||Drowning Lessons|| Frankie Iero |Info|

"You can take off the bandana now, Alisha," Frank said, and I did so, but he was nowhere in the room. There was another click, and I saw it was a tape. There was a card next to me on the bed, with a perfectly scripted 'Alisha' on it. I opened it, and pulled out the card.

Alisha,

You are now playing my birthday scavenger hunt. You will be getting a series of cards with hints to where the next one will be. They will span from my room, to 3 other nearby locations, and a final place where you will end if all goes well. I love you, and I hope you like this.

~Frank

When I first showed you my room, you played a CD.

I thought for a moment, and then headed over to his cd collection and pulled out the Love Metal cd. Opening the case, I saw another envelope.

Good, now, where did Mikey interrupt us to tell us Elvis was dead?

That took me less that four seconds to think of. I took off across the street, and went the four houses down, and up to my room. I found the house oddly deserted. Taped to my door was another envelope. Which means Frankie is two steps ahead of me.

I knew you'd get that one. Now a riddle!

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

I'm carved by Dirt,

are you?

I stood outside my door for a minute, thinking, until I remembered the tree we had found while wandering the woods part of the park. I jumped down the stairs, the three enveloped in my jacket. I ran up to the tree where a kid named Drake had carved his love for Monsi, and I told Frank that Drake was German for 'dirt'. A yellow envelope was taped up.

Almost done now. Where did Monique hide her notes?

I faced away from the tree, walked three trees down, and went two trees over, and climbed to the top branch, where I found a green envelope in a birds nest, where I had found notes from someone named 'Monique' to 'Mariella'.

You notice the colors?
I pulled out the other three envelopes, and realized they were each a different color; blue, hazel, indigo, and now green and yellow. I looked back at the card.

you have 3 more. Ray kissed Gerard.

It took me a moment to realize it was a clue. I went to the small kiddie park, where there was a bright yellow tunnel, and as I climbed to it, I saw a dark square inside. It was a dark brown envelope. I opened it, and a locket fell out. It was silver, and I opened it, to find a picture of him on one side, and me on the other. He was making a kissy face, and my picture was taken when I made a squinted face at Gerard's camera. So when I closed the locket, the pictures were in a perpetual kiss.

It took me years to get those to work..2 more. Mikey lost his inhaler and Bob tried to give him mouth to mouth.

I smiled, remembering that incident. I walked down the street to the river, it wasn't too far. I came to the spot where Mikey had an attack, and in the panic Gerard knocked it from his hand and it fell in the river. When Gerard ran home to get another, Bob tried to help, and leaned in to give him cpr. There was a chalk outline in the ruble, which looked like the way Mikey was laying. In the center was a navy blue envelope. Opening it, there was a set of earrings. They were light blue crystals in the shape of hearts. I took the and put them on.

I hope you like them. I almost kept them for myself.

last one, are you sad now? Go to the cemetery where the lovers lay.

I put the card in my pocket, now starting to feel a bit full, and walked a few streets to the cemetery, where a gap in the fence had been made over the years. I walked passed the many headstones. I went to the back corner, where one giant headstone was erected.

Felishia and Jered Patterson. Married for one minute and forty-two seconds before tragedy took them away. Jered, 3-11-1972 to 11-28-2000. Felishia, 5-29-1974 to 11-28-2000.

I felt a lump rise. The grave was a testament of true love. There, on top, was an orange envelope.

I hope your good at word puzzles. Using the first letter of each color, find the next location. ~Frank

I took the cards out, and kneeling towards the ground, I arranged the envelopes.
Blue:b, hazel:h, indigo:i, navy:n, dark green:d, yellow:y, orange:o, green:g. I looked at them, then something hit me. I took out the green one. The letters would be b-h-i-n-d-y-o. I turned around and saw rose petals strewn over the grass below a tree. Sitting in them was a small pyramid of boxes. I went to open the first one, the smallest, and pulled out a beautiful ring. It was silver serpents entwined together, and fit perfectly on my thumb. I smiled, Frankie had learned a lot about you in 4 months. I opened the next box, and pulled out the pair of boots I had been saving up for. I gasped, holding them close. I almost put them on, but refrained and put them back in the box. I pulled the last one, the biggest, and untied the red ribbon. Under it was a black envelope.

I hope you like the presents so far. I know your not too big on jewelry, but when i saw them, I couldn't help it, they were perfect for you. And anyone could see you adored those boots. The next one I picked out blindly, so I hope its ok.

I lifted the white lid, and pulled back the red tissue paper. I gasped, putting a hand over my mouth. It was a beautiful black and red dress. I picked it up out of the box. The fabric was black satin, and had red satin stripes accenting the top, and red tulle cloth under. It was beautiful. A pair of arms wrapped around me, and I jumped.

"I thought you'd never get here," Frankie said. I put the dress down and turned around, pulling him into a deep kiss.

"Frank, how did you, I mean, its amazing. My birthday isn't that special, seriously." I said, holding his hands.

"Your special to me. I don't think I'd have made it this far without you. When I moved here, I thought I'd never see the day I'd have a friend. I had left my only two friends back at the catholic school in Trenton. I was so close to killing myself, just getting out of here, but you've given me a reason. I feel so cheesy and emo and cliché right now, but it's the truth." he said. I swallowed, and he hugged me close. "Besides, after what we've been through, after everything I've repaid you with, this doesn't even start my apologies." I looked at him. I knew what he meant. He was trying to make up for the abortion, for the fights with my mom, Brady, and nearly getting me killed after he got his license.

"Frank, you have no need to apologize for anything. We made decisions, and no one could ever understand Brady anyways," I said, and he helped me carry the boxes out of the cemetery to my house, where I kissed him goodnight and fell into a deep sleep at 2 am.