MCR ReWritten: Chapter 22, Over

    Gerard and Jordan were trying choke back their giggles as they ran the straightner through Ray’s head. It was 3 in the morning; they had woken up and planned to straighten Ray’s hair while he slept without any consent at all.
    Gerard stood back.

“That’s as good as it’ll get.” He said, examining the wavy hairs.

“Yep.” Frank suddenly gave a loud snore and startled them. Gerard put his hand over his chest in relief no one had awoken. Jordan yawned.

“I’m gonna go watch TV…”

“Okay…”

    He watched her slowly walk over to the couch and lay down. She grabbed the remote and started watching a horror movie. Gerard sat on a chair beside the couch.
    Gerard had gotten into the movie so much he hadn’t realized that Jordan had to fallen asleep. He looked at her; one arm was up and supporting her head as a pillow and the other hung limply over the couch. He could see the necklace they’d given her for Christmas. She only took it off when she took showers in fear of ruining it.
    Despite how reckless she looked, he couldn’t help but sit there and watch her sleep. He reached over and started twirling her hair in his fingers. She didn’t stir.
    Gerard heard his cell phone ringing and he ran to answer it quietly so nobody would wake up. Who could be calling him this early?
    Jordan heard someone walk by and Gerard’s voice talking low but angrily. She opened one eye and saw him talking on the phone with his back facing her.

“No Kat—I can’t—we talked about this, if you can’t deal wi---oh really? So I’m the one who’s messing everything up? I’m the reason for all this? Do you not see what you’re doing?! Fine then you can just---Kat? Kat? Dammit.”

    He closed the phone and threw it on the table. She made him get more frustrated than ever lately, and with a new album in mind he didn’t want to deal with it.

“Shit…”

“What’s going on Gerard?” Frank walked in, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“Kat.”

‘Still hassling ya’?”

    Gerard’s eyebrows lowered. “Yes.”

“Hey what’s this?” Frank asked, picking up a pile of envelopes and a package on the table.

“Oh---the mail. Your mom sent you and Jordan a package.”

    Frank took the package and slowly sat down at the end of the couch and opened it. On top of the packing material was a note from their mom:

Dear Jordan and Frank,
    I hope that everything’s been going great! I miss you two so much already, even though you visited just recently. Your father is doing fine and sends his love.
    Anyways, I was cleaning out your old rooms and found a whole bunch of videos. I sent them to my friend and she converted them into DVD form for me. I think most of them are from your early teenage years when I bought Frank that camera for his birthday.
I don’t know if you’ve even seen these or not, but I thought you might want to.
    Once again, I hope everything’s fine and that your taking good care of your sister Frank, and that Jordan’s keeping an eye on you too!

                                                                                           Lots of Love,
                                                                                                       Mom

Frank closed the letter and smiled. He set it aside and reached into the box. He pulled out some DVD’s in cases with different titles on them.

“What are those?” Gerard asked, sitting down when Frank moved to make room.

“Videos from mom of me and Jordan.”

“Pop one in!”

“Haha how about this one?” He held up one marked: “Frank and Jordan: Random Clips-14 yrs. Old”
    Frank got up and put it in the DVD player. He returned to the couch just in time to see it start.

“That’s my old room!” Frank commented immediately, pointing at the screen.

“You were messy…”

“Still am.”

    The camera finally rested on a teenage boy. He had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and that familiar grin. It was no doubt Frank.

“Hey be careful with that it’s new!!” He said in an annoyed and amused tone.

“Alright, alright.” A girls voice answered. Jordan.

“Okay you filming?”

“Uh, what I’ve been doing Einstein.”

“Okay okay. Umm.…I’m Frank and that’s my sister handling the camera, Jordan.”

“Hi!” Jordan turned the camera to her for a split second and waved before returning it back to Frank. Gerard caught her long and layered black hair and bright green eyes. He looked at the modern-day Jordan slumbering on the couch.  That was the girl.

“So yeah I’m Frank…I already said that and this is my room. It’s pretty messy since I haven’t cleaned it in 3000 years..” He giggled identically to how he did today.

“Wow Frankie I didn’t know you were that old. I can see how time has aged your appearance. You were born a loooooong time ago old man.”

“Shut it Jordan. If I was really 3000 I would’ve been born in like….err…”

“I thought that you were supposed to get smarter as you got older? Obviously it hasn’t taken to effect yet.”

“…nevermind. So BACK TO THE POINT: I’m going to let you into the life of Frank.”

“The Life and Times of Frank Iero….” Jordan said dramatically. They laughed.

“Sure…so here’s where I sleep if there’s not too much crap already there.” He led them over to his bed.

“He used to sleep in a box outside.”

“Yeah I miss that box sometimes…nothing beats the feel of cardboard on concrete.”

“But mom won’t let him out there because there are crazy people outside.”

“Yep.”

“But then she realized it was her own son she was hearing about.”

“Heh heh true!”

    They headed over to his desk, where a guitar, an amp, and a radio laid next to it.

“This is my desk, it’s got nothing important on it really. There’s one of my fav things in the world, my guitar.”

“I’m not allowed to touch it.”

“Damn straight.”

“And therefore, he can’t touch my guitar.”

“Yep.”

“But he still does.”

“Yep.” He started giggling and she threw a pillow in his face.

“Ow—hey!”

“That didn’t hurt Frankie.” He threw it back in her face and she flinched and yelped.

“See?!”

“Okay. On with the tour.”

“Yeah—so—err this is my closet. My sister thinks it’s haunted because she’s a little scaredy cat like that so…yeah I don’t think it’s haunted.”

“Yes it is!”

“Give me the camera and I’ll show you.”

“Fine.”

    Frank took the camera and went over to the white closet, opened the door and peered inside. He turned the camera around the whole closet after turning on the light.

“See? Nothing.”

“I dare you to go in there.”

“Alright then.”

“With the lights off.”

“Good.”

“Give me the camera.” He handed it to her before turning off the lights and stepping into the small room. She closed the door on him and held the doorknob shut. Within a couple minutes Frank was beating on the door, begging for exit.

“I TOLD YOU!”

“YES I REALIZE THAT NOW! LET ME OUT!”

    She made no effort to let him out. Jordan left him in there a few more minutes and let him out. He looked at his sister’s laughing face and glared hatefully. He set the camera down and went for a pillow. He started hitting her as she laughed and cringed.

“Don’t-ever-do-that-again-you-cold-hearted-sister!”

    Jordan grabbed a pillow and began her onslaught. It wasn’t long before it had become a full-fledged war. One of the pillows hit the camera and the screen went black for a moment. They could still hear the younger Frank and Jordan fighting. A bit later the camera was uncovered and set on the table right again.

“Well we’ve signed peace treaties and all that kind of stuff so we’re good now—but—umm—I bet that she’ll probably get revenge on me and I will—well—return with revenge and it’ll just go from there. Uhh….this has gone really random and I’m not even sure what we’re gonna do next and—“ Frank stopped and looked at his sister in mid sentence. She had been saying over everything he’d just said. She looked back at him and gave a high-pitched giggle. Frank ignored Jordan when she tried to play it off by reaching for a Rubik's cube on the floor. She sat there and played with it as he continued talking.

“—so yeah I’d show you her room but I’m not allowed in there any longer. I think actually-uh—what time is it…? Yeah I think we’ll just go outside or something and get hurt for doing stupid stuff. So yeah this video sucks because it’s one of our first and we just wanted to have fun with the new camera heh heh. I think that’s it for now—hey—what are you doing with the Rubik’s cube?”

“Trying to figure it out GENIUS!!”

“You’re switching the stickers…..cheater….”

“So? You can’t figure out a Rubik’s cube.”

“Puh-lease….Rubik’s cubes are easy….”

“You’re a Rubik’s cube.”

“You’re a Rubik’s cube.”

“You don’t even know what a Rubik’s cube is.”

“Yeah I do I have one--you don’t.”

“I do now.”  She pulled it from his proximity when he made a swipe for it.

“No you don’t that’s mine.”

“No it’s not it’s mine.”

“Okay you can have it.”

“Really?”

“No not really.” She handed it over grudgingly.

“Yeeaaahh…whatever…so anyways that’s all for now buh-bye!!”

“Peace!”

    The screen went dark again, but opened a few seconds later with Jordan trying to set the camera straight. She was alone in her red flooded room.

“Hello, So umm…Frank’s playing guitar right now and I’m going to bother him since he hates it when I annoy him when he’s busy with guitar but I don’t care. So here it goes….HEY FRANK!!!”

    No answer. The guitar played on.

“…FRANKIE!!!”

    Still nothing. Jordan inhaled strongly to build up her louder voice, which she was able to use since mom wasn’t home.

“FRAAAAANNNNKKKKIIIEEEE!!!!! FRA----!!”

“—JORDAN WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT??!!!” Frank Bellowed from the other room. Jordan looked fearfully at the camera with her eyebrows raised.

“……….NEVERMIND! I FIXED IT!! Oh crap dude…I bet he’s pissed…” She looked over at her own guitar.

“Hmm…” Jordan stood up and walked out of the shot for a moment to get her guitar. She returned with a red, black, and white electric guitar with a skull printed on it—her precious at the time.

“Oh dude I remember that guitar! It was her first. She was so into that thing…” Frank told Gerard. Gerard did notice the glow in her eyes when she picked it up.
    Instead of playing it Jordan moved the guitar next to her bed for later. She sat down in front of the camera again and gave her trademark smile for when she thought of something mischievous. She turned her head to the door again.

“HEY FRANK!!”

“WHAT?”

“CAN YOU HELP ME WITH MY MOVIE?”

“NOOO!”

“WHY NOT?”

“…CAUSE IT’S STUPID.”

“……FRANK?”

“YES JORDAN?”

“ARE YOU PLAYING GUITAR?”

“No Jordan I’m doing crossword puzzles….OF COURSE I’M PLAYING GUITAR!!”

“Oh…OKAY! ONE MORE THING!”

“Ugh….WHAT JORDAN?”

“….ARE YOU REALLY PLAYING GUITAR?!”

“That’s it!”  Jordan heard Frank’s door open and shut. She started fumbling to turn off the camera.

“No no no NO!” It shut off. Gerard looked at Frank.

“What did you do?”

“Took my camera back and we fought I believe.”

“Bet Jordan won.” Came Bob’s voice from the other end of the bus. He’d been standing there watching the whole time. Frank looked at his feet and Bob took it as a yes. He laughed at Frank and came over to sit down on the little space left on the couch. Jordan was now sleeping upright. Her head rolled onto one of Bob’s shoulders. Bob tittered softly to himself.
    Bob turned his head as slightly as possible so that he could bring Gerard into view without waking the girl up. Gerard was looking blankly at the floor, his thoughts unreadable to the naked eye. He was thinking hard about an idea he’d had ever since watching the video. He was sure Mikey would disapprove and shoot him down again, but not if Gerard waited for the right time.
    One thing he could do without Mikey possibly disapproving was make more videos with her. The guys had tons of footage but barely any of it was just Jordan and someone else. Gerard’s thoughts were washed away by Bob’s flooding voice, which he thought was directed to him.

“Wake up kiddo.”  Bob said to Jordan. She opened her eyes halfway and blinked before opening them fully. She looked at Bob and leaned away, her cheeks turning crimson.

“H—hi Bob. Sorry.”

“No need to be.”

“I’m boooored!” Frank whined.

“You always are.” Bob snapped.

“Wanna set stuff on fire?” Frank suddenly asked his sister.

“Sure!”

“GO OUTSIDE!” Gerard ordered.

“Sir yes sir!” They said in unison. “After we get dressed SIR!” They marched military style to get their clothes.
    Once they were out of sight Gerard’s cell rang again. He picked it up off the table and flipped it open without checking to see who it was. He already knew before even saying hello.

“Gerard…I’ve been thinking and….” The livid voice paused. “It’s over.”