Fake Your Death

I smashed my hand down onto the glass table in anger. Why had Tilly called me in the middle of night, screaming for my help? Frank was now wide awake after me crying into the phone. My eyes fixated on him as a tear ran down my face. I shook my head before collapsing onto the messed up bed.

“We’ll find her, don’t worry” Frank said after a while, stroking my hair in comfort.
“I don’t even know where she is” I responded, tracing the patterns on the ceiling with my finger.
“I know a guy who can trace the call.” I jumped up and looked at him.
“Why didn’t you say this earlier?” I screeched, standing up. Frank confusingly watched me before following. My eyes felt cheated when he revealed that he was only in a pair of boxers, revealing his many tattoos placed around his small body.
“I just remembered,” he innocently replied, “just give me the phone and I can take it to him.”
“Okay. Do you know how long it will take?” I said, picking the phone up from the floor and handing it to him.
“Two days, maybe three. I don’t know. I’ll try my best to get it done quicker” Frank answered, putting on his faded jeans that were discarded on the floor. He tugged on his t-shirt and hurried out of the room.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Stay safe and please don’t do anything.” He said before walking out the front door. I knew what he meant by don’t do anything and it’s what I want to do the most right now.


A week later

Wash Bag – check
Shoes – check
Toothbrush – check

I’m sure I’m missing something. I frantically went over everything I had packed. Tilly was in New York and I had to find her. I fiddled with what was left of my nail varnish, chipping it away, as I waited for my taxi. Anxiety built up inside of me as I began to pace up and down the hallway of the many photos of a man I don’t know how I feel about anymore. What I saw a couple of months ago could have been a fake. What if that I had been so delirious that my own mind made it up? All I know is that Gerard is the last thing on my mind right now. He is a lost memory that I am secretly glad is gone. My thoughts were soon interrupted by a very loud knock on the front door. Here we go then. I grabbed my suitcase and hurriedly made my way to the door to my awaiting taxi. Yet it wasn’t my taxi driver but Mikey. My heart dropped as he smiled at me.
“What are you doing here?” I stuttered.
“I’m coming with you” he answered, lifting up his bag.
“Who told you?”
“Frank. And before you say anything, I think Gerard has something to do with Tilly screaming down the phone to you and thank you for fucking telling me that my brother might be alive!” Mikey angrily said, walking into the light driven bungalow.
“What do you mean that Gerard has something to do with it?”
“It’s hard to explain but we need to get to New York soon before it too late.”

After a painful two hours of screaming at airport security, we were finally on what was going to be the longest flight of our lives. I stared out of the window to see an illuminated California glistening below. I’m going to save you Tilly, no matter how fucked up this situation is. I turned back to the airplane to find Mikey searching through a NYC map.
“I think I’ve figured out where he is.” Mikey said, not looking up from the many pieces of paper on his lap.
“What does he have to do with Tilly?” I repeated my question from earlier. Mikey sighed before taking his glasses off and putting away the papers.
“I’m not entirely sure but did you noticed something wrong with Gerard before you know? How he was always on edge and was travelling a lot, especially in the last year or so. Well after he “went” I found this photo in my office where the photo of me and Gerard should have been.” He pulled out of his bag a photo of a record store that I had never seen before, “I wasn’t sure where it was until now, or why the photo of us wasn’t there anymore. The last place Gerard travelled to was NYC. I don’t know why but I think if we go to this record store, we could find him, meaning we can find Tilly.”
“I still don’t get what this has to do with Tilly.” I responded.

“Gerard had some dark secrets and Tilly was part of it.”

Notes