Ten

Kellin was easy to convince. He already knew most of my problems anyway, so it didn't come as much of a shock to him when I turned up with Dewees (along with his luggage) and Hannah. In fact, he just sighed and turned the kettle on without a word.

"Go on" He said once we'd set down the bags and pulled up some chairs "What's happened now?"

I was brief about Dewees situation, but that didn't really make it seem any less of a crisis. As I talked, Hannah made coffee and Dewees did some serious staring at the floor, probably craving another fix by this point and so desperately trying to fight off the urge. It wasn't like there were any drugs in the house anyway, so he didn't really have much of a choice. Perhaps this would be a good thing for him,now he would have no choice but to give up. 

"You better pick out a guest room then" Kellin sighed to him once i'd finished "looks like you'll be staying here for a while."His house seemed more like a hotel at this point, or to be more accurate perhaps a hostel for messed up teenagers. 

"Is that ok?" Dewees finally spoke.

"Of course, just pick out one of the rooms on the left, Frank's already claimed one of them. Do you want a hand with your bags?"

"No, it's fine" he started to pick them up off the ground, hands shaking a little from the withdrawal we'd no doubt be seeing a lot more of in the next few hours. "Thanks Kellin."

We waited until he was out of earshot before we spoke again.

"This can only be temporary" Hannah spoke, voicing the thought i'd been too tired to say myself "he's going to start going through withdrawals, and it won't be pretty. He needs a proper rehab, somewhere far away where he won't be found."

"Where are we going to get the money to do that?" I snapped a little, but she ignored my tone of voice. She clearly had more patience than the rest of us. Or maybe she was just less tired of all this shit than I was. 

"My parents have quite a few paintings. We could-"

"Kellin, we can't sell off your parents art collection to send our friend to rehab" I cut him off "you've already done enough as it is, I can't let you do that too. He stays here for now, until I figure out something." It was my problem after all. I brought him to kellin's, so I should be the one to figure out how to get him to rehab. 

"Fine" he shrugged "but the offer's there if you change your mind."

"I won't."

Hannah jumped in at this point, taking charge of the conversation again.

"Ok, he stays here for now. Moving on - what are you going to do Frank? When this guy finds out that Dewees is missing, he'll come looking for you no doubt." As she spoke, Kellin crossed the room and drew the curtains on the evening outside.

"Just in case" he mumbled. His house was safe for now, but we couldn't afford to get over confident. Not with both of us now under his roof. 

"Anyway" She continued "Does he know where you used to live? Or your college? Are there places he'd look for you in?"

"No, just Dewees' house, it wouldn't exactly be hard to check the local collages so I guess going back next week isn't an option for me anymore" in a weird way i'd been almost looking forward to going back in September, a mere week away by this point, just for the sense of normality and mundane routine that collage gave me. However now it seemed that Ian was going to destroy that for me too.

"You need to keep a low profile then" She grimaced "It's all we can do for now except keep you house bound, and I doubt you'll be up for that."

"No way" as soppy as it sounded, i'd rather risk it than go without seeing Gerard.

"Ok, well don't go to any of your usual places. The record or art shops, your aunt and uncle's house, college, park, town centre... just avoid them all really. Keep your head down, preferably get lifts from us instead of public transport... oh! And change your phone number! Otherwise he could track you."

"It's only every week or so that he calls me to do a drug drop so he probably won't notice for a few more days yet" I nodded, mentally buying myself some time.

"Yeah but as soon as he finds out about Dewees, he'll be onto you too" Kellin added. "I mean, you'll be the only lead he has if he wants to find out where he is."

"And more importantly where his drugs are" Hannah said between gulps of coffee.

"Maybe I should pick up when he calls, pretend like I don't know anything..." It was somewhat plausible. I mean, what could he really do if I swore I knew nothing? Would he really hurt me just for the sake of it?

As if reading my mind, Hannah answered, "You know if you do that he won't believe you. He'd rather torture you for information than take your word on it."

"Especially as you were so loyal to Dewees in the past" Kellin reminded me "you were willing to get beaten and then signed up in order to save him in the past, what would have changed now?"

"He's right, people like that see caring about someone as a weakness, and they're more than happy to use it against you." Hannah shook her head at the thought of it all, disgusted at the way in which Ian would use my empathy as a tool to manipulate me with. 

I glanced at them both before returning my gaze to the marble worktops of Kellin's kitchen, a part of my mind wondering how much his parents must have spent on this alone. For some, money really was no obstacle. 

"I need to at least try talking to Ian... Perhaps if I called him? Explained that I went round but Dewees wasn't there, then I'd sort of be turning him in myself... Maybe then he'd trust me." I was clutching at straws, but at least i technically did still have some options, even if they weren't good ones. I had to decide on my plan fast though, because soon i'd be all out. 

Both of them went quiet for a moment, deep in thought. Hannah began to absentmindedly trace shapes into the kitchen worktop with her index finger.

"You'd be sacrificing what little time we have to get Dewees out of here" Kellin finally pointed out. "But..."

"But it could buy you some time in the process" Hannah seemed to agree with me "I mean, don't get me wrong, this could go disastrously, but it's not like you've got a lot to loose anyway. You'd be showing some loyalty to him at the very least."

"Just make sure you're convincing" Kellin sighed, realising that despite the idea being potentially awful, it was the best we had. "When are you going to call him anyway?"

"I don't know when they'll next go round his house, so it would have to be soon... today would be best I guess. Before someone beats me to it."

"Dewees will just have to stay here until we work out something more permanent then."

"Yeah, I guess so" it wasn't ideal and it put more strain on Kellin than I would've liked, but by this point I was running out of options.

"When are you going to call him?" Hannah glanced at the clock "because I kind of need to go soon but I don't want to just up and leave you..."

"Go, go" I waved a dismissive hand at the door "honestly, you've done more than enough. I can handle it from here." We all knew that this was a blatant lie, but nobody called me out on it.

She picked up her car keys and pulled me in for one of those squeeze-the-air-out-of-you hugs that was actually kind of comforting.

"Use your brain" was her parting words of advice "and don't rush into anything, ok?"

"Yes boss."

***

"Right now?"

"I mean it's as good a time as ever" I shrugged off Kellin's skeptical attitude.

"I don't know Frank... Maybe you should wait and tell Dewees before you call up Ian."

Dewees was currently asleep upstairs, nursing off the little high that was left in him and currently blissfully unaware of the situation happening in the living room, where I was sat with my phone in my hand deciding his fate. Had he known, I'm sure he'd have plenty to say, but as it was it seemed the choice was down to me.

"It's not like he'd be happy with it anyway" I reasoned, finger hovering over Ian's contact. "Just one quick call and Ian will think I'm on his side, at least for now. It buys us time." It also meant I wouldn't have to go into hiding and basically become house bound, so I was all for this chance of freedom.

"Ok, well if you're going to do this then Hannah had a point about them tracing the call. You should phone them from somewhere public and then turn your phone off whenever you're near the house. Better to be safe than sorry, right?" Wether they would realistically have the ability to trace the call seemed highly unlikely, but it wasn't worth chancing anyway. 

"Right. I'll call him from the town centre or something, it won't take me long to get there." I rose to my feet. "In fact, if I go now I could make it back in time for when Dewees wakes up."

"Do you need a lift or something?"

"Nah I'm good, I need the walk."

"Frank?" I turned back to face him, only to see my own nerves reflected in his features. "Good luck."

***

It was a hot day.

The pavement seemed to only reflect the heat upwards, into my face and onto my hairline, making me unsure as to weather the sweat was from that or simply nerves. Part of me was past caring, especially when I began to near the town centre. You can only walk so slow in a town like this, especially in the heat, and I knew soon I would be out of excuses.

Right at that moment I would've chosen ten drug drops over the call I was about to make. Mainly because I knew that one false move, one hint that I knew where Dewees was, and I was a goner.

I started to pay more attention to the people around me; groups of teenagers without a care in the world, mothers anxiously pulling their kids away from such groups of teens, businessmen sitting alone... None could quite distract me.

When my phone let off a small beep to tell me i'd received a text, I violently jumped, turning on the screen with shaking hands.

However I found myself breathing a sigh of relief when I saw the text was from Gerard.

"I miss you" it read "where have you been? Xx"

I ignored it for now, with the promise I would answer it later, and instead sat down on the edge of the town centre's over the top fountain, once again finding myself staring down at Ian's contact.

All I had to do was lie. I'd done it countless times before to countless types of people, and yet I was the most nervous now. I'd take any other lie i'd even spun over this one, even the smashed fire alarm would be better. My life had never depended on lying before. 

Before I could think things through, I hit call. 

"Iero? What is it?" It seemed Ian didn't really do 'hello's when answering the phone, not that I'd expected anything else. I guess he knew something was wrong if I was voluntarily calling him. 

"Erm, I think Dewees is missing" At least I didn't need to fake my worried tone of voice "I mean, I went round there but he's... Well he's gone." Please, please buy this, I thought, tempted to even cross my fingers out of sheer desperation. 

"What the hell do you mean gone?" instantly his voice was laced with suspicion and rage, making me flinch a little. 

"Disappeared. A lot of his stuff is gone too. Well, the valuables at least..."

I could hear the sound of a fist slamming onto a table on the other end of the line, followed by a barked reply.

"What about the drugs Iero? Are they still there? Tell me he's left my fucking stash alone!"

"That's the thing.... I think there's quite a bit missing. He told me he was struggling with his addiction but I didn't realise how bad it was." I felt awful to be giving up what little time and excuses Dewees had left, but I prayed it would be the right decision for us both in the long run. Even if he didn't see it that way at first. 

Now all I could hear was a string of curses.

"That piece of shit... listen here Frank, you phone him right now and find out where the fuck he is. I don't care if he's your friend or not, I want him found and I want him found now."

"I've tried but-"

"Then try harder!" More slamming fists on tables could be heard, and I was eternally grateful he was at the other end of a phone line and unable to reach me. 

"Ian we're not even that close, there's no way he'd pick up if I called. I'm sorry, but it's nothing to do with me. I'm just your errand boy, right?" I held my breath, anxiously waiting for his reply. It all hung on this. 

He sighed, but not in defeat. It was the sort of sigh that told you he was thinking, that it was only a matter of time until he had control once again. It was a sigh that told you not to let your guard down. Not to get confident, but maybe to breathe just for a moment. 

"I'm going to find him Iero, with or without your help. But let me tell you this - it's in your best interests to track him down. Because if I get even the tiniest of clues that you knew anything more than you're letting on, I will end your miserable little life. Got it?"

"Got it" I managed to gulp as he abruptly hung up the phone.

I'd spent most of my life lying to people, but never had my life actually depended on it before. It wasn't exactly a situation I would have foreseen myself to be in, but then again I also never could have foreseen it being followed by me taking off down the street, towards the one person who seemed to be able to make me feel better; the local priest.

******

I was hoping to get Gerard in this chapter but it hasn't worked out, I promise he'll be in the next chapter though!

- H xx