The only Hope

Gerard’s pov:

“How’s she doing?” Ray walked up to me when I entered the diner. Frank and Mikey followed.

“Meh… She says she is okay, but I don’t believe shit of it…” I muttered. They had seen her storm off a couple of hours ago, but I told them not to follow her. I told them she needed some time and I would check up on her later. I was sure she was going to the barn anyway.

“I know it was quite a shock for her today, but why was she angry all of a sudden?” Frank sat down at the kitchen table with a beer.

Yeah, hadn’t told them that yet…

“I…” I sighed. “She figured out the reasons why we wanted to do a background check.” I looked at the ground.

Mikey snorted. “So?”

Ray shook his head and looked at me from under his eyebrows. “And with that you mean… She figured out our reason, right?”

Now Mikey understood and he threw his hands in the air. “Well, that’s just great. That’s literally the last thing she needed to hear!”

I rubbed my forehead. “Listen, I think that’s not our main concern, okay? I apologized like sixty times already and also: she’s strong. She’ll get over it. I think it’s just everything at once…”

Everybody agreed. I ran my hand through my hair. “Anyway, forget the background check. Her file is not up to date, so all she knows is what we know right now. Besides, I trust her, I really do.”

Frank narrowed his eyes. “What about the little girl? That’s something I hadn’t heard before.”

Frank, Mikey and Ray all stared at me. I sighed. They knew I knew. I didn’t want to say the word, so I thought I’d put it this way:

“Korse got what he wanted from her.” Now their faces told me they understood. “But eventually it turned out it… She… Wasn’t alive anymore.”

Mikey gulped. “Can you imagine… God.” I think we all felt her pain at that moment.

“Why hide that from us?” Ray continued.

“Why talk about that?” Frank said softly. “That would be the last subject I want to have a conversation about…”

“Actually I think it started to come back just now. I think she repressed the thoughts earlier. She told me she had forgotten about her or something…” I looked at my hands, trying to remember exactly what she had said during her breakdown.

Frank nodded. “Could be, that is kinda traumatizing. But where is she now?”

“She’s still hiding in the barn, but she’ll be here soon.” I walked over to the kitchen counter and started making coffee for myself.

“Okay, if you say so.” Frank got up. “I’ll be in my room, probably sleeping. Mikey, it’s your turn tonight, right?”

“Yeah, yeah…” Mikey made a weird hand gesture and went to the living room.

I noticed Ray was rubbing his eyes. “Go to bed, I’ll stay with Mikes until Hope gets back.” Somehow I knew Ray was a bit worried about Hope too. It was like he was waiting for her to come back.

But then he nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. How ‘bout some training tomorrow? Maybe we can count Hope in, if she likes…”

I smiled. “We’ll see, would be good for her to vent her frustration…”

“Exactly, night.” Ray nodded.

“Night.” I looked at Frank, but he just yawned and went upstairs as well. I walked towards the living room and sat down next to Mikey, who was polishing his gun.

“How you holdin’ up, Mikes?” I hadn’t had a good talk with Mikey in weeks.

“I’m doing fine, you?” He said without looking.

“Pretty good actually…” Mikey suddenly interrupted me.

“Do you love her?”

I was quiet for a while, but then I answered. “Yeah, I think so.” My heart skipped a beat.

Mikey smiled. “Then what are you doing here? She’s probably freezing out there, get her inside.”

I grinned and got up, remembering my coffee. “Look at you all being worried.” Mikey nodded.

“I’ll check up on her later, it looked like she still needed some time.” I walked to the kitchen again. My coffee was done, so I poured it into a cup.

“If you say so.” I heard Mikey say from the living room.

As much as I wanted to go to her, I decided it was best if I didn’t. She needed her time and space, right?

Notes