do, I really do, but I'm torn. I'm torn between what's right and what I love." He says and stops for a second. Almost as though he were done talking, he takes another really deep breath before continuing,  "Pete asked me before we got on the plane if I trusted him, I said yes. You can't truly love someone without trusting them, right? So, of course, I trust him. He didn't explain why he asked that though. I thought this was just going to be a trip out to see where he spent his summers as a child. I didn't expect to be put in such an awful situation. He explained everything, who you are, who Frank is. What he helped Frank do, he told me all he knew. And that's where I started to worry, he knew I would worry though. He knew I'd be uncomfortable here, but he promised that Frank is a nice kid. That Frank would never do anything really bad. I trusted him in that statement.

'As soon as I got here, I got a bad feeling. I knew something wasn't right. I knew that Pete didnt know everything but I felt like there was something big that was missing from his statements as soon as Frank, reacted to my appearance. He didn't even wait until I was out of earshot to ask why the fuck I was here. He was obviously pissed. And later that night they fought. I went to bed about an hour earlier, but I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. I just wanted sometime to myself, but then the yelling started. It started out somewhat quiet but then it grew louder and louder. Frank was yelling, Pete trying to keep him calm. I heard Frank screaming about me, and not wanting to lose you. I heard Pete lie about when he had told me about all of this. I heard a lot of the fight, but then I heard the door slam, so I rolled over just in time for Pete to come crashing through the door, mad. Like, the maddest I had ever seen him, mad. I acted like I was asleep, and he crawled into the bed and wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him. Madness turned into sadness and he started crying, softly, but crying all the same, on my shoulder. It broke my heart to hear him like this but not being able to comfort him. He cried for about an hour before the tears stopped, he whispered something that sounded like 'I love you' before his breathing evened out and he was asleep.

'I fell asleep about 2 hours later and was awake at 8 for breakfast. Pete woke me up, and said we were going out. I said ok and he told me to get dressed and come down for breakfast when I was ready, and he left the room. I sat there staring at the door for about 30 minutes before I stood up and put on my clothes, brushed my teeth and everything. I walked downstairs to find a full meal laid out on the table and a new face in the end chair. I wasn't nervous to be around Ray, but more unsettled by the fact that you weren't the only one and that another person with another family that misses them was dragged into this against their will. Which leads me to my problem. I want to do the right thing, but I don't want to betray Pete. I know I can't do both so I have to pick. I would help you out of here now but seeing as to how I know this place about as well as a toddler knows trigonometry we would most likely get bear-eaten. I just don't know what to do Gerard. I just don't kn-"
And that's when we heard the front door open, and close.

"Patrick?!" Pete called from the living room. Patrick stood from where he was looked in the mirror before rubbing his eyes, nodding for me to leave and walking out the door himself.