...I sit, absent mindedly staring into space, when a hand lands on my shoulder, waking me up.

Gerard's POV

"Gerard, can we talk for a minute?" Frank asks, not removing his hand. To be honest I'm not surprised it's him because he always appears unexpectedly and from the back. I'm also kind of glad that he's talking to me again, even though my heart feels like it’s about to explode from nervousness.

"What is it?" I ask, collecting all my powers in an attempt to look like a heartless bitch I've always wanted to be. I'd think I'm doing a good job if I didn't feel my face heat up in an embarrassing blush. I casually run my fingers through my hair, and the strands “accidentally” fall on my face.

"Can you come outside?" he asks. “This only concerns you,”

I fake a tired groan and push my chair away from the table. I stand up, and Diego looks at me in the way that speaks "what the fuck is going on".

"Tell you later," I mouth to him and he nods quickly, turning back to his plate and faking complete innocence and indifference.

Frank gestures for me to follow him and I do. I look around the dining, making sure no one's watching us. They might assume I'm in trouble and ask questions later, and I hate attention, especially when you have to explain every person what happened separately.

I expect Frank to stop in the hall, outside the dining, but he walks on to the main door. I'm a bit confused- it's getting cloudy and it's a bit chilly outside, why would he want to go there? The weather changes really quickly here- during the morning hike it was really sunny, and now it’s dark as if it’s evening. And windy. I don't ask him about it though- he's a counselor, he knows best.

He holds the door open for me and I walk through, carefully dodging his shoulder and trying to not make any skin on skin contact. I hate it when people hold the door for me, because then (especially if they have a bit of a tummy) I always rub against them, and then it's just extremely awkward. I don’t like touching or being touched unless I’m really close to the person, and so far only my family falls into that category.

I stand on the steps, wrapping my arms around myself, not really sure what to do. It’s colder than I expected it to be, and I’m only wearing a T-shirt and jeans.

I turn around to look at Frank, and my heart suddenly freezes in terror. I take a step backwards and almost slip, letting out a high pitched shriek as his eyes follow me.

Frank looks like a stranger. His figure is slim and gloomy, as if all the dark forces of the world suddenly found home in his heart, and the ones who were late took their places around him. His hands are hidden in the pockets of his jeans, and his shoulders are slightly lifted, as if he was shrugging and suddenly froze, which makes it look as if he's leaning forward towards me. As if he's about leap and attack. His lips are pursed tightly, his jaws clenched, but his eyes look weak, as if he’s about to collapse to the ground. Suddenly a bright lightning flashes behind him, and I'm sure I'm about to have a heart attack. What's happening? An unexplained panic overtakes my body, and I'm losing control over my own mind.

It's a panic attack, I realise. They never ended, after all, they just waited for a good opportunity.

The pills... I should have…

Suddenly I realise that my body is tilting backwards, but I just can’t regain my balance. Everything darkens, and all I see is Frank, whose arm is now reaching out to me, his fingers dangerously close to my face. I throw my head back, avoiding his touch. How does he move so fast? His lips are moving, but I can’t hear him- it seems as if he’s miles away. The wind is howling loudly in my ears, and there’s ringing… Then Frank disappears from my sight too, and I’m surrounded by black, thick unbreakable darkness. I feel like my own heart is strangling me.

I close my eyes and take a breath, trying to get myself together, but I’m slipping away. My knees break under me, and I’m ready to hit the ground.

Suddenly two hands grip my hips and roughly pull me upwards, then wrap around my waist, holding me in place.

“Gerard? Can you hear me? Gerard?!” I know it’s Frank, but I can’t get myself to reply or even nod. I feel his cold hand on my wrist, then on my neck.

Then, everything silents.

***

“Holy fuck,” someone mumbles close to me. “Shit,” the voice adds, now a bit quieter.

I prop myself on my elbow and sit up with a groan, opening my eyes. I know I’m still at the camp, but this isn’t my room. This one has one big bed instead of four individual ones, a table with a chair in the corner, and a Misfits poster stuck to the wardrobe. But the main sign that this isn’t our room is because this one is much cleaner than ours is ever going to be. It’s almost like no one lives here at all, there isn’t even a single sock on the floor.

The only thing that shows that another human being is present is the sound of the running water coming from behind me. Another curse reaches my ears, and I turn backwards to look at the bathroom door. It’s opened slightly, but not enough for me to see who’s inside.

“Who the fuck came up with not putting first aid kits in the rooms?” I immediately recognize the voice. I’m in Frank’s room.

“Frank?” I call out quietly. The door immediately flings open and he walks out, a glass of water in his hand, his eyes wide. He stares at me, as if I’m an alien from another planet.

“Thank god you’re awake,” he breathes out. He quickly comes closer and falls to his knees next to the bed, examining my face with concern. He passes me the glass and I take a sip, even though I don’t feel thirsty at all. I decide to not point that I heard him swearing and talking to himself.

“How do you feel?” he asks.

“I feel okay, thank you,” that’s partially true, I still feel kind of dizzy and a bit sick, but it will have to do.

“Do you remember what happened?”

“Somewhat. You called me to talk outside, then I had a panic attack and blacked out,”

“Yeah, basically. I caught you right when you were about to hit the ground,”

“I know that, thank you,” I say. “And I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you were saying before,”

“You mean when I was talking to you outside?” he asks and I nod. “Not a single word?” I nod again. His eyes darken with visible sadness and regret, but he fakes a reassuring smile.

“Well, that doesn’t matter anyways,” he chuckles awkwardly, standing up. He looks extremely tense.

“You can tell me here,”

“I said it doesn’t matter anymore,”

“Please,” I beg. He actually got me really intrigued, and I hate it when people don’t tell me things, or rather don’t finish telling them.

“Uh…”

Notes

Cliffhanger because I don't care about your feelings mwahahah
just kidding, I care about your feelings more than I care about mine

Sooo... what is Frank going to tell him?

I wrote the fainting paragraph from my own experience, haha
I have very low blood pressure so its not that rare for me

And sorry if this chapter seems hurried or whatevs, I consider this chapter the worst I've written so far tbh
for some reason it was really hard to write