Tell Me I'm An Angel, Or A Bad Man (Book Three)

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven:

                               {Willow}

       Willow waved briefly at Frank as she got in Ryan's car, which smelled like old cologne and flowers, which made her hesitate. Ryan didn't notice, as he just smiled at her, then backed out of the driveway.

"So, it's nice to see you again!" Ryan said, and Willow nodded, smiling.

"Yeah, you've grown a lot, I hardly recognized you," she said.

"Thank you," he laughed awkwardly.

"What've you been up to?" she asked.

"Ah—not much, really." he shrugged. "I keep getting fired so I don't have a job at the moment."

"That sucks...hopefully you'll find a good one, soon." Willow said, and he nodded.

"So...I heard what happened yesterday..." he said after a few moments. "Are you okay?"

"I am now. I can't really believe Gerard is okay now, though," she said, glancing at him. "You can't go from wanting to kill your family to perfectly normal, and stay normal. He'll definitely have more episodes like that."

"Yeah," Ryan agreed. "Mikey said he was going to visit him today."

"He did?" she asked, and he nodded. "Did he say when he was going?"

"No, probably this afternoon, though." Ryan said. "Why? Do you want to visit him?"

She stayed silent for a few minutes, then nodded. "Yeah, I don't want to go alone, though."

"Do you wanna go now?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, sure." Willow nodded, ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach. Ryan turned the car around and drove a few miles until they got to the facility. She walked directly behind Ryan, and he asked how Gerard was doing.

"He's stable right now," the man said, looking at his computer. "Would you like to see him?"

Ryan glanced back at her, and she nodded. The man stood, smiling, and motioned for them to follow him. They walked down the halls and paused at a door.

"Wait until I come back." the man said, going into the room. Ryan looked at her and she shrugged. The door opened a few moments later and he said they could go in. Ryan went first, and Willow followed, her eyes meeting Gerard's on the other side of the glass.

At first, there was no reaction, he just staring at her, then he smiled.

"Willow! I didn't think you'd come to see me." he said, the tone in his voice strange, and she felt like she was going to be sick.

"Mikey's coming to see you later." she told him, and he seemed like he hadn't heard her.

"Did Frank let you come see me, I'd be surprised." he said. "He doesn't know, does he? He's going to be mad, you know that? He might—"

His facial expression changed, like he'd been in pain, and furious for a second, then he continued. "He might hurt you."

Willow didn't say anything, and looked over at Ryan.

"No he wouldn't." Willow finally said.

"Mmmmmm...you sure?" Gerard asked. He didn't seem pretty stable to her at the moment.  

"Yes," she stated firmly. He briefly squinted at her, then sighed.

"Our past always comes back to haunt us, Willow," he said. "I'm sure you know that, right?"

She turned to Ryan, "I want to leave, now."

"Okay." Ryan went to the door and she followed close behind, glancing over to find Gerard watching her. The door closed, blocking her from his view, and she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. 

They silently walked out to the parking lot, Willow walking ahead of Ryan. She couldn't get out of the building fast enough.

"He's not getting better any time soon," Willow stated harshly, secretly trying to convince it to herself. Ryan didn't say anything, only glanced over at her after she fell silent.

They got in the car and he drove to her moms house. She stared at her lap, her eyes narrowed. "Ryan, I'm thinking about going back."

He looked over at her, clearly disappointed. "I thought you were staying longer."

"I did, too, but this has been really stressful...honestly, there's this feeling in my gut that something is going to happen again..." she told him.

"That's...it's probably just from what happened last night...it shook you up." Ryan offered.

"No, it's been there since I arrived." she said, sighing.

"But," he paused, glancing downwards at the steering wheel.

"You're just thinking about it, right?" he asked, and she suddenly felt guilty. Ryan obviously wanted to be closer to her, and she wasn't being fair to him, or anyone else in that town. 

"Yeah," she nodded, selling her lie easily. "Nothing definite."

"Thank you for driving me," she told him as she got out of the car.

"Hey," he said, and she turned back to look at him. "If you need someone to talk to you can call me. I...I wont tell anyone what you said."

"Thanks, Ryan," she smiled at him, then went into the house.