My head hurt. Ouch. These stupid lights weren’t helping. I was stood pressed against a wall in a nightclub, watching people dance and drink and laugh. I wasn’t entirely sure why I’d chosen to come here, but I had. I’d walked in and regretted it within five minutes. The club was full, with bodies packed in together and moving in some semblance of rhythm. The music was loud, so loud that people had to shout to be heard by someone right beside them. It wasn’t even good music – your typical mainstream pop stuff. Not even slightly to my taste. The lights were pulsing and changed colour in a seemingly random pattern. I had a glass in my hand, but I’d barely touched it. I’d only bought it to fit in a little better. Yeah, way to go, Gerard. It’ll take more than a glass of cheap tacky alcohol to make you fit in. I sighed, put the glass down, and began to wander. I found myself sat at a small table in the very back. It was covered in empty glasses and fast food wrappers, but it wasn’t being used, so I sank down on the chipped faux leather seat. I put my head in my hands, and tried to think. At first, I had felt so liberated by my escape, but now I wasn’t sure. Where was I going to go? Maybe I should just go home… No, no I can’t do that. Remember what she said, remember what she said. They’ll get me if I go home, they’ll pump me full of stupid medication and stick me in a cell for the rest of my sorry life. I know they will, that’s what they were planning all along. Since the day I met him, Dr Lee has wanted me put away, hasn’t he? Sadistic fucker. he probably wants to torture me or something, I wouldn’t put it past him. Suddenly, I was angry, murderously angry. How dare he? How dare he decide he can question my sanity, worry my Momma, and try to lock me up? Who the hell is he, anyway? He can’t control my life, only I can do that. I slammed my fist on the table, earning me a strange look from a guy stood not too far from me. I met his concerned eyes, and I became even more irritated. Concern, pity, is that all I ever get? I threw him a filthy look that should have sent him flying, and got up before I saw his reaction. I blasted through a door at the back of the club, and came out on a small, deserted side-street. I leaned against the wall of the club, and gradually let my legs give way beneath me until I was crumpled in a sorry heap on the floor. I wrapped my arms around my legs, pulling my knees into my chest, and leaning my chin on them. I stared at the wall in front of me, the side of what looked like a shop or something. Suddenly, I caught a movement in the corner of my eye. I looked and saw nothing, nothing but darkness. The same flicker appeared on the other side of me, just within my line of sight. Again there was nothing there, though. I tightened my arms around my knees, worried now. Dammit, the shadows, they were back. They had stalked me as long as I could remember. They were nothing I could identify, but they were definitely there, following me, just waiting for the right moment to pounce and drag me away. They were closing in now, and I whimpered, trying to make myself smaller. I felt suffocated, the shadows pressing in on me and making it difficult to breathe. I closed my eyes, and prayed. To whom, I don’t know, I’m not what you would call religious. But I prayed anyway, that whoever was out there could get these shadows away from me. I was about to give up, when it seemed as if my prayers were answered, in the form of somebody slamming open the door I had come out from. Like that, the shadows faded. I looked up to see who had come through the door, and met the same eyes I had looked into not five minutes ago. It was the guy who had looked at me in the club, the one I’d glared at. He looked at me for a moment, and then came to sit beside me against the wall, still studying me. It was at that point that I took in his looks, and I was impressed, I had to be honest. He had light hazel eyes, almost green, lined with red makeup. His hair was shaved and blonde on the sides, and black on top, with a long black fringe that curled down his face. He had two silver piercings, in his nose and lip. He was pretty short, which was quite cute, actually. He was quite cute. Not that it mattered. In my experience, the cute guys are the straight ones, and they never notice me anyway. He interrupted my examination of his face when he said, “Are you okay? You looked kinda upset in there, and you don’t look much better now.” I blinked, and it took me a moment to answer. I was about to tell this attractive guy what had happened, but I stopped myself. What would I say? I couldn’t tell him about the doctors, he’d just take me back to them, like everyone else. I shook my head, and answered him with a curt “I’m fine." He looked a little intimidated by my attitude, but I couldn’t afford to be open or vulnerable, no matter how hot he may be. If you let people in, they hurt you. It’s like an unwritten rule, and one I stick to. I’m better off without people. He tilted his head and studied me. “You ran away from home, didn’t you?” My attitude slipped, how had he guessed that? He must have seen the question in my face, because he smiled slightly, making the dim light glint off his lip ring. “Your bag,” he said. “Most people don’t go into nightclubs carrying a bag that big, unless they have nowhere to go.” I frowned. He stood up suddenly, and held motioned for me to stand, too. “Come on, I have spare room at my place, you can spend the night. I’m Frank, by the way.” By now I was utterly bewildered by our exchange, and I could do nothing but do what he said, and follow him through the dark Jersey streets. Probably the stupidest thing I have ever done, but hey, it wasn’t like I had much else going for me.

Notes

BAM. Frank is in the house. I decided on Revenge Frank, even though I used Danger Days Gerard. Hate me if you wish. I know it isn't accurate but, quite frankly, I think those are their sexiest phases :) so I used them. Review please!! Paranoia Violence out xø