He could see me. Gerard could see me.

After years of being ignored by every human being in this town, I had finally found someone who I could communicate with. It had been very awkward at first, he was just as terrified as I was. But after a while, I loosened up and tried to start a conversation. It took him a while to respond, but afterwards we both agreed we had some things in common. Did that make us friends? I was not sure.

I certainly wanted to be more than friends with him.

He had mentioned a few confusing things during our small talk. He kept talking about a woman named Elena. He asked me if she had sent me here, but I denied everything because I didn't know who this Elena person was. I was desperate to find out though. At first, he was angry. Very angry. But then his mood took a 180 degree turn and he begged for her forgiveness. As if he knew he had done something bad and thought I was his punishment.
I hoped he didn't think of me as punishment because I thought of him as my blessing.
…………………………………………………………………………….....................................................................
A week had passed since our first talk. Not much had happened between us except the occasional glances we snuck at each other. At first when he looked at me he was slightly confused, as if he didn't remember a ghost haunted the house he currently lived in. But then he learned to see me as something that belonged there, like the wallpaper that covered the walls or the tiles on the kitchen floor. By the end of the week we had made eye contact and he flashed a small smile at me. If I had been alive, my shyness would have taken over and I would have blushed, but since I was dead I had this false sense of confidence. I returned the smile, glad that he had finally acknowledged my existence.

Hours later that same day, Officer Davis came to see how the three guys had settled in. I saw him walk up the driveway and glared at him the moment he stepped through the door. We had not ended in good terms, since he did not believe Jamia was the person who ended my life and refused to give the police any more information about her. I was not the only one who was not pleased to see him though, Gerard looked uncomfortable with him in the house as well.

"Hi Mr. Davis!" Mikey said, running down the stairs to the door to greet him. Ray showed up right after him, welcoming the old man as well. Gerard stood off to the side, stuffing his face with Doritos.

"Hello Mikey, Ray" Officer Davis replied, nodding at the two young men. "Gerard" he added, giving Gerard a slightly stern look.

"Hi" Gerard added between bites.

"Gerard! Don't talk with your mouth full!" Mikey hissed. Even though Gerard was the oldest Way brother, he never acted like it. Mikey was the one who corrected him and acted like the grown up.

"Oh! Where are my manners" Gerard said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Mikey shot him a look and turned back to Mr. Davis.

"What brings you here, sir?"

"I just wanted to check on you boys. See how you're doin'" Officer Davis responded.

"Well we're doin' jus' fine" Gerard said, imitating his accent. I giggled. Gerard smirked, he was pleased with my reaction.

"Gerard" Mikey said between gritted teeth. The small smirk that was on Gerard's face vanished. He knew he hit Mikey's limit.

"I'm just gonna go up to my room" he mumbled, leaving the half-empty bag of doritos on the couch.

"That brother of yours is no good" Officer Davis started, shaking his head slightly. I rolled my eyes and followed Gerard upstairs.

"He's just struggling, you know. He didn't want to move here..." I heard Mikey respond in a hushed tone, attempting to explain his brother's behavior. I was no longer interested in their conversation, I wanted to see if Gerard was okay. Suddenly leaving the room like that didn't seem like something he would do, no matter how pissed Mikey might be.

I stood outside of his bedroom door for a while, wondering if I should step though the door or just stick my head in and see what is going on with him. I went with the second option and took a quick peek at him. He was laying on his bed, coal black hair sprawled against the snowy white pillow. His dreamy hazel eyes were concentrated on the ceiling, as if he was on a trance. His hands were clasped together and rested right below his stomach. I stood there watching him until the sound of his voice startled me.

"You know you can come in, right? I don't mind, it was your house first."

I felt like a deer caught in headlights, I didn't know he had seen me there. He was so concentrated on looking at the ceiling that I did not think he noticed anything else around him. I quickly stepped through the door and noticed his full attention was on me.

"Just wanted to see what you're doing" I mumbled, looking at the floor.

"Just thinking" he responded. He looked back up to the ceiling and we remained in a calming silence until I decided to say something.

"Mikey's pretty pissed" I said, looking back up at him.

"I know. I should've kept my mouth shut."

"I don't blame you. Davis is a real dick."

Gerard looked back at me, raising his eyebrow. "You knew him?"

"Yeah. He's been the sheriff here since before I was born."

"How old are you, Frank?" Gerard asked, turning his entire body to the side so he was completely facing me.

"I was 21 years old when I died, but if I was alive I'd be 24. How old are you, Gerard?"

"I'm 29. God you were so young" he said, voice filled with concern. We remained silent for a while, mainly because I did not know how to respond to that. Was I supposed to be sad that I had died at such a young age? Or should I shrug it off, since being dead wasn't much different than being alive? After a few minutes of silence, Gerard spoke up.

"Can I ask you something?" he said.

"Sure" I answered.

"Promise me you won't be mad or get offended."

I smiled. There was no way I could ever get mad at him. Just looking into those hazel eyes of his made me melt.

"I promise I won't be mad or offended."

"Okay" he replied. "How did you die, Frank?"

"I uh, I got murdered by my crazy ex-girlfriend, Jamia" I mumbled. Who knew talking about your death would be so awkward. I smiled at him sheepishly.

"Oh."

He looked as if he wanted to say something else, but instead kept his mouth shut by biting his lip.

"You know I don't mind answering questions, right? This is the most fun I've had in years" I said with a timid smile.

He looked me up and down, sat up and went back to asking questions. I relaxed a little, I had no idea how tense I was, how nervous being around him made me. I sat down on the floor knowing we would talk for long while. He kept asking about my murder, how she had done it, how long it took people to find my body, and what it felt like to be dead. The last question had to be the hardest one out of them all.

"Well, it feels exactly like being alive" I started. "I can still move around. I can talk and blink and roll my eyes. I can do everything I could do before. But now it doesn't feel like a struggle. I don't sleep or eat, and I don't feel tired at all. I could jump up and down for a week straight and I wouldn't be exhausted. It kinda feels like I'm weightless..."

He nodded as if he understood.

"But I don't feel 'at peace' like everyone says ghosts and spirits do after they die. I feel like I didn't finish something, or that I have things to do. But I'm dead. It makes no sense, I know, but I just can't let go of this feeling that I have some unfinished business here. I was never much of a believer but if I'm correct, you either go to heaven or hell. And I'm still on Earth, so I don't know what the hell is going on."

"Maybe you do have things to finish. I heard somewhere that sometimes people who were murdered won't rest until the person who murdered them is in prison" he said. I looked down at the floor. Gerard got off his bed and sat right in front of me. He leaned forward a little, which made me look up. His face was inches from mine.

"She never got what she deserved, did she?" he asked softly. It took me a while to figure out what he had said, I was distracted by his lips. His pale pink lips that were a very small distance from mine.

At that moment I wished I was alive, so I could cup his face in my hands and press my lips against his. Oh, how I longed to kiss him.

"Last thing I remember" I started, not wanting the moment to turn awkward, "she ran deeper into the forest seconds before I died. She just left. Disappeared. The cops that came to inspect my body told Davis that Jamia was a suspect, but he said she was an angel and she had nothing to do with my death. They tried searching for her, but they never found her. And I guess Davis told them to give up. They just left after that."

"They can't just leave!" Gerard said, frowning. He leaned back away from me. "A crime was committed here. A murder! I mean, I'm no cop but I'm pretty sure it's against the law to just give up on a case after a few weeks."

"It's a small town. I wasn't exactly front page news here. No one really cared either, much less the police" I said, trying to hide the sadness in my voice.

"Well that's unfair as fuck."

"I-"

I was going to say that I knew it was, when I heard someone coming up the stairs.

"Mikey-Ray-they're coming" I managed to choke out. Gerard's eyes widened.

"They're gonna yell at me. I know it. I know they can't see you, but just get out of the room. Things get pretty rough between us sometimes. I'll talk to you later, I promise" he quickly whispered.

Without another word, I stood up and walked through the door, just as Mikey and Ray reached the top of the staircase. Mikey was beyond mad, I could tell just by glancing at his face. Ray looked more afraid than pissed; he probably knew Mikey and Gerard would have a big fight. By the time I reached the living room, the shouting match between the brothers started. I closed my eyes and sat on the couch, trying my hardest to ignore the yelling from upstairs.

Notes

This chapter was inspired by a bag of doritos that I was eating earlier today.
I've been so lazy with updating these past few months and I'm so sorry about that (but its been like 3 months so you guys don't have to forgive me.)
This chapter started out as a filler chapter but I figured I would get Frank and Gee to start talking more and have a deeper conversation.
I already have the next few chapters planned out, so I swear that I'll have those up sometime in the next few weeks.
So thank you all for reading and commenting and liking and voting and all that stuff. Seriously, thank you, you guys are the reason why I update this story in the first place.