Someone Out There Loves You (Adopted by Frank Iero)

24

ALEXA

Frank was picking me up at 9am.

With my backpack by my feet, dressed in my black skinny jeans and oversized grey hoodie, by 8:30am I sat on the edge of the waiting room chair, legs shaking with excitement.

I was getting the hell out of here.

Frank was a few minutes early. My excitement got the best of me the instant those doors opened and I was up and crossing the room so I could collide into the person walking through them. Frank let out a small "oof" at the impact and giggled, wrapping his arms around me. It would've been awkward if it wasn't him. Imagine walking into a hospital waiting room to be blindsided immediately by a small teenage girl. I would have been mortified. Thankfully though, it was just Frank.

"Hey Lex! You ready to go?" he beamed at me.

I nodded my head frantically. "Fuckin' ready."

After about half an hour of waiting impatiently while Frank spoke to the receptionist, filled out discharge forms, and got the scripts for my meds which I'd need to keep taking on the outside, he turned to me with the biggest smile on his face and I knew in that moment that I was officially free.

Arms outstretched, I twirled around outside the hospital entrance one last time, the bag on my back throwing me off balance and causing me to stumble. I took one look at Frank once I steadied myself and we both burst out laughing. We were giddy, caught up in the excitement and freedom, on an emotional high. It was impossible for us to contain it; everything was funny, everything was incredible, our smiles couldn't have been wider. We were the embodiment of happiness. Things shouldn't have been so funny, but we couldn't stop giggling. We were feeding off each other, caught up in the elation. I didn't even care when I saw people looking at us. All I cared about was Frank and my freedom.

"Here, lemme carry that," Frank said when his giggled died down, referring to my backpack.

"Nah, it's all good. There's like, nothing in it," I brushed him off with a laugh.

"Please? Let me be parenty," he giggled.

"But there's nothing in it!" I shrieked.

"Puh-lease?" he begged.

I shook my head, giggling. "Fine," I caved, sliding it off my shoulders and handing it to him.

He slung it over his shoulder. "Huh, you're right. There's like, nothing in it, hey?"

I grinned and shook my head. "Told ya," I laughed. "That's like, everything I own pretty much. I dunno what happened to all my shit at my old house, it was probably thrown out when my biological parents left, I guess. That's what I had on me when I was first admitted, and since I didn't go back to my house between the hospital in Baltimore and here, and no one visited to bring me shit, that's all I've got," I explained, kicking a stone along the pavement as we approached Frank's car.

"So that's what you had with you, at the uh, park then?" Frank guessed.

"Yep," I nodded, kicking the stone slightly too hard and causing it to land underneath a parked car. "Two hoodies, a pair of jeans, a tshirt and these shoes. Plus some underwear. I always kept a change of clothes in my bag in case I didn't go home one night for whatever reason - it happened more than once," I explained.

Frank nodded along, showing he was listening. We got to his car which he quickly unlocked, and I threw my bag in the back before jumping into the passenger seat. I waited for Frank to start the engine before continuing.

"I had another tshirt and jeans, but they uh, I think they got thrown out. When I woke up in the hospital I had my bag and the stuff in it but the clothes I was wearing were gone. They were probably kind of, um, ruined... It was a good shirt, too. It was a My Chem one." A small smile played at my lips at the memory of it. It was the first piece of My Chem merch that I owned, and I wore it everywhere. That's why I deliberately wore it to the park. Had I known I was going to fail, I would've worn something else. "It was my favourite one."