Kill All Your Friends (Frerard)

Asleep or Dead

Frank spent the rest of the weekend thinking about the two brothers and his own sister, his mind wondering what could have possibly happened to make Mikey want to kill himself. As Monday came, he wandered around looking for Ray and Bob, determined to ask them something.

"Bob! Ray!" He yelled out in the crowded hallway when he spotted them. They stopped walking and turned around to face him.

"Hey, Frank. What's up?" Ray asked. Bob stayed silent as he waited for Frank to explain.

"I wanted to know if you guys have pictures of Mikey and Gerard that I could look at?" He asked almost hesitantly. His curiosity was getting the best of him and he needed to know why Mikey did what he did. But, more than that, he wanted to be Gerard's friend.

"Why do you need to see those?" Bob asked. When Frank couldn't answer, Bob and Ray exchanged looks and came to their conclusion.

All right. Meet us outside the school gate after school. Ray is the one with the pictures." Frank nodded and waved bye to them as the bell for fifth period rang. He hadn't seen Gerard too much, but it was fine to Frank because he wanted to keep his distance from him for a while. Until he had it all figured out.

"Are you ready to go?" Ray asked him as they approached him after school. He nodded, feeling slightly nervous as he followed after them. On the drive to Ray's house, he noticed Bob eyeing him through the mirror. Frank could tell that his presence wasn't accepted by the gruff looking male. He'd infiltrated his group of friends and something private to them because he was "curious," and he could understand how bad that looked. The character he couldn't quite place was Ray. He seemed like the emotional, down to earth, yet mysterious type. Like he knew something the others didn't and that slightly bothered him.

"All right, here's my home. Let's go inside. My dad gets home in a couple of hours and he doesn't know you, so you can't stay for that long. Sorry," Ray explained.

"No, I understand," Frank responded. They exited the car and Frank followed after them, his body full of adrenaline. He stood awkwardly in the living where they told him to wait until they came back with a box of photo albums.

"Feel free to look at them all."

"I really appreciate this, you guys, really," Frank responded as he flipped through the first album. All he looked at was Mikey's face.

"He looked so happy. I can't see the part of him that wanted to leave," he told the guys, looking up at them.

"We couldn't either. That's what kills Gerard the most," Ray said, "they did everything together and talked all the time. You never saw one without the other, because they were so close." Frank nodded.

"Maybe it's because you were all so close to him that you couldn't see. That he couldn't allow you to see."

"What do you know about it, huh, Frank?" Bob growled at him. Frank looked up in surprise before giving a sad smile.

"My real dad, he killed himself. My mother and I never knew. I like to think it was because we were too close to him to see it. That's what I know about it." Then he continued looking at the pictures. He flipped through all of them until he got to the very last picture in the last album. It was of Gerard and Mikey. They were smiling and hugging each other with their heads pressed together from the side. They looked truly happy. Gerard especially, Frank thought.

"Can I keep this one?" He decided to ask. He saw another copy of it right next to it. He wanted to keep the picture as a goal. Maybe he could get Gerard to smile almost as much as this one day.

"Well, that's a little weird, little dude, but I guess," Ray said after giving Bob a look.

Frank was too happy to even get offended at what Ray called him. He thanked them, told them he would see them tomorrow, and left. His walk home was short, yet satisfying, because he didn't realize that Ray live about three blocks from him. He was happy to be home so he could get a better look at the picture he was given. He ran up to his room and sat at his study desk. He stared at the pictured for a moment before getting on his computer. He typed his name in the search bar. Mikey Way Belleville, NJ and clicked entered.

A few links popped up. One of his obituary, others of pages on the school website. Frank decided the school website would be easier. He read aloud as his eyes scanned the page.

"In Memory of Michael James Way.

On Tuesday, February 14 2013 the community suffered a great loss. A young man, who had his whole life ahead of him, was taken away too soon. Counseling will be offered to anyone who needs to talk to someone. Services for Michael Way will be held in the local town church at 10 am. Rest in peace."

Frank continued scrolling down, finding many pictures of the young man. Some from when he was a baby up to his last year on earth. He was always with someone, Frank thought. Until he came to pictures that showed Mikey by himself at what looked like behind the school. He squinted down at the corner of the pictures to see who they were credited to. Melina Abernathy. He quickly opened up his Facebook, something he hadn't been on in few weeks, and looked her up.

"Oh. Him," Frank said as his profile popped up. He sent him a message:

Frank Iero: Hey, I saw that you took pictures of Mikey Way. I'm doing a little bit of research on him and would like to know if you could send me every picture you have of him?

He got up to get coffee, thinking it was going to be a while, when he heard a pop. He looked back at his screen and saw Melina sent a message back.

Melina Abernathy: Sure, no problem! Weird, though, because another person asked me for them a few months ago.

After sending over almost twenty photos, Frank realizes what he said.

"That's weird."

Frank Iero: If you don't mind me asking, who was it? I would like to ask them something about my research as well.

Melina Abernathy: Ray Toro.

"What? Ray?" Frank questioned aloud. He pushed Ray to the back of his head. And sent back a thanks before logging off and looking over the pictures. He clicked through every single picture sent to him. Mikey was still smiling until he notices that Melina took a couple of pictures before he made himself known to Mikey that he was there.

And there it was.

Mikey sat against the wall, he was leaned over with his elbows resting on his knees. He had a troubled expression on his face. Frank didn't know Mikey, but that was for the best. Now, he could see past the smile he always had and see that he was troubled by something nobody would ever know. Suddenly Ray popped back into Frank's head and it clicked.

"He figured it out, too." Frank pulled out his thumb drive and plugged it in, saving the pictures and then starts making his way to the photo center down the road. He knew, tomorrow, he would have to talk to Ray.

And show Gerard this wasn't his fault.