Frank was freaking the fuck out. He’d left school halfway through second period to check on Jamia who hadn’t shown up, hadn’t texted him, or Pete, or Matt, or anyone just to say if she was sick or something. With everything that had been going on with her family in the past few months, plus what happened yesterday, Frank had every right to be worried.
He tried to open the front door and found it locked which made sense since Jamia’s parents were at work. He stepped away from the door and reached down under the mat and grabbed the spare key, shaking his head at the Nestor’s stupidity. One day someone was going to break in using the key. Well someone other than Frank.
The door opened and Frank was immediately pounced upon by a small ball of fear. The family’s Pomeranian, Caesar, yapped at Frank’s feet until the teen picked him up, scratching the dog absentmindedly behind the ears. He walked to the foot of the stairs. “Jamia?” he called into the upstairs area. He could faintly hear some Jawbreaker song playing from upstairs. Frank raised an eyebrow and walked up the stairs. He got to the door and could see that the light was off in her room. He gave the wood a hesitant knock to which he got no answer. Maybe she was asleep? Frank held Caesar closer to him as he pushed the door open and flicked on the light. He turned back towards Jamia’s bed and froze.
Jamia was there alright. Face down, on blood soaked sheets, not moving, not even breathing. Frank dropped Caesar, who yelped as he hit the floor. The dog slowly padded over to his owner’s arm which was hanging limply off the bed, a small pool of blood on the floor underneath. He sniffed her hand before whimpering and running out of the room.
Frank ran out of the room too. Right to the bathroom next door, barely making it to the toilet before emptying the contents of his stomach into it. By the time he had finished, Frank was full on sobbing. Jamia had gone and done it, killed herself, and Frank wasn’t there to stop her. He sank down against the wall and hugged his knees to his chest. Jamia was dead and-

“Frankie, wake up!” Gerard shook Frank’s shoulder again. He had woken up before the teen and was going to take a shower but wanted to make sure Frank wouldn’t run off if he woke up and found himself alone. He had brought a bag of zip ties since he knew that the rope he had used to tie Frank up with was going to get cut at some point. However, when Gerard went to tie the zip tie around Frank’s wrist and the bedpost, the teen started crying in his sleep.
“Frank, come on, it’s just a dream!” With one final shake, Frank jolted awake and stared at Gerard with wide confused eyes before looking around the room and then landing on Gerard’s forearm which he hadn’t even thought about up to that point so it wasn’t covered up or anything.
“F-fuck” Frank murmured sitting upright and rubbing at his eyes with the palm of his hands. “Oh fuck” “You okay?” Frank nodded rather quickly and Gerard could tell that he wasn’t. He bit at the inside of his cheek and picked up the zip tie.
“I’m um going to take a shower and um-““You’re leaving me alone?” Gerard looked up at Frank exasperated before realizing the teen looked not hopeful, but afraid. And afraid wasn’t even the right word for it, more like downright mortified. Gerard knit his eyebrows in concern. “It’ll only be for a couple minutes, but I uh gotta make sure you stay here” he held up the zip tie awkwardly. Frank seemed to understand and stuck his arm out. Gerard wrapped the zip tie around the teen’s wrist and one of the metal bars on the headboard and gave Frank a sympathetic smile. He didn’t return it. Instead the teen curled into a ball, as much as he could and mumbled through his limbs. “Just go take a shower Gerard.”

---

When Gerard came out of the bathroom, Frank hadn’t moved an inch. Gerard sighed and put is dirty clothes into a tote bag in his suitcase. He stood and reached toward his pants pocket, trying to find his pocket knife so he could cut Frank out of his bonds. It took him a second to remember that he never put them back in his pocket to begin with. So he started moving around the comforter until seeing it on the lying on the floor, almost under the bed. He grabbed it and walked cautiously over to the teen and slipped the blade between the plastic of the zip tie and the flesh of Frank’s wrist. Frank flinched at tensed up. “Hey, its okay, I’m just getting you out of this so you can get ready.” The teen didn’t say anything or move but Gerard could see him relaxing so he started cutting through the zip tie until the plastic finally gave way and Frank drew his arm to his body and lifted his head. The teen’s eyes were bloodshot like he’d been crying.
Gerard stared at him concerned but Frank just moved himself off the bed and moved to the suitcase Gerard had packed for him, not meeting his kidnapper’s eyes. “I’m fine Gerard” he whispered.

Notes

I promise I'm alive guys. Also do you know how fucking awkward it was writing this just two weeks after actually seeing Jamia in person. I'm....