Go With Me

Their path was now flat and wide enough so they could walk together. They were walking past a vineyard, their steps faster and faster each minute. It was also a little colder, the tall spruces shading them from the scolding sun. But the shade only lasted for a while, because the sun kept rising higher and higher. Mikey kept running in front of the other three, stopping at every third vine of the vineyard, checking if there was any ripened fruit. But then he suddenly stopped, stepping backwards like he didn’t believe what he was seeing, then swiftly fan back to his brother and their two friends, turning his head every now and then.
“What now? You’re not so slow on a flat path now, are you?” Ray said to him.
“Yeah, but his face is completely green because of it” smirked Frank.
“Shhhh” Mikey hissed to them, placing his index finger over his lips.
“Come with me” he whispered, turning his head once again. He tiptoed away from the rest, returning to the place he was before.
The rest stared behind him, like they were buried in their place.
“What the hell...?” wondered Ray. Mikey gestured with his hand to the rest to follow him, so they did. When they reached the place Mikey was standing, he was looking up the vineyard.
“Hey...” upsettingly said Mikey: “I swear to God, I saw him!”
“Who?” asked Ray.
“Some kid, his head was completely shaved... With these really big glasses” explained Mikey, pointing at the spot where he had seen the child: “And he was kind of... chained up, I guess”
“Mikes, stop bullshitting...” said Frank.
“I swear, he was in there! He sat there, between the vines and he looked at me through those big glasses that were taped together by a piece of scotch tape! He just stared at me... I swear on my mother’s grave!” Mikey said, trying to make the rest believe his story.
“Mikey, our mom isn’t dead” sighed Gerard: “But I can make sure, you’ll be dead if you keep bullshitting like this, got it?”
“You’re a toddler, Mikes” frowned Ray.
“But.. I swear...” Mikey wouldn’t give in. Gerard was starting to regret bringing them here, because he has had about enough of his brother’s constant bullshit and Ray’s constant whining. If it weren’t for Frank, he would probably never have brought them here.
Then, just as they were about to leave, right in the spot where Mikey was pointing at, from the vineyard, burst out a small child, about six years old. He ran as fast as lightning, up the hill towards a farmhouse.
“Ha! There he is!” smirked Mikey, pointing at the child: “Do you believe me now?”
They all stared behind the small boy, who ran like a deer up the hill. As soon as he reached the top of the hill, the boy disappeared somewhere behind the farmhouse.
“Who’s kid is that?” Ray thought out loud.
“Theirs, who else’s would he be?” said Frank, pointing at the farm house.
“Let’s go” he added, waving his hand to the rest to follow him and Gerard did, leaving Mikey and Ray behind their backs, leaving them to talk.
Mikey: “Weeell? Did I say I saw him?”
Ray: “Weirdoes all around”
Mikey: “Did you see how big his head was? It was like a water balloon!”
Ray: “I mean, helloooo? What kind of people live here?”
Mikey: “Hillbillies and rednecks”
Mikey was never the one to be happy about going to his grandfathers. He had always looked down on country people, even Gerard sometimes, because of his big love for this place.
The two slowly followed Gerard and Frank, who had already reached the farmhouse, they saw from the bottom of the vineyard. Mikey and Ray speeded up, Ray limping slightly. As they passed the wine cellar, they heard a dog barking.
“Oh, I hope it’s chained up” said Mikey.
“Yeah, me too” agreed Ray.
“It usually is” Gerard told them, overhearing their conversation. The four boys found themselves on the front yard of the farmhouse. And Gerard was right: right there by the barn, was a dog, chained up on a long chain, barking at them. Then out of the barn, came an older man with grey hair, dressed in dark green overalls and black muddy boots on his feet, reaching up to his knees. He looked up at the new arrivals, then turned to the dog, silencing him with a snap of his fingers. The old man started approaching the young boys, scratching his a couple days old beard.
“Good day” Gerard said, the others following his example.
“God bless” said the old man. He stopped in front of them, examining them from head to toe.
“What’re ya doin’ here?” he asked.
“Yeah, hi, amm...” stared Gerard, feeling awkward: “We are... amm... I’m Way’s! We’re Donald Way’s son!” said Gerard, poiting at Mikey and himself.
“Whaaaaat?!” the old men shouted, leaning his ear towards Gerard. Apparently he didn’t hear all that well.
“We’re Donald Way’s sons!” Gerard repeated louder, again pointing at Mikey and himself.
“He’s not here anymore!” the old man shouted back.
“I know he’s not... We’re just going...”
“Whaaaat?!” he shouted again.
“I can’t believe this!” sighed Ray in annoyance, rolling his eyes. Whilst doing so, she noticed a woman in her forties, standing across the yard. She was dressed a lot like the old men, with a bloody apron dangling from her neck. She was holding a dead chicken in her hands, the lifeless bird dangling down beside her body.
Ray grabbed Frank’s sleeve, nodding in the woman’s direction.
“Frank... Look” Ray quietly said. Frank turned his head in the way Ray was nodding to, his eyes widen when he saw the woman.
“Gee” Frank said and like Ray before, tugged on his sleeve. Gerard turned away from the old men and facing the way Frank was showing him. He was just about to speak to the woman, when a loud muuuuu came from the barn. After the cow was done muuing, Gerard spoke to the woman: “Hi! We’re just passing through” he called out to her. The woman stepped a few steps forward.
“To ammm the Way’s farm...” continued Gerard, when the woman said nothing.
“Don’t know anythin’” said the woman.
“Whatever” quietly sighed Frank, fixing a lock of hair that fell on to his face: “Let’s move on. They’re in their own world”
Then a man’s figure appeared in front of the door of the barn. He was in his early thirties, pulling a pair of bulls behind him. The man stopped in his place, giving the boys a frowned look.
“What do ya want?” he asked, stepping towards them. He pulled the two animals behind him and out of the barn ran the small boy they saw earlier. It was true, his head was really big, with no hair and glasses tape together by scotch tape.
“I’m Way’s son, from up the hill...” started Gerard, but got interrupted.
“Who’s you say you are?” asked the man, letting go of the rope that held together the animals, stepping closer to the four boys, taking a good look at each one.
“Way’s, from the farm up the hill” repeated Gerard. Ray again took Frank’s hand in his, unintentionally squeezing it really hard.
“What the hell are ya doin’ here? Ya alone? Who’s with ya?” the man kept on asking, the small boy running to him, holding the man by his pants.
“We’re alone... We’re just going up to the caves” explained Gerard.
“Graaaves??? Ya said you need graveees?” the old man blared.
“No” politely smiled Gerard: “We’re going to the caves to take a couple of photos for an assignment”
“What assignment?” asked the younger man.
“A photography assignment” finally spoke up Frank.
“I’m askin’ him!” said the man, pointing at Gerard, staring directly in to his face, so Gerard could smell the alcohol. Gerard flinched, stepping back a step. He was really uncomfortable.
“Weeell?” the man raised his voice. Gerard’s eyes quickly swept through the surroundings, while the rest stared down at their feet.
“For school... Assignment for ammm.... best photo....” Gerard stuttered.
“Yall stay away from there” said the man.
“We’re just gonna...” started Gerard, but the man turned his back to him, returning back to the animals who were patiently waiting.
“Yall stay away from there” repeated the man, without turning, pulling the two bulls towards a grassy field. The little boy ran after him by the side of the bar, stopping at a basket full of green apples, taking one from it. When the man saw this, he harshly slapped the boy behind his ears, the scotch taped glasses falling on the ground. The boy bent over to pick them up, but the man grabbed him by the ear, pulling hardly and saying: “Ya ain’t steeling, ya hear me?! I told ya, ya aint’s steeling!”
The boy cried from the pain, so the man let go of him. The boy immediately ran away to the woman who was still standing in the same place. Gerard turned to her, in hopes she’d be more useful, but before he even spoke, the woman quietly said: “Don’t know anythin’” shaking her head.
“That house doesn’t stand anymore” they heard a voice come from above their heads. They all looking up, seeing a girl their age standing on top of the balcony.
She had short blond hair, and she too was wearing an apron. They were standing right beneath her, so they could see up her skirt. She had a sheet wrapped around and tucked behind her underwear, and a big red stain on it.
The boys stepped backwards so they could see her face. Gerard immediately recognised her. It was little Beth.
“Hey” said Gerard, clearly relaxing from the sight of a familiar face.
“Oh my god... I can’t believe this!” quietly said Ray, moving even closer to Frank.
“There’s nothin’ there now, just a whole bunch of weeds and snakes” said Beth, ignoring Ray all together.
Gerard looked down the hill, seeing the younger man walking there.
“We’re actually going to the caves” explained Gerard, trying to smile. He only truly smiled for Frank, because every time he’d smile to him, Frank would smile back with that beautiful smile of his. Gerard remembered the first time he ever saw that smile.
It was the first day of 1st grade and everyone already had a sitting buddy, only Gerard was left, sitting in the back, alone. Right before, he gave up hope of getting a sitting buddy, this really small boy, with black hair set down next to him, a big grin on his face and a spark in his brown eyes.
“Hi, I’m Frankie” said the little boy, his grin growing wider.
“I’m gonna be your buddy” he said without hesitation, placing his things on the table before him.
“Okay” smiled Gerard: “I’m Gee”
“You want to share a cookie Gee?” asked little Frank, pulling a box of Oreo’s out of his bag.
“Yeah, sure” smile Gerard, taking the half of the cookie Frank had offered him.
Of course, neither of them had that ‘love at first sight’ scenario. They were only six, but as their relationship as best friends grew, so did their feelings for each other, the bond between them growing stronger and stronger. Gerard sometimes couldn’t believe they remained friends for all these years. When everyone else left, they still knew they had each other.
“There’re snakes there too!” Beth snapped Gerard from his memories.
“We’ll take our chances” politely said Gerard
“It’s worth it for such beauty” he said, unintentionally looking at Frank.
“Shall we?” Gerard asked the rest.
“We shall” smiled Frank, shaking of Ray’s hand.
“Good bye” Gerard said to Beth and nodding towards the woman. The crossed the yard, continuing to follow the path that brought them up here. They walked faster than before, trying to leave the farm as far behind them as possible. When they were far enough for none of the Morgan’s to hear them, Frank spoke first.
“I can’t believe this!” he said.
“These people are insane!” said Mikey.
“You’re not getting here ever again” said Ray.
Gerard remained silent.
“Gee” Frank nudged Gerard: “Who was that guy?”
“I have no idea” Gerard honestly said: “It was the first time I saw him”
“What a bully” said Mikey: “How he hit him, the kid...”
“That’s life” shrugged Gerard, even though he was freaked out by the whole thing just like everyone else,
“You and your life” hissed Ray: “He was so cruel! He should be reported! Everyone here needs to go get help! It’s... It’s... I mean, did you see that woman? I just couldn’t believe it!”
“She had a dead chicken in her hand” laughed Mikey: “Maybe it was from that chicken farm we saw earlier”
The in fact did see a chicken farm before, right after they had gotten off the bus and a really scary looking man in front of it, with a riffle in hand and a cigarette stuck between his lips.
“No, not her... The younger one...”
“Beth” finished Gerard.
“I don’t care what her name was” said Ray: “Did you see it? She had her period! And instead of having a pad in her underwear, she had a sheet wrapped around it! Gee, where the hell did you bring us to? The 18th century?”
“What do you think they did before pads were available? We have it easy now, especially you and your whole Hot Topic or whatever... And besides, why do you care? You’re a dude!” Gerard said, getting pretty annoyed with Ray. He actually wanted to bitch slap the shit out of him. But no... That would only make Frank angry.
“But that...” Ray wouldn’t give in, overhearing the anger in Gerard’s voice: “That’s unhygienic! I only care, ‘cause I’m still bisexual and those kind of things creep me out”
This was the first time any of them heard Ray say himself that he was bisexual. Of course, they knew, because only after a week after Ray moved here, the whole school knew.
“So what? If there’s an infection, the old dude takes some gaaaas and disinfects” chuckled Mikey, trying to be humorous. They all laughed when Mikey started impersonating the old man, even Gerard laughed.
“The old guys half deaf... And like a hundred years old” said Frank, becoming a little more serious: “Let’s just forget about that and get to those caves”
“I don’t know that guy would want us to go there!” said Ray: “He told us that three times”
“They’re not his” said Gerard, fastening his step.
They walked on a small path for a while, forest on their left side, and a bare grassy hill on their right. Gerard was walking up front, while the other still talked about what happened on the farm. But Gerard didn’t hear them. He had this weird feeling, and he more or less focused on that.
The sun was already on top of the sky, and the boys were very much tired. Mikey was again falling behind a couple steps, breathing heavily. That’s all Gerard, Frank and Ray would hear, that and the chirping of birds, until they got to a corn field. The corn was pretty tall for this time of year, there were even a couple of cobs already grown. The three up front spoke a few words on that, until they heard a noise behind them. They turned around, only to find Mikey pulling the corn cobs of the stems.
“Damn it, Mikey!” Gerard raised his voice at his little brother: “Don’t do that! It’s not ripe yet!”
“Yes it is” retorted Mikey.
“And even if it is, it’s not yours!”
“It is now” smirked Mikey. Before Gerard could even do anything, Frank placed his hand on Gerard’s shoulder.
“Leave it Gee. It’s not worth it”
Gerard stared at the Mikey for a while, who was still gathering the cobs in his hands, then hissed through his teeth: “I swear to god, one day I’m gonna..”
“Forget about it” said Frank, gently pulling Gerard to him. Gerard turned to his best friend and just seeing his look, pleading him to just let it go, made him soften up and forget about Mikey. Gerard, Frank and Ray started walking again, while Mikey shoved the corn cobs in to his backpack. As he was doing that, he got this feeling, like someone was watching him. He looked up from his backpack and there between the stems of corn, he saw that same little bold boy, with the big glasses. The boy stared at Mikey, completely still and directly in to his eyes. Mikey was really creeped out and scared at the sight of the boy, stepping a few steps back. The boy didn’t move. Mikey quickly grabbed his things and ran after the others.
Meanwhile, Gerard, Ray and Frank had reached a small stream, maybe a meter and a half wide, which had a wooden plank leading across it. Gerard was the first one to cross it and when he got over, he stopped, looking in to the distance.
“That there” he pointed at least a hundred meters up the hill: “That’s my granddad’s farm! Well... It used to be...”
Frank and Ray finally got to him, taking a good look at the ruins that were once a grand farmhouse, getting lost in all the weeds.
“Great” sarcastically said Ray.
Gerard chose to ignore him, staring that the ruins that were once his favourite place to be. Meanwhile, Mikey had reached them, breathing heavily like a horse.
“What’s going on?” he asked, catching his breath. When he saw his brothering giving him a warning look, he decided it would be best if he just stayed quiet about the encounter with the bold boy in the corn field.
‘Gee would probably go ballistic’ Mikey thought to himself.
“It’s your grandfather’s farm” Frank answered his question.
“Where?” asked Mikey: “I don’t see anything”
“Those weeds over there” said Ray and pointed in the way they were all looking.
“Ray!” Frank said warningly to Ray.
Without taking a single glance away from what was once a second home to him, and said: “I’m gonna go take a look. Mikey you wanna come with me?”
“Nah, it’s okay bro, you were closer to granddad anyways. Have your moment” Mikey said, giving Gerard a wink. For a moment they were all quiet. Ray gave Frank a questioning look, but Frank’s eyes only saw Gerard.
“Yeah, of course. Let’s go guys” he said to Ray and Mikey, nodding to them to follow him. Gerard turned to Frank.
“I’m going alone...” he hesitantly said. He so wanted Frank with him up there, but he knew this was something he had to do alone.
“This stream” he then pointed at the water: “If you walk by it, you’ll come right to the pools. Wait for me there. I’ll come after you. It’s not far, five minutes or so, down the stream. You can even have a swim”
They all stared down the stream, then Gerard continued.
“You can get lost. Just follow the stream. I’ll be right behind you. I’m just gonna take a look, only for a minute” he said, giving Frank an assuring look.
“Yeah, okay, just don’t be too long” finally said Frank, winking at Gerard.
“Let’s go you two” he then said to Mikey and Ray. The three headed down the stream, leaving Gerard behind.
Gerard looked up at the ruins once again, hearing Ray whine in the distance: “But there are snakes there!”, then he marched up the hill. It was like his feet automatically carrying him forward and in a short minute, he was standing in front of the ruins. He just stood there for a while, blankly staring at the pile of rocks and weeds before him.
‘This was once a farm’ Gerard thought to himself.
‘There!’ his look travelled to a pile of burned, from the fire black planks: ‘that’s where the kitchen was, where granddad baked bread... and there, there was the bedroom...’ when he looked that way, he saw that here was still the iron frame of the bed there, covered in weeds. He stared at everything, still seeing the farmhouse, even though there was nothing left to be seen.
‘It’s like it never existed’ he thought.
With sadness and tears piling his eyes, Gerard collapsed to the ground, looking around himself. The surrounding stayed pretty much the same. But there was still a cross road or two that weren’t there before and there seemed to be less forest. Fields, hills, trees... Everything was still there, still the same, except his grandfather’s farm was gone.
Gerard took the half smoked cigarette out of his pocket and placed it between his lips. He remembered that before his granddad died, he used to come up here almost every weekend and Gerard would always stay as long as he could, even though he missed Frank, he still loved being here, away from the city lights. Back then, this was a beautiful farm and even his dad would occasionally work on it. Before Gerard and Mikey’s father started drinking, he was actually a pretty good father and son.
Then one autumn, granddad passed away and they didn’t come here again. Gerard remembered who hard it was for him back then. His dad still kept coming here after that, but eventually stopped, trading the work on the farm for alcohol. The more his dad drank, the more the farm suffered, soon becoming the nothing it is today.
He also remembered how Frank comforted him through all of this and how Frank never gave up on him.
Before everything, Gerard’s father was a truck driver, but they took away his licence after he was caught driving drunk and they fired him for it. Gerard’s mother had often said to his dad, that they should just sell the place all together, get something out of it, but being as stubborn as his father was, he refused to do so, saying that he won’t have any stranger living in his birth home. And then after a huge thunder storm, an avalanche crashed down on the house, dividing it on two. The old man was broken, he kept getting himself in to bigger dept’s, until it got so far that he forged a couple of papers to fix everything, and he ended up in jail. But at least there was peace at home... Today, Gerard and Mikey’s old man actually has a job as this night guard at some company , always complaining about this or that thing that he thinks should be different. And that’s left of his birth home? A pile of rocks...
‘Where’s your fucking birth house now?’ Gerard asked, taking his lighter out of his pocket and lighting the cigarette. He deeply inhaled the smoke.
‘Whatever” thought Gerard, blowing out a big cloud of smoke.
While the Ray and Mikey headed down to the pools, Frank stayed behind, keeping an eye on Gerard from a safe distance. He knew this would be an emotional wreck for him and he just wanted to make sure, he was okay. He just couldn’t let the one he loved, go through all of this alone. He loved Gerard with all his heart, and he wanted nothing more than to make him happy.
Frank wanted to fix the mistake he had made a couple of years back, that night they had a sleepover at his place when they almost kissed. He really wanted to kiss him, and he would have if Bob hadn’t interrupted them. And instead of being there, when Gerard looked back at him, he started drinking, because he didn’t know exactly what to do, panic rising in the pit of his stomach. He definitely shouldn’t have pretended like nothing happened after. He should have taken Gerard out of his room and out on the balcony where they could have complete privacy and that’s where he would have kissed him for the first time. Frank often fantasised about what it will be like to kiss those soft pink lips that made the sexiest half smile in the world. He actually wanted their first kiss to be romantic, there on the balcony of his flat, preferably at sunset, his arms tightly wrapped around Gerard’s waist or cupping his face and then Frank would slowly lean in, like in the movies, and he would kiss him gently, yet passionately, slowly licking Gerard’s bottom lip, asking him for permission, because he would never force something on Gerard if he didn’t want to do it. It would be just perfect.
But Frank decided that this trip would be where he’d make his move, he just couldn’t wait anymore. He made his decision this morning when Gerard woke him up by using their special whistle. It was time Frank gathered up the strength and finally kiss Gerard and asking him to be his boyfriend, it was time he told him about how he felt ever since fourth grade. Back then Frank didn’t really know that he was gay yet, but he knew that he loved Gerard and he had only hope Gerard would feel the same way. And he had this feeling, down in his gut, that Gerard felt the same...
He watched as his love, his best friend, sat on the ground, smoking one of his last cigarettes and he just couldn’t help but think how beautiful he was.
Right before Gerard stood up to leave the ruins behind, Frank left, running to catch up with Mikey and Ray, maybe even taking that swim as Gerard suggested earlier.
When he saw the pools and Mikey and Ray sitting next to them, he just through his backpack on the ground, his shirt and pants following soon after. He took of his run down, army green Converses and jumped straight in to the biggest pull, the cold water gulping his body.

Notes

Heey Sweethearts :D
So I'm having a pretty good day, even though it's hot like a motherfucker here... But it's probably just the coffee keeping me in such a good moood.
But eough about me, here's the next chapter and I hope you like it :))

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love you guys xo <3