Unreal...(edited)

Gerard woke up the next morning, cold even though he had his thick duvet over him. Shit, that fucking landlord...so now he had no hot water or heating.

"This new project better turn out well..."

He said to himself.

"Did you hear that Frankie? Be a good comic book character. Don't fuck up."

He laughed aloud but could of sworn he heard a soft, small voice speak from my studio.

"I wouldn't fuck it up."

Probably nothing but his imagination and lack of caffeine. He ran downstairs, still in his boxers to get his morning coffee. After a coffee (or three), he got dressed, a bit smarter than his usual band t-shirt and ripped jeans, instead in a clean shirt and black skinny jeans because he had a meeting with his boss that afternoon.

He walked into his studio and sat down in the wheelie chair. He grabbed a clean piece of paper, got his pencil and started drawing. He didn't know why but Frank was such an easy character to draw. He just seems to come on the page.

Gerard drew him waking up the next morning.

~His hair was quite messy and he had a little drool at the corner of his mouth. He walked into the bathroom and washed his face. Frank looked at himself mirror.

"Why am I like this..."

He whispered to himself.~

Gerard got out his yellow pencil and drew the light flickering.

~"WHY!?"

Frank screamed and the light bulb burst and the mirror had smashed. His hands were bleeding but the blood went back into his skin and kind of instantly repaired himself.~

Gerard thought that he would be pretty freaked out if that happened to him.

~Frank put on a misfits t-shirt and skinny jeans quickly and ran out.~

Gerard looked over his work. It all made sense. It wasn't complicated or boring. It was perfect! He squealed in delight then coloured in Frank. Not only was he the best comic book character he had ever created but he was the best looking. Gerard coloured in his big hazel eyes. He was pretty adorable.

Before Gerard could finish him, he heard a knock on the door. Mikey.

"YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN!"

Gerard heard his little brother shout.

"Teenagers?..."

He asked. Mikey nodded. Gerard smiled and they both went inside.

"Do you want some coffee or something?"

Gerard shouted from the kitchen.

"No thanks. Where's that comic book? I want to read about Frank!"

Mikey called back. Gerard found him in the studio.

"Is that the only reason you came...to read my comic?"

He put his hands on his hips.

"Err...no...maybe...yes..."

Mikey eventually admitted. Gerard gave him the 'really?' sort of look and passed it too him. Mikey sat on the wheelie chair and read it. After he had finished he looked at his brother. God...he hates it, doesn't he? Mikey is one of those people who will give you their honest opinion, even if it's not what you want to hear. Gerard had so many stories and comics turned down by him and he wasn't sure if this one would be an exception.

"It's..."

He probably only liked the first bit. He normally does.

"It's fucking awesome! You need to show this to Simmonds!..."

Simmonds was Gerard's boss...Mr. Simmonds.

"I do have a meeting with him this afternoon..."

Gerard trailed off.

"YOU LET HIM READ THIS OR I WILL!"

Mikey shouted.

"Alright alright, no need to deafen me. I guess I've got nothing to lose..."

Gerard's brother hugged him.

"Okay, you can get off me now."

Gerard laughed. Mikey moved away and gave him the paper back.

"You finish this, I'll see you later."

And he ran downstairs and let himself out. Gerard smiled and got back to colouring Frankie.

~Well, my powers are getting stronger...who does that? Well, it seems like I do. I looked at my arms, now I have a Japanese sun on my elbow. Why can't something else happen whenever I use my powers other than getting weird tattoos on me?...are these even tattoos? I don't know. I have to learn how to control this shit. Well, Gerard has to write how I learn to control this shit. I sighed and kept running.~

~Time passes~

Gerard walked into his office. It was quite big, much bigger than his studio at home. He had more tools and supplies here too...he even had a better wheelie chair. But Gerard only ever went to the office when he had something important, like a meeting with Simmonds. He chucked his bag by his desk and got out his work. He looked at the clock above the door...he still had an hour until that meeting.

"Maybe I should work on this comic a bit more, before Simmonds see's it..."

He pulled out his pencil case and started drawing, mumbling to himself the whole time.

"Should Frank be running to school? No, he should be finished school and even if he was still there, he would skip it. He should be running away from his friends, his family. He's scared of himself. Scared of what he can do...well, I would be too. Maybe there should be a side affect to him using his powers..."

Gerard emptied out a tub of felt tip pens on his desk to colour Frank running. He couldn't think of anything...nothing sprang to mind. He looked down at his page.

"Shit!..."

A red pen had leaked on Frankie's pale elbow. Gerard don't know where the pen went but there was a red dot on his arm that was very noticeable. It could be a cut but it was a bit too big.

"That's it! Every time that Frank uses his powers he could get a weird symbol on him, but not a tattoo. God...I can't stand the thought of needles."

Gerard shivered in his seat. He decided to make it a Japanese sun...it even looked like a Japanese sun without him doing anything. He drew another frame.

~Finally it's clicked with him. I don't know where I am any more. There's lots of grass so I'm guessing it's a field...in the middle of nowhere. I stopped, I may have superpowers but I'm still human, and humans get tired. I'm tired from running so far. I pulled up my shirt and see my weird bird design again. It was pretty but weird. I heard someone coming.

"You're that guy, aren't you?"

I heard the voice say. It was one of those idiots brothers.

"I don't know what your talking about..."

I walked backwards.

"YEAH YOU DO!..."

He shouted.

"YOU'RE THAT KID WHO KNOCKED OUT MY BROTHER AND HIS FRIENDS! YOU'RE THAT WEIRD FRANK GUY...I KNOW IT!"

I think he was just about to beat me up.

"Can you please stop shouting at me..."

I asked. I'd learnt that shouting abuse at me is a trigger.

"NO YOU EMO FAG! I'M GOING TO BEAT THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF YOU!"

Threats are another trigger.

"Please, I don't want to hurt you."

I tried to run away but he grabbed my arm...then he punched me. Beating me up is a big trigger. I couldn't stop myself...I never remember what happens with things like this. Everything becomes blurry but I normally close my eyes just in case. After a minute I opened my eyes and saw that all the grass had blown away. The guy was knocked out halfway across the field. Shit...two indents and it's not even lunchtime yet. I need to get myself together. I need to...~

"Mr Way?"

Gerard heard someone knock on his door. Shit, it was Mr Simmonds. He grabbed his work and followed him into his room. Gerard's boss wasn't from New York, he was from Leeds, England. He had gingery-blonde hair and a light beard. He was skinny and tall and was normally smartly dressed.

"Please, take a seat..."

He said and Gerard sat down right in front of his desk.

"Let's cut to the chase, have you started anything?"

He sat in his chair.

"Yeah...I mean yes..."

Gerard mumbled. He passed Simmonds his work so far.

"Can I read it now?"

He asked. Gerard nodded. He sat back in the chair and started to read it. Gerard could feel himself starting to sweat, he bit his lip. Simmonds had certain facial expressions that you couldn't tell if they were good or bad. After what seemed like years he finally put down the paper on his desk. He looked at Gerard.

"Mr Way."

He said.

"Yes?"

Gerard sat up straight, suddenly really tense.

"I like you. I think you have lots of talent, lots to offer Simmonds comics...but you haven't had very good ideas lately, have you?..."

Gerard shook his head, looking down.

"But this...this is just..."

He was going to rip it up...rip it like he did with Gerard's last hundred ideas. Gerard sighed.

"This is brilliant! I want, no need this finished by next month!"

He laughed and hugged Gerard. Gerard had never felt so awkward in his life.

"But I don't think that's enough time."

Gerard looked down again. Mr Simmonds picked up the paper.

"You have done this in what?"

He asked.

"Two days."

Gerard was kinda embarrassed.

"See? If you can do that in two days, just think of what you can do in a month..."

Gerard had never seen him so excited in his whole entire time of working there.

"Don't even come here unless you need to. Just go home and finish this goddamm masterpiece..."

After that he literally pushed Gerard out of his office.

"I'll email you when I need this but please, please finish this."

And just like that he closed the door.

"Wow. Mikey will be pleased."

~Time passes~

Arriving home, Gerard closed his front door, locking it and sighing with relief, trying to slow his heart rate to a more normal speed.

There had been this group of teenagers on the subway...6 or 7 of them. They had gotten on the train 2 stops after Gerard as he made his way home from the surprisingly good meeting. He had been in a good mood.

None of the teens looked older than 16, but they all, with the possible exception of one, appeared to be in varying stages of drunkenness...two actually chugging from near empty bottles of some disgustingly cheap bear, right there on the train.

Gerard stared at the filthy floor, going with the somewhat misguided idea that if he didn't acknowledge them, they'd leave him alone. It did work for the first few minutes, as the teens laughed and joked amongst themselves, throwing skittles at each other and gradually becoming louder and louder. Then it happened. Gerard felt the sneeze coming and pinched his nose, trying to prevent himself from exploding. Feeling the tickling recede, he let go and continued his staring match with the metal beneath him. 5 seconds later...*A-CHOO!*...he exploded. Gerard was pretty sure he'd never sneezed so loud his whole life, and he thought that the entire train had probably heard him, and were now looking his way.

Tentatively, Gerard looked up through the curtain of his hair. Shit!...the teenagers were looking right at him! Shitshitshitshitshit!...he inwardly cursed.

"Oh fuck."

He breathed as they headed his way, grinning like hyenas about to devour their next meal.

"Well, what do we have here?"

One of them, a boy with alarmingly bright pink hair and piercings in his ears, nose and lip cheered, kicking the side if Gerard's black converse, an evil smirk pulling at his lips.

"Looks like a little emo faggot, Billie!"

Sneered a girl with short purple hair and the shortest skirt Gerard had ever seen, draping herself onto "Billie" and shooting a glare towards Gerard. Shit, it's high school all over again! Suddenly they were dragging Gerard to his feet, pushing and shoving him between them, laughing and shouting insults at him.

"Faggot!"

"Emo scum!"

"Freak!"

He tried to hold it together, but soon he felt hot tears slip down his cheeks, which of course only made the teens laugh louder, and push harder.

Out of the corner of his eye, Gerard noticed that one kid...the one who didn't look to be three sheets to the wind. He was standing a few feet away, watching with something approaching pity in his eyes, like he'd stop this if he could. Briefly they made eye contact, a pleading look from Gerard and an apologetic one from the kid, then Gerard felt a fist thud into his stomach, catching him by surprise and dropping him to his knees...the air forced from his body. Gasping, desperately trying to reinflate his lungs, Gerard's vision began to blur and as darkness edged in on him, his oxygen deprived mind only had one thought- 'Frankie would save me!'...and as he slipped into unconsciousness, he moaned out one word.

"Frankie."

His head hitting the baseplates, the teens each gave him one last kick before running to the train's door and jumping to the platform as it reached the station, laughing and hooting as they scared yet more unsuspecting passengers. Moments later, two somewhat shaken women stepped into the cartridge and gasped as they saw what the teens had left behind.

Gerard could hear voices, indistinct yet urgent sounding voices. As his head started to clear he began to make sense of what they were saying.

"Come on sweetie, wake up."

"What did those nasty little rats do to you?"

It was two women, he could hear that now.

"Sarah, should we call an ambulance?"

One said to the other.

"Maybe..."

The second one replied.

"I think we should definitely call the cops though..."

At that, Gerard groaned and attempted to sit up.

"Woah there sugar, not so fast..."

The second lady, Sarah? said, gently restraining him with a hand pressed to his chest.

"You might have concussion or something."

Gerard slowly opened his eyes, blinking to allow them to adjust to the harsh fluorescent lights.

"I'm..."

He faltered, his voice coming out weaker than he'd expected.

"I'm ok, trust me."

They didn't look like they believed him, but didn't object when he pushed himself up into a sitting position again.

"What happened?"

The one with no name inquired, kindly. Gerard thought that she probably did have a name, but he didn't know it, and wasn't really inclined to ask.

"Teenagers."

His answer was simple and to the point. The women looked at each other and sighed before looking back at him.

"We thought as much..."

Sarah said, sadly.

"Come on then, let's get you up of the floor..."

She said, wrinkling her nose in disgust and slipping her hand under his arm, as her friend did the same from the other side, helping Gerard to his feet and guiding him over to one of the seats.

"There, that's better..."

She smiled.

"I'm Sarah, and this is Jasmin. What's your name sweetie?"

She asked.

"Oh...er...it's Gerard."

He mumbled.

"Well, nice to meet you Gerard..."

Sarah stated.

"I hope you haven't missed your stop. Where do you get off?"

She sounded genuinely concerned.

"End of the line, it's ok."

He said, smiling at their kindness. Suddenly he remembered something and his eyes went wide from fear. Looking around frantically, Gerard started to panic.

"What are you looking for?"

Jasmin asked, glancing around the train.

"My folder! All my work! My drawings!...Frankie..."

He trailed off as he whispered the name, his breathing becoming ragged.

"Calm down, you'll pass out again if you keep breathing like that..."

Jasmin said, worry clear in her tone.

"Don't stress, we'll help you find it...it couldn't have gone far."

She assured him, turning to begin the search.

"But...what if they took him...I mean it..."

He corrected himself, a soft blush spreading through his cheeks.

"The teenagers...what if they took it?"

Gerard whined, tears threatening to fall now...he couldn't be gone, he just couldn't!

"They didn't!..."

Sarah stated with great certainty.

"None of them were holding anything except beer bottles when they got off the train. It's here, somewhere...we just have to find it."

She said, giving Gerard a supportive sideways hug before letting go and joining Jasmin in the hunt.

They were looking on all the seats up and down the carriage and under them, as Gerard sat, still a little dazed with his head in his hands.

"Gerard..."

He lifted his head.

"What?"

He asked the women. They turned to look at him oddly, then stated that neither had said anything before looking at each other and returning to the matter at hand.

"Gerard...up here."

The voice was quiet, soft and soothing and Gerard found it comforting...if a little weird. Looking up, Gerard saw something, the edge of a black shape hidden away in the shallow overhead storage space above him. Standing on still shaky legs, he reached up and grasped the dark object, pulling it forward and down into his hands. A huge smile spreading across his face, Gerard held it to his chest and turned to Sarah and Jasmin.

"Found it!"

He called, grinning. They both turned at once, relieved smiles on their faces.

As the train pulled into the second to last station on the line, Gerard hugged the two women and thanked them yet again for their kindness and help and assured them that if he felt unwell at all, he'd go to the doctors...not that that would happen. He hated the doctors, too many needles...but they made him promise. So then he said goodbye to them and waved through the grimy window as the train pulled away, taking Gerard the remainder of his long journey.

From the moment he'd found it, to the moment he'd arrived home, Gerard had clung to the folder, holding it white knuckled to his chest. And now he was home, now he was safe and he still had Frankie...he was safe. Gerard breathed another sigh of relief, he could really do with a drink right about now, or a joint. Oh well, guess coffee and a cigarette would have to do. Still holding the precious folder, Gerard went to the kitchen and made himself a very strong black coffee, probably not the best thing to calm the nerves after a traumatic event, but hey, who cares right? Then he wandered through to the living room and sat on the shabby black couch, placing his coffee on the table by his side, kicking off his shoes and pulling his legs up under him. Sighing loudly in the quiet room, Gerard finally released his grip on the folder and opened it.

Frankie stared back at him, head tilted to the right a little, a look of concern gracing his beautiful face.

"Huh..."

Gerard frowned slightly.

"When did I draw this one?"

He muttered to himself. Shaking his head, he dismissed the slightly troublesome thoughts...he had had a shock after all. He'd hit his head. He'd been unconscious. A little confusion was normal, right? Yawning, Gerard decided that perhaps coffee wasn't the best idea right now, and maybe he should just go to sleep.

Leaving the cup on the table, he'd get it in the morning, Gerard stood and stretched his tired muscles, wincing slightly at the pain he felt in his ribs and back. Still holding the folder, unwilling to let it out of his sight, Gerard headed to bed.

Stripping off his clothes, not even bothering to hang them or put them in the hamper, just throwing them in the general direction of it, Gerard climbed into bed, the folder laying on the other pillow next to him. Eyelids drooping, Gerard smiled at the folder.

"Night Frankie."

He whispered. Eyes closed, he could have sworn he heard the soft voice he'd heard before, on the train.

"Night Gee. See you in the morning."

Frowning slightly into his pillow, eyes still closed, he thought for a second...then relaxed and dismissed it again, this time as just the edges of a dream. But, oh how wrong could he be?

Notes