Day Nine
Gerald started to get worried about Frank. No matter where he went, he was nowhere to be found. Since that thing with the warehouse, he seemed to have disappeared. Neither Anthony nor Vincent seemed to have seen him either.
„Well, maybe he's in his office. Why haven't I bothered to look there after him?“
As he arrived there, he tried to open the door, which failed because it was closed shut.
„Frank?“, he yelled. „Are you in there?“
The window above him opened, before Frank stuck his head outside.
„Gerald?“
„Yes, it's me. I want to talk to you.“
„Alright. I'll open you the door.“
A few minutes later, Gerald heard something clicking, indicating that Frank has unlocked the door. Frank then entered, trying to ignore the dust that was swept into the air as the door swung wide open, with Frank nowhere to be seen.
„Come upstairs. I'm in my office.“
Wondering about how he got up there so fast, Gerald then walked onto the stairs, hearing them screach every time he set his foot on one of them. As he then entered Frank's office, he saw him sitting behind his desk, staring at a small piece of paper.
„Are... are you alright?“, Gerald asked him. „You seem to be hiding yourself from us.“
„Us?“
„Me and Anthony. He told me that you wanted to meet him today in the dead end.“
„Oh. Tell him I forgot that.“
Gerald got closer to the desk. „What's that on the paper?“
„Oh, that? That's... the adress for a place I have to show up at later on.“
„Investigations?“
„Y-yes, investigations.“
Gerald could see there is something wrong with him. „Are you sure you're alright? You seem to be pretty nervous...“
„D-d-definitely. It's because I'm freezing, if you see what I mean.“
„Freezing? I think it's pretty warm in here.“
„Maybe I'm just sick. Yeah, that'll explain it.“
„Do you... need something then?“
„No, you don't have to stress yourself. I'm only fiction after all. It probably will get better later on.“
There seemed to be something rather fishy going on, thought Gerald, as he silently turned to the door to leave again. Frank was about to jump out of his seat to tell Gerald the truth, but he was already gone.
„What the hell is happening to me... why haven't I told him even though he was right he just a few seconds ago?“
As he wanted to smash his head into his desk for how stupid he acted in Gerald's presence, he heard that screeching from the stairway again. Maybe he got lucky and his creator forgot something. The detective bursted out of his office, before he saw who really was about to enter his place.
„I hope you can find the time to show up at the meeting, Frank.“
It was Helena, wearing a black jacket and white gloves, as Frank stared at her in disbelief.
„How did you-“
„He forgot to close the door properly. And I was randomly passing by, so I came to visit you.“
„You will never leave me alone in my life, do you?“
Frank tried to get away from her, as she constantly put one foot in front of the other to get closer to him.
„Don't make me force you to come. It's inevitable that you will come today. You're just making it harder for yourself.“
„Me? You are the one who just makes it complicated for no good reason!“, he yelled at her while pointing at her with his finger.
„You just act as bratty as usual, like a child who doesn't want to follow his mother just to watch her and her friends eating cakes and drinking tea while boring himself to death. You can't avoid it, if you want to or not.“
„Leave!“
„Only over your dead body.“
Frank was shocked about that answer. „What did you just say?“
„I know that you're going to come to the meeting, but just to make sure that you understand where I'm getting at: Either I'll see you tonight at the meeting of the Freedom Seekers or my hands will be covered in your blood.“
He already knew that she could behave pretty psychotic, but this was going too far. Just too bad he already knew what would happen if he tries to attack her. So he just stood there, trying to not burst into rage until she left the building and won't appear near his office for a while.
„So, can I make sure now that you are going to be at the meeting? Not that I don't already know the answer...“
„Will you then finally leave me alone?“
„Say „yes“ and I won't molest you any.“
He sighed.
„Okay, you won. I'll see you there.“
And she dissappeared in the blink of an eye. He couldn't believe his own, and that he agreed to come to the meeting.
Indeed, he was losing his mind, if he didn't already.
It was a nice night again. Nothing too spectacular, but enjoyable nonetheless. Vincent was having a walk, looking out for those mysterious Freedom Seekers, always ready to defend himself with his Gatling gun. It was – again – one of those nights in which no lights other than the moon and the stars were shining and almost nobody was walking on the streets. He lit himself a cigar, as he saw somebody else walking on the street. The coat this person was wearing felt very familiar.
„Frank? Frank!“, he screamed in his direction, hoping for a reaction, only for the person to continue walking.
„That's weird. I never saw anyone besides Frank wearing a coat like this...“
He ran after him, trying to catch up, as he still went unnoticed.
„Frank? Are you deaf or what?“
He reached out for his shoulder, as the man avoided him while replying:
„Leave me alone.“
There was no doubt anymore that this was Frank he had to deal with there.
„Frank, you better stop or I have to beat some sense into you...“
„As if you were trying to hit me with your Gatling. You have better things to do.“
„Don't make me use it like it's supposed to...“
„Should I feel threatened by that?“
„Frank, what is going on with you suddenly?“
„Even if I knew how to tell it to you, you probably wouldn't get it. Believe me when I say that I'm just as confused as you are right now.“
„You aren't too far off there, Frank.“
„If you'd excuse me now, I need to go somewhere...“
And so, Frank left, leaving Vincent alone in the dark, his gliming cigar being the only source of light he had at the time.
„...I should talk with Gerald about this...“
It was probably 10 PM 30, when Gerald was once again sitting in the bar, drinking a beer and staring at the empty street, as Vincent entered and took the seat opposite to him.
„Evening, Gerald.“
„Hello, Vincent. Have you met Frank by now? He's acting a little bit-“
„Weird?“
„How do you know?“
„I just met him. He wanted to go somewhere and ignored me until I tried to grab his shoulder.“
„You're sure that we met the same Frank? When I visited his office, he acted pretty nervously with that piece of paper in his hand.“
Gerald took a sip out of his glass, before he continued.
„Something's telling me those guys that try to catch me are behind this.“
Vincent raised an eyebrow.
„Why would you think that?“
„Well, I thought it was pretty weird that he wanted me to leave him and one of my attackers alone seconds after we got jumped on.
„I wouldn't automatically assume that just because of asking one guy of his motives that it's their fault...“
„And earlier today, he told me, while holding this piece of paper in his hand, that it was for investigations.“
„So?“
„Don't forget that this is still my story. I haven't written down much of the investigations that are driving the plot, and since these – excuse me – freaks are the only current threat we have at the moment...“
„But why would he start to act so weird?“
„Sadly, I think that's another question. If we want to know that, we would need more information about the guys that try to chase me and their connection to Frank. But we have no clue where we can find them, and Frank won't openly talk to us soon enough. Especially concerning the way he behaved when you talked to him.“
„Well, this only leaves one other possibility...“
„Anthony?“
Vincent nodded. „Frank won't talk normally to us, so we need somebody who can spy on him. And who could do that better than his own informant?“
„Ya talking about me?“
It was Anthony, who coincidently was sitting only a few inches away from the two, with a glass of whiskey standing right beside them.
„Why haven't I noticed you when I got in here?“ Vincent asked him.
„And why haven't you noticed me even though I'm sitting here for about an hour?“ Gerald asked him as well.
„I tend to blend into the enviroment, and I was thinking about Frank.“
„Do you know something that we don't?“
„No, but I know where he's going tonight!“ So he handed them a piece of paper with an adress and a time.
„How could you-“ Gerald wanted to ask him, only to be interrupted by his answer.
„I am always looking through Frank's mail, just in case something... dangerous has been thrown in. I was almost done, as somebody just happened to throw something in. There was no date on the original paper, so I'm guessing it's going to happen today.“
„And why are you still sitting here?“ Vincent asked.
„Because something gives me the feeling that I shouldn't check that place out alone.“
„You could have told us earlier that you got something!“, the writer and the villain-in-role-only yelled.
„I guess it won't help that I say „I've forgotten it“, does it?“
„Something tells me the answer is „No“ “, Vincent replied.
„We got no time anymore to argue“, Gerald threw in. „According to the time on the paper, whatever Frank is visiting starts in about an hour. We need to hurry!“
And so, the three of them rushed out of the bar, trying to find the spot Frank was going to.
