Unapologetic Apathy

When I woke up, Frank had left and I realized I'd slept through the whole night, and most of the day, and that my bruises were healed. My hands still stung, but other than that, sleep had fixed me right up.

I picked up the note Frank left me. I scanned it, then set it down and stretched. My back aches a bit, because of the couch, but I felt relieved. Frank and I... Wow. Okay.

It it was day time. Frank woul be awake. Unless he adapted to a nocturnal schedule for our little deal. I would never know. And j didn't know how to send him a letter or contact him in any way. I'd just have to wait for him to come back. I sighe and looked around for my missing shirt. It ended up under the couch. And my dress shirt was abandoned on the other side of the room.

I shrugged everything back on. I should've been sleeping, but I couldn't. I also felt compelled to rip off the curtains covering the window and see the sky. For some reason. I closed my eyes. Pushed the thought out of my head. Frank last night had made me feel more human, and that small human part of me missed the sun.

But my eyes loved the dark. I felt more comfortable in the dark. I saw well in the dark. It's just....I wished I was human. Every time I felt like that, I went to the study and tried again to reverse this horrendous curse. But thanks to Frank, I felt good. I wanted to see him again.

That night, I peeke out the curtain and saw him skipping up the walkway. Not skipping, but anxiously bouncing. He crraked the door open.

I was in my usual place, in the shadowy part of the living room lounging on the couch. I'd discovered recently that I didn't blend Into the shadows: shadows just happened to be wherever I was. Even in a bright room I'd end up standing in an kminoous looming darkness. It was annoyingly helpful. Frank saw me instantly.

"Hey," he said with a shy smile on his face. He leaned down near the couch and felt around for something. "I forgot my belt." He pulled out a long brown belt, then lifted his shirt up to see his belt loop. I pretended I wasn't distracted by the thin bit of pale skin showing when he threaded his belt on his hips. I noticed his tattooed hands, an I was reminded of a bright mural I saw once in a gallery when I was 'alive'.

I didn't know what to say to him. We had kissed a lot last nigh. And even a bit more. It was my first time, so it wasn't like I knew what to do the morning after. Even though it was technically the night after. But Frank seemed to know what to do. He walked towards me and sat down incredibly close on the couch.

"Hi, Frankie," I said and leaned my head in his shoulder. I couldn't believe there was a time I though he belonged in my walls. I shuddered to imagine if I had been stronger than him that night.

"I like it when you call me Franke," he hummed.

"Okay Frankie."

His arms moved to hug me in a sideways cuddle. "You know what? I'm going to show you tv. And the Internet. And so many things. Did you watch any of the movies I brought?" I felt my face turn into a worried look.

"I didnt- I don't know- um- what's it..supposed to do?" I stammered. Frank gave a short burst of a laugh.

"Here. I'll show how. Where are they?"

"I'll get them." I got up and left the room. I came back with the odd device and the little books of discs he sent with it. I tried to work it before, so I didn't disappoint Frank, but I didn't even know what a 'movie' was.

I came into into the room and Frank smiled.He started to explain again what a movie was.

"It's like a bunch of pictures out together to tell a story. It used to be little snapshots taken a little at a time, but no there are cameras that take scene in one long take now. They're stored on these little discs. My favourites are horror movies," he explained. "They are scary stories."

"Like, ghost stories?" I wondered.

"Yeah. And this," he laughed, holding up a disc with a bunch of people on it, "is Twilight. It's about vampires, too. But it's a lame excuse for a movie. Shouldn't be your first. It was a joke, honestly. Te vampires sparkle in sunlight."

i couldnt help but scoff. "Sparkle. Right," I sighed. I remeber burns and scars and incredible brightness. Honestly, I wished I sparkled. I'd at least be able to go outside.

"Yeah. But this is Avatar. It was really good, won an award a few years ago. But this is good, too. Jurassic Park. Dinosaurs. And I brought some horror movies, too. The classics and must sees," he said as he flipped through some of the cases.

"You pick," I told him. "What is this machine supposed to do?"

"The movie plays in the screen. First you have to turn it on," he said, leaning over me to press a button. I caught his scent: the classic Frank: warm and scented like his shampoo and somethig metallic. He smelled like ink and nicotine, and warm cookies.

"Woah," I jumped at the sudden flash of blue on the screen. A logo. It was weird. Where was the light coming from?

Frank smirked. "Are you in the mood for something scary, funny, exciting, or dramatic?"

"Let's watch your favourite," I suggested.

"Okay. Scary. Fuck it, if we want we can watch all of them."


And and that was the beginning of the movie marathon. First we watched Jurassic Park, where I asked a lot of questions about how it was made and if it was all real. I tried not to act like a small child, but it was hard when presented with something so impossible, like a movie. Frank said he didn't know all the answers. He said the dinosaurs were robots, machines. That blew my mind.

Then we watched something scary. I forget what it was called. I liked it, and I was ashamed that it made me hungry. Too much blood. I ended up halfway through the movie leaning on Frank and nuzzling into the crook of his neck. I smelled the smell of nicotine and cookies and shampoo and blood. It felt comforting.

We watched something funny next. I think by the end of the night, Frank was asleep and I was watching them all intently. He showed me how to put on the next movie. I was doin it myself after a while. He fell asleep and I cuddle into him during the frightening scenes.

"What a scary little vampire you are," he mumbled, half asleep into my ear, "scared of a little movie."

"I'm not scared! I'm just intrigued. How can the disc show a picture on his device?" I said waving my hands in amazemnt.

"You're cute," he mumbled as he fell asleep again. I blushed.

When the sun rose, I was asleep again. But when I woke up, Frank was gone, and he left another note.

-maybe we can do that at my house tomorrow night. I can show you the Internet xx

-Frank

Notes

I feel like Gerard's character change was super sudden and odd.... But I'll pretend he's actually a cinnamon roll at heart... Just trying to be intimidating so little Frankie could like him more