Gerard was extremely clever.

Too clever for his own good, Frank decided.

He’d been so careful about everything. For a start, there was the hair. Frank would never have thought of finding a bin bag of hair that had been dumped outside at the back of a hairdressers and spreading it all over Jamia’s house. That way when the police came, they wouldn’t be able to use any of the hair as evidence to track Gerard down.

Then there were the gloves that he’d kept on his hands until he’d left the house. No fingerprints that way. And after that, there was the way he’d wiped the knives and saw clean of fingerprints, just in case. Before they’d left, Gerard and taken his and Frank’s bloodstained clothes burnt them. He’d brought the bag that contained the gun, knife and saw and had pulled up whilst they were driving over a bridge that was built over a huge, gushing river and tossed the bag over the side.

When he’d gotten back in the car, he just simply smiled and said: “All rivers lead back to the sea.”
Frank had just cowered away from him, squeezing his eyes shut and praying for it to end.

It didn’t.

And now, Frank was watching Gerard as he sat in the shabby, beaten leather couch in the lobby. Gerard stood at the desk near the entrance, smiling and talking with the bored looking blonde woman.

When Gerard had checked out, he strolled back to Frank and gave him bright smile, holding his hand out to him.

“Time to go love,” he beamed, grabbing Frank’s hand and leading him out of the motel.

He could scream now. He could start screaming and yelling and escape from Gerard whilst they were in public and this could all end. There were plenty of people in the lobby and if Frank started shrieking and running from Gerard, he could get away. The police would come for Gerard and he’d be locked up for life, maybe even put on death row and then Frank could return to Jersey.

But now, when Frank thought of Jersey, he didn’t want to go back. How could he go back when Jamia was dead? He’d been running from that place anyway, desperate to finally get the hell out of there.

By the time all of this had processed through his head, he found himself in front of Gerard’s car, the door being held open for him and Gerard gently pushing him in by the small of his back.

The door slammed closed and Frank just gulped, dreading what was going to happen o him as Gerard started the car and pulled away from the motel.

“I never learnt how to drive,” Gerard told him casually, glancing over at Frank. “Well, I never got a real license.”

“Well that’s gonna help if you get pulled over and don’t even have a license,” Frank growled, refusing to even look at him.

“Whoever said anything about a real license?” Gerard laughed. “I have a forged one.”

“Doesn’t surprise me,” Frank muttered.

“Are you tired?”

“What?”

“Well, you’re being really grumpy and I know I get grumpy when I’m tired or I don’t take my pills-”

“Pills?” Frank cut him off, looking around sharply at Gerard. “What pills?”

Gerard shrugged. “I don’t know what they’re called or why I have to take them, but the doctor said I’ll get sick if I don’t take them. He said if I don’t take the pills, Harriet will keep coming back.”

“You’re not making any sense,” Frank sighed. “Who’s Harriet?”

“Nobody can see her and I don’t know why,” Gerard explained, frowning. “I keep telling everyone she’s right there, right next to me, but they can never see her. The doctors at the hospital told me I was sick and that’s why I could see Harriet-”

“What hospital?” Frank asked, beginning to panic.

Gerard sighed and rolled his eyes. “You really should stop cutting me off, it’s rude!”

“Sorry,” Frank mumbled. “But what do you mean, what hospital was it?”

“It was full of crazy people,” Gerard said, his face twisting up in disgust, his nose scrunching up. “All of the freaks in there heard voices in their heads or shit like that. I don’t know why they put me in there, honestly Frankie, there was nothing wrong with me.”

It slowly dawned on Frank what Gerard was talking about.

“How long were you in there for?” Frank asked quietly, growing even more scared of Gerard.

“Seven years,” he murmured quietly. “A long time. I didn’t like it Frankie, it was horrible, I nearly died in there! Why didn’t they listen to me Frank?! They didn’t believe me, they never believed me!
You know what their answer was for everything? Shove another fucking pill down his throat nurse, that will make him better, and why not go ahead and lock him in a room on his own for two days, how about that?!”

Gerard slammed on the breaks, laughing hysterically. “Lock him up with her, that’s a great idea! No one gives a shit about the boy that watched his friend get slashed to pieces, do they?! Why the hell should they care Frankie, no wants to know about how he bled out on the street, about how the blood was everywhere, about how it was stuck under my fucking nails for weeks, about how it stuck to my skin and the way he choked on his blood, screaming at me, screaming for help, no! Nobody ever cares!”

Gerard had crawled across the car, pinning Frank to the door with his large, pale hands, pressing against his chest.

“Such a good boy Gerard, don’t worry, not much longer now, the pills will make it go away soon! Harriet’s not there Gerard, you’re making it up, she’s not real! They didn’t trust me, none of them, stupid fucking whores just rammed a few more pills down my throat, because that works, doesn’t it Frankie, it always works! Oh, poor thing, he’s hallucinating again, better put the strait jacket on, don’t want him to hurt himself again, do we?! Such nasty cuts, Frankie, suck nasty, nasty scars but I didn’t care! I never cared, I just wanted to slit their pretty white throats open! Can’t get enough of it, can you Gerard, no, I said, no, it’s beautiful!”

“Gerard, please, you’re scaring me!” Frank whimpered.

Gerard’s tightly curled fist connected with Frank’s jaw, his head smashing backwards against the window.

“Shut up! Shut your fucking mouth, I never lied! I never took anything from you, but I want it Frankie, I want all of it! I want you, all spread out for me, because you’re so beautiful, but you’re mine, nobody else’s! I never had anything Frank, why can’t you just let me have this one thing?! We’re so fucking perfect, you can’t just so say no! You love me, you said you did! Don’t lie to me you piece of shit!”

“I don’t! Please, just let me go, you’re hurting me!” Frank sobbed, shrinking away desperately, shoving at Gerard only to be pinned down again.

“Tell me you love me! Tell me you love me Frank!” Gerard demanded, his face pressing against Frank’s. “You don’t want me to hurt you, do you?”

“No!” Frank yelled, twisting as Gerard grabbed his face.

“Say that you love me! I swear to God Frank, you’ll end up like your poor little girlfriend if you don’t! You don’t want to be like Jamia, do you?!”

“No, I don’t, I’m sorry, God, please just-”

Gerard’s hands encircled Frank’s throat, wrapping around his neck tightly. He leant forwards to Frank’s ear with a wide grin on his face and Frank just wanted to die. This was insane.

“Tell me that you love me,” Gerard said in the calmest, smoothest voice Frank had ever heard. “Or I’ll cut off your air and snap your neck.”

“I love you!” Frank choked out, his head spinning as he clawed at Gerard’s hands. “I love you!”

And with that, Gerard was gone and had returned to his seat and started the engine again, not even looking at Frank as he began to crumble, sobbing and curling up in a ball, wishing everything would just end.

Gerard’s hands snaked forwards and switched the radio on.

“Oh!” he cried. “I love this song! Do you like it too Frankie? I bet you do, we have so much in common!”

Gerard was clever. Far too intelligent for his good.

But he was completely mad and that combination made Frank beyond terrified. He was certain he was going to die.