Frank Iero's Paranormal Investigation Agency ( #48 in MCR, #1 in Vampiregerard )

Chapter Eighteen

.gerards's POV.

I guess it was a blessing in disguise that I didn't need breathe. I don't think I could have if I wanted to anyways. My chest ached constantly, and every time I thought of Frank I could feel it constrict, worsening the achy feeling that had settled in my chest as soon as I shut the door of the motel room behind me.

I missed him like hell.

It had only been days since I had left him there, but it felt like months. Years even. I hoped to God or any being that would listen that he had taken my advice and gone to the address I'd given him. They were some old friends who had relocated not far from here a year or so after we had. I knew they would take care of him for at least a little while.

I couldn't help but to form a small, sad smile at this thought. Knowing Frank, he would have cursed that address to hell and back, and the napkin while he was at it.

Probably me too.

As much as I hated to think it, I knew I had hurt him. If how I felt was any indication, he was probably thoroughly heartbroken. But I knew this was the right way. The only way. Both taking away part of Frank's life and endangering it entirely were out of the question.

This was my problem. My family. My life. And asking him to take all that on was so selfish of me.

I unconsciously wrapped my arms around myself. I found that I did that whenever he came across my mind. I missed his warmth, his smile, his honey hazel eyes and the way they became partially obscured when he laughed, his lips on mine. All of him. Knowing I could never see him again made me feel like I was dying a second time.

I sighed wearily. I was only in high school but I felt a million years old.

After a lot of reflection, I had come to terms with with fact that some part of me hoped that I wouldn't make it out of this. I needed to make sure my family would leave Frank alone, I needed to make sure Mikey was okay, and then I was done. I could be relieved of duty. Dishonorably discharged from life for cowardice. I mean, if I couldn't have him, the one person who accepted me for what I am, did I really have anything at all?

Shaking my head in a less than successful attempt to focus on the task at hand, I tiredly put one foot in front of the other, heading toward what was once my home.

I had been watching them carefully since I came back, looking for signs of hunt for me or Frank. So far, nothing had come up. It was just... Them. Acting like a normal American nuclear family all the time. It was borderline creepy.

I had been keeping an especially close eye on Mikey since my return.

Part of me was pissed beyond belief that after discovering my secret, his first instinct was to grab at the nearest weapon. Another part was sick with stress, wondering when and how he'd broken the news to our parents. And the other part was just worried about him. He might've intended to kill me, but he was still my baby brother.

From my usual vantage point, I could see that most of the time, he stayed in his room. While this wasn't all that unusual for him, there was definitely something off. He seemed so... angry. Angrier than normal. He would slam the door when he got home from school, stomp around like he was looking for something to punch, then collapse on his bed. Sometimes I could see him crying.