Mikey’s POV:

I was ushered into the visiting room; my brother saw me and smiled. I sat down across from him and waited for him to talk. “So Mikey how was your week?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Nothing changes here; they make sure of that.” However something had changed, that man-Frank- had come here. Something about him enticed me, I didn’t know exactly what it was yet, but I was determined to figure it out. I didn’t really want to tell Gerard about Frank yet, he might get the wrong idea.

Gerard sighed and ran his hand through his black hair, “Mikes, you’ve been here for almost half a year now. Dr. Bryant told me you still aren’t talking to anyone, and you’ve been having nightmares every night.”

I rolled my eyes, “You’d be having nightmares too Gerard.”

Gerard shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable, “I know Mikey, but maybe you should talk—“
I cut him off sharply, “Stop telling me to talk about it! All you people ever want me to do is talk about it! I think I have made it perfectly clear that, that it is the last thing I want to do. Don’t bring it up again Gerard because it is not going to happen.”

“You know you can trust me right? I’m your older brother, you can tell me anything.” Gerard stated looking hurt by what I had said.

I laughed bitterly, “Do you not fucking listen? I said no! Why are you so interested anyway; why would you want to hear what happened down there?” My voice slipped to a whisper towards the end.

“I want to help you Mikey, and I honestly think that is what is going to help you. Please just let me help you.” Gerard reached his hand across the table but then quickly pulled it back. I suddenly wished that he could embrace me, but as soon as I thought about it, my heart began to race and my breathing increased. No, I thought to myself, I’m not ready yet.

I wrapped my arms around my torso and shook my head, “Gerard you don’t want to know. I don’t want you to know.”

Gerard looked confused, “What do you mean by that Mikey?”

I couldn’t look my brother in the eye as I spoke, “I’m not who you think I can Gerard, I’m scared of what you’d think of me.”

“Mikey you look at me right now,” I did as he asked, “I think the world of you Mikey, you are so brave, I may not know exactly what happened in that basement but I do know that you made it out alive and you never gave up. You are my hero Mikey and nothing will ever change that.”

I let out a shaky breath, “I’m not ready yet Gee.”

Gerard smiled softly, “It’s okay Mikey, just know that I love you more than anything in the world, and I just want you to know that I will always be here for you.”

After a few more minutes of talking we said our goodbyes and I honestly felt the best that I had in a while. I knew that Gerard cared for me, but for him to say that I was his hero was a huge shock to me. While I was walking to my room I saw Frank standing in the hallway, he looked like he was searching for something. When he saw me I saw his face light up and he walked up to me. I noticed that he held something in his hand, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

“I didn’t think you would be working today.” I said.

Frank smiled, “Well I’m not, but I saw something while I was out today and I thought you might like it.” He handed me a wrapped package. I was confused; I had only known this guy for like a day. Why would he want to get me something? I unwrapped it and saw that it was a leather-bound journal. “I thought that it might help you, I mean, I know that you don’t like to talk about what happened, so I thought that writing it down is another option.”

I looked at him for a few seconds before answering, “Thank you Frank, this is really nice of you.”
Frank shifted on the balls of his feet before smiling and saying, “It’s no problem; well I will see you on Monday.” And with that Frank walked down the hall and disappeared around the corner. I looked down at the journal in my hands and smiled.

I walked to my room and sat down on my bed. I began to think about Frank. He was different than any other psychologist I had ever met. I felt like he actually cared about me, and he wasn’t pushing me to do anything that I didn’t want to do. I wanted to get to know him better, and I hoped that I wasn’t wrong about him.

Notes

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