TALK TO ME ¯ᶠʳᵉʳᵃʳᵈ

-ˏˋｔｈｉｒｔｙ ｏｎｅ：ｓｌｅｅｐˊˎ-

"You're not done with me," his voice rang out in the darkness. I shook my head, trying to will him away. "Don't shake your head at me."

I realized that it was dark because my eyes were shut, so I opened them, hoping it was all a dream, but as soon as they opened I was met with his face. My father stared me down with the same hate in his eyes as ever. I wasn't sure where we were. The place seemed familiar yet unfamiliar to me. All I knew was that we were somewhere outside.

"Talk to me," he said. "Just say one word and I'll leave you alone."

I shook my head.

"How pathetic," he scoffed, taking a step closer to me, but I couldn't move my legs to step away. He stood right in front of me, his breath ghosting over my face, suffocating me. "You wanna get rid of me so fucking bad yet you can't even do it."

I had already gotten rid of him, though.

"No, you haven't," he laughed, responding to my thoughts. "I'm still here."

No, he was supposed to be gone. Gerard made sure of that.

"Oh, your little boyfriend, you fag?" he laughed again. He took a step back and suddenly Gerard was there, standing next to him, looking at me with eyes that I'd never seen before.

My father put an arm around Gerard's shoulders like a friend would and I cringed at the sight. Gerard didn't belong anywhere near my father. Not like that.

"No one loves you," my father said.

Gerard does.

"No, I don't," Gerard laughed, an evil tone to his voice. He was looking at me with hate; that's what was so different about his eyes. He was looking at me with disgust like my father always did. "Why would I?"

I felt my heart practically stop at these words and I stared down at my feet, refusing to believe what he was saying to me. I shook my head frantically.

"No one can love a mute like you," Gerard laughed. "You really thought I loved you? You're not just mute, you're fucking stupid, too."

My father joined him in laughing and I closed my eyes tight, still shaking my head, wanting to get rid of all of this. Gerard loved me. He hated my father and he loved me.

"No, no, I don't," Gerard's voice repeated.

I kept shaking my head as hard as I could, their laughs growing louder and louder, until suddenly it was silent again. I still had my eyes clenched tight, not wanting to be faced with my father again.

"Talk to me," a voice said. It wasn't my father's voice, it was Gerard's. I opened my eyes quickly and he was standing right in front of me, the hate in his eyes replaced by love. I smiled at him, until I realized what he'd just said, and a frown covered my face. "Talk to me, Frankie. Why can't you talk to me?"

Gerard never pressured me to talk. He never did. Not anymore.

"I wanna know if your father was right or wrong," Gerard continued speaking, still only standing inches from me. All I could see was his face and feel his breath hitting my own. "Once you talk, I'll know how useless you are and I can decide if I should stay or not. So, hurry, Frankie, I wanna know if I've been wasting my time."

Tears stung at my eyes. How could he say these words to me? They were such hateful words but they came out of his mouth with a loving and endearing tone. They didn't go together at all.

"You're testing me, right?" he spoke again. "You want to see if I'm really in it to stick with the mute kid. I don't know how much patience I have, Frankie, I might end up leaving you. So hurry and talk so I don't have to."