Mute

(9 YEARS AGO!)


It was 4 o'clock in the morning, on 9th April 2006 when 5 year old Gerard Way (only JUST 5, as it was his birthday) was woken up to the sound of screaming.
His little brother Mikey could sleep through anything, and was happily slumbering in his bed as Gerard got up and wandered sleepily out of their shared bedroom.
He could hear banging and screaming coming from the kitchen, and being a brave and curious little boy, he went to investigate. Wearing his Batman pjs, he felt like nothing could scare or hurt him. The ratty old teddy bear he held close to his chest helped with that too.
As he approached the closed kitchen door, the voices from within became clearer, but he still couldn't work out who was shouting, and who was screaming.
Pushing the door open, Gerard's young, innocent eyes were met with the most awful sight. His mum and dad were currently both tied to kitchen chairs, as two men dressed all in black used large sharp knives to cut into them over and over again. His parents were the ones screaming, the men in black shouting at them to be quiet.
Gerard gasped and stumbled backward, knocking into the coffee table just outside the door. One of the men turned quickly his way.
Gerard's eyes grew wide and he turned to run, but he only got a handful of steps before the man grabbed him from behind, and dragged him into the slaughterhouse.
Terror made him struggle fiercely, until the man struck him around the face, then lifted him up by the front of his pjs, and growled angrily in his face "How old are you, ya little shit?.." Gerard shook with fear and clamped his eyes tight shut ".. ANSWER ME!!!"
Gerard squeaked and peed himself as the monster shook him hard "F..five" He stuttered out.
The man laughed at this, the sound was like nails down a chalkboard "5 'ey?.. Well, y' too little t' kill.. But y' big enough t' tell.." He looked over at his partner, who was busy cutting Gerard's mum's throat. His dad was already dead! ".. What d' y' think?.. Should we kill 'im?"
The other man was covered in thick red blood as he walked over to examine the small, wet, petrified boy "What's ya name kid?"
Gerard sniffed, sucking a glob of snot back up his nose "Gerard" He whimpered, trying REALLY hard to not meet the monster's eyes.
"Gerard?.. Cool name!.. So, Gerard.. Should we kill ya?.." Gerard's eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he shook his head desperately ".. Or should we let you go?.." Gerard nodded, and the man laughed ".. If we let ya go, ya gotta promise ya won't tell ANYONE what happened here, what ya saw?!"
"I won't!" Gerard whined as the man thumped his tiny back against the wall.
The man got real close, and his voice went real low "You don't talk to anyone, or we'll come back and rip you to pieces.. Understand?.." Snot and tears streaking down his pale face, Gerard nodded weakly ".. Good!.." The man dropped Gerard's tiny, trembling form to the tiled floor, then turned to his companion ".. Let's go"
The men left.
Gerard crawled through to the living room, before throwing up on the carpet, and then curling up into a ball on his side. He would've hugged his teddy bear now, but he'd lost it somewhere along the way. He knew that his mum and dad were gone, but he was too traumatised by what he'd seen and been through to even ATTEMPT to go for help.
It was 7:15 that morning that little 3 year old Mikey woke up to an empty bedroom "Geward?.. Geward, where are you?.." Mikey shuffled off the edge of his little bed, Spider-Man footsie pjs coming undone at the top, and went to find his big brother ".. Geward, I'm hungwy.." He whined as he toddled along the hallway toward the living room. When he got there, he found Gerard curled up on the floor. Reaching out with little chubby fingers, he shook Gerard's thin shoulder ".. Geward?.. I'm hungwy Geward.."
Gerard lay still and silent, eyes staring glassily into space, mouth hanging open.. he didn't answer.
Mikey decided to go look for something to eat himself. Maybe mummy was in the kitchen, and could make him pancakes.
When he pushed open the kitchen door, having to use all his meagre weight to do so, he wasn't sure quite what he was seeing.
Mum and dad were sat on chairs in the middle of the room. They were asleep (or so the 3 year old thought) and there was red sticky stuff all over them, and the floor (paint, he presumed)
Mikey didn't want to get paint on his footsie pjs, cos mummy would be cross, so he decided not to go over to her. He knew that his mum and dad (especially dad) didn't like to be woken up this early on a Saturday, so he thought it best if he didn't call out to them either.
Turning around, Mikey left the kitchen and went back to talk to his brother ".. Geward.. Mummy won't wake up.. Geward?!" When he STILL didn't get a response, he tried to think what to do.
Now, Mikey remembered something his mummy had said to them a while back about what to do if they needed help and she wasn't there (or something like that).. She'd told them to go to Miss Carter's house, next door.. The nice lady who made them cookies at Christmas.
The front door was inexplicably open, so little Mikey toddled next door and knocked as hard as he could on the weirdly purple painted wood.
After a minute, the door swung open, and a very confused looking Samantha Carter looked down at her tiny visitor "Mikey?.. What are you doing here?.." She leaned out of her door, over Mikey's head, and looked toward her neighbour's house ".. Where's your mummy sweetheart?"
Mikey shuffled his feet, footsies weren't really suitable for walking around out doors "Mummy and daddy are asleep, and the kitchen's sticky"
Samantha frowned "Sticky?"
"Red paint" Mikey nodded.
Samantha wasn't any the wiser, so she scooped the boy up into her arms, and headed next door.
Stepping into the house, the smell hit her instantly. It was that tangy, coppery stench that she'd smelled that day when she'd helped out at her husbands butcher's shop. It was blood.. and it turned her stomach "Mikey?.. Where's your mummy?.." She asked again, as her eyes landed on the small figure, curled up on the floor. Mikey pointed toward the kitchen.
Samantha carried Mikey over to Gerard's silent form ".. Gee?.. Sweetie are you ok?.." She crouched at the boy's side. He didn't move, or make a sound. She carefully sat Mikey down next to his brother ".. Mikey?.. Will you stay here with Gee while I go see your mummy?.." The little boy nodded, sitting down cross-legged and taking Gerard's cold, pale hand in his ".. Don't move, ok?.." Again he nodded, and Samantha stood and walked slowly toward the kitchen door.
The smell got stronger, the closer she got, and Mikey's description of the kitchen being "sticky" with "red paint" made her want to not look.. but she had to!
Pushing open the door, she saw what she'd hoped she wouldn't. Hand flying to her mouth, she stepped back into the living room, and dug with shaking fingers into the pocket of her dressing gown. Pulling out her cellphone, she dialled 911.
15 minutes later, police and ambulance were there. The ambulance took the two small, traumatised boys to the hospital, Samantha going with them, as she couldn't just watch them be taken off alone. The police, after establishing that they were going to get nothing from the boys, cordoned off the property, and began their enquiries.
Gerard and Mikey were alone in the world now. They had no other family to go to, so they were put into the system.
For the first month, they were kept together, with a foster couple in Newark. But then the couple decided that they couldn't cope with Gerard's silence, or his almost total unresponsiveness.. or when he'd wake up the whole house, screaming from the nightmares that plagued him every night.
They sent him back, like an unwanted gift, and right then, the boys were separated.

Over the next 9 years, Gerard remained silent, as he was shuffled from one foster family to another, not ONE of them lasting, because of his silence, or his night-terrors, or the fact that he had to be practically force-fed, otherwise he wouldn't eat at all.

And now, at the age of 14, the shy, silent, frightened boy, has just been returned yet again "I WILL find somewhere for you Gee.." Maggie Hardcarstle, Gerard's social worker for the last 4 years, tried to assure him ".. I actually have an idea!.." She dug around in her desk drawer for a minute, then pulled out a slip of paper, with a "Ta-da!"
She picked up her phone and dialled the number on the paper, shooting a smile toward the thin boy sat opposite her.. he didn't smile back.
The phone rang for a moment or two then someone answered. Gerard could only hear Maggie's side of the conversation, but it sounded like the two women were friends ".. Hi Linda, it's Maggie.. Yes, too long.. Haha, I know, I didn't think that would work either... Yes, actually I do!.. A 14 year old boy.. Yes.. Oh I think so.. No! There's no family left.. You will?.. Oh that's wonderful!.. You'll come meet him at my office tomorrow morning? Around 10?.. Excellent!.. And you'll bring Frankie?.. Good. It'll be nice to see you both.. Well, we'll see you tomorrow then!.. Bye Linda.." Then she hung up and grinned at Gerard ".. I have a good feeling about this one, and I think you'll like her son, Frank too."
Gerard sat silently observing Maggie through all her speech, then returned his attention to the sketchbook on his knees, his drawing of a graveyard, REALLY coming along nicely now...

Notes

Hi there chipmunks.. GeesCLUELESSgirl here!..

So I'm starting this new fic with my new friend, MCR babe 124. We hope you like it :)

Please comment, stay safe, and peace out!
<3