Bad News From The Zones, Tumbleweeds

Ghoul’s POV

I pull into the canyon that leads to our compound with Poison following close behind. Dust is flying, I look down and I’m doing nearly 90. Since our stop and my mini breakdown; we’ve been flying towards home. I didn’t want to stop again and cry; I just wanted to get Gee home as quickly as possible. This is torturous. I throw the car in park and before I can turn the engine off, my car door opens and I’m pulled into a tight hug from Poison. He is crying, almost hysterically, he’s almost hyperventilating.
FG Babe, please try to calm down. You will make yourself sick.
He’s not listening to me. His hands are under my vest gripping my shirt in his hands. His face buried in my chest. He’s broken and hurting.
FG Please baby, you can cry but I need to you be able to breath.
PP H-sob. He’s – sob. Oh God Frank, Jet’s dead. Sob.
I’m confused trying to hear him. Then it hits me, it’s finally sinking in, they are gone and not coming back.
FG Gee –
PP M-m-Mikey. Sob.
Tears are falling down my cheeks as I hold my soulmate in my arms. Our brothers are gone, and Gerard’s heart is broken. How can I fix this?
FG Let it out baby, just let it out.
I hold him tighter as he sobs and gasps for air. He gets quiet for a few moments then wails and sobs more. I stroke his fire red hair and hum as I rub his back gently.
FG I’m here baby, I love you, I got you. Just let it go.
I reach up and pull his hand from around my neck and place it over my heart.
FG Breathe with me.
He is trying to pull me back to him, back into a hug. But I gently push him back and hold his hand with mine.
FG Come on baby, please try. Breathe with me. In and out, that’s it. Slower, in and out.
Finally Poison regains some sense of control over himself. He looks at me, his beautiful hazel eyes red from crying. I stroke his cheek with my thumb as I lean in and kiss him.
PP I-I’m sorry.
FG Nothing to apologize for baby.
PP I love you.
FG I know.
He smiles at that and smacks me on the ass.
FG Hey, OUCH!
He kisses me as an apology. When I release him, he sighs heavily.
PP Do we have to do this?
I know what he means and my heart aches at the thought of what’s coming.
FG I’m afraid so baby.
PP I’m scared. I don’t know how I’ll live without them.
FG I don’t know how we’ll do it either, but we will be together. We’ll figure out what happened and make sure it never happens again. We’ll do it together.
PP Just you and me?
FG And Star. Ray loved her; she’s part of the family now. She ever say anything to you?
PP Not really. She talked to Ray. She’s really gone, I don’t know how this is gonna go.
FG Okay, let me turn off the car and let’s go see how she is. Are you up for that?
PP No, but let’s do it anyway.
I kill the engine and glace at Mikey. He’s paler than usual; I reach over and close his jacket so I can’t see the blood drying on his chest. Gee can’t see that. We walk over to the white car, and I lean in Poison’s
FG Star?
She has her head on Jet’s chest, tears streaming down her face. How can she still cry?
FG Has she cried the entire drive?
Poison looks at me for a moment in thought and says Yeah.
She hasn’t stopped. She’s talked to him, kissed him and caressed him but tears the entire time. No acknowledgement of me when I’m spoken to her directly.
FG Hmm,
PP What do you think?
FG I’d say she’s in shock; she’s not really even in there. But Ray, I’m mean Jet was the one I’d ask. Dammit.
PP Star? Can you hear me?
He looks at me as if to say, see? Nothing.
FG YN? We are home; we need to move the guys inside.
PP We need to get them out of the cars. Come on, let’s get Mikey inside and then deal with her.
FG Deal with her? She’s in pain, we need to be delicate.
I walk around to Poison and look at him. I try to be gentle not wanting to sound harsh.
FG She's suffering too, we have to find a way to reach her and pull her back to us. She's family Gee.
PP Yeah okay.
I take his hand and we go inside. I look around. If we bring them inside that memory is gonna remain. But we can't bury them as they are. Dirty, bloody, Jesus this sucks. I swallow hard and ask a question that I know is gonna make Gee feel worse.
FG what do you want to bury Mikey in?
He looks at me lost for a moment then I see the anger.
PP bury him in? I don't want to bury him! I don't want to do this! Please don't make me do this Frankie! Please!
He falls to his knees and I try to hold him
PP. No!
He pushes me away and stands. He walks to Mikeys room stopping at the door.
PP this so the last time I'm going in his room,
He turns to me in tears.
PP come with me?
I stand and join him, taking his hand.
FG Of course love, we'll go together.
Once inside the room, I go to the closet and Poison stands staring at his brother’s bedroom.
PP I'll never hear him bang on the wall telling us to come already. He's such a neat freak. Look his desk is perfect. He was always the one watching and observing. He picked up everyone's mannerisms. He would mimic Ra-Jet. Jet would always tackle him and force him to stop. Remember?
I watch as he reminiscences. Tears falling off my face. I wipe them away.
FG yeah I remember. He would mimic you too.
PP What?
FG yeah when you weren't around. He'd do it to get to me. He'd strut around and shake his ass and say stupid shit like, "who am I Ghoul?" he'd try to rub up on me and say OH FRANK, harder baby! Jet would laugh so hard he'd cry and I'd get mad and then I'd get sad you weren't here. Then I'd laugh cause your brother is a bigger dork then you.
Poison just stands listening. Crying silently.
PP was a dork
FG huh?
PP was baby, my brother is gone.
I go to him, wrapping my arms around him and sighing. I kiss his cheek.
FG was.
Poison goes to the closet.
PP where is his misfits shirt, he has to wear it. And his jacket, what about his helmet?
FG whatever you want baby.
PP I think yes definitely his jacket. I don't know if I want to keep his helmet.
FG Okay. Here's his shirt. We can put his helmet in the living room, maybe Jet's too. Kinda as a...What's the word?
PP Shrine?
FG Yeah, let's go get him changed and cleaned up. Then I'll get the shovels.
PP Maybe near the garage? He loved that car.
FG Yeah that sounds right.
I grab a sheet out of the closet and place it on the table in the living room. We go out and bring Mikey inside and place him there.
PP What about Ray?
FG I hate to leave them out there but I think we need to do this one at a time. Lets get Mikey cleaned up.
PP No, let's bring Ray here first. They should be together.
FG and Star?
PP she'll have to deal with it.
FG Gee?
PP I'll be nice about it. FUCK!
As soon as Poison leaves the house I quickly clean the blood off Mikey. I end up cutting his shirt off to get to the wound. He loved this yellow and black shirt. Always said it went with his red jacket so well. I grab another sheet and lay it on the floor for Ray. Mikey is shirtless and clean when Poison walks back in.
PP I don't know if she gets what I said but I need your help to carry him.
I nod and follow Poison outside. The car door is open and Star is trying to move Ray closer to the door. We step up and I pull Ray to me and somehow we three carry him inside. As soon as he's on the sheet, Star is next to him murmuring in his ear.
FG leave her with him for now.
We turn our attention back to Mikey.
PP he looks so young.
I watch helplessly as Gee hugs his brother.
PP I'm sorry Mikey, I should've been there to protect you. You always had my back and I let you down.
That's when I stepped up.
FG No fucking Way!
I stand behind him and hug Mikey over him, wrapping my body over Gee's.
FG YOU have nothing to apologize for baby. He could handle himself. Remember that time we were on our way back from the dinner and he took out three Dracs before we even saw them? He made that glove, said he wanted to choke those BASTARDS for their stupidity. He had his Karate. Remember when he tried to teach me and I kept falling down doing the kick?
Poison nods and I hear something resembling a chuckle.
PP you were so bad, Mikey finally gave up. Said no one was ever so uncoordinated.
We stand and I hug him from behind and place a kiss on his neck.
FG he said he couldn't understand how I could, what was it? Oh yeah how I could fuck you while standing on one leg but couldn't do a simple roundhouse kick.
We both laughed.
I release Poison and kiss Mikey on the forehead.
FG I'll miss you brother. Help me get his shirt on.
We finish dressing Mikey and Gee says his goodbyes as I clean the blood off his jacket.
FG you want the jacket on him, right?
PP Kobra Kid never went out without it.
Poison steps back as I gently wrap the sheet around Mikey. He's ready to be laid to rest. I turn and look at Star. She's watching us, tears still rolling down her face. Her hands wrapped around Ray's.
FG do you want to come say goodbye to Kobra Kid?
She stares at me. Poison looks over at her. He surprises me and goes to her. He kneels next to her and says something I can't hear. She shakes her head NO and looks back at Ray. He stands and comes back to me.
PP I asked her if she wanted us to help clean Ray up.
I take him in my arms and kiss him, softly. When she stands and goes to their room. Poison turns in my arms and we watch her leave. We go to Ray and kneel on each side of him. I finally see how bad his injury is. We remove his jacket and Poison lays him back down setting his jacket to the side when she walks in a clean shirt in her hand.
OC NO! Get away from him!
She runs over and pushes us away. And hugs him, whispering in his ear.
OC he wants me to take care of him.
I look at Poison and mouth 'what the fuck'. He shakes his head in response 'I don't know '. We scoot away and watch as she takes over.



Original Characters POV
They were touching him. I run over and push them away. I'm the only one who can do this. I have to, it's my fault. Jet wants me to do this. I need to do this. I stand and go to the kitchen and return with their supplies. I cut his bloody shirt off of him and place little kisses on him as I expose him to the room. I can see the love bites, left just this morning. Some from a few days ago. I sigh and wipe the blood away. My beautiful Jet, Star Killer. Once he's clean, I begin to pull the clean shirt on him. Black, he looks so sexy in black. Like the color was made for him alone. Ghoul and Poison move in and help me lift him to adjust his shirt. I don't want them to touch him. A sound escapes my lips till they remove their hands from him. Something incoherent. They move back, Ghoul holding Poison in his arms watching me intently. I brush his hair out of his face and tuck a bit behind his ear. I lean down and place kisses all over his face and neck. I lie next to him and hug him to me, willing him to hug me back. I close my eyes and whisper in his ear. 'Please come back to me'.

Poison’s POV
She actually growled at us. I'm beginning to wonder if she's gone crazy. She's lying next to him like they are sleeping. Ghoul hugs me tighter. Both of us, uncomfortable watching something so intimate. I look back to Ghoul with a questioning look.
PP how long do we let this go on?
I whisper in his ear. He just shrugs and kisses my cheek. It's bizarre. I've seen dead bodies before and I've seen people cry over the dead before. But I've never seen anything like this. She loves him so much I can actually feel it radiating from her. After an hour or so, she moves away from him. Whispers in his ear and kisses his lips one last time. She then wraps the sheet around him and stands.
OC We have to bury Jet first. Where are the shovels?
I look to Ghoul, we stand.
FG in the garage. Near where we want to bury them.
She doesn't speak; she turns and walks out of the house. We follow. I'm confused by her cold demeanor. She grabs a shovel and looks at us
OC Where?
FG Well, I was thinking we put Mikey closest to the garage and Ray next to him.
OC Ray?
She looks confused.
OC Oh yeah, Ray.
She steps out a few feet from the garage and starts digging.
FG We can do this Star if you want to spend time with Ray.
She doesn’t look at me or Ghoul; just keeps digging, muttering under her breath.
OC Time? There is no more time.
Ghoul looks at me and shrugs. I place a hand on her shoulder.
PP Really Star, we can do this. They are our brothers.
FG Poison, baby.
She pushes my hand from her shoulder and screams.
OC Don’t touch me!
She resumes digging and I move closer to Ghoul and start helping him.
FG Baby?
PP I was being nice Frank so don’t start.
I hear him sigh and I instantly feel bad for snapping. I’m trying to hold my shit together but I’m failing. Before I know it, my tears are dripping onto my shirt and hands. Ghoul stops digging and pulls me into his arms and I have another fit of uncontrollable tears. No words, just tears. I feel him hold me tightly and rub little circles on my back. I can hear Star muttering to herself but I can’t make out what she’s saying. I pull back from Ghoul’s arms and listen. I whisper to him
PP Can you understand her?
FG Not really just bits and pieces. You know you can go inside with Mikey if you want to.
PP No I can do this.
We continue quietly till we have two adult sized graves side by side. We are all covered in dirt and sweat. We bring Ray out first, and lay him in the grave. Star climbs inside mumbling and wrapping the sheet tightly around him after stealing a few more goodbye kisses. Then we bring Mikey out and do the same. Standing at the foot of their graves and seeing them lying motionless in sheets on the dirt, I’m at a loss for words.
FG You guys are my brothers. Ray, you taught me so much who will know the answers to my crazy questions? No matter what I was pondering you had some sort of answer for me. I think you lied to me most of the time, but you never seemed to doubt you had the answer. I always believed you were the smartest of us. You and Mikey would always stand together against us in every argument; it’s fitting that you two are together in the afterlife. More than anything I’m happy you found Star; the joy in you since you met her is a level I’ve never seen in you before. Mikes, the day you told me to either tell Gerard that I loved him or you would tell him for me was the happiest day of my life. You gave me my soulmate and accepted me into your family. I’ll miss your daily harassment and constant complaining that it was the worst decision you ever made. I know you both loved me, I love you. I’ll miss you every day.
I can’t speak, I open my mouth and nothing comes out. I look to Ghoul he is looking at me, questioning.
FG It’s okay baby, you don’t have to say anything. You can take as much time as you need.
He steps behind me and hugs me, placing his chin on my shoulder. I just try to breathe and find the words I need to say. Motionless and silent next to us is Star. The mumbling has stopped and it looks like the tears too. I can’t figure her out. After a few minutes of staring at her I drop my gaze to the two wrapped in shrouds at my feet and I start to talk.
PP You were five when I told you I was gay and you hugged me and said you were happy I knew who I was. You said I was a bright colorful butterfly and that I had courage no one had seen yet. I thought you were crazy. When we found Frank, I instantly fell in love. That night you told me that I had to stop smiling or Frank would think I was crazy. You knew the moment it happened. You always had the ability to read me. I’m sorry I didn’t have the same gift. I didn’t know you weren’t happy. I didn’t see you were struggling with your sexuality. I didn’t see how close you and Ray had gotten and how in love you were, and how miserable. I’m sorry Mikey. I’ll always love you baby brother. Ray, you couldn’t help but be you. You had a way of making everyone smile in any situation. Everyone liked you, we all loved your gifts and talents and Mikey admired you so much. Thank you for being there for him, as a friend and a mentor and a confidant when I couldn’t. You were a big brother to him and to all of us. I love you both. I’ll never stop.
I didn’t realize that Ghoul was crying behind me as I spoke. As soon as I finish he spins me around to face him and kisses me sweetly and I bury my head in his neck and cry. It’s not till I feel the temperature drop and the sun fading do I wonder how long Frank and I have been standing here crying. And how long Star has been standing next to us silently. I pull away and look at Ghoul then at Star.
FG Star? Would you like to say something?
OC We will talk once you leave. In private.
PP What the - ?
She grabs her shovel and begins to cover both with dirt. One shovel for Mikey, one for Ray, back and forth.
FG its okay baby, let’s do this and let her have time alone.
I watch her closely as she works and I slowly grab my shovel and join her and Ghoul and we bury my best friends. She damn well better plan to explain things to us when this is over.
PP She can have her time alone but I want to know how my best friends DIED when she’s done.
FG Babe, give her time.
PP NO! You hear me STAR CHILD?!
Almost zombie like she replies in a tone that gives me chills.
OC Yes Party Poison, I hear you and I understand.
We put the shovels away and leave Star standing at the foot of Ray’s grave. I start to remain outside to see what she does but Ghoul pulls me inside.
FG Give her some time.
PP Fuck that, why are we tiptoeing around her? What happened? How did two Killjoys, guys we have known for years, just go out with HER one afternoon and end up dead? You said it yourself; Kid knew how to handle himself and Jet too. What the fuck HAPPENED?!
FG I don’t know baby and I WANT to; but pushing her doesn’t feel right. She’s been out of it all day and I don’t want her to do something stupid like hurt herself before we know.
He’s right. Dammit he’s always right, whenever I get worked up and angry he cuts though my argument in no time.
PP I’m sorry, you’re right.
FG Come sit with me on the couch. I feel the need to have you close.
I sit down next to him and he wraps his arms around me and I put my head on his shoulder and sigh.
PP What do we do now?
FG We wait.

Notes

This thing is FAR from over; hang with me Killjoys - I hope you are still enjoying it. I can see the views going up, comment and let me know.