Drowning Lessons

It takes five days for the white coat electricians to rewire the entire Islands power set up. Quicker than any of us wanted but considering every other white coat was some form of electrical engineer or mechanic.
The five days spent without treatment and a serious lack of white coats around were the best days I’d spent here. Gerard and I spent most of the time at the rocks overlooking the ocean. Sometimes we were joined by Ray or Bob or Mikey or Alex would join us. We’d sit about and talk about the past, or the future or bands. The best were the hours spent in the wind and rain huddled against a rock smoking and giving out about life. Just the two of us. I can tell you Gee doesn’t think I’m annoying because he suggests us to sit around without the others.
Third base in my opinion
It’s the fifth day and we all know that tomorrow “treatment” will start again. Andy’s been in a cell somewhere underneath main building and we aren’t allowed go see him. “A wild one,” the captain told us. Sometimes when Vic lies down he can hear Andy’s thoughts which are generally a mixture of angry words and plans he doesn’t complete. Vic says there are images vaguely available but he can’t pin them down at this distance.
“I don’t want to go back to drowning lessons,” I say into Gerard’s shoulder. We’re huddled together in the space between the rocks sheltered from the wind and rain. We could sit out here alone against the Atlantic weather or we could sit inside in our rooms. Alex wanted to sleep and stare at Jack from afar so I had no objection to lying in the rain with Gee.
“Is that what you call them Frankie? Drowning lessons?” He asks leaning into me. He smells damp and of tobacco.
“Yea. That’s what they are. They shove me in a tank and try force me not to breathe,” I whisper. I don’t know why it feels like whispering is right.
“And so you let them? Do you let them take your breath away?” he whispers back.
“They can’t take my breath away the way others can,” I reply only realising as the words leave my mouth how fucking cheesy they are.
He stifles a laugh, “like who Frankie?”
I’m about to say like you when I realise there could not be a worse or more corny reply imaginable. “Audrey Hepburn.” I reply as if that was any better.
He laughs properly now, “Frank Iero, the only straight guy here with powers.”
I laugh too then Gerard says “nah there’s probably other straight guys here.”
“I’m not one of them whoever they are,” I laugh. C’mon gee get the hint.
He laughs nervously. I echo him awkwardly.
Gerard takes out a cigarette, lights it and passes it to me. He lights himself one and we sit in silence, smoking.
When we’re both finished we stub them out and huddle closer together as the wind whipped overhead and the drizzle becomes fat droplets of rain. Without noticing I lie my head on Gee’s shoulder. Before I could retract Gerard leans his head on mine.
“Let’s go get lunch,” I suggest at last. I shuffle to my feet and extend my hand to Gerard. He reaches up and holds onto it and with all his own force springs into the air and lands in to kiss me. Our hands still together fall limply at our sides and our mouths work against each other as the rain falls around us.

I stand in front of the tank in my swimshorts the next morning. The lights flicker overhead from the quick repair job, the main focus of which was not the lighting in a room used by one person.
I step gingerly in the tank and wait for the water to rise. I still have no idea how I’m going to resist this.
The water is up to my chin, still no idea how to resist.
The water is at my mouth and I do the thing that is second nature to humans, I take a deep breath of actual air and hold it as the water raises past my nose. I then start treading water like I need to stay afloat to breathe.
“What are you doing Frank?” the voice comes muffled from outside the tank.
“Instinct I guess,” I mumble.
I take a deep breath of air and dive down into the rising water, do a handstand, and resurface. My wires are completely tangled and some have fallen looser than they should be for the treatment to work.
“Frank, stop. Co-operate and it’ll be over soon,” the voice comes again.
“Fine,” I concede and breathe in the water. I feel my brain fuzz at the edges and I push it back. I want to stay in control here, and I push it back more.
I breathe shorter breaths, giving off the impression that it’s working while pushing them out. I spend the entire time concentrating so hard that in leaving I’m still as tired as I would be if I had succumbed to the robbing of my powers.
I go to lunch regardless sitting with Mikey and Jaime. Brendon comes and sits down with all the grace of a drunk elephant, “I’ve just heard, Vic got seriously drained this morning. As bad as Kellin had been. He’s in the infirmary right now,” he blurts. Then quieter, “guys tonight the Captain is going to have loads of Vic’s power.”
We all know what that means. We’re going to have to not think about resistance or the other Island or how the others are doing… Everyone is going to basically mist their thoughts severely.
Jaime sits up straight, bangs a fist on the table and lifts the fire out of the dining room hearth and sets the curtains on fire. He mutters in Spanish and leaves the room in the direction of the infirmary.
White coats go insane trying to put out the fire. They throw all the liquids they can get their hands on at the curtain. One white coat is about to throw brandy at the curtains. Bob is on his feet lightning fast and takes the jug out of his hands. He pats out the remaining fire and is back sitting and eating again in three breaths.
My throat stings with the smell of smoke and apple juice drenched cloth. I grab a roll from the centre of the table and stride out the back door into the afternoon mist.
I walk around some brambles and into “the orchard” which has a total of three fruit trees and a dead raspberry plant. I turn around to see Mikey has followed me. “Hey,” I say leaning against the rotting crab apple tree. Flakes of bark and ants fall to the mossy ground.
“Hi, listen Frankie, Gee told me about you two,” he looks uncomfortable.
“You’re not going to give me the whole “hurt him and I’ll hurt you” lecture, are you?” I grin.
“No Frank,” he looks stern as ever, “I’m just telling you to be careful. If, no when the Captain starts asking Gee questions or tries to break him he doesn’t need more things making him vulnerable. He’s already got me. No matter what I say Gerard will still do anything to protect me and I’m not able to die. You make him even more vulnerable.”
I shuffle uncomfortably, my back wearing away more of the old tree. I hadn’t thought of that. I know they need Gerard’s powers almost most of all to continue the plan.
I shake my head, “Gerard knows he doesn’t ever need to save me…”
“Gerard holds on to his most recent memories, good or bad because he feels like they’re real. He judges everything by them, he’ll try save you I know he will and when we need to resist, if the white coats realise, they’ll use you. Just be careful is all.”

Everyone is on edge that evening. The dining room feels a lot more empty, Vic and Kellin in the infirmary, Jaime visiting, Andy locked away and Ryan and Brendon asleep after tough treatment sessions. Also there are burn marks on the walls and singed curtains still left up.
Gerard sits opposite me, his face drawn with the exhaustion of the session. Halfway through dinner the Captain walks in.
“Hi guys,” he smiles forcefully casual. “I think we’d all been making great progress till recently. You’d been doing great! Some of you nearly ready to go into the final stages! Then Brendon,” he glares at Brendon, “helped Andy fry the place! Now you’ve all been very uncooperative. So what is it guys? Why are you all suddenly very against cure? We had to knock Vic unconscious this morning just to attach him to the wires!” he realises then that that is a very bad thing to say. We all glare menacingly at him, “Okay guys what is it? Its drain or die, I can’t believe you even have to think about it.”
I try fill my mind with confusion. I flick quickly through pictures along to the theme tune of the misfits. I can see everyone concentrate on this. We’re all blocking out the thought that we all want to think.
The Captain rubs his temples and moans. “Okay guys one of you better give me a straight answer here.” He begins pacing the room leaning in close to everyone’s head. I fuzz my thoughts further.
Finally the Captain finishes his rounds of the room and takes a seat at the foot of the table. Bob starts eating, natural expression. The rest of us try to follow suit but not everyone is as calm as Bob.
“I’m not leaving till I get an answer,” he states. When no one replies he glares down the table, his eyes resting not quite on anyone but in them… It’s creepy as fuck.
We try ignore him filling our thoughts with random things. I try to add another layer to my thoughts which for some reason turns out to be Kelly Clarkson singing against the misfits. The Captains eyes fly over to me and a look of total confusion crosses his face.
I’m almost finished eating when the captain gasps and jumps up, “I knew it, it’s all that made sense! Well now you know-”
Gerard cuts him off jumping up and staring at him. The Captains eyes glaze over, Gerard is taking that memory. The Captain shakes his head and glares back at Gee, throwing a punch at him, knocking him clean off the floor and against the wall.
Gerard slumps against the wall but he’s not unconscious or in pain.
He’s smiling. His pupils are so large inside his iris’s they’re almost fully black. He stares at his hands in front of him and makes little incomprehensible noises.
Ray goes red and we all know it’s because it was Ray’s power that the Captain just used against Gerard.
I didn’t notice myself moving but I’m kneeling next to Gee now, looking at the back of his head which has a huge gash on it. “You fucking bastard,” Bob mumbles standing now. Ray looks really horrified sitting in his chair. Mikey is down opposite me cradling his brother.
“This could have gone so much smoother,” the Captain says straightening his shirt. “Now was I saying something before Gerard so rudely interrupted me,” he stares up at the line of white coats entering the room. “Take everyone back to their rooms. Search them. Search the rooms. Lock them in.” A hand gabs my elbow and I reach around to punch upward. I catch a woman in the nose, it cracks beneath my knuckles and she trips over her own feet then and lands on the ground. My view of her disappears. A storm of legs replacing her scrunched up face holding her nose. I realise now it’s the same woman who’d brought me to my room on the first day.
Hands grab at me from various directions and drag me away from Gee. He’s lying in a pool of blood and giggling. Bob is flinging punches at every other white coat at an incredible pace until he falls to his knees limply and giggling. Ray is knocking white coat after white coat to the ground, glassy eyed and gleaming. The captain tries to do it to Ray but evidentially his own power affects him none. Mikey throws up a huge fight as they try pull him away from Gerard but the white coats eventually have him out the door.
I wish I could make a bigger fuss but five men have literally picked me up by the limbs and are pulling me out the door. I see Ryan concentrating in a corner and then the Captain yell. He starts patting himself down and screaming. A white coat drops my left leg and runs over to help him. The last thing I see as I’m carried writhing from the room is Ryan get a kick to the side of the head, knocking him against the rough bricks of the wall.

Notes

Another update yayayay... i'm excited to write the next chapter more than really makes sense but whatever. WARNING the violence is going to get more frequent and graphic in the coming chapters. Let me know what you think in the comments and where I can improve! Next update soon :3 xx