Bound By A Chair

I am a man of many words. Even if I don’t speak them. I talk to myself inside my head, it’s a bit impossible if I don’t know what my own voice sounds like, but somehow I have a voice in my head. Even if I have many words to use to describe people, I can’t one to describe Frank with. He’s unusual. Sometimes he’ll be sitting on his own and something almost like a dark, misty cloud with appears in his eyes, like he’s broken. I have decided he is haunted by his past.

“Gerard, don’t forget lunch” There’s Greenford reminding me to have lunch, today was one of the days I get to go out on my own somewhere. I decided I would go to the Comic Book Shop and see if Dave, the owner, had sold any copies of my comic. You see, I really want to be a comic book artist and I’ve been going to Dave’s shop for many years now in my free time and he suggested the idea to me that I could platform my work at his shop.
I got to the shop and rolled up to the counter.

“Hey Gerard!” I smiled in response, ‘Any news?’
“Ah, yes, I sold the first copy of your comic yesterday!” This was amazing news, even if it was one copy, it was a start. ‘Do you know who bought it?’
“It was a kid, maybe a bit younger than you, who was wearing all black. Had a look around before asking me if I knew where he could find your comic!” This was truly amazing, they had asked for my comic! That means that they knew who I was. I only had a small blog that comes up if you search my name on the internet so someone must have gone to some lengths to find it. ‘Did they leave any details?’
“They only left a name, Frank Iero, he said you’d know him?” Holy shit! I only knew one Frank! But how did he know I had a comic? Coming to think of it, I could have sworn I saw Frank yesterday on my way to the train station. Does this count as stalking? I don’t think it does if I share a room with him? Maybe he just wants to be friends with me? ‘Yeah I know him. He just moved into the house’

“Ah, well, I think he’s your first fan!” Dave then proceeded to give me my share of the money, which only ended up being 10$. I then left after thanking Dave and wheeled myself to the nearest cheap coffee place. Once I collected my order and settled at a table, I saw a familiar face. I decided I needed to confront Frank about him being in all of these places but when I got outside I couldn’t find him anywhere. I decided I should just head back with my coffee and do some mindless sketching in the garden.

Time passed and I was in a deep concentration when I saw a figure approach my out the corner of my eye. I spun around to be met with Frank. I wheeled towards him as fast as I could and grabbed his arm in an awkward position so he’d have to follow me. I took him into an area where we couldn’t be seen before gesturing for him to sit down. ‘Why do you keep following me, I know you have been and you found my comic. I want answers NOW’ Frank read the paper slowly before replying.

“I-I-I promise it’s n-not what it seems like. I am just really interested in you. N-not everyone is an open book” I thought about what Frank had said. It wasn’t really an explanation. So he wanted to understand me? Did he think following me would help him? ‘How did you know about my comic book?’

“I looked you up to see if you had any social media and your blog appeared. I-I thought that maybe your comic would tell me something about you. It’s really good by the way.” I smiled knowing he liked my comic.

“Look Gerard I’m really sorry, I know it seems really creepy but I just wanted to know more about you.” I nodded processing what he was saying. He seemed genuine. ‘Okay, thanks’

“I’m going now, umm, maybe we’ll meet again” With that Frank jumped over the fence.
I didn’t think anything of it first. But then there were questions. Where had Frank gone? No one had seen him and he didn’t come home that night. The police were contacted to search for him. Greenford was constantly asking me if I’d seen him. I told her the last time I saw him was in the garden and that was all I knew. Had he run away? He did have a backpack with him which probably had clothes in if he had run. I began to think maybe this was a sign? Him finding out things about me, maybe this was him telling me that I should look into him. Maybe he wanted me to?

I searched his side of the room for any clues. All I found was that most of his clothes had gone, and any possible money that he could have had. Any keepsakes he could have had went with him too. So I think he had definitely run away. I saw that some guitar picks had been left behind. I didn’t see him take a guitar? Maybe his way of making money would be from busking? That was interesting, he wouldn’t have gone very far so maybe if I searched for a busker in the town closest I could maybe find him? First I should try and look at his file though.
Greenford was busy today so wouldn’t be in t he office. I snuck in and looked through the cabinets until I found Frank’s file.

Name: Frank Anthony Iero
Age: 19
Reason for displacement: Abusive father at home. Frank was found in a basement when the authorities were called due to not having seen Frank in a couple of months and constant arguing heard. Frank has been assessed and is depressed and is sensitive to people touching him. Only those he trusts. Frank’s mother died when he was 15.

I felt wrong reading his file. I felt like I was snooping in on information I shouldn’t be. I stopped reading and put the file back before going back to my room and settling down into bed. I looked up at the sky. Frank would be seeing the same sky. Why had he run away? I hadn’t known him long at all, but I felt lonely without him. Had he affected me that much? There was always something different about him and I still can’t figure out what it is.

Notes