+Bad Catholics+ Frank Iero

+28+

Frank drove aimlessly around waiting for dark to fall, and once it did, we headed toward our destination. He wouldn't tell me exactly where we were going, and I wasn't sure why that mattered considering I already knew what we were about to do.

The item on his list read Explore an abandoned house. Being me, I didn't see the grand allure in that and when I asked Frank why he put it on the list, he simply shrugged and said "It's illegal."

Regardless, I only chose it because it seemed harmless. Our part of Jersey wasn't exactly known for its' overflowing wealth, and the area I lived near, in particular, was flourished in dilapidated homes, some unrecalled for years. A few were demolished on occasion if they were lucky, developers hoping to sell the empty lots with intention of improving the neighborhood (whatever that means) only to be forgotten, too. To put it bluntly, the area wasn't well policed. For the city, it just wasn't worth it, so the chances of being caught by anyone seemed low.

"So... once you're inside, what do you do?"

"I dunno. Look around, see if there's anything cool in there. Feel the rush of breaking and entering," He said, waving his hands sarcastically at me.

"Are you making fun of me?"

"I'm making fun with you."

I chuckled and looked around, Frank driving slower now as the houses on the side of the street began having more windows with two-by-fours in them than curtains. Despite being so accustomed to impoverished surroundings, really looking at it all never made it any less troublesome. It didn't help that at night they all looked like cheap haunted houses.

We pulled up and parked on the side of the street near an empty lot, a large oak tree hovering overhead that masked the streetlight overtop of the car. Frank leaned over me to wrestle through his glovebox, crumpled receipts falling at my feet. His hand emerged with a small flashlight and he handed it to me, zipping the black hoodie up that he had put on over his button-up shirt. Normally the panic of what was to come would begin to bubble up, but for some reason, I mostly felt fine. Maybe I was finally getting used to it.

"That house?" I pointed at one down the street, and Frank immediately shook his head.

"No, we're going to walk a few blocks over. Just in case anyone sees us, they won't know what my car looks like."

"What do we do if someone sees us?"

"I know you can run fast, I've seen it before," he said with a wink, and turned to let himself out of the car.

I winced and got out myself, tugging on the bottom of my sweatshirt. What had once been comfortable autumn breezes turned to frigid gusts in a matter of days, and it was dreadful to the touch. Had I known we were going on this expedition, I would have grabbed a pair of pants before I left my house that morning, but I clearly had other things on my mind at the time. I took a deep breath and tried to convince myself the thin knee-high uniform socks were just as warm, but that didn't work for more than a second.

"Are you ready?" Frank came around the car to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, rubbing his hand up and down my arm. "Sorry, it's colder than I thought it was going to be. You going to be ok?"

The corner of my mouth lifted and I nodded, letting the ends of my sleeves envelop my hands.

"Atta girl. C'mon, this way."

Frank let go and began walking down the sidewalk, and I quickly scurried behind. The neighborhood we were in seemed familiar, though I didn't pay close attention to the route we took on the way to get there so I wasn't completely sure where we were. Many of the streetlights were either flickering or out completely, so it wasn't easy to see either way.