CHAPTER 4
Frank fumbled with his keys as he tried to unlock the front door. He closed it and sighed, closing his eyes and covering his face with his hands. Work had been more arduous than he imagined and he spent a moment standing in the hallway, staring into space.
The strange man from the supermarket played on his mind. The man had said, ‘Something is very wrong with the world,’ and it felt that way to Frank.
He looked into the room and saw his father doing a crossword and his mum reading a magazine as the TV blared in the background. He avoided them and was heading to his room when the phone rang in the hallway.
"Oh, hello Son,” said Mum. “I didn’t hear you come in. Get the phone, will you?"
“Hi, Mum… Dad…” He answered the phone. “Hello?”
“Frank, how’s it going, Man? It’s Dan and I’ve got some great news.”
"What is it? What’s so exciting?" he asked, getting slightly worried as to what crazy plan Dan had in mind. He’d always been the friend with a plan that usually involved Frank having to climb over something and getting into trouble.
"Do you remember Cal from secondary school?"
"Cal? The popular Cal who used to pick on us and make you cry?"
"Yes, that Cal. He's having a house party and we’re invited. How cool is that?" Dan almost screamed down the phone in excitement.
"Not really up for it today, sorry. But I’m sure you’ll have fun without me."
"No. You’ve got to come. You have to. It’s all arranged… You know Mandy, who you work with?”
“Of course,” Frank replied sarcastically.
“Well… I kind of like her and I want to get with her.”
“So ask her out.”
“I did… kind of. No, what I did was I told her friend Emily that you liked her and wanted to meet her at this party. So Mandy is bringing Emily to meet you. Clever, eh? So when you meet Emily, it means I can talk to Mandy.”
Frank rubbed his eyes in disbelief. “Wait, what? You set me up on a date so you can hang out with a girl you were too shy to ask out?”
“Yes! And we got an invite to a kick ass party too.”
“An invite to a party hosted by a bully who makes you cry?”
“I know. It’s amazing!”
"Dan, I'm not letting you drag me along to a party just so I can be involved in your awkward date."
Dan jumped in, "No, you have to come. Emily’s really nice, I promise. Please?"
Frank sighed. "Fine, but you owe me one."
The call ended and he went back into his room again to change into party clothes. He would go to this stupid party, sit in the corner and avoid all human contact until Dan wanted to go home. Stupid of him. Agreeing to this. Doing what Dan wanted rather than what he wanted. “It’s always going to be like this, isn't it?” he said to himself.
----- X -----
Frank rang the doorbell. There was some commotion on the other side, then the door opened to reveal Dan holding a shirt up on a hanger. “Frank, I need you to tell me the honest truth here,” he blurted. “Is this too much?" He opened up the door fully so that Frank could see the bright pink shirt with pictures of cats on it.
Frank burst into laughter. "That must be the ugliest shirt I think I've ever seen in my entire life," he laughed.
Dan lowered the shirt and softened his stance. “Really?”
Dan's room was bigger than Frank’s and filled with gadgets and robot toys. Frank sat on the bed playing with one as Dan tried a different top with significantly fewer cats. “That one is a lot nicer,” Frank said.
"Cheers." He smiled. "So your Mum said you were being lazy in hospital?"
"Yes. It was a gas attack at the station." Frank paused. "There was shooting and an explosion and it was hard to breathe. I escaped the station but passed out in the street so they took me to hospital and I stayed there for a few days."
“Gas attack?” Dan sniggered. “Oh, sure.”
"It was strange. Everything seems strange. The TV channels are all fake, but nobody seems to notice. Do you notice?”
“TV is rubbish, except for the Prime Minister. It's probably nothing to worry about, mate.”
They left shortly afterwards.
Dan took a few deep breaths outside of Cal’s house, nervous of meeting Mandy again. Frank didn’t know why Dan should feel worried about meeting her; she was as daft as he was and they’d probably make a good couple.
A cheesy pop song was playing, the singer crowing, 'Come back to my room, Baby.' Kids lounged on the furniture with cans of cheap beer. People sat on the staircase.
Dan waved when he saw Mandy and Emily.
"Hi, Frank,” Mandy said. “This is my friend, Emily."
Emily shied away.
Frank offered to shake her hand and they awkwardly tried to kiss one another on the cheek. There was a moment of silence, then Emily said, “Do you like Government Apprentice? I love it.Do you love it too? Tell me you love it.”
Frank smiled with a slight grimace. This was going to be a long night. Dan handed them each a can of lager. Government brewed. “It’s funny how the government make everything,” Frank said. “Beer, toilet paper, everything.”
“Because they’re amazing,” Emily said. “Nobody else can do anything as good as the Prime Minister.” They took a seat together. There was a silence. "So, Mandy told me you're into Anarchy?" She fiddled with her drink as she spoke. "The band? You know, spiked hair, ripped jeans? I guess not then." She moved further down into the sofa, silent again.
"Oh, right, you mean the band. Um, yeah pretty cool, I guess. I had a poster of them but some secret police came to my house last week and ripped it off the wall."
“Secret police?”
“Yeah. I was in hospital and these guys visited my house, spoke to my Mum, went to my room and ripped a poster off the wall.”
Emily sat up straight. “Why would police be at your house? Are you a criminal or something?”
“No, not at all. I was in the terrorist attack on the station last week and was in hospital.”
“Terrorist attack?” Emily asked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean the terrorist attack. There was a shootout with police and an explosion.”
“But the government said it was just a faulty gas main.”
Frank shook his head. “They’re lying. I don’t know why, but there’s something very strange about it all.”
It was then that he realised Emily was staring at him like he was an alien or something. She was sat rigidly and had her eyes locked on him. “Did police really come to your house?”
“Yes. They searched my room and everything.”
Emily stood up. She stared at him for a moment, then walked away.
----- X -----
“Dan, I’ve had enough. I’m leaving.” Frank said.
“What the hell have you done, Man? Emily is freaked out and wants to talk with Mandy alone. What did you say to her?”
“Nothing,” Frank said with a sigh. “I mentioned… ah, I mentioned what has happened, the attack, the police coming to the house and she walked away.”
Dan shook his head. “Frank, you need to relax. And you need to cool it with this terrorism talk.” He brought something from his pocket, something small wrapped in silver foil. He handed it over with a wink. "I think you need to take one of these and try to relax."
Frank unwrapped the foil to see a small yellow pill. “What is it?”
"It's Oneirophine. Everyone's doing it now. Trust me, it will make you feel so much better and relaxed and I think you could do with it." Dan patted him on the shoulder.
Frank shrugged. “No. I think I’d rather go home.”
“Don’t do this to me, Frank… Look, take the pill, give me another thirty minutes with Mandy and if you still want to leave in half an hour we’ll go together.”
Frank held his ground for a few seconds, then put the pill in his pocket and nodded. “OK. Half an hour.”
Frank pushed up the
stairs to the bathroom. He locked the door and stared into the mirror. What the hell was he doing with his life? Why was he even here? Dan didn’t believe him about the attack. Nobody wanted to believe him. His parents didn’t care, his manager didn’t, his friend didn’t. He was at a stupid party he didn’t want to be at and the girl he was talking to had stood up, walked away and rejected him.
“Just go home, Frank,” he said to his reflection. When he spoke he heard the quiver in his own voice, the tremble in his words, tears collecting in his eyelashes.
To hell with it all.
He swallowed the pill and went back to the party. He looked into a bedroom and saw people making out on a bed covered in coats. He wandered back downstairs, checking his watch to see how much longer of the thirty minutes he had to wait.
In the lounge he stared at a large piece of abstract art above the mantelpiece and for a moment thought he saw his own face in the image as a reflection.
His vision blurred and two versions of him seemed to appear in the picture. They both looked identical, then seemed to fade and go fuzzy like a dream, like they weren’t really there. One began twisting its face into a silent scream and he could imagine the figure in the painting bashing against it as if trying to escape. The face was sweating and looked a complete mess whereas the other Frank was dancing. He was grinning like the mad hatter and singing silently. He swayed from side to side and nodded whilst pretending to play guitar.
The dancing Frank walked closer to the surface of the picture and whispered, "What are you doing, Frank? Go outside and have some fun."
Frank looked away, shocked by a sudden sound of static from a TV that wasn't there.
"Go, have fun!" The happy Frank lightened his tone of voice and pushed the screaming face to the edge of the picture. The screaming face moved slowly and looked injured, like a dying animal. It shuffled out of the frame.
Frank heard a strange quacking noise coming from a different room. He followed it but could never quite reach the source. It was like there was a duck walking between people’s legs and he couldn’t find it.
“Hey, watch it,” some big dude yelled as Frank pushed past, searching for the source of the quack. His brain hummed with chimes and pan flutes as he decided to try to speak to the bird to coax it out of its hiding place because, after all, a house is nowhere for a bird to be.
“Here, little bird,” Frank whispered with words that suddenly became visible and left his mouth in colours and crazy patterns. His feet began to feel very light, in fact his entire body felt like it could float away but his head felt heavy and held him down.
Feathers… He saw feathers in the air. The duck must be close.
“Come here, duck. Where are you?” The white duck would mock him with only quacks for answers but Frank knew he could find it if he focussed.
----- X -----
“Hey,” the big guy called to Dan. “I think you better take your friend home.”
Dan looked up to see Frank bent over and pushing between a group of girls, spilling their drinks. “Oh, no. What the hell is he doing?” He went over to him and took hold of his shoulders. “Frank, what’s wrong?”
“The duck. It’s driving me crazy.” He pushed Dan aside and rounded the sofa, looking at the floor. He pushed past a young rich looking boy who then bumped into a girl who spilled red wine across her white dress.
“Oh, Jeez,” Dan said dragging him away.
“What the hell?” the rich kid yelled.
The girl in the white dress sat without saying a word, staring down at the red mess on her dress. "I am so sorry for him,” Dan said to anyone and everyone. “Seriously. He's just out of it right now. I'm sure the stain will come out. I mean it's hardly noticeable." Dan grabbed a paper tissue and started to dab at the girl’s dress.
"Get off me! You're making it worse," She yelled.
A huge hulk of a man walked in and grabbed the girl's hand and suddenly things began to click in Dan's mind.
"I'm sorry. We'll be on our way now. It was lovely meeting you."
He dragged Frank to the front door and pushed him out into the street.
“What the hell, Man?” Dan said.
“Did you score with Mandy?” Frank slurred.
It took forty minutes for them to make the ten-minute walk back to his home.
“Dan... Dan we need to leave here. We could move to Spain or someplace better.”
“Yeah, and then we’ll buy a boat and be rich together with loads of hot girls, but let’s get you home first,” Dan said without an ounce of humour.
“No, Dan you don’t get it, you... you need to understand. The government are after me and I don’t know why.”
“Frank, we’re all going to be fine, don’t you worry. After all, the government aren’t after you. The government protects.”