I'll Wait Forever

-40-

My train of thought was interrupted by a noise from the doorway, and suddenly I realized that Emma was walking inside. She shut the door behind her and sat down on Frank's bed, "where the fuck have you been Frank? I'm tired of covering for you. And by the Way, Miss Nora knows you weren't at school today. You need to-" her eyes got wide as she finally looked up and met my gaze, "Gerard? What the fuck?"

"Hi, Emma..." shit shit shit. What was I going to say to her? I don't want her to freak out that Frank left, especially since I hadn't found him yet. I tried to act casual, "so how's it going?"

"Cut the bullshit. Where's Frank?" She stood up and crossed her arms.

"He's uh-... he's at my place." I lied.

"Oh really? But you guys broke up, like, a month ago. Why is he there now?" She squinted at me as though she could see right through my lies. Which, in fairness, she probably could.

"Yeah, we did. But we worked things out, and he's going to be staying with me for a while." I kept my eyes on her, but her stoney demeanor didn't falter.

"Bull. Shit. Tell me what's really going on. Now."

"Okay... Frank is gone. He left. And I've been out looking for him, but I found nothing. That's why I'm here. I came to look for anything here that could tell me where he's run off to." I sighed and leaned on Frank's desk; she deserved to know the truth.

"He just... left? Without saying goodbye? Or leaving a note or anything? What the fuck... how could he..." I saw Emma's eyes brim with tears as she sat down once more, the news clearly hitting her hard.

"He did leave a note. I can show you if you want? It's back at my house. Then we can go out and look some more." After a few minutes, she nodded, and then went to grab a jacket. We snuck back outside and into my car before heading down the street back to my house to face LynZ. "I'm sorry. I should've told you sooner..."

"Yeah. You should've. Where all have you looked?" She glared daggers at me.

"My friend LynZ looked all through Belleville, and I searched every other city around here. No one has seen anything. That's why I came to check his room." I told her.

"Well clearly you didn't do a very good job at looking," she said sarcastically, "why do you care so much anyway? You aren't even dating him anymore."

I didn't respond. I couldn't. I knew this was all my fault anyway. He wouldn't have left if we were still dating. I felt a tear slide down my cheek, and the rest of the ride was silent.

———

"Gerard Arthur Way where the hell have you been?!" LynZ shouted as I walked through the door with Emma in toe, "Oh, hey, I'm LynZ." Emma waved in response.

"I looked everywhere. I couldn't find anything. Emma wanted to read the note. She's his friend from the orphanage." LynZ nodded and retrieved the note for Emma. I leaned against the wall racking my brain for anything I might've missed, and then I remembered the wad of money I had found in Frank's drawer. "Hey Lyn, you ran away once, didn't you?"

"Yeah, why?" She glanced away from reading the note over Emma's shoulder and instead met my gaze.

"What all did you bring with you when you left?" I questioned.

"Well, I grabbed clothes, food, money, my toothbrush, and anything really sentimental to me. That was all I could carry." I nodded in response as she looked back to the note. I winced as the pieces began to fall into place.

I now knew why Frank had really left, and I needed to figure where he had gone now more than ever.

I stood up and left the house again without looking back. I heard Emma and LynZ talking to me, and then calling to me, but I ignored them. I ran. I ran as fast as I could, straight into the woods.