:Frank's POV: Heh… I clearly remember the day I almost lost my friend forever. I mean, how could I possibly forget it? It was the first unbearably bad day I had ever had. I can’t believe how naïve I was. I definitely learned my lesson from that day. I was about 9 years old when this event of losing Gerard almost happen. I know it was and is strange for a 9 year old, a 4th grade boy, to have a doll. But to be honest, I frankly didn’t give a damn. I wanted my best friend to always be with me. From the moment I got him we did everything together. He went to sleep with me, watched TV with me, took baths with me, even though Mom had to throw him in the dryer afterwards. I took him on walks, went to the beach with him, coloured with him, anything you could think of, he was there with me. He even came with me on my first day of school. But the teasing only started when Amy Atrens moved to my town did I start getting teased. It was about 3rd grade. At first it was just simple name calling. Then it turned into her tripping me in class, one time, I even broke my leg because of being tripped. Of course she denied everything when our parents and the teacher questioned her. She had given me bloody noses by slamming a book against my face, she pulled at my hair when it got too long, she drew on me while I was distracted, she even took Gerard sometimes. It was just torture. But the worst thing she ever did to me, was almost taking my friends life. She ripped Gerard’s head right off. And for that, I forever hated her, and I still do, even to this day. "Amy! Give Gerard back!" I cried as the brunette in front of me help my precious doll above my head. I couldn’t reach him because of my accursed height. At the moment I was just over four feet tall. Reaching four feet and 4 inches, I was the shortest kid in my grade. It was horrible especially when a lot of the other kids were close to five feet tall. Also, Amy is about five two. She’s the tallest in our grade and she uses her height as an advantage over me. It’s awful and I absolutely despise her for it. She's been torturing me ever since 3rd grade. She'd steal my things, pull my hair, trip me, and the famous stealing my lunch money. It's cliché but it's what she does. As for the reason she chose me as her victim, it's still unknown to me. I had told my mother about this and she said it was probably because Amy had a crush on me. Trust me, that's definitely not it. I mean, if she had a crush on me, wouldn't she take it easy on me? Maybe. But she's just brutal. She even broke my leg last year by tripping me! If she actually is just crushing on me, she has a strange way of showing it. I mean, who breaks the leg of the person they like? But then again I’m 99 percent sure she doesn’t like me. If that 1 percent of her liking me is actually true, I don’t know what I’d do. Of course I don’t like her back. She’s just evil! I can’t believe my Mom, putting ideas like this in my head. Anyways, as I was saying before I got off topic, she’s brutal. Especially now. She's never gone as far as stealing Gerard away from me before. She only got it because I left him under the slide while I went to the bathroom. The witch had found him and kept him in her grasp. Once I found out Gerard was gone, I knew immediately who took him. So, I had gone up to her and confronted her about it. And all of that lead up to this. I know she’s not gonna give him up willingly and I know this isn’t going to be the last time that she steals Gerard away from me. But seriously, I just can’t believe she went as far as taking him. I thought the teachers made it clear to the other kids for them not to touch my doll! Yes, the teachers actually told the kids to not touch Gerard. They all knew how I’d react. I start crying and screaming, giving them a full blown temper tantrum. Seriously, without Gerard by my side, I lose it, worse than anyone you’d ever see. The teachers saw this only once and they decided it’d be best if the other children wouldn’t touch my doll. Good. They were smart to give those instructions. But now, Amy’s breaking the rules the teachers had set. Gerard was hanging by his leg in the air above my head. Tears were streaming down my face at an alarming rate as I couldn't reach my friend. It just wasn't fair. Why did she have to take the most important thing of mine and use it to tease me? Actually, this isn't teasing. This is torture. I’ve seen people in movies getting tortured…. Beaten till they’re black and blue, whipped until they were covered in gashes, and being stretched on some medieval device. It looks horrible to be physically tortured. But right now, I’m being emotionally tortured. Being emotionally tortured seems a lot worse than having something done to your body because, if you hurt yourself, you’ll most likely heal. But if something happens to your mind, you’ll never fully heal. I had Gerard for a couple of years now and we did everything together. We played outside during all seasons, sun or rain, wind or snow, we were out there together. He was with me every single birthday I had seeing as I didn't have many friends. Scratch that, I had no friends. I still don't. Gerard's my only friend. But that's okay. I don't like people much anyways. They tend to get annoying or they can't accept the fact I still have a doll. But whatever. That's okay because I don't need other people to be my friends or to make me happy. I have Gerard. He's the one that makes me happy. "No way shorty. You ain't getting this back. S'mine now. Little boys like yourself shouldn't have dollies." She taunted while bringing Gerard higher and higher. Tears poured down my cheeks like little streams as I saw my friend in distress. Where were the teachers in this place? Shouldn't they be watching all the kids? Shouldn't they be protecting us from the bullies? They should. But they're too lazy to get off their fat lazy butts to do something about it. I bet a teacher can see us right now and they don't even care about what’s happening. That's expected though. Teachers think I'm weird anyways. They think it's unnatural to have a doll that I carry around at my age. Especially for a boy. But as I said before, Gerard makes me happy, so, why shouldn't I be able to have him with me? And why else would they tell people not to touch my doll? I throw tantrums too easily. I just have to face it. I’m weird to them…. I tried to jump up to get a grip on my friend but Amy threw him in the air, making it impossible for me to reach unless I somehow grew a pair of wings or had springs in my little sneakers. She caught him again and started to inspect him. At that point, I was about to have an anxiety attack. I didn't want her to touch him, I didn't want her to look at him, heck, I didn't even want her within a 100 foot radius of him. My heart started to race and my breathing became shallow. My lungs felt restrained and I couldn’t get air down my throat well. No, I don’t have asthma. This is just what happens when I freak out. "Y'know... I don't understand what so special 'bout this old thing. It's gross and baby-ish. Why don't 'cha get rid of it?" She asked me. Now, if she was really asking me to receive an honest answer, I'd tell her because he's my best friend. I love him and he's mine. So, what'd be the point in getting rid of something I loved? But she obviously doesn’t want an answer from me so, she’s just asking a rhetorical question. I hated when people did that. My Mom did that to my Dad all the time. He even got annoyed with it so it’d make sense that I despised it. "He's not gross or baby-ish! He's beautiful. And the reason I don't get rid of him is because I love him." I confessed. My hands curled into fists and my eyebrows were furrowed together. If she thought I was joking about what I had said, the way I looked would have told her otherwise. I'm so serious about this, it's not even funny. I also know she wasn’t expecting me to answer so when I did, she looked a little taken back. Her face soon shed the shocked expression and her eyebrows furrowed together. "Are you kidding me? You love him? What the hell is that? Are you in love with this doll?" She asked. I was a bit appalled at the language she had used but other than the quick wave of surprise, it completely unaffected me. But her question had gotten to me. Was I in love with my doll? I mean, I'm nine. I don't know what real love feels like. I mean, I know what it is because my Mom and Dad are in love with each other, but I myself do not know the feeling. And why should I know the feeling? I'm too young to understand feelings like that. Yes I know all of this because I've learned from others. I'm not your typical kid who thinks they know what love is. But do I love Gerard? Yes. Am I in love with him? I'm not sure. I do everything with him. I sleep with him, he takes baths with me, I take him to school so he can learn with me too. I love seeing him, his face, his raven hair, his little black and white striped tie.... I can't stand to be away from him. I'll cry if we're away from each other or if he's in danger. And I'll do whatever it takes to protect him. (Even though I failed at that job today). I shall ask myself again. Am I in love with my doll? Is how I feel towards Gerard, love? "Yes..." I barely said above a whisper. At that moment I felt something being lifted off my shoulders for a split second before something slammed back onto them. I had gotten rid of the fact that I was in love with Gerard and the reality of how this was crashed back down onto me. People will think I'm crazy. A person can't love a doll as much as I do. Now this isn't natural. But to be honest, I didn't care. I can’t help but worry though. I’ve heard of people getting put in a hospital because they’re crazy. Some take pills if they’re somewhat normal but I think if someone else were to get to my stage, they’d be locked in the hospital for the rest of their life. I don’t want that to happen to me. "Oh my god. You're serious. Ha! You idiot, you can't love a doll! It's not real! It can't love you back! It has no emotions, it has no heart beat. All it is is stuffing and cloth sewn together with a couple of buttons. It's impossible for it to feel anything towards you. So why don't you stop being a freak, get over your love with this doll, and grow up. 'Cause after today, there will be no doll to love." She sneered before grabbing Gerard's head with one of her hands. My eyes widened and I began to panic even more. She was gonna hurt him! She was going to rip his head off! I can't let that happen. I need to save him and then protect him. But what should I do? This girl is stronger and taller than me so I stood no chance if I had a fight. And even if I tried to fight her, and I got in trouble, it’d be seen as my fault because I tried to attack her first. Besides, I’m better than that. I wouldn’t succumb to the urge to attack her. Not because she’s a girl though, oh no. That really doesn’t matter to me, but, only because I’ve been through pain. No matter who it is, I do not want to hurt someone else, no matter what they have done to me. So, the only thing I can do is- "Don't hurt him!" I screamed and quickly grabbed his body. I got a tight grip around his torso. I tried pulling him away from the witch but it didn't work at first. I tugged harder and harder. Eventually, I began to see her hand slipping. And that's when she used her other hand to grip his head. "Let go Doll Boy!" She snapped at me and tugged harder but, I did not let loose on my grip on my Gerard. I tried tugging him harder and harder, pulling with all my strength, until I heard something tear a little. My head snapped up to Gerard. I saw soft fluff begin to pour out of a wound on his neck. Uh oh. I looked over at Amy and saw an evil smirk on her face. She had an idea. She yanked him once and I got sent backwards. I landed flat on my bottom with Gerard in my hands. Well... part of him. In my hands was only his body. His neck had torn and his head went flying. It had landed 5 feet away from me. I was just sitting there, in shock, in sadness, in anger. This girl deserved to die. She hurt my Gerard.... I don’t care what I said before! She hurt him! "That's what the stupid thing gets." She chuckled darkly and left me alone with my decapitated doll. I felt tears rush to my eyes once again as I saw hi little head just laying there. I held his body close to my chest as I crawled over to his head. I gently picked it up. H-How could someone do something like this?! I have never done anything to that girl! I always sit quietly in the back of my class talking to Gerard, minding my own business. I wasn't a kiss up to the teachers, I wasn't a tattle tail, I wasn't a goody two shoes, heck, I wasn't even in the same class as her! So what could I have ever have done to deserve this? I-Is it because I'm a freak? Is that why she took the liberty of ripping my doll's head off it's body? Yes, I am admitting I'm a freak. (And frankly I don't care) But, is it because I am simply different than others that this girl decided to target me? It must be. It's the only thing I have to go on at the moment. Well that doesn’t seem fair. Just because I’m different, she feels the need to pick on me. Why did this have to happen to me?! "Gerard, are you ok?" I asked my friend as my tears slipped down my nose and dripped onto his body. . Of course he wasn't. His head was torn off him for Pete’s sake! I have to do something. I have to save him. But how?! All of a sudden, I heard the school bell ring, signaling it was time to go home. I knew my Mom would be waiting in the parking lot for me. Maybe she can help me. I quickly ran over to the tree where my book bag was, slung it over my shoulder, and ran to the parking lot all while I had my almost ‘dead’ in my arm. If someone could fix him, that someone would be my Mom. My eyes scanned over all the cars, looking for the one that belonged to her. Mommy, where could you be? I heard a car horn blare. It caught my attention enough for me to turn in that direction. Thankfully, it was my Mom who had caught my attention. I hurried to her car and got in before I broke down into tears once more. "Frank what's wrong?!" She asked sounding utterly concerned. "M-M-Mommy! S-She b-broke G-Ge-Gerard!" I sobbed and showed her the two pieces of him. She gasped and quickly pulled me into her arms. I buried my face against her chest and continued crying. One of her thin arms were wrapped around my back. Her hand was stroking my back while her other hand stroked my hair. This is another way my Mom gets me to calm down besides singing to me. But, I still can't believe Amy actually ripped him in half! My love.... I want her to burn! Or better yet, get her head ripped off like she did to Gerard. She'd have the same fate as him. I promise that. "I want her to perish." I growled lowly against my Mom’s chest. "Frank! Don't say such things. Amy does not deserve to perish. Where did you learn that word anyways?" My mom asked, confused on how I learned such and advanced word. Well, to get off topic for a second, I do read higher level books. I read 6th grade books for fun when I go down to the library. Some words I don't understand but there's no harm in looking them up. And so eventually, I do know them. And there are a few words I know that I'd rather not have my Mom know. They’re extremely inappropriate. "It was in a book I read. But that's off topic! Amy killed Gerard! She ripped his head off and now he's bleeding stuffing out like blood!" I screamed. "Frank calm down! I can fix him bambino! I promise. Just please! Calm down!" My Mom begged. I tried to do as she said but I just kept crying. My throat felt scratchy and my head began to ache. I was becoming tired and I just couldn't wait to go home. This happens every time I cry. I tire myself out and eventually just take a nap either on my Mom's lap, on the couch, or in my room on my bed. And I always have Gerard with me. But if I don't have Gerard, I can't sleep. "Y-You can?" "Yes bambino! How about you just take a nap when we get home while I fix him." "B-But I c-can't sleep without G-Gerard." "Sleep with your blanket. You know sometimes Gerard's getting cleaned and you have to go to bed so, you sleep with your blanket. Just for now bambino. Just for now." She whispered and pushed my hair back. I sniffled and nodded. Hopefully, when I wake up, Gerard will be okay. ~*~*~*~*~*~* "Frank... bambino... wake up..." I barely heard my Mom coo as she tried to get me to awaken. We had gone home and I took a nap on the couch. She had gotten me my blanket but it still took me a little while to go to sleep. I mean sure, some nights I just have my blanket and no Gerard. But then I know he's just getting cleaned. This time, I knew he was hurt, so, I had a lot of stress and worry on me. I felt my mother push some of my hair out of my face and she pressed a sweet kiss to my forehead. I smiled a little bit and I let one of my eyes slip open. I saw my Mom's bright face in front of me, a smile plastered on it. I noticed she had some thread on her shirt so I knew that only meant one thing. I quickly sat up and threw my blanket to the side. "Mommy is Gerard fixed?" I asked, excitement building up deep inside me. If she actually fixed him, I'd be ecstatic. Oh who am I kidding? The way she's smiling says it all. He's fixed and she knows I'm going to be extremely happy. My Mom brought he hands from behind her back and showed me what was there. In here hands was Gerard. His hair perfect, his tie straight, his button eyes shiny, and best of all, his head was actually on his body! Thank god! He's ok! He's 'alive'.... I’m not going to have to live without him. I’m not going to have to live without the one I love. I quickly grabbed him from my Mom's hands and held him close to my chest. If he were real, I’d basically be smothering him. But I don’t care! I’m just so happy! "I'm so sorry Gerard. I promise I won't ever let that mean girl get you again. I promise. I love you so much. I'm going to protect you from here on out." I whispered and pressed a kiss to his tiny head. Right now, I was overjoyed. This is probably one of the best days of my life. No, I'm wrong. The best day of my life was the day I actually received Gerard as a random gift. That was definitely the best day ever. But this... I'm so thankful, relieved, and filled with pure happiness that I could just explode. I held my love in front of me and began to inspect him. Around his neck, stitched in black, was a intriguing looking " X V / / X" pattern. It didn't match a normal stitching pattern. I’d expect the stitching to be plain and simple. But my Mom took it to the next level, she actually made a horrible accident into something rather good. To be honest, it doesn't matter if he looks cool. As long as he's alive and has his head actually reattached to his body, I'm happy. The stitching pattern is just a bonus though. Thank god, I'm so glad to have him back. I know I keep saying I'm so happy and it's kind of repetitive, but I am! I'll probably never be happier than I am at this moment. "I love you Gerard..." And that's when my obsession started. That's when I got my nickname 'Doll Boy' that stuck with me until high school. That's where everything in my childhood life, turned to hell.