Categories > Celebrities > My Chemical Romance > R.I.P.
Chapter 2
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Chapter 2
Thank you guys so much for opening your hearts to this story and letting it in. I wanted to write a powerful piece and in the next chapters I hope it will come into its own. Believe it or not, this chapter is lighter than the next one will be. So enjoy it. Thank you!
Callie was still locked in the throes of her nightmare as her consciousness awakened. She had experienced the dream more than a few times since her mother had been killed in the fire only a month before. It followed such a realistic path, sprung from what had happened that night. Although some details varied, the main theme was always the same. Callie awoke at the hospital instead of sleeping through the night like she actually had in reality. In the dream she awoke with some sort of familial instinct that her mother was in trouble. She escaped the hospital, running through the woods in her gown, trying to reach her mother in time. Callie could actually feel the rocks tearing her bare feet and the tree branches as they scratched at her face and tangled in her long hair. No dream could be so real, even as she woke inside it, but before Callie could wake, she had to see it to the horrible end she knew was coming. Maybe this time would be different. Maybe she would reach her mother in time.
Callie broke through the brush of the forest as her bare feet padded over the paved street through her neighborhood. She could have run the path home blindfolded by simply following the choking stench of smoke that rose into the night. Callie’s feet could not run fast enough though, as though she were running through quicksand, as she desperately pushed herself faster. Just as she came to the corner by her house, resting to catch her tired breath and leaning against the stop sign post, she began to scream and cry out for her mother just beyond the flames.
She could see her mother banging her hands against the bedroom window, Callie’s bedroom window, where she often slept when the hospitals would not let her stay with her daughter. Her mother beat her hands against the glass that would not break, screaming for help; screaming Callie’s name. The explosion suddenly erupted, taking the house with it. An enormous red and orange plume lit the sky as Callie was thrown backward from the incredible force of the charge. As her body was flung to the sidewalk, and her head hit the ground with a hard strike, Callie awoke with a start; fresh tears the only real thing about the dream.
She sat up in bed in a complete panic like always. It could often take up to five agonizing minutes for Callie’s mind to grasp the reality that surrounded her again. It had been a dream. There was never an internal instinct that her mother was in danger. She had not left the hospital until after her mother had perished in the home fire. Her mother was dead and now reality had resumed its cruel grip on her.
Callie looked around the unfamiliar room, still trying to find her bearings. She was not in the hospital anymore and for a moment she thought she may have woken to yet another dream, a dream inside a dream where nothing was as it seemed. Callie wiped the sweat from her brow and the tears from her flushed face as she looked more closely at the large, dark room. It was starting to come back just as her heart was beginning to slow again. She was in Dr. Bishop’s home; her home now. She had come there to the seaside mansion to die; the final nightmare she would one day not wake from.
The nightmare was so fresh in her mind Callie had to check her feet for mud and cuts from her recent run through the forest. Her socks and shoes were still on though, from her arrival earlier that day. The smell of smoke was still in the air though, mocking her grasp on reality as Callie began to cry. A soft knock at her door was not even registered in the girl’s ears beneath her wailing sobs.
“Callie?” the quiet, tentative voice called out. Gerard pushed her door open a crack to peek inside, afraid to intrude on the young girl’s space and the moment she was painfully succumbing to. “You okay?” he asked, having heard her cries from the hall. It was a stupid question, he knew. Of course she was not okay. Her body was racked with sobs as she curled her trembling body on the bed.
Her head snapped up to see Gerard through the dark as a sliver of light from the hallway reached her across the room through the parted door. “Gerard?” she whimpered. Even in her dizzy state, Callie remembered his name that time.
He opened the door the rest of the way as light flooded in and exposed the room. A small stream of smoke was rising from his hand as Callie flinched at both the sight and smell of it. He followed her eyes to his lit cigarette, holding it up straight like a pin. “This?” he asked, realizing her fear. “I’m sorry,” he shook his head worriedly. “I’ll…I’ll get rid of it,” he panicked, looking around the room for an ashtray but not finding one. He had not found one anywhere in the house which was why he had been smoking out the window in the hall. Gerard rushed to the dark fireplace across from Callie’s bed and snubbed it into the ash beneath the log’s grill. He turned back to her, holding up both empty hands as a peace offering to show her it was okay. “It’s gone, Callie,” he said carefully as he stepped toward the bed she cringed on. “I’m so sorry I scared you.”
Callie’s body relaxed as the smell of smoke dissipated in the room. She was relieved but humiliated for reacting to strongly toward the common circumstance. Her mind and body were just then catching up with one another as she realized how foolish she had been. “No, I’m sorry,” she whimpered, unable to stop the tears from continuing to fall, no matter how unfounded their cause. “I just smelled the smoke…and…and…” Callie threw her hands up over her eyes to both catch the tears and hide herself from her embarrassment. She felt the bed dip down where Gerard sat beside her and gave no thought to how it would seem as she grabbed hold of the boy she had met that day and cried on his shoulder as he held her.
Gerard rubbed her back soothingly as he whispered soft, calming words in her ear until Callie finally got a hold of herself again and he was able to let her go. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said guiltily.
Callie shrugged, wiping her face. “I didn’t mean to get so upset.”
“It’s fine,” he nodded. “Really. It’s fresh,” he said, understanding. His mother had died nearly three months ago but he remembered the initial pain of the shock clearly. Callie had only one month under her belt in the grieving process and it was more than understandable that she had a long way to go still. Even after the months had passed for him and Mikey, they were still grieving their loss every day. “I really need to give those things up,” he said, looking toward the twisted bent cigarette in the ash. “I’ve cut way down,” he nodded, almost talking to himself as he stared. “My mother smoked and we used to sit up late nights,” he smiled, “just talkin and smokin together.”
“She wasn’t afraid for your health?” Callie asked softly, finding her voice again.
Gerard turned back to her, having nearly forgotten she was there he was so lost in his memory. He smiled sadly with a shrug. “What health? When you’re already dying, it doesn’t much matter what kills you first,” he whispered. It even almost made sense in a way.
Callie nodded, seeing his point whether she agreed with it or not. She wanted every day she could have on that earth and she was in no rush to meet her Maker, no matter how much she wanted to be reunited with her mother. Still, there were some days, when the pain ripped through her body so sharply Callie thought it would tear her in two. On those days, she prayed for a quick death and, in that way, she understood completely.
Some of the kids in the hospital had spoken of seeing Death standing over them and watching them sleep as they awoke. Their passing soon followed. Callie often slept with the covers over her head, not wanting to know what they had seen if it had been real. Other nights, she stayed awake, calling to Death in the darkness and begging him to come and take her. He had not come though. Death was going to make her wait, and on most days, Callie was thankful he had not answered her call.
She tried to smile at the handsome boy who still sat beside her. In the hospital, no one ever got too close. If they were not afraid of catching what another had, they were afraid someone might compromise their immune system in any small way that would throw their body into a weakened recession. The only people who had held Callie in years were either her mother or part of a medical team. It was amazing how good an unsolicited touch could feel.
“Thank you,” she smiled. “For…coming to my…rescue,” she tried to laugh, still embarrassed.
Gerard smiled back, lifting his shoulder as if to say it was nothing. “I’ve done it thousands of times for my brother. It’s instinct to take care of someone hurting.” He said with hopeful pride, “I think I inherited that from my mom.”
Callie wanted to know everything about the boy she still knew so little about. He had the kindest eyes she had ever seen and he shared that trait with his brother. “And your father?” she asked. “What did you inherit from him?” Realizing how intrusive she must sound, Callie bit her lip and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry.” She wanted to get to know Gerard, not question him into opening himself up to her.
He smiled back at her though. “I don’t mind at all. I’m an open book,” he shrugged. “Our mom gave up her whole life to care for us, even putting her sons ahead of her marriage. She devoted her heart and soul to us,” he nodded. His smiled faded as the truth came out. “I know it was my mom’s complete focus on us that drove our dad away. I can hardly blame him. Taking care of one sick kid is hard enough and a full time job by itself,” Gerard reasoned. If his mother could look beyond her marriage to do what was right in her heart, Gerard could put aside his painful abandonment issues to be rational in his head. “Caring for two sick kids who won’t get any better leaves little room for romance,” he sighed. “In the end, their bond was tested I guess. Theirs broke. Ours got stronger,” he said softly. Gerard took a deep breath, shaking away his sad nostalgia. “What about you?” he asked, wanting to hear more about Callie.
“I don’t have any bonds left,” she answered quietly.
“No,” he smiled. “Do you have a father? I mean, everyone has one at some point obviously, but…”
Callie shook her head. “Not one I ever knew. My mother always said she wanted a child more than she wanted a husband. She had me,” she smiled sadly. “I was all she ever needed.” Callie frowned. “She really got the raw end of that deal with me,” she whispered, knowing her mother could not possibly have bargained for a dying child.
Gerard continued to listen, but Callie had stopped talking. He did not want to push her so he changed the subject instead. “Are you hungry, Callie? I think it’s almost dinner time.”
“I’m not hungry,” she said sadly. The rumble in her empty stomach disagreed though as they looked at one another and laughed at the funny noise that contradicted her openly. “Okay,” she smiled. “Maybe I am.”
Gerard grinned at her and slid off the bed. “I’ll let Doc know you’ll be down in a few minutes. Go ahead and get yourself together and just come down whenever you’re ready. We’ll wait,” he smiled sweetly.
She nodded as Gerard crossed the room and suddenly called out, “Gerard?” He turned back to her, his smile still in place. “Thank you,” she smiled back.
“I didn’t do anythin,” he shrugged.
Callie bowed her head as she blushed. “You reached out to me. That’s something,” she nodded.
Gerard felt his heart jump in his chest as he smiled and closed the door behind him. He leaned back against the solid wood for just a moment, catching his breath. Why couldn’t he have met Callie when he was younger and healthy? Had there ever been a time, even when he was younger, that he had not been sick though? Gerard thought it best not to think about things he could not change. They were there now and he planned to spend as much time as he had left getting to know Callie. She was guarded but sweet and Gerard thought he might even be willing to let her into his isolated world. He was going to die alone; everyone did. But maybe he could share the last of his time with someone special until his time ran out.
Callie splashed some water on her face in the bathroom across the hall. She stared into the mirror as she patted her cheeks with the soft towel. There was a healthy glow, in what her mother had always called her apple cheeks, which she had not seen in some time. Perhaps it was only because she had been crying. Maybe the credit was due to the handsome boy who now lived down the hall from her. Either way, it was good to see a healthy flush in her face. It was even better to see the smile Callie had almost forgotten she had.
She took a deep breath of ocean air as she closed the window in the hallway Gerard had been smoking through earlier. The crisp, salty air invigorated Callie’s senses and she started to believe in the wonders of its claimed power. They were all beyond a miracle but hope for better days in the last of their time was still a possibility.
Staring out the window over the moonlit ocean, she hoped Gerard did quit the filthy habit no matter how little sense it made given the circumstances. She was finding that she wanted Gerard to be around for as long as possible. They had only just arrived in one another’s lives and time was not on their side. His very presence seemed to breathe new life into Callie though and she hoped to one day do the same for him.
Making her way downstairs, Callie held her growling stomach with a healthy appetite. It was an unfamiliar feeling as in the past Callie had often had trouble even keeping down her mother’s soup. The hospital food was inedible to begin with but at least she had tolerated it mostly anyway. Appetite was never Callie’s strong suit though. It did not matter what it tasted like going down; it always tasted the same coming back up. Now though, she felt as though she could eat an entire buffet if she could only find her way to it. The house was enormous but as Callie followed her nose down the hall behind the staircase, she found the dining room by its hot, sweet aroma.
Gerard smiled and pulled out the chair next to him for Callie. She nodded her thanks and sat down beside him, looking across the table at Mikey who was staring intently with big eyes at the plate he had obviously been told not to touch until they were all seated.
“Now we can eat?” he asked excitedly.
Dr. Bishop smiled from the head of the table. “Yes, Mikey. Now.”
While Mikey grabbed hold of his fork like a shovel, he piled the meatloaf onto it, topping it with mashed potatoes like gravy as he filled his mouth, practically eating the fork with the bite. Callie was happy to see she was not the only one with an appetite. Gerard was filling up as well, more slowly than his younger brother, but trying to keep a polite pace in his eagerness. Callie cocked her head to the side, watching Frank though.
He had his Wolfman mask on as it faced her and he seemed to abstractly pick through the food on his plate without looking; his hairy Wolfman gloves gripping the fork awkwardly. She could not imagine how he was going to get his food through the mask as it had a solid fanged mouth that did not open. Frank lifted his head for the first bite as Callie smiled, realizing the mask was on top of his head and his face had simply been turned down at his plate while the mask on his head faced her.
She took her first delicious bite and forgot all about the other people at the table. She did not even care if she threw the wonderful food back up later. For now, it was delicious and Callie was starving for once, even hoping their might be dessert.
Dr. Bishop watched his charges gobble up the food with a smile on his face to see them enjoying themselves so heartily. He would make note of it later when he adjourned to his study. He wanted them to thrive and they were doing quite well. Everything was going according to plan. “Is everyone happy with their rooms?” he smiled. They all nodded except for Mikey who simply shrugged in lieu of his full mouth, unhappy with the distance between his room and Gerard’s but more content with the situation just the same. “Good, good,” he nodded. “After supper you’re free to explore or get settled in your rooms. There are no schedules here,” he smiled kindly. “Except for the administering of medications,” the doctor added.
Carrie daintily cut her meatloaf with her knife and fork as she smiled. “I’ll come around to your rooms each night and every morning with your individual doses. You’ll be checking in mid-day with Ray for a kind of group therapy so we can help you through this…transition,” she said gently. Carrie smiled, “I’m sure Frank is tired of sharing his thoughts and feelings and would love to hear someone else talk for a change.”
Frank grinned. “I think I’ve poured my heart and soul out enough. I’d like to keep a little somethin to take to the other side with me.”
Bob smiled and nodded. “You’ve really thrived here, Frank. I’m sure you all will,” he encouraged.
Dr. Bishop added, “I’m sure you’ll all get a good night’s rest on your first night. It’s been a long day, I know,” he said sincerely. “Hopefully the old house’s noises won’t keep you up.” At that statement, Mikey lost his appetite, his fork falling with a clang to his plate. “Don’t worry, Mikey,” Dr. Bishop comforted. “You’ll get used to it. Frankie did,” he smiled. “It’s a very old house and it has little creaks and groans in its settlement. As the ocean erodes the cliffs below the house, the old girl just sighs in her sleep,” he laughed.
Mikey gulped nothing but air as he imagined the house moaning in the night. How would he ever tell the house’s groans from the ghosts’? “I’ll never sleep,” he worried.
Dr. Bishop shook his head. “We’ll give you something to help with that.”
As thunder boomed overhead, rattling the crystal chandelier above the table, lightening flashed outside the windows brighter than the lights of the room. Mikey’s hands gripped the sides of the seat of his chair as his clenched knuckles turned as pale as his face. “What will you give me for that?” he panicked.
Gerard smiled softly, almost apologetically. “Mikey doesn’t do so well with storms,” he explained.
Ray offered, “It’s not so bad, Mikey. It’s just louder cause we’re way up here on the cliffs; a little closer to the sky than you’re used to.”
Mikey muttered, “I’ll never get used to the sky yelling.”
Dr. Bishop added, “There are flashlights in every nightstand in case you need them. The power’s a bit iffy way out here and it’s a very old house.”
Each bit of new information only gave Mikey more to worry about. Shaking his head, he protested, “Look at this house! You have money, Doc!” he pleaded. “You could buy better wires and the power would never go out then,” he hoped.
“Mikey!” Gerard snapped. Dr. Bishop had taken them in when they had nothing left in the world and the boy was already complaining on the first night. Besides, it was rude to talk about other people’s money. “Shush,” he scolded his brother.
“It’s alright, Gerard,” the doctor soothed. He turned to Mikey and nodded. “I’ve been blessed with good fortune and grants for my work, it’s true. This house is the only one I have though and luckily it’s big enough to offer refuge to young people like yourself. But unfortunately the wiring’s so old it can’t be updated without cutting through every wall in the house and starting over,” he sighed. “Believe me I’ve gotten more than one opinion on it. As doctors tend to do,” he said, smiling at his own joke. “It’s all an adjustment, Mikey. You’ll adapt. You’ll see,” he said with tender assurance.
The boy was not sure he could agree but he saw no point in arguing either. He would be sleeping with his flashlight like a teddy bear that night and if it was not enough, Gerard was just down the hall with a big bed for him to climb into for salvation.
Mikey eyed Frank cautiously, wondering if the Wolfman stalked the hallways at night and if he would have to get by him to reach Gerard’s room on the other side of him. Perhaps Thor would sleep with Mikey that night. Certainly a dog that big could take on a wolf. Thor looked like a wolf himself.
Frank had said he would not scare him anymore but Mikey had no reason to trust the strange boy either. His eyes were sweet and his smile was beautiful but the ring through his lip scared Mikey. If Frank was willing to do that to himself there was no telling what the boy would do to Mikey. He returned to eating his dinner but kept one eye on Frank just the same. He would have to talk to him later about a few things in private; if he could up the nerve to be alone with Frank that is.
After dinner there was a glorious chocolate cake with whipped vanilla frosting that Bob had made himself just like the entire meal. It was easier to picture the broad man in a kitchen with a meat cleaver rather than a spatula and mixing bowl but the food he created was divine and a wonderful change from the hospital food they were all used to. Fox Hall was a self-sufficient hospice and home. Everyone had a part in running the place though the teenagers had only one part to play; and they would play it until their final curtain call.
After dessert, everyone split up through the house. Mikey sat in the middle of his bed on full alert, holding his flashlight and watching the lights for any signs of flickering. Carrie was taking too long preparing his pills and he feared that without them he would never be able to sleep. Mikey only hoped that she would arrive before the lights went out and the ghosts took to roaming the house. He did not have to wait long as he watched the lights before they suddenly crackled and plunged the house into complete darkness as Mikey dropped his flashlight in surprise. The surge of lighting outside was just enough light for him to find it again and click it on to shine it around the room for signs of newly awakened evil.
Mikey’s beam of light shone across the room to the closet door he was sure he had closed after putting his things away earlier. He never left a closet door open, even in the light. His mother used to check the closet every night before bed, even sweeping her eyes under the bed for monsters. She was not there now though; but Mikey still was. And maybe the monsters knew it too. He worked himself into a fit before closing his eyes and trying to count to ten like his mother had taught him to do when he was afraid. There were two rolls of thunder and three flashes of lightning that distracted him from his purpose. It was the last boom of thunder that sent Mikey running from his room, straight down the hall and into Gerard’s empty bed.
Mikey sat with his flashlight in the empty room that was even more frightening than his own with all of Gerard’s pictures illuminating in the lightning on the walls. There were colorfully intricate designs of monsters of disease and the purgatory his brother felt himself to be in. It was terrifying to know such darkness could come from his big brother, no matter how much Mikey understood and related to it.
Remembering that Gerard and Callie had joined Bob and Ray in the living room to watch television, Mikey could not run to her room any more than he could stay in that one. As he ventured back out into the dark hallway, he realized he could not go searching through the giant house for them either. That left only one door; the one next to his own back down the hall.
Mikey tip-toed past the windows between rooms that looked out over the balcony that wrapped the house. He wondered if there was a Lady in White that walked the bridge at night, waiting for her sailor to come home after the war. Mikey had been in and out of different hospitals his whole life but he would have had to have been raised in a cave not to know the Urban Legends of the world. If he was going to be attacked by a ghost, Mikey did not want to go down alone. He made his way to the door where candlelight seeped underneath as a sign that Frank was in his room. Mikey only wondered which of Frank’s personalities would be inside the room if he went in; Frankie, the boy who had tried to make amends by bringing Thor to him when it was still light out…or the Wolfman who might be waiting for him in the dark.
I’m having so much fun with this story and I hope you are too! I love this place, this theme and all its characters with their many possibilities!! I have tons of ideas and I can’t wait to share them all with you. I’ll crack this story open slowly and draw it out though to make it more interesting. I hope you’re having fun! Xoxo Harley
Thank you guys so much for opening your hearts to this story and letting it in. I wanted to write a powerful piece and in the next chapters I hope it will come into its own. Believe it or not, this chapter is lighter than the next one will be. So enjoy it. Thank you!
Callie was still locked in the throes of her nightmare as her consciousness awakened. She had experienced the dream more than a few times since her mother had been killed in the fire only a month before. It followed such a realistic path, sprung from what had happened that night. Although some details varied, the main theme was always the same. Callie awoke at the hospital instead of sleeping through the night like she actually had in reality. In the dream she awoke with some sort of familial instinct that her mother was in trouble. She escaped the hospital, running through the woods in her gown, trying to reach her mother in time. Callie could actually feel the rocks tearing her bare feet and the tree branches as they scratched at her face and tangled in her long hair. No dream could be so real, even as she woke inside it, but before Callie could wake, she had to see it to the horrible end she knew was coming. Maybe this time would be different. Maybe she would reach her mother in time.
Callie broke through the brush of the forest as her bare feet padded over the paved street through her neighborhood. She could have run the path home blindfolded by simply following the choking stench of smoke that rose into the night. Callie’s feet could not run fast enough though, as though she were running through quicksand, as she desperately pushed herself faster. Just as she came to the corner by her house, resting to catch her tired breath and leaning against the stop sign post, she began to scream and cry out for her mother just beyond the flames.
She could see her mother banging her hands against the bedroom window, Callie’s bedroom window, where she often slept when the hospitals would not let her stay with her daughter. Her mother beat her hands against the glass that would not break, screaming for help; screaming Callie’s name. The explosion suddenly erupted, taking the house with it. An enormous red and orange plume lit the sky as Callie was thrown backward from the incredible force of the charge. As her body was flung to the sidewalk, and her head hit the ground with a hard strike, Callie awoke with a start; fresh tears the only real thing about the dream.
She sat up in bed in a complete panic like always. It could often take up to five agonizing minutes for Callie’s mind to grasp the reality that surrounded her again. It had been a dream. There was never an internal instinct that her mother was in danger. She had not left the hospital until after her mother had perished in the home fire. Her mother was dead and now reality had resumed its cruel grip on her.
Callie looked around the unfamiliar room, still trying to find her bearings. She was not in the hospital anymore and for a moment she thought she may have woken to yet another dream, a dream inside a dream where nothing was as it seemed. Callie wiped the sweat from her brow and the tears from her flushed face as she looked more closely at the large, dark room. It was starting to come back just as her heart was beginning to slow again. She was in Dr. Bishop’s home; her home now. She had come there to the seaside mansion to die; the final nightmare she would one day not wake from.
The nightmare was so fresh in her mind Callie had to check her feet for mud and cuts from her recent run through the forest. Her socks and shoes were still on though, from her arrival earlier that day. The smell of smoke was still in the air though, mocking her grasp on reality as Callie began to cry. A soft knock at her door was not even registered in the girl’s ears beneath her wailing sobs.
“Callie?” the quiet, tentative voice called out. Gerard pushed her door open a crack to peek inside, afraid to intrude on the young girl’s space and the moment she was painfully succumbing to. “You okay?” he asked, having heard her cries from the hall. It was a stupid question, he knew. Of course she was not okay. Her body was racked with sobs as she curled her trembling body on the bed.
Her head snapped up to see Gerard through the dark as a sliver of light from the hallway reached her across the room through the parted door. “Gerard?” she whimpered. Even in her dizzy state, Callie remembered his name that time.
He opened the door the rest of the way as light flooded in and exposed the room. A small stream of smoke was rising from his hand as Callie flinched at both the sight and smell of it. He followed her eyes to his lit cigarette, holding it up straight like a pin. “This?” he asked, realizing her fear. “I’m sorry,” he shook his head worriedly. “I’ll…I’ll get rid of it,” he panicked, looking around the room for an ashtray but not finding one. He had not found one anywhere in the house which was why he had been smoking out the window in the hall. Gerard rushed to the dark fireplace across from Callie’s bed and snubbed it into the ash beneath the log’s grill. He turned back to her, holding up both empty hands as a peace offering to show her it was okay. “It’s gone, Callie,” he said carefully as he stepped toward the bed she cringed on. “I’m so sorry I scared you.”
Callie’s body relaxed as the smell of smoke dissipated in the room. She was relieved but humiliated for reacting to strongly toward the common circumstance. Her mind and body were just then catching up with one another as she realized how foolish she had been. “No, I’m sorry,” she whimpered, unable to stop the tears from continuing to fall, no matter how unfounded their cause. “I just smelled the smoke…and…and…” Callie threw her hands up over her eyes to both catch the tears and hide herself from her embarrassment. She felt the bed dip down where Gerard sat beside her and gave no thought to how it would seem as she grabbed hold of the boy she had met that day and cried on his shoulder as he held her.
Gerard rubbed her back soothingly as he whispered soft, calming words in her ear until Callie finally got a hold of herself again and he was able to let her go. “I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said guiltily.
Callie shrugged, wiping her face. “I didn’t mean to get so upset.”
“It’s fine,” he nodded. “Really. It’s fresh,” he said, understanding. His mother had died nearly three months ago but he remembered the initial pain of the shock clearly. Callie had only one month under her belt in the grieving process and it was more than understandable that she had a long way to go still. Even after the months had passed for him and Mikey, they were still grieving their loss every day. “I really need to give those things up,” he said, looking toward the twisted bent cigarette in the ash. “I’ve cut way down,” he nodded, almost talking to himself as he stared. “My mother smoked and we used to sit up late nights,” he smiled, “just talkin and smokin together.”
“She wasn’t afraid for your health?” Callie asked softly, finding her voice again.
Gerard turned back to her, having nearly forgotten she was there he was so lost in his memory. He smiled sadly with a shrug. “What health? When you’re already dying, it doesn’t much matter what kills you first,” he whispered. It even almost made sense in a way.
Callie nodded, seeing his point whether she agreed with it or not. She wanted every day she could have on that earth and she was in no rush to meet her Maker, no matter how much she wanted to be reunited with her mother. Still, there were some days, when the pain ripped through her body so sharply Callie thought it would tear her in two. On those days, she prayed for a quick death and, in that way, she understood completely.
Some of the kids in the hospital had spoken of seeing Death standing over them and watching them sleep as they awoke. Their passing soon followed. Callie often slept with the covers over her head, not wanting to know what they had seen if it had been real. Other nights, she stayed awake, calling to Death in the darkness and begging him to come and take her. He had not come though. Death was going to make her wait, and on most days, Callie was thankful he had not answered her call.
She tried to smile at the handsome boy who still sat beside her. In the hospital, no one ever got too close. If they were not afraid of catching what another had, they were afraid someone might compromise their immune system in any small way that would throw their body into a weakened recession. The only people who had held Callie in years were either her mother or part of a medical team. It was amazing how good an unsolicited touch could feel.
“Thank you,” she smiled. “For…coming to my…rescue,” she tried to laugh, still embarrassed.
Gerard smiled back, lifting his shoulder as if to say it was nothing. “I’ve done it thousands of times for my brother. It’s instinct to take care of someone hurting.” He said with hopeful pride, “I think I inherited that from my mom.”
Callie wanted to know everything about the boy she still knew so little about. He had the kindest eyes she had ever seen and he shared that trait with his brother. “And your father?” she asked. “What did you inherit from him?” Realizing how intrusive she must sound, Callie bit her lip and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to pry.” She wanted to get to know Gerard, not question him into opening himself up to her.
He smiled back at her though. “I don’t mind at all. I’m an open book,” he shrugged. “Our mom gave up her whole life to care for us, even putting her sons ahead of her marriage. She devoted her heart and soul to us,” he nodded. His smiled faded as the truth came out. “I know it was my mom’s complete focus on us that drove our dad away. I can hardly blame him. Taking care of one sick kid is hard enough and a full time job by itself,” Gerard reasoned. If his mother could look beyond her marriage to do what was right in her heart, Gerard could put aside his painful abandonment issues to be rational in his head. “Caring for two sick kids who won’t get any better leaves little room for romance,” he sighed. “In the end, their bond was tested I guess. Theirs broke. Ours got stronger,” he said softly. Gerard took a deep breath, shaking away his sad nostalgia. “What about you?” he asked, wanting to hear more about Callie.
“I don’t have any bonds left,” she answered quietly.
“No,” he smiled. “Do you have a father? I mean, everyone has one at some point obviously, but…”
Callie shook her head. “Not one I ever knew. My mother always said she wanted a child more than she wanted a husband. She had me,” she smiled sadly. “I was all she ever needed.” Callie frowned. “She really got the raw end of that deal with me,” she whispered, knowing her mother could not possibly have bargained for a dying child.
Gerard continued to listen, but Callie had stopped talking. He did not want to push her so he changed the subject instead. “Are you hungry, Callie? I think it’s almost dinner time.”
“I’m not hungry,” she said sadly. The rumble in her empty stomach disagreed though as they looked at one another and laughed at the funny noise that contradicted her openly. “Okay,” she smiled. “Maybe I am.”
Gerard grinned at her and slid off the bed. “I’ll let Doc know you’ll be down in a few minutes. Go ahead and get yourself together and just come down whenever you’re ready. We’ll wait,” he smiled sweetly.
She nodded as Gerard crossed the room and suddenly called out, “Gerard?” He turned back to her, his smile still in place. “Thank you,” she smiled back.
“I didn’t do anythin,” he shrugged.
Callie bowed her head as she blushed. “You reached out to me. That’s something,” she nodded.
Gerard felt his heart jump in his chest as he smiled and closed the door behind him. He leaned back against the solid wood for just a moment, catching his breath. Why couldn’t he have met Callie when he was younger and healthy? Had there ever been a time, even when he was younger, that he had not been sick though? Gerard thought it best not to think about things he could not change. They were there now and he planned to spend as much time as he had left getting to know Callie. She was guarded but sweet and Gerard thought he might even be willing to let her into his isolated world. He was going to die alone; everyone did. But maybe he could share the last of his time with someone special until his time ran out.
Callie splashed some water on her face in the bathroom across the hall. She stared into the mirror as she patted her cheeks with the soft towel. There was a healthy glow, in what her mother had always called her apple cheeks, which she had not seen in some time. Perhaps it was only because she had been crying. Maybe the credit was due to the handsome boy who now lived down the hall from her. Either way, it was good to see a healthy flush in her face. It was even better to see the smile Callie had almost forgotten she had.
She took a deep breath of ocean air as she closed the window in the hallway Gerard had been smoking through earlier. The crisp, salty air invigorated Callie’s senses and she started to believe in the wonders of its claimed power. They were all beyond a miracle but hope for better days in the last of their time was still a possibility.
Staring out the window over the moonlit ocean, she hoped Gerard did quit the filthy habit no matter how little sense it made given the circumstances. She was finding that she wanted Gerard to be around for as long as possible. They had only just arrived in one another’s lives and time was not on their side. His very presence seemed to breathe new life into Callie though and she hoped to one day do the same for him.
Making her way downstairs, Callie held her growling stomach with a healthy appetite. It was an unfamiliar feeling as in the past Callie had often had trouble even keeping down her mother’s soup. The hospital food was inedible to begin with but at least she had tolerated it mostly anyway. Appetite was never Callie’s strong suit though. It did not matter what it tasted like going down; it always tasted the same coming back up. Now though, she felt as though she could eat an entire buffet if she could only find her way to it. The house was enormous but as Callie followed her nose down the hall behind the staircase, she found the dining room by its hot, sweet aroma.
Gerard smiled and pulled out the chair next to him for Callie. She nodded her thanks and sat down beside him, looking across the table at Mikey who was staring intently with big eyes at the plate he had obviously been told not to touch until they were all seated.
“Now we can eat?” he asked excitedly.
Dr. Bishop smiled from the head of the table. “Yes, Mikey. Now.”
While Mikey grabbed hold of his fork like a shovel, he piled the meatloaf onto it, topping it with mashed potatoes like gravy as he filled his mouth, practically eating the fork with the bite. Callie was happy to see she was not the only one with an appetite. Gerard was filling up as well, more slowly than his younger brother, but trying to keep a polite pace in his eagerness. Callie cocked her head to the side, watching Frank though.
He had his Wolfman mask on as it faced her and he seemed to abstractly pick through the food on his plate without looking; his hairy Wolfman gloves gripping the fork awkwardly. She could not imagine how he was going to get his food through the mask as it had a solid fanged mouth that did not open. Frank lifted his head for the first bite as Callie smiled, realizing the mask was on top of his head and his face had simply been turned down at his plate while the mask on his head faced her.
She took her first delicious bite and forgot all about the other people at the table. She did not even care if she threw the wonderful food back up later. For now, it was delicious and Callie was starving for once, even hoping their might be dessert.
Dr. Bishop watched his charges gobble up the food with a smile on his face to see them enjoying themselves so heartily. He would make note of it later when he adjourned to his study. He wanted them to thrive and they were doing quite well. Everything was going according to plan. “Is everyone happy with their rooms?” he smiled. They all nodded except for Mikey who simply shrugged in lieu of his full mouth, unhappy with the distance between his room and Gerard’s but more content with the situation just the same. “Good, good,” he nodded. “After supper you’re free to explore or get settled in your rooms. There are no schedules here,” he smiled kindly. “Except for the administering of medications,” the doctor added.
Carrie daintily cut her meatloaf with her knife and fork as she smiled. “I’ll come around to your rooms each night and every morning with your individual doses. You’ll be checking in mid-day with Ray for a kind of group therapy so we can help you through this…transition,” she said gently. Carrie smiled, “I’m sure Frank is tired of sharing his thoughts and feelings and would love to hear someone else talk for a change.”
Frank grinned. “I think I’ve poured my heart and soul out enough. I’d like to keep a little somethin to take to the other side with me.”
Bob smiled and nodded. “You’ve really thrived here, Frank. I’m sure you all will,” he encouraged.
Dr. Bishop added, “I’m sure you’ll all get a good night’s rest on your first night. It’s been a long day, I know,” he said sincerely. “Hopefully the old house’s noises won’t keep you up.” At that statement, Mikey lost his appetite, his fork falling with a clang to his plate. “Don’t worry, Mikey,” Dr. Bishop comforted. “You’ll get used to it. Frankie did,” he smiled. “It’s a very old house and it has little creaks and groans in its settlement. As the ocean erodes the cliffs below the house, the old girl just sighs in her sleep,” he laughed.
Mikey gulped nothing but air as he imagined the house moaning in the night. How would he ever tell the house’s groans from the ghosts’? “I’ll never sleep,” he worried.
Dr. Bishop shook his head. “We’ll give you something to help with that.”
As thunder boomed overhead, rattling the crystal chandelier above the table, lightening flashed outside the windows brighter than the lights of the room. Mikey’s hands gripped the sides of the seat of his chair as his clenched knuckles turned as pale as his face. “What will you give me for that?” he panicked.
Gerard smiled softly, almost apologetically. “Mikey doesn’t do so well with storms,” he explained.
Ray offered, “It’s not so bad, Mikey. It’s just louder cause we’re way up here on the cliffs; a little closer to the sky than you’re used to.”
Mikey muttered, “I’ll never get used to the sky yelling.”
Dr. Bishop added, “There are flashlights in every nightstand in case you need them. The power’s a bit iffy way out here and it’s a very old house.”
Each bit of new information only gave Mikey more to worry about. Shaking his head, he protested, “Look at this house! You have money, Doc!” he pleaded. “You could buy better wires and the power would never go out then,” he hoped.
“Mikey!” Gerard snapped. Dr. Bishop had taken them in when they had nothing left in the world and the boy was already complaining on the first night. Besides, it was rude to talk about other people’s money. “Shush,” he scolded his brother.
“It’s alright, Gerard,” the doctor soothed. He turned to Mikey and nodded. “I’ve been blessed with good fortune and grants for my work, it’s true. This house is the only one I have though and luckily it’s big enough to offer refuge to young people like yourself. But unfortunately the wiring’s so old it can’t be updated without cutting through every wall in the house and starting over,” he sighed. “Believe me I’ve gotten more than one opinion on it. As doctors tend to do,” he said, smiling at his own joke. “It’s all an adjustment, Mikey. You’ll adapt. You’ll see,” he said with tender assurance.
The boy was not sure he could agree but he saw no point in arguing either. He would be sleeping with his flashlight like a teddy bear that night and if it was not enough, Gerard was just down the hall with a big bed for him to climb into for salvation.
Mikey eyed Frank cautiously, wondering if the Wolfman stalked the hallways at night and if he would have to get by him to reach Gerard’s room on the other side of him. Perhaps Thor would sleep with Mikey that night. Certainly a dog that big could take on a wolf. Thor looked like a wolf himself.
Frank had said he would not scare him anymore but Mikey had no reason to trust the strange boy either. His eyes were sweet and his smile was beautiful but the ring through his lip scared Mikey. If Frank was willing to do that to himself there was no telling what the boy would do to Mikey. He returned to eating his dinner but kept one eye on Frank just the same. He would have to talk to him later about a few things in private; if he could up the nerve to be alone with Frank that is.
After dinner there was a glorious chocolate cake with whipped vanilla frosting that Bob had made himself just like the entire meal. It was easier to picture the broad man in a kitchen with a meat cleaver rather than a spatula and mixing bowl but the food he created was divine and a wonderful change from the hospital food they were all used to. Fox Hall was a self-sufficient hospice and home. Everyone had a part in running the place though the teenagers had only one part to play; and they would play it until their final curtain call.
After dessert, everyone split up through the house. Mikey sat in the middle of his bed on full alert, holding his flashlight and watching the lights for any signs of flickering. Carrie was taking too long preparing his pills and he feared that without them he would never be able to sleep. Mikey only hoped that she would arrive before the lights went out and the ghosts took to roaming the house. He did not have to wait long as he watched the lights before they suddenly crackled and plunged the house into complete darkness as Mikey dropped his flashlight in surprise. The surge of lighting outside was just enough light for him to find it again and click it on to shine it around the room for signs of newly awakened evil.
Mikey’s beam of light shone across the room to the closet door he was sure he had closed after putting his things away earlier. He never left a closet door open, even in the light. His mother used to check the closet every night before bed, even sweeping her eyes under the bed for monsters. She was not there now though; but Mikey still was. And maybe the monsters knew it too. He worked himself into a fit before closing his eyes and trying to count to ten like his mother had taught him to do when he was afraid. There were two rolls of thunder and three flashes of lightning that distracted him from his purpose. It was the last boom of thunder that sent Mikey running from his room, straight down the hall and into Gerard’s empty bed.
Mikey sat with his flashlight in the empty room that was even more frightening than his own with all of Gerard’s pictures illuminating in the lightning on the walls. There were colorfully intricate designs of monsters of disease and the purgatory his brother felt himself to be in. It was terrifying to know such darkness could come from his big brother, no matter how much Mikey understood and related to it.
Remembering that Gerard and Callie had joined Bob and Ray in the living room to watch television, Mikey could not run to her room any more than he could stay in that one. As he ventured back out into the dark hallway, he realized he could not go searching through the giant house for them either. That left only one door; the one next to his own back down the hall.
Mikey tip-toed past the windows between rooms that looked out over the balcony that wrapped the house. He wondered if there was a Lady in White that walked the bridge at night, waiting for her sailor to come home after the war. Mikey had been in and out of different hospitals his whole life but he would have had to have been raised in a cave not to know the Urban Legends of the world. If he was going to be attacked by a ghost, Mikey did not want to go down alone. He made his way to the door where candlelight seeped underneath as a sign that Frank was in his room. Mikey only wondered which of Frank’s personalities would be inside the room if he went in; Frankie, the boy who had tried to make amends by bringing Thor to him when it was still light out…or the Wolfman who might be waiting for him in the dark.
I’m having so much fun with this story and I hope you are too! I love this place, this theme and all its characters with their many possibilities!! I have tons of ideas and I can’t wait to share them all with you. I’ll crack this story open slowly and draw it out though to make it more interesting. I hope you’re having fun! Xoxo Harley
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