Ellie woke to a familiar buzzing sound, and slowly opened her eyes. 'Damn phone'. She felt very little guilt as she decided to just let it go to voice mail and listen to it later. As the ringing stopped, she smiled and started drifting back to sleep.
Buzz
Buzz
Her eyes popped open again, and she sighed as she glared at the device that was emitting the obnoxious noise.
Buzz
Buzz
"This better be good." She mumbled as she reached for the vibrating phone.
Without looking at the caller ID she slid the green arrow to the right. "Someone had better be dead or dying, Frankie." She scolded, automatically assuming it was Frank, since he was pretty much the only one who ever called her.
"That can be arranged... again." A dark, unfamiliar voice resounded clearly on the line.
"Who is this?" Ellie's sleepy head was in between thinking this being a dangerous situation, and it being a practical joke.
"You need to re-evaluate your situation, bitch... think about it long, and hard." Followed by the unmistakable sound of the line going dead. At once, all of Ellie's senses snapped to attention, and she stared at the phone in her hand.
-Unknown Number-
Ellie's mind started going over all of the details of what was said just moments ago. This wasn't the first 'Unknown Caller' that has called in the middle of the night. Actually it's been happening a lot more often as of late, but the difference between those calls and this one is... this time someone actually spoke to her.
Not only spoke to her, but threatened her.
An arm slunk around her waist and pulled her close to the body behind her. She leaned back and absorbed the strength it gave her.
"Who was that baby?" Gerard whispered next to her ear. She stayed silent, not really knowing how to answer. She set the phone back on the nightstand, turned her body and curled into him.
"Ellie?" He looked down, and saw she was focused on his chest. He placed his fingers under her chin, and brought her face up to he could see her eyes. "Baby, what's wrong? Who was it?"
"I.. ah.. I don't know." She tried to avoid his gaze, but was unable to.
Gerard knew it didn't take a rocket scientist to know when Ellie was not admitting something. The girl was such a bad liar. "Ellie, Sugar...." He used his serious voice.
"Umm.. when I said someone better be hurt or dead, I was joking... thinking it was Frank.. and it was a man that just said, 'That can be arranged.. again.' " She paused, and took a breath. "Then he said 'You need to re-evaluate your situation, bitch... think about it long, and hard.'." She refocused on his eyes.. "What do you think that meant?"
Gerard's mind instantly went to when he was receiving threats about the house. He hugged her close, and kissed her on the forehead. "Don't worry Baby, it sounds like it was just a prank call. You're safe and sound... I'm here. Go back to sleep, Dollface." Ellie curled into his embrace as he tightened his hold on her, and she let go of her fears and anxiety.. which surprised her when she thought about how he was able to allow her to do that. She slowly closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep again.
Gerard, however was wide awake, his mind reeling with the fears of what could possibly be happening again. He, of course was not afraid for himself, but for Ellie. They couldn't kill him again, but they could certainly kill her, or worse. The thought turned his stomach. He knew he would walk into Hell itself to keep her safe, but the problem was, he just didn't know what his physical limitations were, and if he was actually going to be able to do it.
For the next few hours, until the sky started to lighten into that wonderful shade of pink, signaling the waking of the sun, he mulled over his options. Which were very limited, but always went back to the same solution. Ellie had to leave the house. He was going to lose her.
~~
Frank stood in front of the big oak door. He raised his hand to ring the doorbell, but about an inch away, he lowered his hand again. He took a deep breath. He tried again. 'abort.. abort!' a voice in his head was shouting. 'I'm not ready! How the hell am I even going to broach this, she's going to think I am as crazy as she is... well, as crazy as she might be. Shit. The pictures though... how would the girls come up with that?'
Frank stood on the front step for a good 10 minutes arguing with himself, trying to build the courage to confront Ellie about what happened, and ask her once and for all, what in the hell was going on.
Praying the upcoming conversation wouldn't be TOO awkward, and that Ellie had a very reasonable explanation.... he slowly raised his hand again, and pressed his finger to the doorbell.
His heart started racing after he heard the 'ding dong' sound, and waited.
Footsteps...
The door opened slowly, creaking ever so slightly...
"Frankie!" Ellie's face glowed with excitement.
"What happened to you yesterday?" She stepped back and gestured for him to walk in.
Frank stepped through the door, and naturally looked around to see if anyone else was in the house. "El.. We need to talk." He said with a sigh.
Ellie closed the door, turning slowly she look at him. "Are you okay, Frankie? You look really stressed.." The more she looked at Frankie, the more she grew concerned.
He had worry lines on his forehead, which she had never seen before, and she could swear that he looked a few years older then the last time she saw him. Not to mention it looked like he had not slept in years.
~~
-Mikey's POV-
"What do you mean by 'Threatened'? " Mikey had not realized he was holding his phone with a vice grip as Bob had explained the conversation he and Gerard had so many years ago, just before the attack.
"Just what I said, Mikey. The calls started as hang up calls, then the last time we spoke he told me that someone had actually threatened him about getting out of the house... Like people 'getting hurt' threatened..." Bob paused to let this news sink in.
Mikey stayed silent for what felt like an eternity, and Bob started wondering if he was even still on the line. "Mikey?"
"Sell the house Bob." Was all that Mikey said.
"What?!... Are you sure?" Bob was surprised at the declaration. "Mikey, have you really thought about this? Why don't we just call the police?" He waited, but Mikey did not respond. "Mikes.. if these guys are the same people that threatened Gee, they are most likely the ones who killed him and Lindsey! We can get them caught!" Bob was exasperated, and felt he had to spell it out for Mikey. All he wanted was justice for his friends, and for the bastards that killed them to suffer... why was Mikey not all over this?
"How are we going to prove it Bob?! And who is to say that if we don't cooperate, they won't hurt our families? They have already threatened to hurt Ellie for Fuck's Sake!" He yelled the last part, as he imagined what they would do to the woman that was currently under his care. "She doesn't deserve this Bob, she loves it there, and now I have to kick her out just to make sure she doesn't get hurt....or worse." The thought alone broke his heart. He wasn't as close to Ellie as Frank was, but the time he had been able to spend with her, he had become very attached to her. He felt like she was a... sister, almost.
He sighed.. A sister. He would have loved to have had one. He did for a short time with Lindsey, but somehow he felt a little closer to Ellie. Even though he never had a real sister, he did have Gerard, and he was so grateful for the time he had had with his brother... but thought of that compounded his depressing thoughts, and without knowing it, started thinking out loud.
"Gee would have loved Ellie, you know... absolutely loved her."
Bob knew Mikey thoughts were spinning faster than he was, and he was close to a meltdown.
"Yeah man, he would have. His spirit is probably protecting her while she's there... Don't worry."
"Sell the house Bob.. Please." Mikey had his mind made up, and refused to lose anyone else to a 'tragic accident'.
"What about Ellie?" Bob knew it was going to be hard on her, not really knowing many people in California.. He knew she did not have any family to go to, and he was not sure about her past.. everyone (meaning Frank) was pretty closed mouth about it.
"I am going to go over there and tell her. Fuck..." He sighed knowing this was going to not only break her heart, but his as well.
"Good luck Mikey... I will get the paperwork started. I will call you when it's ready." Bob knew there was no changing Mikey's mind... he only knew he would help him and Ellie anyway he could.
"Thanks Man. Talk to you soon."
~~
(Back at the house)
Frank and Ellie were sitting in the living room across from one another, Frank in the chair, and Ellie facing him from the sofa. Ellie noticed that Frank looked extremely uncomfortable, and fidgety.
"Soooo.... ahh, how ya been?" Ellie wasn't sure what was going on with Frankie but she was definitely feeling a mix of emotions rolling off of him that had her on edge.
Frankie shifted in his seat, leaning from his left side, to his right before straightening up again, and crossing his right ankle over his left knee. "Um.. it's good... been good." He took a deep breath and held it for a moment. Ellie felt that somehow, a shoe somewhere was about to drop, and felt her body tense.
"How have you been doing?" was all he able to come up with. Ellie felt let down a bit. The anticipation of whatever he wanted to say was starting to get her nerves jumbled. She noticed that he was once again shifting his position, leaning forward with his forearms resting on his knees and his attention on the coffee table, and her book sitting on it. "Was that Gerard's book?" It slipped out before he even realized it.
"I've been goo.....errr.. Yeah, I think so. It was here when I moved in, and I started reading it." She saw that he was still not looking at her, but at the book. "I hope that was ooo-kay." She wasn't so sure at this point that Frankie was not going to get upset about here reading Gerard's book, since he was acting so strange, and it did belong to his best friend who was murdered.
"Frankie?" She needed to know once and for all, what the hell was going on with him.. for better, or for worse, she was going to pin him down for an answer.
"What the hell is going on? Are you all right? Why are you acting so...... weird?!"
Frankie's eyes snapped up and connected with her's. "Why am I acting weird?!" Frankie practically shouted. "Did you really just ask me that!? I should be asking YOU what the HELL is going on!!" You are the last person that should be asking me why I'M BEING WEIRD!?"
Ellie jumped at his outburst, and then just sat in shock. Frankie had never raised his voice to her before, and even though he looked instantly regretful, Ellie felt anxiety start to rise up in her chest, and her breathing started to hitch. Suddenly she felt Gerard sit beside her, his hand covering hers.
Her breathing returned to normal and the tension in her chest eased a very little bit. "Easy Sugar, he's just upset."
Frank saw Ellie's expression change, and he calmed himself as guilt assaulted him. "I'm sorry Ellie.. I'm sorry.. I'm such an Asshole." He finished on a sigh, hung his head, and just shook it. "I have been under stress. I.. I just have to talk to you about something, and I don't know how." He looked up at her through his eyelashes, and his bangs that were hanging down from the angle at which his head was.
Ellie looked at Frank expectantly as he opened his mouth... and then closed it again without so much as a sound. He looked back down at the floor again, and just could not find his voice.
"Frankie.. You are my BEST friend.. you're like a brother to me. You can say anything! Just SPIT IT OUT!" Ellie loved Frank more than (almost) anyone.... but she just could not take the suspense any longer.
"I was here yesterday El...... I saw." He finally looked up and made eye contact with her. He also saw all of the color drain out of her face. Emotions like Guilt, denial, and poorly shaded jest pasted over her features almost simultaneously.
"What are you talking about, you never showed up yesterday?" Ellie tried to smile and make light of a situation she was not sure she could get out of. She silently prayed that Frank was possibly just playing a prank on her, not knowing what really did happen.
"I was here Ellie... I saw you run through the living room and up the stairs." He stopped there and looked at her as if to make a point that she knew what he saw... and she did. Her face fell, and she looked to her left as if she were looking to someone for the answer. Frank followed her gaze to see if he could make out what she was focusing on. He couldn't.
"Dammit Ellie! What are you looking at?!" He lost his cool, and she jumped at his shout.
Ellie looked down, "Who" was all she said.
"What?" Frank was getting exasperated with this conversation, and almost wished he had just let it be, but knew he could not. If she really was loosing her grip on reality, he needed to know how to help her.
"Not what, but Who am I looking at." Ellie slowly looked up and to her left, and slightly smiled. Frank noted she did not have a crazy look on her face, but... a look of...pure love.
He felt his heart drop out of his chest. He now knew he truly had lost his friend.. the sweet girl really had crossed a line in her head, and was lost to the real world. Then, just as fast as he felt sorrow, he felt a surge of anger. Anger at the insanity that took his friend away from him. He stood, and quickly walked up to Ellie, grabbed her by the shoulders, roughly pulled her to her feet, and started to shake her.
"DAMMIT ELLIE, WAKE THE FUCK UP! NO ONE IS THERE, YOU ARE LOOKING AT NO ONE! WHAT THE FUUU......."
Frank was cut off by a blow to face, and a force to his body that picked him up off of his feet and threw him over the coffee table, and past the chair. He laid sprawled out on the hard wood floor, while catching his breath and trying to figure out what just happened.
He looked to Ellie to see how she had managed it, but she was on the ground in front of the sofa, her knees pulled up to her face crying, and talking to herself.
"No, I...I'm okay... no Baby, don't.. he doesn't understand.." Frank could barely hear what she was saying, but it was unmistakable.. she was talking to 'someone'... at least she thought she was. Frank started to get up and stand. "Ellie... I'm sorr...." Before he could finish his sentence Frank's feet left the floor and he was slammed up against the wall behind him. A picture fell and others rattled and shifted to hang precariously on their nails.
"NO, GERARD.. DON'T!" Ellie screamed, "Please Baby.. he doesn't understand!"
Realization started to penetrate Frank's muddled brain.
He was being held a foot off of the ground and pinned to a wall. Normally he would think this was being done by the only other person in the room... that would make sense. Unfortunately for him, the only other person in the room was Ellie, and she was currently about 15 feet away from him, looking like she was about to start crying again.
Frank's head was spinning with confusion, as his world was tipping it's axis. "ELLIE?! WHAT'S HA...HAPPENING?!"
He should not have been surprised by her answer, and yet he was. It was a simple answer.. just one word, actually.
Ellie looked up at Frank, and with conviction in her voice spoke.
"Gerard."
A/N:
Hello my lovelies!! I hope this chapter finds everyone well! I would like to say 'Thank You!' to everyone who have stuck with this story, Voted and Commented!
Thank you all again for your Reads, Votes, and Wonderful/Inspiring Comments! I love you all, and hope to talk to you soon!!!
Oh BTW.... This chapter was so long, I cut it into two... so... Yes, I have the next chapter... But (and this is evil.) I am thinking I might want to wait to post it... just a day or two. I gueesss we will just have to see if everyone likes thisssss one eeeenough....... *insert sassy wink here*
(yeah, yeah... I already said I was eeeevil) muhahahahaha