Mikey rushes to my side, with worried eyes and messy hair. He caresses my cheek gently.

"Y-you okay, Gee?"

"I'm alive," I answer dryly. And, obviously, I was telling the truth.

"That's not what I asked. I heard you scream from the other apartment."

Oh right. Our foster mom hates my guts, so I was forced to sleep in a different apartment than Mikey. Through chapped lips, I chuckle grimly. "J-just a bad dream."

He smiles sympathetically. " I'll sleep by you if you'd like."

"Isn't your mother looking for you?"

"Our mother...no, she is not looking for me."

"Jane is NOT my mom," I spit out. "Never will be."

Mikey smiles with those big brown eyes of his, and my mood softens up. That's Mikey's talent; being so well with other people.

"Gee, remember that time in sixth grade when I told you life wasn't worth it?"

"Not really," I mutter. Middle school was hell, so I always pushed back every memory I could.

"Well," he continued. " I had no friends, and everyone pretended I didn't exist."

I became silent. "You see, Gerard," he chuckled. " You even wrote me a poem."

I squinted my eyes in disbelief. I never did anything important.

" I read it to my class one day. It was only four lines, but I read it anyways."

"How did it go?"

" ' I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone. Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven, nothing you can say will stop me going home.' "

"What about it?"

"Earlier that day, I wanted to kill myself. Gerard, those words, you saved my life."

Notes

new chapter c: