The next day Frank woke up on the floor dried up spit covered his chin. He pushed himself and checked the clock. 3:48. Fuck he was late. He didn’t know how he managed to sleep so long. It was certainly unusual.
“Sorry I’m late I overslept,” Frank muttered an excuse to his boss/coworker Reggie, who just raised his eyebrows at Frank.
Everything was business as usual. But Frank couldn’t shake the dread and utter fear that came with his dream last night. It felt so real. The blood how it soaked his clothes and his bed. Frank shuttered at the thought. And not to mention how Gerard the stranger he’d met that night made a guest appearance in it. At the time Frank wasn’t sure if it was him. But he was sure now.
Who else could it have been? Frank thought.
But he couldn’t help the fog that hung over his head. It didn’t help that he was also physically feeling out of it. Maybe he caught something standing outside in the cold with a soaking shirt? He tried to work through it but people noticed.
“What’s the matter with you today?” Asked one of the regulars when Frank didn’t attempt to maintain conversation with him. Frank only shrugged and gave a half assed excuse.
Around ten Frank noticed Gerard walk in with a bulky man. The man had short blonde hair and a small beard despite his looks the man looked generally good-natured smiling and laughing at different things. Gerard looked uninterested in the conversation a small smirk pulling at his lips every now and again. They sat down at the bar and Frank couldn’t help but approach them.
“What can I do you for?” He said in his trademark bartender voice. He tried to look more alive than he was feeling. Something in him wanted to impress Gerard. Something drew him to Frank. An almost magnetic reaction. They ordered a couple of beers not looking at Frank. As he turned away Frank couldn’t help but here the bulky man speak. “
That’s the candidate? He’s like three feet tall, not much but piece on ass for you if you ask me,” His voice was snarky, and Frank didn’t like it. Frank furrowed his eyebrows.
What if they weren’t talking about him? Frank thought. They had to have been they said “he” was three feet tall.
The man’s words confused Frank. Candidate? A candidate for what? As Frank filled their drinks he couldn’t help but let his eyes fall on the two men. They didn’t pay him any attention.
“Shut it Bryar,” Gerard hissed and must’ve hit or kicked the bulky man under the bar because the man, Bryar, snarled at him raising his upper lips and just as Frank though he was going to see razor sharp teeth underneath a man at the other end of the bar called out to him forcing Frank to whip his head around and walk to their direction.
“Geez we’ve been calling for like five minutes,” The young man complained. He was wearing a Princeton jumper and was standing with two attractive girls. Frank muttered an unapologetic sorry and took their order.
“What’s up with the service around here?” The man said blatantly in an arrogant tone. Frank was tempted to tell him off but Reggie’s hand tightened on Frank shoulder telling him to hold back. Frank just sighed and made their drinks. A killer headache was beginning to pound inside of his skull and the band was not helping. They weren’t bad they were just loud. But tonight everything seemed loud to Frank.
He felt like he could hear the couple across the pub talking, in fact he could something about politics. Frank could hear everything in the whole joint even the cars scutted through the icy streets Frank could hear.
No that can’t be possible. He thought.
He worked through it everything echoing in his head.
He felt hungry but the thought of food made him want to throw up. Everything had been off since last night, after he met Gerard. Frank shook it off and tried to work through the grumbling in his stomach and the aching in his head.
“Yo Iero you’re not looking so hot maybe you should take a smoke break eh?” Reggie, Frank’s coworker and boss, said breaking him out of his mindless robotic movements of filling people’s drinks. Frank had quickly learned to ignore the pain if he tongued it too much it wouldn’t help. Reggie’s words seemed to echo in Frank’s head a few times before he was able to process them. He nodded numbly and wiped his hands on a wet rag.
He turned letting his eyes fall on Gerard one last time as he pulled on his jean jacket. Gerard and his companion sat at the far end of the bar with their backs facing Frank. They had been that way for a few hours ordering a steady flow of beers not really saying much after Bryar’s snarky remarks about Frank the man didn’t speak much, whenever they did speak Gerard did most of the talking. Though Gerard never ignolaged Frank, not the way he had before last night. This both disappointed and relieved him.
The wind fought back as Frank pushed the heavy doors open. It was much winder than yesterday, which also meant it was much colder as well. Frank shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. It was too windy to smoke so Frank just stood there letting the icy wind flow over him as he kneaded at a knot on the back of his neck.
Suddenly flashbacks of last night’s dream flooded the backs of Frank’s eyelids. Blood. So much blood. Frank could feel it on his skin again. Thick and warm. In his mouth. Running down his chin. This was new he didn’t remember this from the dream, but here it was clear as day, as if it were a memory. Frank could almost taste the iron in his mouth again.
Uncontrollably Frank’s mouth watered. The hunger was back. The thought that blood could trigger a craving within in him sicken Frank. He had been a vegetarian since he was 15.
Out of nowhere Frank’s stomach lurched. He doubled over coughing up whatever happened to be in his stomach. Whatever it was it tasted awful. Frank keeps his eyes squeezed shut. He heard the door open. He hoped whoever it was just ignored him thought he was just drunk. But of course they didn’t.
“Frank, are you alright?” The voce sounded familiar. It sounded like Gerard but it was too soft to be Gerard. Frank felt a warm hand press against his back and rub lightly.
Without looking Frank kicked some icy dirt over the mess he’d made and wiped his mouth. Eyes shot to Gerard who had since recoiled his arm. Gerard’s eyes looked greener tonight, half lidded but his long eyelashes. The taller man’s hair whipped around his face in a manner that must’ve been annoying but he made no attempt to fight it.
“Are you alright?” Gerard repeated concern laced his voice but something about the way he stood made Frank think it was fake.
“Yeah just sick I guess,” Frank rubbed his hands together trying to ignore the vile taste in his mouth. Amusement lit up in Gerard’s eyes and smirk fell onto his lips.
How could he find this funny? Frank thought angrily.
“Well I hope you get better soon,” Gerard said not trying to conceal the fact that all of this was some sort of joke to him.
Sadistic fucker. Frank muttered in his mind as Gerard treaded off apparently not caring about what happened to his friend inside.
As soon as Frank step foot inside he was shooed out by Reggie who told him someone saw Frank throw up and that he didn’t want any sick employees getting his costumers sick. Frank couldn’t put up much off a fight because he really did feel like shit. Vomiting didn’t make him feel any better. His head still pounded. His stomach still felt tight with hunger.
Frank got ready for bed as soon as he got home brushing his teeth and stripping down into his boxers. He tried his best to subdue his hunger but his shitty yogurt didn’t do much. After admitting defeat Frank crawled into bed and fell fast asleep.

Notes