Don't say I'm better off dead

Gerard woke up a few hours later his neck aching from sleeping on Ray's shoulder. He took out his books and began to sketch his little brother and their friend peacefully asleep on each other. It was still dark but he did the best that he could with the street light above his head.
Ray wasn't going to replace Frank as his best friend. I mean, Ray was a nice person but he wasn't Frank. And he never would be. And that wasn't his fault.
It was still pitch black but Gerard could make out the shapes of the trees in the wood and could hear the gentle lapping of the lake. He was alone. He peered over the edge of the bridge. He could do it. If he wanted to. Mikey had Ray now after all. He was sure that they'd look out for each other. But after everything that they had been through he decided against it. NO! I will stay alive, he told himself. He sat back down on the bridge and drifted off for another few hours.
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He was woken by Mikey who was shaking his shoulders gently. Gerard allowed his eyes to creep open and he looked up to his smiling brother and Ray who was knelt next to him.
"Wake up sleepy Gee" he whispered as he started to poke his brother in the face.
"Get off Mikey" Gerard moaned as a smile crept onto his face. He stood up and grabbed his backpack slinging it onto his back. The other two where completely ready.
"Where to now?" Ray asked.
"Wherever" replied Mikey.
"Wait, don't you want to go home Ray?" Gerard asked.
"Why would I want to go back there?" he asked searching through his bag, "They obviously don't even care about me at 'home'"
"But won't your parents be missing you?"
"Gee," Ray sighed, "I don't have any parents. I told Mikey this morning but they um, they died when I was younger. I've been moving from care home to foster parents to care home for the past 7 years of my life. I hate it there, I have no friends. No family. No use. That's why you found me in the state that I was yesterday. I don't want to go back Gee. Please don't make me!"
"Oh. I'm sorry Ray. I didn't know...." he paused, "What are you looking for?"
Ray stopped rummaging and pulled something out of his bag. "Breakfast!" he replied throwing a sandwhich at Gerard and then one at Mikey. None of them had eaten much for the past few days so there was silence as they ate and walked, watching as the sun rose.
The road that they were on headed back into some more woods after about half an hour. Except these woods were denser and less light could work its way through to the floor, but they still carried on laughing and joking as they walked. This was what real happiness felt like. Except Gerard was still missing one person.

They had sat down for a rest when Gerard saw him race past. Blonde messy hair, evil blue eyes, fancy trainers. It was Darren. He had appeared from the trees and seemed to be running quickly away from something, he wasn't hurt in any way shape or form but he had a cunning smile plastered to his face.
Gerard leapt up from the floor and raced after him.
"You know what's happened to Frank because of you!!!" Gerard shouted. Mikey and Ray looked in shock as they watched their friend/brother slowly disappear into the woods after Darren.
"He deserved what I did to him!!!" Darren shouted back looking over his shoulder to see Gerard limping after him. Gerard's anger grew. How could he say something like that?

It took Gerard a while to catch Darren as his lungs started to ache from running. He winced at the pain in his chest but he wasn't going to stop. Once he was close enough he jumped onto Darren's back hugging him like how a koala would hug a tree. He sunk his nails in deep causing Darren to cry out with pain. He slowly brought Darren to the ground....

"Get off me you freak!" Darren shouted as he tried to get back onto his feet. He slipped falling flat on his face. Gerard ran over to him, grabbing his shoulders and turning him over.
"Why didn't you leave him alone? Why did you have to hurt him and me and Mikey so much?" Gerard cried.
Darren didn't even have time to reply before Gerard's fist connected with his face. Blood poured out of his mouth and he looked like he could choke on it. He shrieked out for help as another punch hit his stomach.
"Don't you ever hurt anyone like that again!" Gerard yelled as he closed his eyes and drove his fist into Darren's soft fleshy stomach, "You understand?!!!"
Darren moaned and tried to nod his head. "please just stop!"

"Gerard! You need to see this!" Ray called. His voice reached through the branches and Gerard heard it quietly in the distance. He turned back to face Darren's petrified face. What was he doing? Yes, Darren had hurt Frank but did that mean he had to hurt him. Gerard knew how much pain and grief this sort of thing caused. So why was he beating Darren up? He stood up keeping his eyes on Darren who was breathing heavy. He backed away ashamed of himself...

"Gerard!" The voice got louder as the footsteps grew nearer. "Gerard!" "Come quick! It might be too late but come quick!"
He felt Ray's hand on his shoulder and just watched as Darren stood up and ran, limping on his left leg.
He tried his best to keep up with Ray as he dragged him along the way that they had come, branches and plants flicking into his face.
"We followed where he had been running from!" shouted Ray, "And we found him!"
Gerard just nodded, his head swimming with memories.
Ray led him into a large clearing and the first thing that he saw was Mikey sat next to someone who was slumped against a tree trunk, holding a cloth to the back of his neck. And that someone looked rather familiar.....

Notes

So.... second to last chapter. Apologies for constantly ending on cliffhangers. Woke up this morning to find that this story had over 1000 views! Wow! that's bloody amazing! Thank you all for reading. I just hope you enjoy the ending. :) enjoy your day. Xx