Wind-up toy (NOT MINE)

Part 12

Can you hear me cry out to you?
Words I thought I'd choke on figure out,
I'm really not so with you anymore
I'm just a ghost.
So I can't hurt you anymore...
So I can't hurt you anymore...

I stared confusedly at my mother as I sat on the couch between her and Frankie. He barely opened his eyes and babbled something incoherent, letting his head fall on my lap.
"Aww, Alicia was right! This boy is 'candy on two legs' -as her exact words were." mom said in a low voice touching Frank's hair.
"Well...though Alicia's a little silly sometimes, she's right. Frankie's sure giving me a lot of work, but he's such a sweet kid that he makes me want to help him more and more." I smiled. "I would have never imagined you doing something like this. Anyway...don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of you. That's why I wanted to help you." she kissed my cheek.
"Thanks, mom. You telling me this means a lot to me. What is it that you wanted to find out about Frank? And...how?" I asked her, completely unaware of her recourses.

"Remember that several years ago I used to work at the reception of a public mental institution?" she began to explain.
"Oh, yeah! I'd forgotten about that...maybe because you hated that job."
"With all my heart! That place was chaos and it wasn't my thing, I just needed the money so I endured it as much as I could. But the important fact here is that the director of the place liked me..." she continued, and I smirked.
"He...liked you?"
"Not like that, Gerard!" he playfully slapped the back of my head.
"Sorry, mom!"
"He liked me because he said I was the only efficient person there. He was an idiot and a bad specialist from what I knew. But again, I needed the job so I always tried to act friendly with him." she stopped and gave me an annoyed look. "Not friendly in the way you're thinking!"
"I didn't say anything! Please, go on." I laughed.
"When I quit he was disappointed, almost begged me to stay. He couldn't make me change my mind, but told me to call him whatever I might need. That's what I did yesterday." her face told me that she had no good news.
"Oh and...how could he help? Frank wasn't in that place..." I doubted.
"No. I knew this man had access to a data base with the names of all mental patients admitted to institutions all over the country -both public and private. This is necessary to find medical records from persons that are, for example, found in the streets knowing nothing more than their names. If they've been in other places before, they're on that data base." she explicated.

"Just like Frank's case." I thought aloud. "So...he looked him up for you?"
"Yes, he was actually happy to be able to help me after all these years."
"Oh mom, come on, that guy really likes you." I mocked her.
"No, please! He's disgusting!"
"Hahaha, ok. But tell me, did he find out the name of the institution where Frank was?" I went right to the important point. My mother looked down and took a deep breath, as if trying to find the correct words. What could the problem be? Was there something wrong with that place? Bad reputation?
"No, Gerard. Frank's name wasn't there." she stated.
"What? Maybe he didn't remember his last name correctly?" I guessed. She shook her head.
"I thought of that. So I told him all I knew. Name, middle name, age, pathology, that he was in a private place and in which city you found him."
"Frankie said his mother drove a lot before abandoning him..." I pointed out.
"Yes, but not enough for them to have traveled through many different states." she answered. I admired her intelligence, she always thought about all the possibilities. "That reduced the search to only a small portion of the country, and there aren't that many private mental institutions in that area. He searched for people matching Frank's data and found nothing. He doesn't exist as a patient." she concluded.
I didn't know what to say. Just when I had thought things couldn't get any more strange about this boy.

"Oh, fuck. Everything he's told me...there ain't any doubt he was in one of those places!" I raised my voice more than I intended.
"Based on what Mikey commented, I agree with you. I don't think the kid could have made it all up." she whispered, seeing Frank move.
"I don't think so either. The way he talks about it...it's something that he really remembers. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. Once I'm settled I'll investigate more...some way."