Chapter 172) Dealing on a daily basis
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It was stranger hearing noises from two directions. Internally and externally. Drifting and over floating with each other. Blending and torn in a fight, survival of the fittest, which one could make the most sound? Sometimes it made him feel special, being so important for both sides. Both trying to bride him into staying on theirs. Like:
Come to the dark side, we have cookies, kind of special. It was hard to choose while other times he got dragged to the side that screamed loudest. Sometimes he didn’t have a choice at all.
‘What’s wrong, why can’t you ever be happy?’
‘There is no end, no way out of this misery, might as well kill yourself, what’s the big deal anyway?’
‘I know where they keep a spar key, you can make it man, you can make it!’
He was pretty much sure he’d woken up a while ago, just not entirely sure where he woke up. He wasn’t sleeping in his bed, or any other bed. The fabric around him felt different and the space was too small and slightly uncomfortable. He couldn’t spread his legs completely and his neck felt stiff. His head rested on a pillow and his face was all wet from his own salvia and he was cold and hot at the same time. His face itched extremely and he knew scratching wouldn’t help, he would try though. It’s a reflex and you’ll keep doing it until you tear your own skin off, because the itch will get that bad.
“Sarah, he’s going to be alright? Right, he’s not going to get worse, right?”
Other voices, they calmed him down. It was a relieve that he still heard the external voices. He kept his eyes shut and smiled, hiding his face in his clammy pillow. Frankie, it was the sound of Frankie’s voice. Frank was still around, Frank still cared about him. Frank didn’t wise he was dead yet.
His buddy’s voice dwelled inside his head while other voices groaned in disapproval: “I honestly can’t tell you Frank, I don’t know. Soon as he wakes up I will give him his medication and in the afternoon King will be here to… I dunno test him or something.”
He smiled again, Bee sounded so worried, Bee didn’t want him to die either, the voices had been wrong and big fat fucking liars. He should tried to ignore them, lousy death threats. But maybe Bob wanted him dead, who knew everything’s possible right?
“
Tests?! That’s all you’re going to do?! Run some tests on him and then what? What if he doesn’t pass, then what?” Frankie… Frank really sounded pissed off. Maybe he should say something about that because clearly Frank didn’t get that nobody could really help him. Not when the big bad battle of either sides was going on. It was like tossing a coin, things could go anywhere from here. He didn’t like that thought, but it was out of his hands by now.
‘She’s going to slip rat poison in your food, she’s going to cut you into pieces, you’ll be roast beef sonny-boy.’
‘I’m scared, their all hiding behind me, why don’t they leave me alone.’
‘It’s okay, really, it’s okay. Just calm down and sleep, everything will be over soon.’
“No, I don’t wanna go back to sleep.” His voice sounded dull and pointless. But it made him blink his eyes and even better, sit up. He discovered that he spend the night sleeping in the living room, covered with a fuzzy blanket. A few DVD’s lay near him, all Disney Classics. He liked watching the classics when he was doing bad. Same old, same old between good and bad. And a lot of singing, it was easier to keep your focus on something simple, with a clear view on right and wrong. No need to think when you’re watching
Sleeping beauty.
“He’s up.” Frank stated, his voices seemed to go both ways: relieved and worried. Strange mix.
In slow-motion he stared around and saw his roommates appear from the dinner room. Frank’s face was pale and he seemed ready to piss himself. Bob’s face had something nostalgic, it was a little grim and ‘been there one that’. Sarah seemed confused and Ray simply moved towards the TV. He liked Ray most by now, just continuing his routine like nothing was wrong at all.
“How are you feeling Gerard?” Sarah asked and touched his face. It was weird and warm while he was sure his face was pretty hot as well. Itchy and sort of infected, he wondered if they all could see the freak by now. Maybe not because he still felt some calmness and comfort inside. How he was feeling besides that, he honestly didn’t know and couldn’t possibly answer.
“I drooled on the pillow.” He said instead, happy he found something else to talk about. “I’m sorry.” He said a little less cheery, like he actually meant it. Because Sarah had been around last night and must be shitty tired by now. He looked at her for some answers. “How long did I sleep?”
“A little less than four hours I think.” She answered staring intensely into his eyes. She must see that there was something off, something wrong.
“Means you haven’t slept more than four hours as well.” He said, he’d liked to show off a little with his sanity skills. Or just point out he wasn’t completely retarded by now. Because he wasn’t sure Frank had seen him in this state of mind yet and he didn’t want to give the guy the impression his boyfriend was retarded.
“’M sorry.” He apologized, really meaning it. He was really fucking up her day and night rhythm and she was nice enough to keep that smile up. Like everything was dandy and within minutes there would be a magical pill that would take him completely out of lalaland.
That thought made him sad and he felt like crying, but he didn’t because he felt too tired.
“Do you want something to eat Gerard?” Sarah asked him and he nodded subconscious.
“Hot chocolate and oatmeal.” It was weird when he felt dangling he always choose that food. It was his favorite morning meal when he still lived at home, it gave him some sense of reassurance. Or maybe he thought too much about his own being, then again there wasn’t much else to think about.
He tried to work on routine, got up, parked his ass on his seat and waited until Sarah fixed his meal. In the meantime he got plagued by voices and hated Bob’s and Frank’s nervous looks, sometimes exhaling information he was secluded from.
“Only for the sane, only for the sane, sure why not get your own damn club.” It sounded mean, he had to agree it sounded mean and a few voices agreed with him while others cheered. Highly confusing.
He ate his meal in silence, scooped some on another plate to be sure there wasn’t anything drifting underneath the surface. He drank his hot chocolate when it was lukewarm and only after pouring it in another mug, just in case.
Then it was, sweet hallelujah send me angel, medication time. He took the pills with grace, drank most of the water and promised he wouldn’t throw up because he really wanted to get better. He had no clue if they believed him.
“Ya know, maybe I’m not bipolar, maybe I’m a scitzo and you’re all talking to the wrong person. Like maybe ‘m like thirty people. Or maybe you’re all wrong anyway.” He didn’t knew why he said it, he just did. “And I don’t wanna die, seriously I don’t wanna die.” This he said because he fully meant it.
.-.-.
It was a rough start, with nearly now sleep she envied
Sleeping Beauty. After Gerard woke up he couldn’t be left alone and he wouldn’t stand be near Frank. What was nearly impossible because she couldn’t tell Frank to stay in his room as she couldn’t let Gerard stay in his. She finally made the compromise with Gerard that Frank could be in the same room, just have a few feet of distance. Frank miserably agreed as well and made sure he spend most of the time outside. Ray got majorly agitated because he didn’t understand the tension around him and Bob acted like he didn’t care at all.
Meanwhile she’d taken Gerard aside, told him to hold still and cut his nails because the scratchs on his face went from bad to worse.
“T’s not like I can help it!” He said to his own defense.
“I’m not saying you can, but I can’t let you scratch your face off.” She answered. “You should take a shower too, no offence but you’re a bit smelly.”
His eyes rolled from side to side and then backwards while he rubbed through his face and then suddenly shouted out: “No I don’t wanna take a shower, no shower –no shower. Someone might shoot me, kill me. I don’t wanna go alone and I can’t look in the mirror because he’ll laugh and hate my ass. I can’t look, no.”
She let him mutter to himself for a short while before taking his hand and squeezing it soft. He focused on her, twitching with his head. “I don’t wanna go, don’t make me go, please don’t make me go.”
“I’ll go with you, I won’t peek and make sure nobody gets in to kill you. I’ll even cover the whole mirror up, how about that? Nobody can look at you then.”
He stared at her in silence, misery dwelling over his face.“’Kay.” He said eventually, defeated and trusting her to make sure he’d get out alive and in one piece. “But you need to keep the door open, don’t close the door ‘cause if he comes I wanna get out. I really
need to get out then.”
She was glad with his approval, because honestly she wouldn’t be able to make him do anything if he didn’t want to. She wasn’t even sure Kurt could make him do things if he really did not want to. Let out make him do anything that mortified him for whatever reason.
“Are there any clothes you don’t want to wear?” She asked, guessing that might be important.
He hummed, his foot nervously tapping on the floor. “Just plain things, no red because it’ll leak off and like cover the whole floor. Then I need to clean it because I made the mess. No red, just plain. No colors, please.”
“Alright, I think I can make that work. Let’s go.” She said and pulled him off his seat. He followed her like a shadow and seemed anxious to go around every corner. He even followed her into the laundry room, but kept standing in the doorway while she picked some clean clothes out of his laundry basket.
“I don’t wanna take a shower.” He pressed again, nudging his hand into the wall. It must hurt because he did it pretty hard, but didn’t show any sign of pain. “I really don’t want too.”
“I know you don’t Gerard, but it’s for your own good. I’m sure you’ll feel better afterwards.” She ensured him although she wasn’t that sure herself. She’d even paged Kurt to be steady if things didn’t work out. The male nurse had taken position in the living room and could be with her in a second.
Both of them walked over to the bathroom, Gerard dragging himself forward as if it was his last march. “I really don’t wanna go in there.” He muttered sad when she opened the door.
“It’s ok, look I covered up the mirrors so it’s safe to go.” She told him and pointed at the mirror hidden behind some old towels. She had to pull him in and while she placed his clean clothes down on the sink he stood there, arms wrapped around his torso and muttering to himself.
“If you want you can talk them out loud.” She told him and he immediately started to talk louder.
“Shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up.” He said in an angry voice. “I’m sick of you, I’m not ganna listen to you and ‘m not ganna break anything, ‘cause that’s bad luck!” He must have been referring to the mirrors and he glanced suspiciously at the old towels. “T’ll hold—because she said so!”
Without any enthusiasm he slowly started to undress himself. “Bee ‘m talking to you again, don’t peek. You’re a girl I don’t want you to see me naked.”
She didn’t see the point because it had happened that he danced around in the hall butt naked. But she did what he asked, sat down on the sink and looked away. Shortly after she heard him dump his clothes on the floor hot water started to run.
“Can you like… talk or s’mthing Bee, ‘cause ‘m getting a bit edgy in the cubicle. Like… people always get killed when their taking a shower in horror movies. And for all I know someone might have killed you by now and head over to me to finish me off.”
“Owh, errr sure.” She stuttered. “Anything specific you want me to talk about?”
“Naah, not really just talk about Don’s band or something.”
So she did. She talked about the contract some big and fancy record company kept delaying, changing paper work leaving them in the dark. How the singer of the band had started to write little songs about those ‘vultures’ waiting for them to die so they could get all the good piece for free.
She complained about how stressed and mutt Don seemed, spending every damn earned penny in the band and how she hoped everything would work out so they didn’t need to sell the band van or the motor cycle because she didn’t want to shrink back to public transport.
Gerard mumbled from the little cubicle, which she wasn’t sure if he meant it in response to what she was saying, or that he talked to his voices. She caught herself thinking of
his voices rather than
the voices.
“’M done.” Gerard said dull, loud enough to make her aware that he’s talking to her and not to something else. “Towel.” A short pause and he opened up the cabin for a little bit just enough to stretch his hand out. “Please.”
The little sign of politeness made her smile, for some reason she thought that being civil banned out insanity, or kept it at a safe distance. Handing him a towel she said: “You don’t have to stay in there, I’ll look away.”
“Naah… ‘m fine.”Gerard responded, snatching the towel back in and closing the door. “This place is alright, out ‘s bad. Real bad right now.” The towel got tossed over the cubicle. “Clothes.” The door reopened just long enough for her to hand him his clothes. A worn out pair of jeans and a simple plain black t-shirt.
“Are you coming out so you can put some socks and shoes on too?” She asked, suspiciously trying to overhear any sound made in the tiny shower cubicle.
“Just a fucking minute.” Gerard snarled frustrated and immediately after muttering to himself. “T’s okay, t’s okay. Nobody there and he’s all covered up. Or a cover up. Maybe…” He sounded undecided and worried, then stated: “’M not getting out. Nuhu. No.”
Unintentionally she closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. Politeness reached his end. “Gerard, nothing will or can happen in here.”
“T’s not the fucking point, time is all shit, t’s not about what can’t or
won’t yaknow. T’s not about fucking time, just gimmy a minute!” His voices grew in volume, snarling and agitated. He threw in a blow into the tiled walls and she could hear him sank down to the floor. “Talk to me, tell me s’mothing to I can make the rest of ‘em go away.”
“Gerard there is nothing in here that can do something to you, you’re safe.” She tried.
Gerard snorted and kicked against the wall. “Tell me s’mthing I don’t know yet.”
“Can’t you at least open up the door so I know you’re not hanging yourself?”
“No can do, talk.”
Unsteady she started to talk about small talk subject. What kind of groceries she needed to buy, that she ran out of cat food for her cat, that by now must have learned how to handle a cane opener by lack of decent care from his owners. She talked about her neighbors that pissed her off and how the landlord could be a pain in the ass. After she mentioned dying her hair jet black Gerard pushed the door open, still sitting on the floor.
“Don’t screw up your purple, Ray won’t coop with that much of a change.” He told her, plucking irritated on the clammy fabric of his jeans. He shifted with his legs, drenching his knees in small puddles of water. Wit prying eyes he scanned the bathroom and nodded approving when he didn’t spot anything that might put his life at risk. “My head hurts.” He stated thoughtful and pushed himself up from the wall. “T’s like a shitload of storm up in ‘here. Fucking titanic crashing, hitting my brain, t’ll sink in my nerve system and then I’ll bluescreen.”
“That nearly sounded poetical…” She muttered wondering how much of what he said might be true. “Come on, you took a shower you’re off the hook.”
The young adult in front of her tilted his head and stared down at her. His eyes gave away that there was something wrong with him, switching from side to side too often. And the glance seemed abnormal, wildly and unfocused. There was something off and wrong with him, most of the time he did a good job of hiding that part. But standing this close made that
freak ,as he named it, nearly touchable. It was something unpredictable yet just a small part of the person behind it.
“Gerard?” She asked when his staring gaze started to become mildly uncomfortable.
“Yeah?... Owh.” He blinked and looked passed her. “Sorry, t’s just… funny, just a funny little thing.”
“What’s so funny?” She asked noticing the space between the both of them wasn’t that much. Which was a little odd, mostly Gerard kept far out of her personal space.
“That ‘m actually listening to you most of them time. I used to not do that ya’know? When I was like younger and different? I wouldn’t listen to anyone smaller or weaker then I’d be. And that’s funny ‘cause I do now. And some of them really wanna beat your ass for it.” A soft whimpering chuckled escaped his lips and he quickly covered them with his hand before rubbing through his face. “T’s funny, fucking funny, like hysterical. ‘Cause you’re a girl and I didn’t even take shit from my mom back then.”
It seemed wise to leave that revealing come out be. “Let’s just get back to the living room alright?” Turning on her heals to head back to the living room she felt his hand grab her shoulder and squeeze it slightly. “What-?” She nearly screeched ready to pretend knowing a flying fuck about Kun fu.
“’M scaring the shit out of you right?” Gerard smirked somewhere finding that thought funny. “Sorry ‘bout that.” And after tapping her on her shoulder he staggered out of the bathroom, giggling about something he saw on the ceiling.
Sarah pouted her lips and sighed. “This isn’t over yet.”
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