Chapter Text
"Do you believe in life after death?" The stranger said as soon as Frank opened the door.
"I'm so sorry, I really don't have time for this right now," Frank apologized and quickly closed the door on the guy's face. He didn't want to be mean, but he really didn't have the time. He was being late on his wedding day and didn't want to make the bride wait. The ceremony was gonna start in an hour and he didn't even start getting ready yet.
"God will punish you for your acts, young man," he heard the guy yell from the other side of the door. "Hell will be waiting for you!"
"I'm sorry!" Frank yelled back and ran up the stairs, where his dad and friends were waiting for him.
"Common Frank!" He heard James call from his room. "Move your ass!"
"I'm coming," Frank yelled back as he took the last step of the stairs.
"Who was it?" His dad asked when he got in his room.
"Some religious dude trying to spread God's word," Frank replied as he took his black tuxedo, his button-up shirt, the tie and the black pants, and headed to the bathroom connected to his room to get changed. He quickly got it on, expect the tie because he might be 22 years old, but he didn't learn how to tie a tie yet.
"Dad, I need you to tie my tie," Frank said as he got out of the bathroom.
"God, Frank you're so unorganized!" His dad groaned, "your hair looks like you just woke up. Do your hair, after I'll tie your tie."
"Come on here," Tyler said as he patted the chair in front of the big mirror. Frank went and sat on it, looking at himself inside the mirror. He really does look like shit.
Tyler started doing his hairstyle, putting some gel and pushing his hair backwards. This was unusual for Frank because he always has his hair in front of his face, but he can make an exception for this time. I mean, common, it's his wedding, he's not gonna look like an emo shit.
"You would've been on time if you started getting ready the moment I told you to. But NO, you had to play that last round of Call of PUBG or some shit," his dad started again. "Now you're gonna be late and embarrass yourself in front of everyone. In front of all the guests."
"We're NOT gonna be late dad," Frank said, not so sure of it, "and it's Call of Duty."
"Yeah, whatever," he turned to Tyler, "just do it faster."
"I'm trying!" Tyler groaned as he started to work 'faster.'
After less than 10 minutes, Tyler finished with his hair and Frank stood up, walking to his dad so he can now tie his tie.
"Gentlemen," his dad called, looking around at Frank's friends, "can I have some father-to-son private talk?"
Everyone nodded and started heading out. When the room was empty, his dad took the tie and started tying it.
"So, Frank, getting married huh?" His dad said, sighing at the end.
Frank laughed, "yeah, not like I have a choice."
"You're feeling obligated to marry?"
"If it was on me, I would've waited a little more, dad," Frank said, feeling a bit dad. He loves Jamia, don't get me wrong, but the only reason he proposed to her this soon was because of his parents' pressure.
"Treat Jamia well," his dad said, ignoring what Frank just said as he continued tying his tie, "she's coming form a really good family. You know me and her dad are really good friends, don't ruin that for me. You ruin that, you'll ruin a lot of good deals."
This might not be an arranged marriage, but it sure feels like one. Frank's and Jamia's parents are close. Frank's parents didn't really force him to ask Jamia out, but they sure did pressure him, just like they pressured him to propose. They told him he's 'useless and doing nothing for the family' and 'at least by marrying Jamia, he'll get their families closer and her dad will make bigger deals with them.' The rich life. Everything is about money.
In the middle of this all, at least Frank feels better knowing he actually has feelings for Jamia. She's really beautiful and intelligent, not to mention the sweetest person in this world. He's sure he can make this work even though he still thinks this is too soon. He's still TWENTY-TWO, but his parents don't seem to care. When he told that to his mom she said, "stop complaining Frank. I married when I was eighteen, I think you can handle this."
"Sure," Frank replied, taking a deep breath as his dad finished the tie, but still not let go of it.
He looked at Frank straight into the eyes and said, "I need more than that, Frank. Seriously, if you ruin this, you're gonna make me lose a lot of money."
"I promise I won't ruin this for you, dad," Frank said, rolling his eyes a little. "Now, can you let me go, I'm seriously gonna be late?"
Finally, his dad let go of his tie and they headed to the limo that was waiting for them outside. After not even thirty minutes, Frank was standing in front of the priest as church melody played in the background. Finally, the doors on the other side of the room opened, revealing Jamia with her dad. All Frank could think right now was, wow she's beautiful. She really was.
However, when the time came for him to say "I do," he got stuck. A voice in his head was telling him "don't do this" and then there was his dad's voice, telling him "don't ruin this for me." His dad's voice won and Frank said "I do" out loud and forced on a sad smile. The ceremony ended with other speeches, which Frank chose not to pay any attention to. What followed was Frank's favourite part of weddings.
The party.
Now, what Frank likes about the parties is that you can get as drunk as you want and forget about the important things for a day. The party was taking place at a really big outside restaurant with a big pool in the middle. It was already dark, the place only light up with cute lanterns hanging from upstairs on a cord.
Everything was going well. Frank was already half drunk and was having fun with his childhood friends. But of course, he can't even enjoy his own wedding party. He was talking with Tyler about how you're more likely to get a computer virus from visiting religious sites than porn sites, when the music stopped and they heard a loud bang.
"What was that?!" Tyler yelled through the screaming of people as everyone started running.
"I don't know! Sounded like a gunshot!" Frank yelled back as he looked around to see if he can see anything that could've been the source of the noise, "let's get out of here!"
They started running, Tyler leading the way and Frank following. By the time they were near the doors, most of the people were already out, the place nearly empty. Frank was about to get out as well when he heard his mom's scream.
"Frank!" She screamed. Frank stopped in his tracks and turned to see where his mother was. The scream wasn't for him though. His heart stopped at what he saw. On the other side of the place was his dad, laying dead on the ground, blood covering all of his chest. Next to him was his mom, on her knees, crying for her husband as she held his hand.
"Mom!" He yelled and started running towards her, the alcohol and his short legs slowing him down. Before he could get there, a masked man appeared from the few people that were rushing to the doors and raised a gun, pointing it at his mother while she cried her eyes out for her dead husband.
"MOM!" He yelled even louder to get her attention and make her run as he changed his direction to the masked figure so he can stop it before he fires the gun. "Stop!" He yelled at the man, but of course, his mom was too busy crying that she didn't hear him and Frank was too slow to stop the man, so the gun went off, the bullet going right through his mother's chest.
"NO! MOM!" he let out a screeching scream and changed his running direction back to his mom, nearly falling in the pool as he did so. However, before he could get any closer to her, someone's body collided with his, sending him flying in the pool. He was barely out of the water to take a deep breath when a hand held his hair and pushed him back into the water.
Frank tried to find something under him that'll help him push himself out of the water, but the pool was too deep so he couldn't find anything. Instead, he started trying to get the hand off of his hair. The grip was tight though, shooting pain in his head. His fighting was getting weaker and weaker as the lack of oxygen was making him dizzy. However, before Frank could lose consciousness, the hand was gone, so he swam up and took a deep breath. He held from the edge of the cemented floor as he coughed and tried to get back his breath.
Frank's hair was in front of his face again, covering most of his vision, the gel gone because of the water. However, Frank didn't miss the two feet that appeared in front of him. His eyes followed them up and were met with a barrel of a gun.
"Poor Frankie," the masked man behind the gun, who was now crouching down to be closer to Frank, said, "rich daddy couldn't protect him. Any last words?"
Frank wanted to say "fuck off" but he was still trying to catch up his breath. He panicked when he saw the guy take out the safety of the gun with a click.
"The fuck are you doing!?" Frank heard someone else yell. His eyes followed the voice and were met with another masked man, "Not yet!"
"Why not?!" The guy behind the gun yelled back.
"I SAID NOT YET!" The other one yelled again, "the police are on their way, just LET'S GO."
The guy turned back to Frank, lowering the gun, "looks like I can't get the satisfaction of killing you. It's sad."
And like that, the guy stood up, but not before hitting the side of Frank's head as hard as he could with the back of the gun. After that, everything was a blur. He lost his grip and was drowning again, swinging between consciousness and unconsciousness. He didn't have the strength to swim back on the surface. The hit was too hard and the pain was killing him. He's sure he was bleeding now, the chlorine making the pain even worse. He accepted his fate and closed his eyes, waiting for his death.
However, two hands pulled him out of the water and laid him down on the ground. People were yelling. Frank was coughing again, not able to open his eyes to see who pulled him out. The pain was too much.
"I told you to not kill him yet!"
"I didn't kill him, he's still alive!"
"That last hit was unnecessary!"
"Why do you care!? He's gonna be dead in a month anyway!"
Frank didn't want to die. He's still 22, he has a life to live, children to have, become a rockstar like he always dreamed.
"Whatever, if he dies now, I'm blaming this on you! The boss will be pissed. All of this will be for nothing!"
"He's not gonna die now! It was just a hit on the head and he's still breathing. See?"
"Let's just get out of here. The police will be here in any second."
And like that, the voices were gone.
Frank heard sirens before falling into complete darkness.
꧁ꕥ꧂
4 weeks later
"I got the gig!" Frank yelled as he stepped into the house.
"What!?" Jamia came out of their room, heading down the stairs, "Frankie, that's amazing! I'm so happy for you."
She came to Frank and planted a kiss on his lips. Frank kissed back. His band did an audition a week ago for a big festival, and they got the gig. This was big, like really big. His whole bright future depends on it. The future he might not get to. After the incident, Frank was way too paranoid. Every time he got out of the house, at least three bodyguards had to be with him, and as soon as he got home, he closed the metal doors and locked them with additional locks.
Before dying, his dad had left a will, so their houses, all the money and the businesses they had came down to Frank. But Frank didn't want the money, he wanted his parents back.
"I just-" he said breaking the kiss, "I just wish mom and dad could be here."
"They would've been really proud of you, Frank," Jamia said, looking Frank in the eyes.
Frank's eyes watered as the memories came back to him. The scar on his head was still fresh. It was healing, really slow though.
"I miss them, Jam," Frank said, breaking down to sobs, "I really miss them."
"I know you do, honey," she replied, giving him a comforting hug. Frank accepted the hug and continued sobbing in her arms. She broke the hug, looking him in the eyes and said, "let's just forget about that awful night and celebrate what you got now. Ok?"
"Ok," Frank nodded, taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself, just like his therapist told him to.
Jamia took his hand and dragged him to their room. She made him sit on the bed and said, "now, you sit here and I'll go bring us some wine to celebrate."
"Alright," Frank nodded. He laid down on the bed, thinking about that day again. Why didn't they just finish him right there and then? Why did they want him to live a month longer? That's what they said right? 'He's gonna be dead in a month anyway.' Frank remembers those words like it was yesterday. Are they even gonna kill him or is he just being paranoid for nothing? He lifted his arm to his head, feeling the big scar under his hair and wincing as the touch caused him more pain than he expected.
Frank just wished that day never happened. He wanted his parents back. He wanted his old life back. He doesn't want to live in fear every single day. He wanted his parents to be here and see how fast he's advancing in his music career. If it continued like this, he'll become a real rockstar in a year. If he makes it that long of course. If he doesn't, he knows his band will. He's just a guitarist that can be replaced by probably someone better.
Frank snapped out of his thoughts when Jamia entered the room with a bottle of wine and two glasses. Frank sat up to make space for her as she sat on the bed next to him. She put the bottle and glasses on the nightstand and started pouring wine in both of the glasses.
"To our future," she said, raising the glass.
"To our future," Frank smiled, doing the same and chugged the whole glass afterwards.
"Damn, that was fast," Jamia laughed as she put her glass on the nightstand. "Want another glass?"
"I-" Frank wanted more. He wanted to get drunk and forget about all of this. But he wasn't about to turn into an alcohol when his whole life was coming back together. He decided that one glass was enough to celebrate the special night, but he doesn't need the second, so instead, he said, "no thanks. Can we- umm can we go to sleep? I'm really tired."
"Of course, Frankie," she replied, lifting her hand and straightened Frank's hair. Frank winced when her hand touched the wound. She lifted his hair and inspected the it as she said, "you got lucky that day."
"I guess I did," Frank said, gently pushing her hand away from his head. He didn't feel comfortable about the wound, not the slightest, especially when people talked about it. It always reminded him of that day. The day he wants to forget.
"Ok then, let's go to sleep," she said.
They changed and got in bed. Just like every night, Frank thought about the incident. He thought how tomorrow can be his last, and at the same time couldn't help but feel happy that he made it through another day.
And with those thoughts, he fell into a dreamless sleep...