Thank You For The Venom

Today is going to be horrible. SO fucking horrible. I have a half day of work so at three, when I’m finished, I walk into Jersey and hide out the back of my first home. There’s an old green, rusting swing set there that I wasn’t aloud play on as a child. There was always disturbed people on drugs just sitting there, staring into empty space. I guess this is why I feel so comfortable here.
I sit and stare blankly at the grey walls of my old building. Yesterday Ray expressed his concern for me again and I brushed him off saying, “My life’s been in danger since I was fourteen. If I die tomorrow, don’t worry about me or I’ll fucking haunt you.” He backed off but looked concerned constantly. I feel the gun in my belt. I think I should thank Ray again, he did pretty much save me.
A cold breeze stings my cheek and I look up to see three kids staring at me.
“Shouldn’t you be in school?” I say.
“School’s over two hour’s man,” the oldest looking one says. A guy in a snap back cap and oversized jacket.
“Oh yea.”
“Are you okay, sir? My mom says that sad people sit on them swings,” a little girl asks wide eyed.
“Yea, I’m good.” I stand up and feel the cool gun rub off my skin. “I guess I’ll leave if I don’t suit here,” I smile meekly and begin to tread off toward the street. I can feel the kids staring at me as I leave. I wonder I any of them will ever get out of here. I thought when I was younger that I could make a band or something and get big and important in the world. I guess nobody really makes it. I guess nobody really leaves.
Its quarter past six when I stand at the mouth of the alley way that Ronnie brought me and Ryan down years ago. I feel the eeriness associated with dank alleyways and darkening skies. I feel comfortable with my gun to hand and my years of memories of being randomly attacked in alleys. Still, the thought of what I’m about to do.
I walk slowly through the alleys and finally reach the back entrance to the building. It’s a quarter to seven and the fucking fire escape ladder is lowered for me.
This could be a set up.
This could so easily be a set up. I sit down on the wet ground under the ladder as it begins to rain. I think I feel a shard of glass piercing my jeans but if that is the only injury I leave with today I’ll be overjoyed.
Ten minutes pass before I decide to scale the ladder.
This is a slow process. I remember exactly where all the squeaks, creeks and weak bars are. I look in through a crack in the curtains. Ronnie is talking harshly to Stan. He spots me and nods slightly. After another few harsh gestures he picks up a gun and storms out the door. The window shakes as he slams the door. Stan rubs his face and goes into the bathroom.
I take this as my chance and slip in the window quietly and load my gun. My heart is beating so fast and so loud I’m afraid it will alert Stan.
When he returns from the bathroom with his fly down and his hand down his pants I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more horrified and confused expression.
I point the gun at his chest and his hand slides out of his trousers and into the air, “Frank?”
“Well observed,” I growl. Kill him.
“You’re going to kill me Frankie?” he says in an amused tone, thiugh the wobble in his voice says otherwise.
I nod. “Then do it,” he says darlingly.
I pull the trigger and before I can think I fire. He falls down but the blood is seeping from his shoulder, not chest.
“Fuck it!” I cry and cock the gun again, walking over quickly to Stan who is wincing and cursing as he bleeds. With one arm he pushes himself upward.
“You fucking cunt! You’re killing me? For what! I didn’t kill your little friend. It was the people you refused to kill that did. Why didn’t you get revenge you little cock-sucking faggot?! Why didn’t you kill them for Ryan? Is it because you were sucking his cock? And liking it this time? I should be the one shooting you, you fucking faggot,” I stare down at him unfazed. He’s only helping me to not feel bad about pulling the trigger.
I press my foot into his shoulder and he cries out in pain. When I release again he stares up through tear stained eyes, “you’re into torture Iero, you disgusting animal.”
“We shouldn’t pick and choose our laws,” I whisper and point my gun at his head.
The door flies open and I’m forced to turn around, gun poised. I feel Stan attempt to stand and I push him back with a foot to the bullet wound. His cries almost drown out Jay’s gasp of horror, “Frank?”
“Hi Jay,” I say. His gun rises and levels with my chest. Well I got to cause a lot of pain to a man i hate. Maybe if he shoots me the right way I’ll land on Stan’s bullet wound. That would be a good death.
Only Jay doesn’t fire. He just holds the gun pointed to my head and starts forward, “Jay?! Jay shoot him!” Stan pleads from the floor. Jay just continues forwards. “Jay!”
My heart is beating rapidly. Jay reaches me and puts his gun to my head. I swallow. “I like you a lot,” Jay says in a shaky voice, “you were always nicer to me than everyone else.” He sighs. I think that now would be the optimum time to pray if I was religious. “Fucking shoot him before I shoot you,” Jay cries.
Stan makes a noise of protest, silenced only by the clap of the gun.

If you’ve never seen someone with a bullet wound in the head you are both missing out and so fucking lucky. I’ve seen a lot of bullet wounds. Fatal ones like Ryan’s and the boss’s, then there’s ones like Jay’s. It’s like a black hole in someone, but one to the brain is special. It’s a circle into someone’s mind. Just behind that gruesome ring is the chemicals that react just so to make you different. Literally the person’s entire personality was contained possibly in the place where that bullet now is. It’s just weird to see.
Jay and I sit on the couch afterwards. I’m not a good guy but now I think I must be a bad guy, I just fucking killed someone. Jay texted “Boss is dead” and people have been returning in drips and drabs since them. Some of them are pissed off, some are happy. No one shows any sign of grief.
When everyone arrives the room is so crowded and noisy and I can’t see a thing. I find Ronnie and he pulls us over to the kitchen counter on which we both kneel. “Alright,” Ronnie says. People continue muttering. “Pay attention assholes I’m not up here for a fucking striptease.”
Everyone shuts up and stares at us. Some smirk at Ronnie’s remark. “I didn’t invite Frank to kill Stan so that we could descend into anarchy,” blank faces stare up. Ronnie forgets sometimes that they speak New Jersey, not dictionary grade English. He sighs, “I mean, Stan was going mad, you all fucking saw it and I knew that none of us could kill him, the no weapons thing. And when he threatened to kill my friend here,” he pats my shoulder, “my last fucking friend, you bag of assholes, I thought it was time to end it. Now I believe we need a new leader.”
Before Ronnie could say another word Jay speaks up, “Frank.”
Ronnie shuts his mouth and everyone goes dead silent, staring at me. I don’t know what to say so I wait for someone else to speak. “Yea okay. Frank.”
“Yea, Frank.”
“Frank.”
“I’d prefer Frank to the rest of you,” someone grumbles.
After a few minutes of silence Ronnie speaks up, “well I was going to say have a vote but I guess we did. So… Frank, will you be the leader?”
“What the fuck,” I say incredulously, “I wasn’t here for months, I was kicked out and you want me to be the fucking boss!?”
“Yea pretty much,” Jay shrugs.

The first thing I do as “boss” is buy a new flat. Well the first thing I did was tell Ray I’m alive. Then I throw up. Then I tell Ray that I won’t be home.
Then, I buy a new apartment. You couldn’t pay me to stay another hour in the apartment that haunts me. No one questions me on this. People usually would be unhappy with me randomly buying a flat but this was different.
I run Venom normally for about three days. Or well as “normal” as I could, taking care of all the finances.
“And how much did that cost us?” I demand. Chubs and Jay had got into a knife fight and the car got wrecked.
Chubs shrugs, “I can get it fixed for five thousand. Or close.”
I sigh and rub my eyes. “We can’t afford this until we get into New York,” I say matter-of-factly.
Chubs nods but my phone answers for me. “One sec,” I say answering, “Hello.”
“Hi Frank,” the voice sends shivers down my spine. “I heard you survived.”
“Hi Gerard,” I choke out, “I did. I guess you’ll want me dead next.”
“Ah so you’re the boss now. I have a proposition.”
“I’m listening.”
“Can I come over?”
“Uh okay.”
“Good, open the front door.”
Ronnie who was sitting on the couch raises his eyebrows at me as I walk toward my door. Chubs walks over to sit beside him, shrugging.
“Hey,” Gerard says when I open the door. Mikey and Guy pile in after him.
“Fuck…” I scratch the back of my neck. I forgot this is how Gerard works. “Come on in guys. This is Ronnie and Chubs. Ronnie and Chubs, this is Gerard, leader of MG. His brother Mikey and… Guy.” Ronnie is standing and reaching for his gun. Chubs is sitting but his hands are at his belt, probably at his weapons. “Relax. They won’t shoot and if they try we have friends in this building.” I smile. “What do you want?”
Gerard walks over and takes a seat at the kitchen table. After he’s made himself comfortable he begins talking. “Frank, want to be my partner.”
“What?” I scoff.
“Want to be my partner, I said. Do you want to join our gangs?”
I sit down in a heap. Can no one do anything as expected anymore? Is it the cool new thing to just do the last thing anyone would ever expect of you? It’s fucking driving me insane, in the way that my mind has been so busy trying to anticipate it all that I haven’t had time to be stalked by my own nightmares.
I scratch the back of my neck. “Gerard…”
“Our combined force could really make us the biggest gang in New York too. Just think about it.”
“How the fuck can we trust you?” Ronnie growls, “and how the fuck did you find us.”
“Oh easy. Ray told me. We trusted Frank. Frank can also tell you what trust means to me,” he shoots me a sideways glance. I feel my heart beating stupidly loud again.
“What if we don’t want to?” Ronnie challenges.
“Ronnie. Gerard, I will consider this.” I say. My mind is so full of different thoughts.
“To seal the deal we could live together,” Gerard says to me. “The leaders of a gang always do.”
I shake my head and start pacing. A habit I got off Gerard. “You can’t just do this.”
“Why can’t I?” Gerard is smiling.
I make a distressed noise in the back of my throat and Gerard gets up. “I’ll be looking for an answer either way just remember I won’t be able to kill you anyway.” And with that the MG party leave. When I deem them well out of earshot I throw myself to the floor and shout into the floorboards. Fuck the neighbours they can endure my exasperation.
After a while of lying on the ground Ronnie crouches down beside me. “You’re going to do it aren’t you?”
I sigh into the dusty floor, “Of course I am.”

Notes

Yo, sorry if this ending is shite!
XD sorry. Just the other ending was so sad and i wasn't in the mood for something heartbreaking.
Thank you for reading and please leave some feedback :) I have ideas for another three fics now which i can't wait to start. If you for some reason liked this then you may want to check out my other fics XD thanks again sooo much :))